Nervous or not to Nervous

Two weeks tomorrow.  That's when I leave for Moscow.  To be exact, two weeks from tomorrow morning around 7:30.  That's when I leave for Moscow.

I have had many people ask me if I'm nervous.  That's a difficult question to answer.  Nervous of going to a country where English is not primarily spoken?  No, not really.  Many people speak English.  On top of that, I plan to have my own Russian speaking skills vastly improved.  I speak a little now.  I hope to speak a lot better in six weeks.  Am I nervous about being in Russia?  No.  I have not met any Russians I dislike.  I doubt anybody is going to ask me for my political or social opinions.  I am there to study the manuscripts of a composer, and I am thrilled to learn about the culture and history.  And I hope to see some musical events- opera, ballet, symphony.

I could share many other things about which I am not nervous.  But instead I'm going to share two things that have given me a slight pause (because to call it "nervousness" is giving it too much weight): 1) Less smiling.  I have been told by a couple of people that smiling a lot around strangers is not really the norm.  Smiling with friends is fine- but I won't have many friends there.  So maybe I'll try to give myself time away from people so I can smile.  By myself... no, that's lame.  Who am I kidding?  I'm too extroverted to be AWAY from people.  At least I am aware that I should not smile at people in the subway.  I can make that sacrifice.  2) I'm nervous about getting the research done that I need.  I have time to do it, but I hope that the people I meet are helpful.  If they aren't, this will make for a long month.  However, I do think that it is wasted energy to worry about that.  I have the appropriate documentation stating the museums will help.  And I know friendly people in Moscow who are happy to help me regarding transportation.

I am at a bit of an impasse with my dissertation writing.  I can continue to write, and I will do some writing tomorrow.  But I now need Russian scholarship translated into English.  I could attempt to do it myself- at which point my dissertation would take me 11 years to complete.  Or I could spend the money on translators and get it done.  I started reaching out for help with translating about a month ago.  It was not a priority for me then, because I thought it would be easier to find translators than it has been.  To be fair, finding a translator is easy.  Finding a translator that doesn't cost me an arm and a leg?  I don't think that's possible.

I think my next blog post will be about music.  It's way more interesting than blogging about logistics.  But I can't help myself...