Today, I almost died.

mood: exhausted.
music: none. i'm going to bed soon.
random word: осторожно

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Ok, so I didn't really almost die. It was actually really fun... We went hiking on Mount Ellen. First of all, we got lost on the way there. Although they had mapquest directions, Adam and Greg were apparently at a complete loss as to how to find the trail, and we ended up asking at least 3 people before we finally found the way. But we finally found it, and then they take off running. Ok, so they weren't exactly running, but they were going awfully fast considering we were hiking and it was all uphill and yeah.... I think I'm going to blame it on the fact that I had mono and therefore haven't done anything in quite a long time and am therefore very, very out of shape. Yup, I'm going to blame it on that. Anyway, we didn't exactly make it to the summit (because apparently it's 8 miles up, which I also didn't realize until we got there...) but it was still fun, and I definitely felt good after doing it (after. note: after. during it, i felt like i was dying. hence the title of this post). And we made it back in time to watch an absolutely crazy Russian movie. But at least it wasn't depressing. Most of the movies we've watched have been depressing. This one was just crazy. And then we spent the rest of the night talking and drinking hot chocolate. So all in all, it was quite a nice day.

All the other schools are here now, and the campus seems much more lively and exciting. I saw Kevin (obviously) and Katie and Lauren Horton and other random people who I didn't even know are doing language school. I also saw another girl at brunch today and I can't for the life of me figure out where I know her, but I know, obviously, that it's from Middlebury, and I can distinctly remember having conversations with her. And she waved at me, so I know I'm not just going crazy. But I can't remember her name or anything. It's driving me crazy, but, oh well.

Anyway, I'm absolutely exhausted, so I'm off to bed. For anyone who's interested, I have put up some pictures from Russian school on my shutterfly website, so if you'd like to look at them it's http://beckyb.shutterfly.com :)