I shared my room with another girl from Vladivostok, the most Eastern Russian city, who spoke almost no English. We shared a built-in desk, two built-in closets, a mini-fridge she had purchased and a small hallway/closet situation where we kept our food, cooking supplies and coats. Our ‘room’ was divided into this hallway, our bedroom and our bathroom. Our bathroom consisted of a plastic bathtub/shower with a hole in the bottom that caused it to flood every time we took a shower, along with a sink, tiny mirror and toilet.
In all honesty, I wasn’t as bad as I imagined when I first walked in. My roommate didn’t arrive back from winter break until I had been there for over a week, so I had some time alone to settle in. It was awkward to be in her space when she came home, but we made it work. Quickly, I settled into a routine. Every morning, I woke up with the sun around 7:00 a.m. (because we didn’t have curtains). I would sit in my bed, have a banana and some cookies for breakfast and read my bible until my friend, Justin, was awake and ready to leave for the gym. We would meet downstairs and walk to the gym, where we would spend around two hours depending on our class schedule that day. Then we would return, shower, do homework and get ready for the day. Later, Justin and I would meet up with our friend Sam for lunch in the school cafeteria before our classes begin. The only class that I had before noon was on Fridays, so my mornings were mostly homework for the classes I had later in the day. Finally, we would attend our classes and meet back up at night in the kitchen on my floor to cook dinner. Eventually, we would return to our respective rooms for more homework and go to bed.
