I'll Be Back.

I refuse to believe that I'm leaving Moscow a week from tomorrow.
The only thing that's keeping me from being very sad about this fact is that I know I'll be coming back come the end of January. If it weren't for next semester, I would probably run away, become an illegal immigrant, and you'd never hear from me again.

This is how much I love it here.

Of course, I'm very ready for a break from school. Classes are..well...classes. You know how it goes. Today was our last big presentation for our Language through Mass Media class; all the students from levels four to six had to make a little report on the topic of "Art and Literature in the Modern World." I decided to be philosophical and say that art cannot be defined and that it's different for every person; I then went on to talk about my favorite type of art, music. Grand.
It was a little scary talking in front of more people than I'm used to, but all ended well.

I really haven't been up to much since getting back from Pskov; as I said before, classes nearing the end have forced me to actually stay home more and study. I'm so close to the end, though!

For the extra class I'm taking about Fairytales (I think I've mentioned this class before?), we have a little "open class" on Tuesday where we will perform three different fairytales and sing Russian folk songs. In the longest and most fun fairytale we'll be doing, I have the part of the evil Snow Queen who is angered by sweet little innocent Snegurochka, played by Kelly. Snegurochka is Ded Moroz's (Father Frost's) granddaughter, but in this fairytale she is just a granddaughter who represents all that is pure and wonderful in Russia. To take my revenge for being offered a hot drink (cleary the Queen of Cold would not want a hot drink), I freeze Snegurochka's heart so that she will never feel happiness again! (insert evil laughter here). After Snegurochka's grandparents attempt to cheer her up with candy, presents, and animals who tell jokes, Snegurochka's heart is finally thawed by the singing of Russian folk songs, and the evil Queen is defeated.


Tomorrow we'll also be going to the Kremlin; it's hard to believe we've been here three months and have only seen the Kremlin, but now our Russian has improved a lot so the tour will be in Russian and will (hopefully) be more interesting. Tomorrow night is also the going away party for the students who are only here a semester. We're going bowling. Old School.


I just really still can't even fathom that the semester is ending. Where does time go? I do not understand.


Speaking of time, it's time for me to leave; we're going to a hockey game! The match is between CSKA of Moscow and SKA of Petersburg.
Exciting.



This very well may be my last post before jetting home to Germany, but once I'm home I'll have gobs of time to write about Pskov and so on and so forth.


Before coming to Russia, I wasn't exactly sure why I was so enthralled and fascinated by it; now that I've been here for three months, I'm starting to understand.
This will also be discussed over break.
(Get ready, it's going to be deep.)


Ну, давай.



From Russia with so much love,
Kara.

"Are you gangsters?" "No, we are Russians."

(Quote from Брат 2).


For my Russia Today class I'm writing a research paper about the romanticization of the Russian mafia.

While researching, I found this article and simply had to share it because it's so....unique.



And now, back to work!

Cloudy with a high of 25

Well.

In exactly two weeks and one day I will be back home in the Fatherland, aka Germany. It's so strange how fast the time has gone by.

Today I realized for the millionth time how hard it is to manage my time here in Moscow. I blame this on the size of the city and all the wonderful distractions it offers.
What, you mean I should be studying? But what about that museum I wanted to go to? Or that interesting exhibit that's only going on for a couple more days? Come on people, I'm trying to embrace a new culture. I do not have time for this thing called "school."

Speaking of school, it suddenly got crazy. In all fairness I should have expected this, since one normally is expected to take final exams and do final presentations as the semester nears the end. The end just sorta snuck up me, though, and I feel like I'm frantically rushing around writing papers, final presentations, and studying for exams.
That being said, I'm putting the blog on hold for a bit. Sorry.


On another note, Wednesday was a record high of 7.1 celsius (about 45 fahrenheit), and it's been that warm all week. Everyone keeps saying how ужасно (horrible) it is: "7 degrees in December?! This should never be. We should have snow by now! Horrible!"
BUT. The forecast for next week?

Cloudy.
Highs in the 20s.

Bring it on.

December? Really?

Hi. Just a quick note letting everyone know I made it back from Pskov and it was the COOOOLEST little town.
I don't know if any of you heard about the train accident that happened last weekend, but don't worry it wasn't our train and we're fine.

So now I'm really busy what with it being the end of the semester and everything (only three weeks left! THREE!), and sadly I don't have time to tell you about the glories of Pskov at the moment.
However.
I will give you links to my pictures and write a more detailed post in the near(ish) future.


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=347273&id=602370412&l=085aa02355

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=347362&id=602370412&l=b27546c2e0



Пока мои дорогие!
(Goodbye my dears!)