down (up?) the volga

well this will be the last post for at least a week- today I'm leaving for a week long trip. Tonight we take the train to Нижний Новгород, I think, and from there I have no clue. I know there is a boat in my near future but places, times, and activities I am unaware of. 

Yesterday I went to Russian Mcdonalds (Макдоналдс). I'm not really a fan of Mcdonalds, I rarely if ever go in the states, and I don't think I've had anything but coffee there in at least a few years. Just a few too many showings of Supersize Me, I'm afraid. But, despite my lack of enthusiasm for a Big Mac, I still think Russian McDonalds is better than the American version. Erika and Paige went with me and they actually got burgers and chicken nuggets and agreed the food was better. I got ice cream and a cappuccino,  and the cappuccino was actually decent. The restaurant was big, open and airy, and there was a guy running around with a palm computer. He would take your orders, input them into the system, and then give you a slip of paper with a number on it. You take it to the cash register, she pulls up your number and gets the food for you. Pretty snazzy. I only went, however, to be completely annoying and get change for my 1000 ruble bill. 1000 ruble bills are stressful to have,because often places you want to get food or a bottle of water don't have change for that much, especially if you're only buying 30 rubles worth of stuff. They then yell at you, in Russian, which always sounds worse than being yelled at in English, and actually it's not yelling at all. Russian intonation makes just about everything sound like yelling to my ear. So, anyways, Mcdonalds has no problem giving you change for an 1000 dollar bill. Thus we went. I might go back there for coffee someday, it was actually one of the more pleasant Mcdonalds "experiences" I've had in my life. The least pleasant was when I was 7, and distinctly remember becoming sick off the chicken "mcnuggets."

anyways, it's a gray and gloomy day here. Hopefully it will be nicer weather down south, on our boat trip. they say that when we visit cities it might even get up into the 60's, but on the river it will be freezing. This is the last boat trip of the season before the weather gets too bad. I even heard rumor it's supposed to snow in Moscow next week. 

Well friends, I have to drag myself away from this computer and my warm cup of tea and go to school. I will try to write most illuminatingly of my trip on the Volga for you next time I can, in about a week.