He smiled. She has a nice laugh, and is such a sweet person. It's good to know there's someone like her who he can talk to a little in Russian; it makes the vastness of the world less big and intimidating, in a way.

Ilya took the glass of water gratefully and nodded. "I struggled more than I'd like to admit with English. They're very different languages. It doesn't help rural areas like where I'm from have their own dialectal words. But it's getting easier the more I speak it daily.

"I'm fine. I've met some nice people here already, and everything seems really luxurious compared to home. Other than missing the cold I think I'll like it here."