So, I just finished my first final, which went pretty well I think. I just have 3 more Russian language finals (most of which will be incredibly easy) and one paper to write in English. Then I'll be done!
I only have 2 more weeks to go here, which is actually making it really hard to get through. The fact that I'll be home in 2 weeks makes me much more focused on getting home than on enjoying my last weeks here. But, on the other hand, there are lots of great things coming up: Backstreet Boys concert, possibly another trip to Moscow, going to Petergof to see the fountains, etc.
Not much has been going on lately because we've just been working hard. This weekend I went to a modernized version of "La Traviata" (kind of strange), a cemetery where more famous people are buried (like Tchaikovsky, Dostoevsky, etc.), and a monastery (where we had a tour led by the meanest monk possible. He got really mad at other tourists taking pictures of him and started complaining to us about the "savages from the West." Needless to say -- a bit awkward). I also visited the Armenian Church with an Armenian friend of mine. In my opinion, it was much nicer than the Russian Orthodox churches I have seen so far. It seemed a lot less intimidating and cluttered; there was also a service going on which was very beautiful.
This past week I had one experience with the Russian lack of understanding of the word "tolerance." We had actually discussed in school how Russians do not understand that word at all, so when it was announced as my conversation topic for the discussion club, I did not expect great results. It fully lived up to my expectations. Russians think that tolerance is simply patience. One girl said that she once saw a history textbook from America, and it didn't say that Russia won WWII (Russia thinks they won WWII and will not take any other explanation). She said that was intolerant of America.
Also, St. Petersburg won the European cup in soccer! Go Zenit!
Congrats to those of you who have already graduated!
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