On My Way to Russia

I'm off to Russia! 

I departed from Denver at 10:07 this morning and have reached Washington, D. C. I will be catching a flight from here to Frankfurt, Germany, where I will change planes again. My next stop after that will be in St. Petersburg.

I'm feeling rather exhausted (which makes sense since I stayed up until 2 a. m. and woke up at 6 to go to the airport), but otherwise I'm doing all right. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep on the plane later so that I am somewhat awake when I arrive in St. Petersburg.

My last week in Denver turned into a long string of far too many goodbyes. I had to say goodbye to my teachers and friends from school, since I am switching from Denver School of the Arts to online school (Denver Online High School) while I am in Russia. I am not ready to be leaving these people; I will see them in January when I visit DSA (which I promise that I will do), but by the time I come home a the end of the year, the class of 2014 will have already graduated and begun to disperse out into the world. 

Last night, I went to ballet class at Classical Ballet of Colorado, my last until I come home for my winter break. I had to say goodbye to my ballet class and my ballet teacher, Elizabeth, with whom I have been studying for the past six years. Leaving this group was especially difficult. When you are spending upwards of twenty hours together every week, it's hard not to start feeling like a family. I have been through some of my strongest and weakest moments with these people, and I will miss being surrounded by the trust and support that arises from having shared those experiences. 

It was difficult to say goodbye to Elizabeth. Going to study at the Vaganova Academy is especially important and meaningful to me because it is the school where Elizabeth trained. I know that she wants me to take this opportunity, but that is not going to stop me from missing her a lot.

I had to say goodbye to my cats and my brother before I left for the airport with my parents. Will is awesome; despite being a teenage boy who values rest and relaxation, he woke up at 6 a. m. on a Saturday to say goodbye to me. My dad said goodbye before I went through security, and my mom took me to the gate. 

I have decided that this was too many of goodbyes to have to say to too many people I care about in far too little time.

Besides feeling a bit sad, I am feeling very lucky, specifically concerning luggage. (Hopefully this luck continues until I, along with all of my bags, have arrived safely at the dorms). 

Yesterday afternoon, my things were still spread out on a sheet in my basement.

My parents are incredibly good at packing, and with their help, that chaotic scene eventually turned into this (much more organized) one.

We had only weighed the bags using a luggage scale  which we had not confirmed to be accurate (and that shows weights in kilograms, introducing the possibility that we might have made a weight conversion error).  My parents and I arrived at the airport, dreading the major repacking ordeal that would be in order if either one of the two we intended to check weighed over 50 lbs. The bigger bag went on the scale...

...and this is the result. Not bad, right? Definitely a good way to start of my trip!

Now I'm off to Frankfurt, and after that, to St. Petersburg!