The days just seem to move quicker as my departure from St. Petersburg approaches. Not only to I want to see as much of the city as possible before I go, but I also have so much stuff to do. I just bought my train ticket to Irkutsk, but I still have to buy my ticket to Moscow (which is actually proving to be MORE difficult - go figure) and a bus ticket to Helsinki and back. I did find someone to let me store my big bag when I go Helsinki and Amsterdam, so I don't have to cart everything around with me. I have to keep reminding myself not to stress out over everything.
I'm starting to get a bit nervous about my classes in Irkutsk. Apparently there's only one other American guy that I know of in the program. Hmmm. It would help if I were fluent in Russian, but I'm an decidedly not. I think it will be alright though. Only one of my classes is with a bunch of Russian students - the languages classes will be easy and the Siberian Studies track will be one-on-one, so I'll be able to stop the intructor when I'm not understanding. I have a feeling though that my Russian is going to get a lot better very soon. It has to. Otherwise I'm screwed.
Of course, there's always the random British guy that I met who is living there, so I'm not to worried about finding my way around the city. As he put it, it's always nice to have someone that you can speak to in rapid English.
As much as I'm dreading leaving here there are a few things I won't miss. Number one on that list - Katya. Lindsey and I are at full-out war with her. We both had to get up early yesterday (Saturday) morning, yet Katya kept us up until 4:30 with her full-volumn MTV watching and phone conversations. So when we got up at 8, we turned the TV AND the radio on to wake her up too. It was fabulous. If were weren't so damn passive aggressive there would have been a major cat-fight at that point.
Now I have to run - I need to make another trip to the train station to once again attempt to buy a train ticket to Moscow.
Toodles.