first impressions

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FYI-this is the unoffical blog meant for family and friends, it reflects ONLY my views and of nobody else

i am alive and well in tbilisi gerogia. after 27 hours in transit i finally landed on sunday at 4am in tbilisi. i couldnt see much from the airplane but i was still really excited and nervous. i don't speak georgian and while many georgians speak russian i was and still am a bit nervous to use it because of all the conflict/dislike between the two countries.
I was greeted by host mom, her daughter and my classmate who is interning with me in georgia. as the sun began to rise on the drive home i saw my first glimpses of tbilisi. it is really beautiful. there are lush green hills surrounding the city with beautiful old churches on practically every block.
like moscow and the rest of russia, some parts are seriously breathtaking while other parts look exactly like the run down parts of russia. you can definitively see the remnants of the soviet union: the buildings, the architecture, the metro and lack of order. being a pedestrian is show here. you know those things called stop signs and traffic lights, they are merely suggestions and/or decorations. some people slow down for you but not really. they make u think they are slowing down but they really aren't. i just wait until it is safe to run quickly across the street. it is probably no worse than moscow, but i guess everything is a little scarier when you dont speak the language. for example, someone could be shouting 'get out of the way, a car is coming!' and i would have no clue. thankfully nothing like that has happened to me or anyone else i know here.

We started work the day after I arrived and I could barely function. I had tried to sleep the night before but ended up waking at 3 am and never fell back asleep. Our boss/supervisor actually went to our university and studied the same thing as us. The first day consisted of a lot of introductions, paperwork, etc. as interns we have 3 main assignments to complete in the next 2 months. it is a lot of work but i think it will be really beneficial and be good for my resume 😉 as soon as i figure out how to actually put photos up, i will, for now you have to deal with the default picture.

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