A. C. Пушкин "Зимнее Утро".

Мороз и солнце; день чудесный!

Еще ты дремлешь, друг прелестный -

Пора, красавица, проснись:

Открой сомкнуты негой взоры

Навстречу северной Авроры,

Звездою севера явись!

Вечор, ты помнишь, вьюга злилась,

На мутном небе мгла носилась;

Луна, как бледное пятно,

Сквозь тучи мрачные желтела,

И ты печальная сидела —

А нынче..... погляди в окно:

Под голубыми небесами

Великолепными коврами,

Блестя на солнце, снег лежит;

Прозрачный лес один чернеет,

И ель сквозь иней зеленеет,

И речка подо льдом блестит.

Вся комната янтарным блеском

Озарена. Веселым треском

Трещит затопленная печь.

Приятно думать у лежанки.

Но знаешь: не велеть ли в санки

Кобылку бурую запречь?

Скользя по утреннему снегу,

Друг милый, предадимся бегу

Нетерпеливого коня

И навестим поля пустые,

Леса, недавно столь густые,

 

И берег, милый для меня.

On a less poetic note: exams started yesterday..... From an optimistic perspective: they will be over in a week. But I am in a pessimistic mood at the moment, thus thinking about the two-digit negative temperatures that await me after the exams. But let's be realistic: people learnt how to survive even on the South pole. =D

OK, so here is my major news: I GOT MY U.S. VISA! I was quite surprised that the whole procedure was not as horrible as people describe it. Although the building of the U.S. Embassy does look quite intimidating, and the security procedure is quite strict, which makes you even more nervous (and proud, I must admit, after you get your passport back with a "fresh" visa in it). Somehow I assumed that they were arranging one-to-one interviews with each applicant every hour (since online appointment system was "booking" you a slot). But it turned out that there was the whole bunch of people, who had their appointments at the same time. So I had to wait for like 2 hours until my turn came up. The good thing was that there was A.C. and quite comfortable chairs =DDD.  I got to stretch myself, and to listen to CNN broadcasting about some tourists having been caught having sex on the beach in Dubai (woah, "quite an issue" to be discussed for like 1 hour...hehehehehehe). The first thing that has shocked me at the interview (I was already quite nervous... well kinda..) was that the fingerprint machine refused to scan my fingerprints. My fingers, apparently, kept on coming out blank. I even had to go and wash my hands thouroughly, but even after that machine worked only on the second time (Damn digital age! Hehhehe). In my head before the interview I had this picture of monstrous interviewer slowly chewing the body part of the applicant and then finally swallowing the remains at the end of interview. (Maybe that’s why I felt much easier when I saw that an interviewer and applicant were separated by a glass wall… nice! =D). But my interview literally lasted only 3 mins: I was asked why I have chosen Middlebury of all schools in the U.S. (DUH!) and which high school I have graduated from. (HUH?) Oh yeah, and how come of all countries in the world I ended up in India (WELL…). After that I was told that my visa got approved (THANKS GOD!) and that I may come pick up my passport the next day (WOAH!.. my friend had to wait for a week last year until she could have her passport…). On my way back out of the building I figured that the guards at the Embassy were actually hot. Sadly the next day when I came to pick up my passport, there was a fat woman and elder men who were doing the security checks =(… Oh well… I generally have quite random thoughts in my mind when I’m going through numerous metal detectors and what not (apart from that the guard is hot heheheh). Like the second day I came I was trying to find a Slavic equivalent of Uzbek name Khudayberdy (turned out it’s “Bogdan” – “Given by the God”). I like the Slavic version better (and no, I’m not biased…). Oh well..hehhehe

At the moment I’m trying to figure out my itinerary, since it turns out that there’re no tickets available until the end of September. According to the air company’s regulations, one can not have a confirmed ticket until he/she has a valid visa to the country of his/her final destination. But U.S. Embassy asks the seekers of tourist visas to show their unconfirmed itineraries at the interview. So as it turns out, there’re actually seats, since not everyone who applies for U.S. visa gets one, but they are not available for sale since people have not cancelled their unconfirmed tickets. And what’s more frustrating, is that I already had my booking done, but the woman that was doing it has put the booking until 23^rd of June instead of 23^rd of July, as we have asked her. So my booking was automatically cancelled on 23^rd of June since I didn’t show up with a visa by that time. Hm… Now I hope that somebody will cancel their uncorfimed ticket (or that it will get cancelled by itself like in my case) and I will finally hold my ticket in my hands.

Oh well.. This is mainly it!

Love everyone!