The last day...

I have been dreading the coming of this day - my last full day in St. Petersburg. The sad thing is, I've spent most of it taking care of all the little errands I need to complete before I leave. But more on that in a second - I want to start from the beginning of the last 24 hours.
When I got home from the internet cafe yesterday, I ran into Ksush downstairs in the dorm, and ended up helping her pack hurriedly because she was leaving for the Caucauses by the night train and had to move all her stuff back to our old room before leaving. Then we made a quick blini run and said our goodbyes. One more friend gone. It's sad having everyone leave. But such is life.
But then, not two minutes after I left Ksusha downstairs, Aafke (my fellow student from Amsterdam) dropped by to see if I was bored too, and we ended up sitting around having a good time doing nothing until late into the evening. It's amazing how quickly the time can fly when you're just hanging out, but it seems to move so slowly when you can't wait to be somewhere.
At that point I was pretty tired, so I went to bed so that I could get up early and do ALL my laundry. Which I did. It was fabulous. Now I can pack without worrying about seperating dirty pants from clean ones.
When I got back to the 18th floor from my laundryroom escapades, the "Obshezhitiye Babushka" was busy doing her fortnightly cleaning of the halls and changing of the sheets. No problem - pretty cool actually that my last night here will be nice and clean. But then not two minutes after I arrived, a flood of other babushkas arrived, who kept on saying to me, "Tarakani, tarakani!" ("Cockroaches, cockroaches!"). Well, you know me and cockroaches - we're arch enemies. And here I was thinking that these ladies were annoucing an invasion. Turns out they just wanted to treat the room for bugs. A little preventative maintainance goes a long way so I've heard. It was a funny encounter nonetheless.
Afterwards, I went to the university with the false hope of acquiring my transcript. It wasn't ready when they said it would be - fancy that. So now I have to go back tomorrow morning, when I was planning on making one last trip to the Hermitage :-(. But I need the transcript, so I'll have to make the sacrifice. I just wish people would do what they say they're going to do when they say they're going to do it. But I can't control that.
I did get one other thing done this afternoon. I went to the Hotel Oktyaberskaya to inquire about a bus ticket to Helsinki. I had been told be various reliable sources that there is a daily bus from the hotel that is much cheaper than the Finnish busline. And it was. For the bargain price of $15, I'll be on my way to Helsinki at 22.00 tomorrow evening. Joy of joys.
Now if I can just find out what's going on with my Amsterdam accomadations, I'll be all set.
Oh yeah, and I still have to pack.
And write my essay for Elena.
And find somewhere to store my stuff for the next two weeks.
Oh crap - the countdown has begun...