In Which ... I don't know, I'm tired

27.10.2008

Today wasn't particularly exciting, as most Mondays aren't. I had my mid-term exam for my grammar course, which seemed fairly easy, so I hope I did well on that. I have my mid-term for my speaking practice class tomorrow (which, ironically, has no speaking section!)

Aaand I spoke with Andrei Vladimirovich (my Human Rights teacher) about my mid-term for THAT class.. I didn't entirely understand THAT discussion. I understand that he wants me to write an 8000 character paper (which I think is about five pages) about ... something. He said we would 'think about it' and he'd give me a topic shortly. I think he wants me to do something connecting a Human Rights issue in America with one in the U.S., or contrasting them or something. Or maybe he wanted me to do that for my FINAL paper? I don't know, he was jumping around a bit. Does anyone know of any major human rights issues in America about which I could write? I could think of a few, but the thing is, it's not a 'huge thing' in IR to criticise the U.S. for human rights abuses or anything... Despite what a stroll through Baltimore could reveal.

Oh, another amusing thing -- A guy joined our class, today ... ? It's, what, eight weeks into the semester, and someone joins the class? What the hell is up with that? I couldn't really understand anything he was saying throughout class because the acoustics in that room are terrible and he was speaking quietly. I hope that doesn't continue. He seems like an average Russian guy, which is to say, a terrible person. But, here I am, judging people again. But then again, it's fairly rare that I meet a guy my age who ISN'T a terrible person, so that doesn't extend just to Russia.

BUT THAT DOESN'T NEGATE THE FACT THAT HE JOINED THE CLASS EIGHT WEEKS IN. And the first question he asked Andrei Vladimirovich was how old he was. Andrei responded,

How old do you THINK I am?
New guy (whose name I don't know): Hmm.. 20.
Andrei: *sigh, rolling of the eyes* 25.

I feel sorry for him -- it's clear that no one takes him seriously, but he seems much more ... together, stable, and enthuastic than most of the other professors. Ah well. Oh, right, and, amusingly, I didn't understand half the lecture, which I told him after class, and I told him I'd just read up on the conflict he was talking aabout and he was like, "Oh, no, don't bother, it's fine!" Which I find mildly strange. Of course, he's done that a few times -- if I didn't finish a reading he tells me I don't need to do any more, and so on... If I were in America, I'd be EXPECTED to go that extra mile. Maybe he's just thankful that I come to every class (Anya didn't come, today) and that I have been in the class since the beginning...?

So, going to Romeo and Juliet on Friday, then leaving for Moscow on Saturday night and not coming back until Tuesday morning. Oh, and this is the Russian idea of a holiday: Monday is a holiday, right? So, we have no classes on Monday. You'd think, "whoo, three day weekend!", right? Wrong. We have our Monday classes the previous SATUDAY instead. Yep. Which is why we're leaving for Moscow on Saturday NIGHT. Good job, Russia. (Actually, that's probably a Soviet holdover, like everything else in this damned country that doesn't make any sense)

The course list for next semester will be available in a couple of days, which is mildly terrifying, because it's the THIRD TO LAST TIME I WILL BE MAKING COURSE SELECTIONS FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDY!! AAAAAH. I was actually confused earlier today and thought it was already up, so I was looking at the fall '08 course selection, which was really sad and uninteresting. But when I realised that it WASN'T the spring '08 course selection, I was happy that I missed such a shitty semester in the first place. In any case, I looked over all the gen. ed. requirements, and it seems to me that I only have a couple more to fulfill? I don't know, it doesn't seem right to me because I thought that I still needed to take four more gen. ed. classes. Who knows.

I'm sure that little blurb was interesting to read... right. At this point I'm just blathering on because I don't want to do my homework. But, I better get to it...