Russian, Russian, Russian (and some doughnuts)

On Saturday, we went to the ballet to see Romeo & Juliet. I have seen Romeo & Juliet at home and loved it, so I was excited. The theater was beautiful and the staging and dancing was awesome! The choreography wasn't as interesting as Ballet Arizona's, which was surprising, but I enjoyed it nevertheless, especially since I haven't seen ballet in over a year. However, I discovered first-hand that I will never be a true Russian woman. I brought tall black high heels for my "formal outfit", not thinking that we'd have to ride the metro for an hour and walk for almost an hour each way (1/2 hour to the metro, long metro ride, then 20 min or so of walking to the theater). By the end, I could barely stand. It hurt so much!! But I learned my lesson. Luckily, I have comfy walking shoes.

Russian class here is intense. I say 'class' singular because we only have one teacher and we have class for three and a half hours in a row. We do different subject within each 3.5 hour period like literature or grammar, but it's basically a fluid class since it's the same people and the same teacher.

I am so glad that I've gotten this opportunity to study Russian. The program here at Grint (center within Moscow Humanities University) is so much better than at home that I know I am going to improve so much. Class is challenging instead of easy, and while that keeps me on my toes, I'm also learning tons. I'm using Russian more than I thought I would and it's fun to practice in real life. It's definitely a rush to successfully get your point across in Russian to a random stranger. I am less afraid than I thought I would be about making mistakes. Andrew and I always gush to each other after we talk to a stranger and we probably look like goofs (which is probably a pretty accurate assessment lol). Class is mentally draining and I am not used to classes being challenging. Classes at ASU (in general) are too easy. As far as Russian goes, I could write a whole paper on what needs to be changed in the department and curriculum. Taking classes at another university has only confirmed my suspicions: we are ill-prepared to enter a Russian speaking world if we only take classes at ASU.

I like pretty much everyone on the trip; everyone is pretty low key, which is nice. In Spain, my group of friends was that way, but there were definitely some high-maintenance people. I get along really well with my roommate, which is a blessing. However, I miss my friends! But I'm so busy here I don't get much time to think about it, which is good.

Time to study. Dosvidanya!