An eventful week?

I had a lovely day at the beginning of the week; I walked from school down to Alexander Nevsky Monastery and took plenty of photos, one especially nice one of pigeons! (Photos will come soon, but I left my camera at my friends’ house.) It was a lovely crisp sunny day, and I was able to march properly, as the road was almost ice free! I had a wander around the grounds and was followed by a homeless man, but then made my escape into the church! I lit a candle for you all (though only had 5 roubles, so you all had to share one!) I then met up for coffee with Eva, which was really nice as we haven’t been able to catch up properly without living in each other’s pockets. Our friend Janine left to go back home on Thursday, so on Wednesday night we went for cocktails which was really nice. Wednesday was also St Patrick’s Day, which I was pretty much unaware of, though when I turned up to my lessons the next day, I was the only person there! All of the people from my class had gone out to celebrate (despite any of them, being Irish!) and hadn’t come in. So I had a day of private tuition! It was pretty awkward, though it was fine!

I seem to spend my life hurrying down Nevsky at the moment. I think that it will take me half an hour or something to get somewhere, and I just always seem to get my timing wrong! So, I always seem to be marching, against the wind rushing to meet someone! After rushing to meet my friend Chris, who I was studying with in Moscow, and grabbing a pirog (little pie type thing) on the way, we climbed up to the top of St Isaacs Cathedral. It was such a lovely day and you get such an amazing view form up there of the whole city. We could even just make out people walking across the Neva!

On Thursday, Jess and I went to watch our friend Pasha DJ; it was a really good set, though there was no one there, so we didn’t want to dance on our own in the middle of an empty club. We were then introduced to his friend, who was pretty mental, and the four of us went on to another club. My friend, who I studied with Moscow, came up from Yaroslavl on Friday. So on Friday night, my friend Franky had a house party. It was a bit of a disaster really! (House parties in Russia, just never seem to go as planned!) Firstly the light in the kitchen went out and then Chris popped out to get a beer, and as he was walking back with the bottle, he slipped on the ice and the bottle smashed in his hand. He just came back into the flat with blood everywhere! It was awful. We helped him clean it up with what was on hand, vodka obviously! The cuts were really deep, but luckily there was no glass stuck inside and to everyone’s surprise, Franky had a whole first aid kit on hand complete with bandages and all! We wrapped him up pretty well and he went off to get stitches the next day.

Here is an exciting bit of news, a couple of weeks ago, this lady called Lizzie commented on my blog saying that she really liked it and was wondering if I could write something for her website (thirdyearabroad.com), it is aimed at students either going on their year abroad, or already there. So I had a look at the website and she had actually put a link to my blog and said how good it was!! I was pretty embarrassed to be honest, because I never assumed that anyone other than family would ever read it! So I wrote up a bunch of stuff about Moscow and sent it to her. She said she liked ait and would put it up that same day! It is not up at the moment, but hopefully it will be soon!

Jess and I were really excited at the beginning of the week because it looked as if spring had well and truly begun... alas, we were wrong. On Thursday night, it snowed for 24 hours and now, just as a lot of the snow had melted and the pavements were walk-able, Mother Nature just dumps a whole load more snow on us! So depressing, I just want the snow to go and for the sun to shine! I may well have to invest in a pair of wellies! This is quite an exciting prospect in Russia though, as they have every pattern under the sun to choose from! Ankle length, or calf length, with or without felt lining, floral print, animal print, plain, or camouflage... the options are endless! So I’m going to go for the leopard print ones with the felt lining! I found a guy selling them for 450 roubles, which is about £6, so not bad at all! I’m just a bit worried about where all the snow will go when it melts! There are just mountains of the stuff, and the walk to school is especially bad, so I think wellies are a must!

Well, that is pretty much it for this week. My friend George is coming to visit next week, so I will fill you all in on what we get up to! I have written up some stuff to do, though it is nowhere near as rigorous as what I put Mum and Dad through in Moscow! I’m so excited though for her to come!!

Anyway, lots of love to you all. Miss you lots x x x x