Recap Continued
February 16th, as you may have guessed simply needed it's own posting, these next couple days should catch me up to our lovely and frigid, present day Moscow.
Thursday February 17th was nothing special. I had Чтение и Понимание Текста again, which to my surprise managed to kick my butt...again. It's the only class out of all of my Russian ones, that seems to give me any problems. We had a little test in which the professor said a bunch of random words and we had to write them on paper. That I had no problem with. Then, she wanted us to find synonyms for these words. Well, that's where I failed, lol. I forgot my dictionary, and even if I knew what some of the words meant, I didn't know any synonyms for them. So instead, I decided to use them in a sentence. That was the best I can do considering we had no way to prepare for this in advance or know what to bring to class for it.
After that class, I had my other English elective which was Political Structure. All of the boys took it, I was the only girl. As I have explained multiple times in the past to friends and family, I have no interest in politics, in fact, I find them a complete and utter bore. However, I do believe that it is very important to know how government works, so that when it does come time for elections, or a new law to be passed, I have an idea as to how it is going to affect me. That is why I took this class. The professor is from Georgia, and is about 70 years old. He had a lot of stories to tell us about his past and how he was involved with the Russian government from a young age, how he saw the fall of communism and what his role was during all of this. It was very interesting, but the lights were off, and the room was very warm...I couldn't wait for the sound of the bell, so I can get up and wake up, I was having such a hard time staying awake. I felt so bad!
Friday February 18th, I surprised my Russian Language professor, my favorite one, when I came to class. She for some odd reason thought I was still trying out Group 2, but nevertheless, she was happy to have me. During a break between class, two of the girls spoke to me and said that they saw that I am a little stressed out in the class. They they proceeded to tell me their story, about how they were here last semester and had the same problem that I had, not being able to comprehend everything and speak fluently. They told me it gets easier as time goes on. They made me feel better and even more so that I belonged in Group 3. Class went smoothly, and afterward I met Group 1 outside of their classroom. Today sometime between 2:30-5pm, we had to go pick up some paper work that Igor, the dean, had filled out for us. It was back in the main building, in Sector Б room 104. I called Marina asking her where can I find it. She said it was near Dom Studenta (this is the place which we spent 5 hours in the first day we arrived in Russia), but down a different corridor. At the sound of that place, everyone groaned and sighed. Will, Trevor, Tara and I set out. Dan, who was also in group 1 said he was simply too hungry to deal with crazy Russian paperwork and left us to deal with it.
We made it to Sector Б no problem, saw room 102 then 103, but 104 was no where in sight. So we went down a set of stairs that went into Dom Studenta, and the room numbers were single digits. At that point, Will had lost hope and left us to get food too. Trevor, Tara and I went back up the stairs, and still, could not find 104. After a second attempt at going down the stairs, we found the "Secret Corridor" and lo and behold, room 104! I gave the woman in the office my Пропуск and passport, and she handed me a tiny piece of gray paper with Russia's stamp of approval on it. What was I supposed to do with this paper? No idea.
At this point in the day after I ate lunch I was saying: "Слава Богу сегодня пятьницу!" (Thank God it's Friday!) Every single night leading up to Friday, Rachel and the boys were trying to get me to go out drinking with them. I have a personal policy on that, perhaps I'm too strict on that, or just plain and simple responsible, but during the school week, I will not go out and party and drink. That is for the weekend, even then, I'll only have a drink or two, I prefer to still be very much aware of my surroundings and in control of the situation. So, no one can say that I'm never any fun. ;) I'll leave the details of that night up to your own imaginations. It was a good time, but towards the end of the night a very sobering experience with two war veterans in our group of Americans telling us "how it is" in a very drunken stupor and about how we know nothing about our future career goals in the FBI or other three letter agencies. I couldn't wait to get back to my room, it was late, and a good time does not equal being lectured at during the wee hours of the night.
Saturday February 19th
Nothing all that exciting happened today. Everyone slept in late, I caught up on some homework, and I was missing Marcus. I wasn't able to talk to him much because he had to work during the hours I was awake, and he had been relatively busy the past week. I did however, get to talk to my parents for a while which was nice. I got them all caught up with the crazy that is my Russia. Everyone was ready to go out again, and they had tried to persuade me into going as well. I was partied out, and had to reject, lol. I spent the night watching episodes of Smallville, writing emails to friends and family, and reading.
Thursday February 17th was nothing special. I had Чтение и Понимание Текста again, which to my surprise managed to kick my butt...again. It's the only class out of all of my Russian ones, that seems to give me any problems. We had a little test in which the professor said a bunch of random words and we had to write them on paper. That I had no problem with. Then, she wanted us to find synonyms for these words. Well, that's where I failed, lol. I forgot my dictionary, and even if I knew what some of the words meant, I didn't know any synonyms for them. So instead, I decided to use them in a sentence. That was the best I can do considering we had no way to prepare for this in advance or know what to bring to class for it.
After that class, I had my other English elective which was Political Structure. All of the boys took it, I was the only girl. As I have explained multiple times in the past to friends and family, I have no interest in politics, in fact, I find them a complete and utter bore. However, I do believe that it is very important to know how government works, so that when it does come time for elections, or a new law to be passed, I have an idea as to how it is going to affect me. That is why I took this class. The professor is from Georgia, and is about 70 years old. He had a lot of stories to tell us about his past and how he was involved with the Russian government from a young age, how he saw the fall of communism and what his role was during all of this. It was very interesting, but the lights were off, and the room was very warm...I couldn't wait for the sound of the bell, so I can get up and wake up, I was having such a hard time staying awake. I felt so bad!
Friday February 18th, I surprised my Russian Language professor, my favorite one, when I came to class. She for some odd reason thought I was still trying out Group 2, but nevertheless, she was happy to have me. During a break between class, two of the girls spoke to me and said that they saw that I am a little stressed out in the class. They they proceeded to tell me their story, about how they were here last semester and had the same problem that I had, not being able to comprehend everything and speak fluently. They told me it gets easier as time goes on. They made me feel better and even more so that I belonged in Group 3. Class went smoothly, and afterward I met Group 1 outside of their classroom. Today sometime between 2:30-5pm, we had to go pick up some paper work that Igor, the dean, had filled out for us. It was back in the main building, in Sector Б room 104. I called Marina asking her where can I find it. She said it was near Dom Studenta (this is the place which we spent 5 hours in the first day we arrived in Russia), but down a different corridor. At the sound of that place, everyone groaned and sighed. Will, Trevor, Tara and I set out. Dan, who was also in group 1 said he was simply too hungry to deal with crazy Russian paperwork and left us to deal with it.
We made it to Sector Б no problem, saw room 102 then 103, but 104 was no where in sight. So we went down a set of stairs that went into Dom Studenta, and the room numbers were single digits. At that point, Will had lost hope and left us to get food too. Trevor, Tara and I went back up the stairs, and still, could not find 104. After a second attempt at going down the stairs, we found the "Secret Corridor" and lo and behold, room 104! I gave the woman in the office my Пропуск and passport, and she handed me a tiny piece of gray paper with Russia's stamp of approval on it. What was I supposed to do with this paper? No idea.
At this point in the day after I ate lunch I was saying: "Слава Богу сегодня пятьницу!" (Thank God it's Friday!) Every single night leading up to Friday, Rachel and the boys were trying to get me to go out drinking with them. I have a personal policy on that, perhaps I'm too strict on that, or just plain and simple responsible, but during the school week, I will not go out and party and drink. That is for the weekend, even then, I'll only have a drink or two, I prefer to still be very much aware of my surroundings and in control of the situation. So, no one can say that I'm never any fun. ;) I'll leave the details of that night up to your own imaginations. It was a good time, but towards the end of the night a very sobering experience with two war veterans in our group of Americans telling us "how it is" in a very drunken stupor and about how we know nothing about our future career goals in the FBI or other three letter agencies. I couldn't wait to get back to my room, it was late, and a good time does not equal being lectured at during the wee hours of the night.
Saturday February 19th
Nothing all that exciting happened today. Everyone slept in late, I caught up on some homework, and I was missing Marcus. I wasn't able to talk to him much because he had to work during the hours I was awake, and he had been relatively busy the past week. I did however, get to talk to my parents for a while which was nice. I got them all caught up with the crazy that is my Russia. Everyone was ready to go out again, and they had tried to persuade me into going as well. I was partied out, and had to reject, lol. I spent the night watching episodes of Smallville, writing emails to friends and family, and reading.
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