It's actually strange to write this, because school is already over, so this isn't what my days are like anymore. This is however, what it was like for about four months, so totally worth writing.
6:30-Hear my sisters alarm clock, she gets up, takes a shower and puts on makeup
My sisters alarm clock....
7:15- My sister comes into our room and says "Lindsay vstavay!" (Lindsay, wakeup!) and then I get out of bed.
7:45-After brushing my teeth, enjoying a breakfast of tea and an open faced sandwitch with cheese and kolbassa (not sure how that translates actually, its some sort of meat. It's strange because in the US I was a vegetarian and therefore I know the names of a lot of meats in Russian and not English), and getting my stuff together, this is when we leave for school. The walk is about 5 minutes, which is totally convenient.
7:50-Arrive at school, change shoes, and head off to my first class.
8-8:45-First lesson. Usually my first two lessons every day (except for saturday and monday) are with kids from the 2nd grade. I learn Russian and Reading with them. These are probably my favorite lessons of the day, because I understand what is going on and am able to do the work. They are adorable, and love talking to me.
10-10:45- At this point, the third and fourth lesson, sometimes I go to study with the 10th grade, but sometimes I help out in English classes, or once a week, I study with the 5th grade. I go to a class called teknologia, which you'd think has something to do with technology, but in fact it is sort of a 'girls learn how to cook clean and sew' sort of thing. At the beginning I thought it was sexist, and I still do a little bit, but these necessary skills (cooking cleaning and sewing) are skills that I don't have, because my american school thinks that its sexist to teach me them. So in conclusion, maybe girls AND boys should take the class.
11:45-12:00- This is where we have fifteen minutes to leave the fourth lesson, eat, and get to the fifth lesson. The food at school is not wonderful, it's edible, so no complaints.
12:00-1:45- The 5th and 6th lessons. I am all the time in the 10th class during these. The lessons in the 10th class for me are not so fun. I understand what the teacher is saying in Russian, but that doesn't mean I understand the material. The things they are learning in math and science are on a much more advanced level than what I learned in the US and on top of that, I came in half way through the year. Sometimes I listen and take notes, and others I write in my journal.
Heres my class. Funny story: When this picture was being taken, I smiled in my normal american 32 toothed way, and the camera man shouts "don't smile like this!" and immitated me. The whole class knew that only one person would do that. They all turned to me and were like "Lindsay!!"
2:00- By 2:00 I am home from school. It's a pretty short school day actually, but unlike in the US, literally all we do is study. Theres no chorus, or free block, or 40 minute lunch. Its one academic class followed by a 15 minute break, followed by the next academic class and so on. When I get home, it is usually my sister, my host mom, and I. My host mom, having gotten home from work at 6 in the morning, has just woken up at this point, and she eats breakfast while we eat a sort of second lunch sort of thing (you'll remember we ate at school). It is usually soup, followed by some other second dish. This could be kasha, or macarroni, or these balls of cabbage with meat inside them... but always something my host mom cooks, which is cool. Also, in Russia, almost ever meal is eaten with bread, usually brown. After eating, we drink tea and eat some sort of sweet food with it.
3:30-5:00- This is when my sister does her homework. I do mine too, but I don't do the homework that she does for reasons I previously explained. I do homework for the 5th class, and 2nd class, and also make presentations. I do a lot of presentations about america to the small kids in my school. Its lots of fun. It's crazy though, when I walk around the hallway where the 1st through 4th grades study I am almost always in the center of a cloud of little Russians asking me questions about my life and/or saying 'Hello! Hello!' one of the only english words they know.
6:00-9:00-During this time, I do one of three things.
1) Go out with the other exchange students in my city (if I'm going out with them, I actually leave home a bit earlier, probably around 3). We sit in cafe's and talk, or go to beautiful parks, or just sort of hang out in the city. Its really nice to be with them, because we are all going through the exact same experience.
9:00-10:00- Yulya and I watch every week night, a russian tv schow called closed school. It's about a boarding school, but there is a secret facist regime sort of thing run by the director that is taking people and doing medical experiments on them. Its one of those so bad its good things.
10-10:15- Take a shower
10:30- Sometimes drink another cup of tea
10:45- Talk to Yulya for a little (we share a room) and then go to bed.
6:30-Hear my sisters alarm clock, she gets up, takes a shower and puts on makeup
7:15- My sister comes into our room and says "Lindsay vstavay!" (Lindsay, wakeup!) and then I get out of bed.
7:45-After brushing my teeth, enjoying a breakfast of tea and an open faced sandwitch with cheese and kolbassa (not sure how that translates actually, its some sort of meat. It's strange because in the US I was a vegetarian and therefore I know the names of a lot of meats in Russian and not English), and getting my stuff together, this is when we leave for school. The walk is about 5 minutes, which is totally convenient.
7:50-Arrive at school, change shoes, and head off to my first class.
8-8:45-First lesson. Usually my first two lessons every day (except for saturday and monday) are with kids from the 2nd grade. I learn Russian and Reading with them. These are probably my favorite lessons of the day, because I understand what is going on and am able to do the work. They are adorable, and love talking to me.
2nd graders. In all honestly, I feel more comfortable their class than my own. Little kids are really awesome.
10-10:45- At this point, the third and fourth lesson, sometimes I go to study with the 10th grade, but sometimes I help out in English classes, or once a week, I study with the 5th grade. I go to a class called teknologia, which you'd think has something to do with technology, but in fact it is sort of a 'girls learn how to cook clean and sew' sort of thing. At the beginning I thought it was sexist, and I still do a little bit, but these necessary skills (cooking cleaning and sewing) are skills that I don't have, because my american school thinks that its sexist to teach me them. So in conclusion, maybe girls AND boys should take the class.
Yummy salad we made. Notice they all smile with their mouthes shut. People laugh at me when I don't.
11:45-12:00- This is where we have fifteen minutes to leave the fourth lesson, eat, and get to the fifth lesson. The food at school is not wonderful, it's edible, so no complaints.
12:00-1:45- The 5th and 6th lessons. I am all the time in the 10th class during these. The lessons in the 10th class for me are not so fun. I understand what the teacher is saying in Russian, but that doesn't mean I understand the material. The things they are learning in math and science are on a much more advanced level than what I learned in the US and on top of that, I came in half way through the year. Sometimes I listen and take notes, and others I write in my journal.
2:00- By 2:00 I am home from school. It's a pretty short school day actually, but unlike in the US, literally all we do is study. Theres no chorus, or free block, or 40 minute lunch. Its one academic class followed by a 15 minute break, followed by the next academic class and so on. When I get home, it is usually my sister, my host mom, and I. My host mom, having gotten home from work at 6 in the morning, has just woken up at this point, and she eats breakfast while we eat a sort of second lunch sort of thing (you'll remember we ate at school). It is usually soup, followed by some other second dish. This could be kasha, or macarroni, or these balls of cabbage with meat inside them... but always something my host mom cooks, which is cool. Also, in Russia, almost ever meal is eaten with bread, usually brown. After eating, we drink tea and eat some sort of sweet food with it.
3:30-5:00- This is when my sister does her homework. I do mine too, but I don't do the homework that she does for reasons I previously explained. I do homework for the 5th class, and 2nd class, and also make presentations. I do a lot of presentations about america to the small kids in my school. Its lots of fun. It's crazy though, when I walk around the hallway where the 1st through 4th grades study I am almost always in the center of a cloud of little Russians asking me questions about my life and/or saying 'Hello! Hello!' one of the only english words they know.
6:00-9:00-During this time, I do one of three things.
1) Go out with the other exchange students in my city (if I'm going out with them, I actually leave home a bit earlier, probably around 3). We sit in cafe's and talk, or go to beautiful parks, or just sort of hang out in the city. Its really nice to be with them, because we are all going through the exact same experience.
This is Sofia (a girl from Austria also living in Nihzny) and I. Ironically we are in Moscow. Also in Nihzny there is Giacommo (Italy) and Quentin (France)
2) Go to visit my old host family. This is probably once or twice a week. When I go there, I usually drink tea and talk with Dasha (20 year old host sister) and my old host mom, and then go with Laura (9 year old host sister) and play set (the card game, I taught her) or dance. She loves choreographing extremely complicated dances, teaching them to me, and then getting very angry when I do one thing incorrectly. She reminds me very much of my youngest brother in the US in some ways. Afterwards, I usually eat dinner with them all together. "Family dinner" doesn't really happen in most Russian families (family time is usually drinking tea), but they like the tradition of eating dinner together, and afterwords, drinking tea and eating cake. By the time that is all over, it is usually 9:00, which means bed time for Laura and time to go home for me. 
Guess who??
3) Go out to walk with my host sister (Yulya) and friends. In the winter, we would like stand in the staircases of apartment buildings because it was so cold, but now that the weather is nice, we can sit near school or at the playground near my house. 
Yulya and I. Pretty much our relationship in a picture.
9:00-10:00- Yulya and I watch every week night, a russian tv schow called closed school. It's about a boarding school, but there is a secret facist regime sort of thing run by the director that is taking people and doing medical experiments on them. Its one of those so bad its good things.
10-10:15- Take a shower
10:30- Sometimes drink another cup of tea
10:45- Talk to Yulya for a little (we share a room) and then go to bed.
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