We Begin!

FRIENDS! I have been frantically on the prowl for internet to tell you all the amazing and insane things that have been happening already, and just completely frantic in general. This is no doubt the craziest, most exciting, weirdest, scariest thing in my personal history. But I’m HERE, I MADE IT, and it is FANTASTIC.

My journey began with RDU, which was hilariously UNC-laden that particular afternoon. First of all, they kept paging Wayne Ellington, who seemed to be tardy for and may have missed his flight to Miami, but I cannot claim to be particularly sympathetic considering the proliferated joys of his recent life and the fact that he will undoubtedly make it to his resort. Secondly, Emil Kang was hanging out about 30 feet from me, presumably flying to Chicago as well, and I had these grand designs to corner him on the plane and orate about the future of Historic Playmakers Theatre, floating my inextinguishable desire to turn it back into a DDA-affiliated student theatre, but I was shy and he hopped a flight to JFK instead. Hopefully this won’t be an acontextual microcosm of next year’s goings on--Men's Basketball players making dumb mistakes, executive arts directors being ignorant of my existence...

The journey to my new home was an adventure. I was trapped in the middle seat between two large sleeping Russian men, flying over the Baffin Sea at 566mph and -84*F (ahh!!!). When I deplaned, I couldn’t find the chauffeur whom my translator/friend/guru (Adam) had called to the airport because apparently his sign said Civvitkz instead of Phillips. 

The countryside on the way from the airport into Moscow.

When I made it to Tverskaya/Belorusskaya, I couldn’t figure out how to get into the apartment building (it’s actually pretty complicated), it was raining, I hadn’t slept or eaten in almost 48 hours, et cetera, et cetera. I went and crashed in the lobby of the MXAT (Moscow Art Theatre) dormitory. The doorwoman offered me chai and I relaxed and waited for Adam to get home from lecture, introduce me to my hosts, and so forth. I crashed and slept for eight hours, woke for four with the early-rising sun, and slept for four more. Epic.

My waking hours in Moscow so far have been incredible, confusing, enlightening—and I have so many ahead of me! In many ways, it’s just as I predicted, amazingly. I was told my hosts had a cat. As I wrote my exams, I worried about him because I’m allergic, turning over and over in my mind what he’d look like (fluffy and white with grey paws, I decided), where he’d sleep, how we’d battle over possession of my pillow for weeks and weeks. My friends and I decided he would be orange—no, black—no, half orange, half black!

There are two cats. One is orange, one is black. I do not lie. They are both very nice cats and are polite to stay off my pillow. I would tell you their names but I cannot for the life of me remember them long enough to write them down when Tatyana, my house mama, tells me again and again.

Fat black cat who eats all the food. 

Baby orange fuzzball who keeps doing cute things right after I take pictures. 

In all other ways, it’s better than I could have imagined. Though the language barrier is surprisingly difficult, my 30 or 50 words have carried me pretty far, and I know I will learn more and more every day. I have so much to say about the beauty of it all, the people, the theatre. Can’t wait!