Yesterday was another busy day for me. It began with waking up at 8.30am to get to class for 9.30am! I didn't dress properly and made sure I put comfort above style. This meant wearing jeans and a massive baggy jumper. I was too sleepy & grumpy to be bothered with fashion! History class was good fun, we learnt more about the first few big cities in Russia, namely Vladimir, Novgorod and Kiev (yes I know Kiev's in the Ukraine but back in 1100 it was in Russia. So there.). I adore our teacher because he's so enthusiastic about everything and always says, "well I'll tell you this because it's funny" and laughs whilst he's explaining it! So sweet. He also has a fantastic knowledge of world & especially Russian history. He can pull names & dates straight out of his head!
After that I came back to my dormitory and had a little time to myself. I took a small nap becuase I'd gone to sleep at 2am the previous night. It's so easy to stay up late here and just look at your clock and realize it's 2 or 3am! Then I trundled off to my other class - Mergers & Acquisitions. It takes me approx 40mins or so to get there so I left in good time and strolled along. I didn't get lost this time and knew the best way to go, so as to actually have places to cross the road. As I've said before, I am pretty sure I shall be murdered here in Russia by a car whilst attempting to cross the road. It's probably doing horrendous things to my nerves and such.
The beginning of class was awkward as everyone sat down and most of the other students had groups of people they knew. Most people will know the daunting feeling of being new to school or class and the first weeks are terrifying. Imagine having to do that, but in a foreign country where your grasp of the language isn't enough to allow you to converse colloquially with your peers! I sat and doodled in my notepad and smiled at people and said привет (hi) as they came in! No-one sat around me which was slightly annoying but oh well. During the halftime break I had to help all the Russians understand what the Professor had meant with our homework. She's German and so English is her second language as well as theirs. This means that she doesn't know how to effectively explain things for people who struggle with English. Thus being the trooper I am, I stepped into the breach and explained everything simply for them all.
Then I sat back down and immediately 2 boys shuffled over and introduced themselves to me. They said "do you have a group yet?", to which my reply was no. We have to do a group business proposal as part of the class and I've been so worried I wouldn't find anyone to group up with. These boys however said they wanted to have me in their group and so I agreed! Phew! Now I don't need to worry about that one! One of the boys also helped me with getting into the HSE wireless system so I could add them on facebook. Sweet really. They seemed like really nice people. From further emailing it appears that a lot of the Russians are fascinated by me, especially because I'm from England, though a lot thought I was American..., but they think their English is too poor to speak to me, which is exactly how I feel about speaking in Russian to them. But I've decided next class I'm just going to man up and speak my best Russian and attempt to get to know more people! Basically that was a great class and I felt really contented that I'd managed to make friends, introduce myself to other class members and got my group sorted for the project!
Then I came home, via the rush hour packed subway & having crossed numerous packed roads. I literally fear for my life everytime I cross a road. No sooner had I got home than my friends said we had to go to dance class! I stuffed my sports kit in my bag and left almost 5minutes after I returned from class.
Dance class was more fun and easier this time because I was in proper sports kit! I couldn't really muster the energy to join in with all the spinning & pirouetting that they did. A lack of food & water during my busy day meant I was feeling weak & nursing a headache. I tried my best to smile and push on through class. We learnt some more holds and dance steps and got to practice with partners. I had 3 different Russian partners and 2 of the Math boys also. I even got to dance with the instructor himself! Though the turn we were doing involved me running my hand across his back & down his arm.....which were both sweat-a-liscious. Yummy. We kept being told to smile, but it's hard to smile when you're concentrating on getting your feet to move the right way & in the correct pattern. I think as the classes progress I should definitely get better but that's me hoping & praying!
Bad news is that I'm getting ill! Everyone on my floor seems to be getting the snuffles and I thought I'd protected myself with overdoses of vitamin C. Alas this morning I woke up with a sore throat and sniffles. Luckily I did bring an entire pharmacy with me so I should be able to cope, but it's just a tad irritating!
