What can I say about my first days in USA? I experienced delights and disappointments.

First of all, there is nature. Everything that you can imagine in your wishful dreams is in Wyoming. There are the majestic grand hills and the Rocky Mountains; there are the lazy High Plains and their hospitable inhabitants (elks, deers, bisons, badgers, and so on). The sight of divine landscapes of the Yellowstone Park and the Grand Teton makes you want to exclaim with Goethe: “Bleibe doch - du bist so schoen!" (Last a while - you are so beautiful).

Secondly, there are people. I can say that here I have only met warm and friendly people. It's no secret that the first weeks for many people, who come to a foreign country, are a great ordeal. One has to deal with a foreign language, a foreign culture, a foreign mentality, a time difference and strange food. At first I admit that I felt quite uncomfortable. However, thanks to the kind-heartedness of many Americans and emigrants from CIS this difficult period of adaptation did not last too long.

Thirdly, there is the university. I am proud to be working with some of the best specialists, such as my academic advisors professor Marcel Kornfeld and Dr. Nicole Waguespack. I am very much obliged to them for letting me visit some lectures and for their practical and educational advice. I am also working with Dr. Danny Walker, Dr. Robert Kelly and Dr. Mary Lou Larson. I have already taken part in two archaeological conferences (in Rapid City, SD and Jackson, WY) and have met many scholars who are interested in my research.

Now I am preparing an article for a major American archaeological journal American Antiquity. Simultaneously, I am researching literature for my dissertation. I have to admit there are no disappointments. Yet there are times when I am very homesick for my family and friends. Yes, I have many new friends. However, I subscribe to the well-known proverb: “An old friend is worth two new ones.”