Hello Tver'! Oh bugger...

Well, it's finally happened. I'm actually IN Russia now! And let me tell you, it feels...Pretty normal, actually.

...

Sorry about that, had to pause writing this blog entry because Natwest thought I wasn't who I am and almost left me penniless in Russia which is (strangely enough) not ideal. Here's how NOT to do your banking when YOU spend your Year Abroad:

Step 1: DON'T forget to tell your bank you're travelling to Russia well in advance. Natwest at the very least gives you the option to do it online, so that's what I've done.

Step 2: If, as I am doing, you are using a Currency Card in Russia, make sure that you give it plenty of money WELL IN ADVANCE of leaving the country, if you top up a large amount (which you WILL need to do for all the stuff you'll need to pay for), your bank is going to think it's fraud and stop your card. This is less vital if your bank has an automatic fraud service which CAN be done over the phone (such as Natwest). I don't know if the fraud warning stopped the original transaction going through, but it would certainly have stopped any future top-ups and left me, once again, without money. If Natwest DIDN'T have a phone anti-fraud scheme, I would be well and truly [censored].

Step 3: DON'T leave your phone without credit if your only means of topping up are via the debit card that you are no longer allowed to use to call the Fraud service and sort the whole mess out because the card you are using has been blocked due to suspected fraud. It's kind of a closed circle which leaves you wanting to tear your hair out.

I was only saved in this matter by the absolutely marvellous and wonderful Robin Thomson whom I met today at the airport and with whom I am now sharing a flat. He's known me for less than 12 hours, and yet he was more than perfectly understanding when I asked him as calmly as I could if he wouldn't mind topping up my phone for me using HIS card so that I could unblock my own. He is a saviour, a gentleman and another incredibly positive adjective, as I believe the issues are now resolved.

If the thought hasn't already crossed your mind, DON'T LET YOURSELF GET INTO AS CLOSE A SHAVE AS THIS. There is no guarantee whatsoever that you will have a nice flatmate who will help you through this trouble, and will be so understanding to someone who is, to all intents and purposes, a complete stranger. (Although if, because you are foolish, you DO find yourself in this situation, you may be able to persuade friends of yours who have joined you on the course, but it is SO not worth the stress).

Natwest says they'll unblock my regular Debit Card, I should have a good amount on my Currency Card to get through at least a couple of months here in Russia and this whole experience has taught me a valuable lesson. Even if Natwest pull this crap again when I next need to top up my Currency Card (which I most likely will need to do at some point), I'll make sure I top up my bloody credit first.

*deep breath*

Other than that, getting to Tver' was simple enough. After a rather kerfuffley check-in at Heathrow and a fond, sad farewell to my parents, I chilled with my good friend Morgan until my plane turned up. The flight was fine as well, 3 hours, a free meal and some good company, I ain't complaining. Although it seems the connection for my headphones was broken, so I couldn't watch the little screen for anything other than flight details or silent films (Oh man, I should've seen if there WERE any silent films, those would've done the trick!) but it's alright, I mostly just napped.

We then arrived at the airport in Moscow at around 3:30pm local time, and the queue for passport control was...troublesome. We first got into a queue which had nobody working on it at the front, before being ushered to another, very slowly moving line. I mumbled a quiet "Здравствуйте..." to the woman at passport control who looked at me with...What's a more intense word for "disinterest"? I didn't feel hatred or anything coming from her, just...Complete and utter indifference. In any case, everything became relatively simple after that: we found the RLUS group and were sentenced to the corner with the other english students where I met several people, Sophia from Sheffield University and Angus and the aforementioned Robin. Robin and I talked for most of the time we were waiting (around 2 hours, if I recall correctly). Isn't it strange how this guy I just happened to bump into at the airport would not only be my future flatmate, but would also end up saving my proverbial bacon? And Oliver thought it was a small world because he met another Slovakian at the airport...

So eventually I was bundled into a minivan along with Robin, Sophia and 4 other students who had joined me from Manchester, namely Hannah, Stefka, Jordan and James. The trip was largely uneventful, as we chatted and laughed and pointed out all the shops which we also had back in England (extra credit to Stefka for being chief pointer-outer). Some of our group got McDonalds on the way, which tided them over nicely until they reached Uni.

Partway through the journey, though, my brain caused my stomach to drop and my heart to skip a beat by giving me 5 simple words to think: "I'm on my Year Abroad". There's no more "going", there's no "will be". Just "am". I still think the gravity hasn't entirely sunk in yet, but soon enough, I'm sure, as my brain comes up with new, startling things for me to suddenly realise. But I digress.

When we pulled up at our accommodation, the woman who greeted us (very friendly, but doesn't speak English) said she specifically needed me, Robin, Sophia and Miriam (a girl studying at Glasgow who, for some reason, was absent). I was a bit worried at first, being separated from my Mancunion friends, but all that's happened is we've been put into separate accommodation just around the corner. This is apparently the Russian accommodation, presumably with proper Russkii studenti in it somewhere, though I have yet to run into any. (But I've only been here for, like, 2 hours, and it's late, give me a break!)

To cut a long story short, my room is alright, a bit grim in places, but everything seems to work. The mattress is tougher than...a tough thing (my brain is too tired for good comparatives at the moment, maybe I'll come back and edit this later) and the toilet water is always brown (though this is apparently due to a cleaning chemical rather than...other substances. You think they could've gone with a less worrying colour, though, surely?) but it'll do just fine. I even quite like it! It's charming in a "Let's see what'll go wrong first!" kind of a way. I'll upload pictures of it in the future, but for now I need to sleep, I think.

So, my dear friends, until next time.

Good night! And don't let the bank bugs bite.

Joe