The Rocket-air to Russia

I've had the idea for this blog for months, and I thought I'd know what to say, but...
Anyways, I learned yesterday that I was accepted to the exchange program at school, which means I will be spending a semester at People's Friendship University in Moscow, learning Russian and exploring Russian life, culture, history, politics, and sociology. My primary goal is to improve my Russian language skills, but I also hope to gain insight and understandings of Russian culture and Moscow as a city to help me better understand Russian History. Secondarily, I hope to look into the Muscovite/Russian punk scene past and present, as well as the history of skateboarding in Russia. I realize that my deficiencies in the language will prevent a thorough or really effective study of the subjects, but this trip is only the first of many, and will be used as a basis from which to work so that I can better study the subjects in future visits. I'm so excited about this I feel I could write forever, I've dreamed of going to Russia for years and now it appears to be coming true. There are so many aspects of this, and so many things I want to see, study, and experience that it is almost overwhelming and needs focus-but as I said before this trip's purpose is to build foundations from which to build my future studies, and of course learn the requisite Russian I will need to work with, but I guess that's part of the foundation.
I also realize that I have a lot to do to prepare for this trip. I have been saving money for months, but need to save a lot more and sell my Triumph. There is a lot of research I need to do, and a lot of information I need to know before I go. I have scholarship applications, grants to find, cheap airfare, list out everything I have to see in Moscow, figure out dates of travel, what I need for the trip, what I need for school, get affairs in order, etc, etc, etc, etc...
I also must admit that I am a little nervous, this is probably the biggest leap I'll have made in my life to date, and there is a lot of preparation to be done, so I feel I can't celebrate until I'm ready to go.