A typical day in Nizhni Novgorod means waking up in time to be down at the cafeteria around 8:00 or so for a big bowl of kasha and a cup of tea. Language class doesn't start until 9:30, so after breakfast is a good time to do homework, go back to sleep, take a shower - whatever needs to be done. Since we study Russian for THREE HOURS, there is a tea break from 11:15 to 11:30 - a much cherished time to drink tea, eat yummy crackers, and hang out with Russian students in the International Office. Lunch break is 12:30 to 2:00, when the afternoon lecture begins. Lecture usually goes from 2 to 4 and then - it's FREETIME! Dinner is served from 5:30 to 6:30, but besides that - we're free to explore the city, play games inside, go jogging, do homework, do laundry, sleep, have group devotions, write letters home, go to concerts, visit friends, have snowball fights - there are endless possibilities!

 

Of course this particular typical day changes on weekends, and when we live in host families.

 

For example - on Friday's there are no classes. Each student spends half of the day engaged in a service project. Saturdays are usually completely free, although occasionally we have a trip or museum tour planned. On Sundays we attend church services of our choice and enjoy a much needed day of rest.

 

When we live in host families, the class schedule and the service project are at the same times, but freetime is structured a little differently, because we have to consider our families' schedules, and the constraints of public transportation usually split us up into our respective host families about 8:30 or 9.

 

If it seems like there is a lot of freetime - it's all an illusion! There is so much homework to do and so many places to go and so many people to spend time with.