Rachel

St. Petersburg keeps getting better and better. I'm feeling comfortable with the city, finding my favorite places to hang out, and becoming closer with my new friends. Also, I've been laughing a lot recently.

Now, I just wanna take a second to brag about my friend Rachel. When I was picked up by my Russian hostmom for the first time, she told me that there existed a mysterious girl who would be living in the apartment below me but was delayed in getting to Petersburg. I got nervous - my expectations for this girl were suddenly very high, and what if she just wasn't as cool as I needed her to be? This girl needed to bus to school with me every day, go shopping with me, try new restaurants, and be there for me when shit went down and life was being difficult. I spent the next 24 hours wondering if this girl I had never met could live up to the person I saw her to be in my head. Well, she did.

Rachel and I have many adventures to come - stay tuned!