Landed: Yerevan

Thanks to everyone who read my first post! I will keep trying to entertain you! So, as you all may have guessed by the title- I AM IN YEREVAN!! I arrived last night at about 10 PM after nearly a 20 hour journey. On my first flight to Moscow (which is 13 hours long in case anyone was wondering), my video console WAS BROKEN so I couldn't watch any movies or listen to music... totally frustrating because I did not speak Russia and thus could not communicate with the flight attendant. However, like a blessing in disguise, I found out about two hours into the flight that I was sitting next to a wonderful Russian girl (hello Dasha!) who had just finished a month of holiday in the United States. We found that we had a never-ending list of topics to talk about such as the difference between the US and British school systems (she lived there for ten years) and our younger brothers (hi Mark!). Overall, my flight went really well even though I wasn't able to sleep very much!

When I finally walked into the Arrivals Hall at Zvartnots Airport, I nearly had a heart attack because I couldn't find Anna, our internship coordinator, for about 20 minutes and I was getting lots of weird stares. However, I found her eventually and we came to the BEAUTIFUL home all the interns are staying in right outside of the city center of Yerevan. The house has four floors, too many bedrooms to count, a huge outdoor terrace, and a backyard with a pool that is being filled today! I was immediately welcomed by all the interns who had arrived before me and we spent a few hours getting to know each other before I went to bed. 

This morning I woke up around 10 AM and went outside to the balcony where our lovely housekeeper Gohar had prepared us breakfast. After breakfast, some of the girls and I decided to go to the statue of Mayr Hayasdan which is a war memorial, museum, and amusement park all at once... one of the many weird things I have seen here so far and it has only been a day!  

We then went to lunch near the Armenian Opera House in an area that has many nice cafes. We ate at Grammy Cafe (yes, the theme is the American Grammy Awards... go figure) and then went to the supermarket. We got back home at around 5:00 and had an intern orientation. Almost all the interns are here now (we're missing one person which will make our group 21 interns: 6 boys, 15 girls) and we are each working at different places around Yerevan. I am so so so excited about my internship that starts tomorrow at the UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME!!! I will keep you guys posted on all the responsibilities I am going to have and how everything is going as soon as I start. 

Sorry to keep this post short again but I have to go get ready because we are all going out to the cafe area in 30 minutes to have dinner and smoke hookah. I will write again soon!