Stretching the academic muscles

January 21, 2010

from On Life in St.Petersburg by Liz Hulley:

I started my classes again this week. It’s sort of an inter-term because the new semester doesn’t really start until February. Since I paid for classes in January, I figured I’d better go.

Can you tell I was reluctant? I dragged my feet so much on the first day, but I actually had an enjoyable time.

I arrived at 9:30 and found out that I didn’t actually have class for nearly two hours. I hadn’t been able to find out the schedule ahead of time. However, I had known this was a possibility. I headed to a café next door to have a second breakfast and finalize my question list for the FMS.

When I entered the classroom, there was a stack of books on the table, but no sign of anyone. Finally an elderly woman poked her head in. I recognized her from the back of one of my textbooks. She said hello and then disappeared for a few more minutes. Eventually she returned, bringing with her a priest from Argentina who has been in a few of my classes. He was supposed to have an individual class, but everything was moved around.

There we sat-a Catholic, a Protestant, and a Russian, presumably Orthodox.

The main topic was fairly boring, the ethics of casinos; but we had a fun time together discussing it. The priest from Argentina is less fluent than I am, so sometimes the teacher told me to translate, only the priest doesn’t know English.

So I tried to make the words sound Spanish. Sometimes he said something in Spanish and I could understand. We also got confused about whether we should use informal or formal address, so we switched back and forth a lot!

I had been reluctant to begin classes again, but I felt more motivated by the end of the day. It’s always interesting to meet new people and learn new things.

Posted by Mike | Filed Under Russia, Staff