So what were my college days like at Moscow? Well, they honestly were just your typical college days. Going to classes, hanging out with friends, stuffing your face with junk food, going to parties, getting drunk, all that good stuff. Gotta' love college, right?
Okay, to be honest, I actually only did some of those things. Because I was still boxing, I couldn't really eat a whole lot of junk food. I would occasionally grab a burger and fries for lunch (Russian burgers are amazing by the way), but not every day like half the people I knew did. As for drinking, I can't stand the taste of alcohol. I tried wine once and it was one of the most disgusting things I've ever tasted. Maybe beer tastes better, but I probably won't ever find out for sure because I never plan on trying it. So yeah, it was quite often where I would be hanging out with a group of guys and I would be the only one not holding some sort of alcoholic beverage. As well as the only guy not stuffing his face with chips and talking about soccer teams.
Did I go to parties? Well, yeah. Sometimes. No, I wouldn't go just because my friends went. If that were the case, I'd have gone to every single little party that Moscow had (along with every single strip club, places I preferred to stay away from). No, I went because a certain person liked to go to them occasionally. To hang with her friends that would go to parties. Who exactly am I speaking of? Allow me to introduce you to Anna Sokolov.
I first met Anna about two weeks after I first moved to Moscow. Me and Rafa, a guy that lived across the hall from me (and who would later become one of my good friends), were going out to get dinner when we spotted Anna sitting by herself in the lobby. I had had a pretty long day and was really, really hungry, so I became a little annoyed when Rafa went up to her and started talking to her. Part of me wanted to be a jerk and just leave him behind, but a much large part of me wanted to make friends. It's a good thing that I always listened to that larger part of me, or else I wouldn't have had so many friends by the time I was done with college.
After talking to Anna for about five minutes, Rafa invited her to join us. And she said no. Yeah, I was now even more annoyed by this point. Before you call me a jerk, one of my professors had given the class about three assignments to do over the weekend after I had just spent about two nights getting another long assignment for him done while at the same time having to worry about four other classes. And I was also pretty tired and hungry. I just wanted my dinner already.
Thankfully, I didn't really show how I was feeling and I introduced myself pretty politely to her. Then I got to spend yet another five to eight minutes hearing her talk about classes were going for her (I heard my stomach rumble about three times). But I kept a smile on my face. Overall, Anna seemed like a really nice girl and I didn't have anything against her even while we were talking. I just wished we could've waited until after we were done eating before talking to her.
Anna started out as one of those "wave when you walk by them" people at first. I would see her in the dorm lobby only every once in a while. But I didn't really consider her my friend. At the time, I just figured she would be one of those people who I would see less and less as time went and eventually forget about completely.
That didn't happen.
Not only did I continue to see Anna more and more as time and time went on, but I also began to talk to her more and more. Then talking to her more often led to us visiting each other at our dorms, that led to us deciding to study together every so often, that led to us getting lunch together every so often, and all of that led to us being in a relationship by the time the next semester begun.
And us getting married by the summer.
Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "Wow, y'all sure jumped into that pretty fast." Even I think the same thing as I look back. Even at the time, I knew that everything was happening way too fast. But you have to keep in mind that I had never had a girlfriend before that point. Hell, up until I finished high school I had thought the chances of me finding a girlfriend were about one in a billion. So yeah, all of this was just too new to me and seemed so unrealistic. And...I just didn't want to give it up. This did lead to me doing several things I had never thought I'd do, including having sex outside of marriage. Thankfully, this phase didn't last too long, as we decided to get married after only dating for five months. Yeah, I could tell my parents weren't too excited about the whole thing from the moment I called them the night of the proposal. My dad couldn't even keep a forced smile on his face during the wedding.
So there I was. Married to a woman who I had not even known for a year. At the age of nineteen. I'm pretty sure most people would assume this marriage wasn't going to last very long. Hell, about ninety percent of my family automatically assumed we would be divorced in a year. I still remember my dad saying to me on the phone: "When you find your next girlfriend, be sure to give me a call. I think you could use some dating advice." This was only two days after the wedding.
I guess in terms of how marriages should last, it didn't last very long. Till death do us part, right? Well, we ended up staying together longer than my family expected. We were still married by the time I was finished with college. We also had a child by then.
My first daughter, Elena Nataliya, was born November 13, 2008. I had just turned twenty-one at the time and I honestly was feeling pretty terrified. Having never even been near a baby before that point, I wasn't entirely sure how to be a parent. I was constantly worried that I was going to screw something up. Like I was going to drop her on the first week or not know how to change a diaper. But all of those worries left my head the instant I held newborn Elena in my arms. As I gave my little girl a kiss on her tiny, adorable face, there was only one thought in my head. I may have started my life over back when I first moved to Russia, but now my real life was beginning. My life as a dad.
Sure enough, all those worries were just stupid worries. Being a first-time dad was just like learning Russian. Challenging, but a fun and rewarding experience. Becoming a father will always be the greatest thing that ever happened to me.
My second daughter, Yulia Valentina, was born January 21, 2011. By then, I had everything down. Not to brag, but I was probably one of the greatest bottle makers and diaper changers that ever existed. As well as one of the greatest at responding to a child's cry. 'Maternal instinct' applies to fathers too, right? Because I swear I was on high alert when my daughters were babies. Hell, I'm still on high alert even today. Just hearing a tap or a whimper is enough to get me on two feet. I can hardly ever get a full night of sleep because hearing just one small noise is enough to make me rush to my daughter's rooms. Maternal instinct. Should consider altering the name a bit, society.
So yeah. By the time I was twenty-three, I was married with two children. Living in a foreign country. Definitely not something I would have predicted several years earlier. Then again, I never would have predicted that I would put three kids in the hospital either. Even by this point, my parents (particularly my dad) still thought I had a made a big mistake by marrying so young. Sure they loved their grandchildren, but they always worried that I was throwing my life away.
Did I throw my life away? Oh hell no. My life was great is Russia. And let me tell you more about it.
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