Hanging Out

It’s very important to know how to converse here in Russia because we spend a lot of time hanging out together. It’s great for me though because I absolutely love to talk. The girls spend a lot of time together: me, Nadia, Shelli, Karlie and Marie.

Nadia is originally from Ukraine but she lived in France for about 13 years. She has the most wonderful accent, it’s a combination of French and Russian. For those of you who know me very well know that I love accents so I’m trying to pick hers up haha. She is a little older than the rest of us (btw, I had no idea she was older, the French/Ukrainian are beautiful!) but I can’t tell at all because she is so lively and enthusiastic. She is very helpful while traveling around our town because she is fluent in Russian, so she’s helped us a lot in the grocery store. I enjoy her company very much because she is very worldly and I love hearing her talk about her hometown of Dijon.

Shelli is from Lousianna. She is not the typical southern type, which is kind of what I expected (you know, Lily and pearl wearing/Carolina Cup type). She is extremely effervescent and so enthusiastic about everything. She reminds me so much of my best friends from home (Emily and Kitty especially). I really like being around her because she is very sunshine-like which is needed in this grey weather of Russia.

Karlie is from Virginia. She studied abroad in Ghana last semester, which is amazing. She is more reserved than Shelli and Nadia, but she has a great smile (I know that seems creepy but it’s true). Her family owns a beef-raising farm in Virginia, which she is very knowledgeable about. I can tell that she knows a lot about the world because sometimes she says very specific facts, which never cease to amaze me. Although she’s sometimes quiet, she definitely has the best one liners.

Marie is also from Virginia, she goes to Virginia Tech with Karlie. Marie reminds me a lot of my friend Leacy, she’s very intelligent (everyone is very smart btw, I don’t mean to single out just Karlie and Marie as the “smart ones” haha) and a little sarcastic. I love sarcasm so her personality is an excellent balance to Shelli and my hyper energetic characters. I really like Marie because she is extremely easy to talk to as well. She would be the friend who I would turn to if I had a problem (which is the same as Leacy).

But overall, we all balance out each other very well. I have a feeling that we’ll keep in touch for a long time after we leave Moscow!