White Christmas

The snow continues to fall! Today we haven't gotten so much, but it absolutely DUMPED on us last night. The drifts were easily a foot deep in some parts; all the cars and scooters are covered in a thick layer of powder and it's beautiful!

Thursday we had our exam, and it wasn't quite as scary as I was anticipating. At least I hope. Generally, when I get a feeling like that after a test, it means I did horribly. So we'll see. Of course after the test everyone wanted to celebrate, so a gang of us picked up a bunch of beer and headed to someone's house to hang out. And as per usual, a few drinks turned into a crazy night painting the town red. I successfully lobbied the group to return to the shot bar and light some stuff on fire, so I was happy as a clam.

Friday we had a big Christmas party for the lot of us CLAMDA students. Luckily one of our companions has a huge apartment here in town that is perfect for having a big party, so we all went there. Everyone brought something; wine, homemade food, desserts. It was awesome! I brought a pumpkin and an apple pie, and it seemed to go over pretty well. There was lasagna, various types of torta salata (think quiche, but without the egg), pizza, "Russian salad" made by a real Russian, tiramisu, and even homemade wine! We had quite the evening, which of course extended after the party was over into the wee hours of the morning. We left (read: stumbled) from the house as one big sloppy gang, and walked to the center to find a club. The snow had been dropping something fierce while we dined, and we got to a big piazza that was still pristine, so a huge snowball fight immediately ensued. We're talking 20+ people tossing snowballs and chasing each other around! It was quite a good time, and as you can imagine for a desert rat, it was like being a kid in a candy store with all the snow. Of course I managed to slip and fall several times and now have bruises and a large bump on the head as battle wounds. But it was a small price to pay for such a night! Somehow I ended up with a Santa hat so no one even noticed the bump by the time we got to the club.

And the shenanigans didn't end there. Walking home through the drifts, I came upon a couple guys trying to get their car unstuck from the snow and ice, so I gave them a hand. In hindsight it probably could have ended up badly, and I can only imagine what was going through their minds at the sight of an inebriated American with a Santa Claus hat pushing on their car. Ho ho ho! When I got home, I apparently decided it would be a good idea to put my socks on the furnace to dry them out. I then promptly forgot about them, and let's just say the results were not pretty. I'm about 97.6% certain I gave my poor roommate a heart attack.

Here are some photos from the first day it was snowing: