Girls Just Want to Have Fun

This week went by so much faster than the last two. The beginning of the week started out bright and sunny, but when I left Smolny after my classes finally got out at 8 pm on Wednesday, I opened the door to find that I was in the middle of winter again. The snow was coming down at an alarming rate, and once I stepped out onto the sidewalk and closed the door be, I actually shouted "WHAT?!" Within minutes I was covered in snow, straight out of a snow globe. But alas, the sun is out again, and the streets are back to their grubby, spit-globbed, cigarette-littered, dog-pooped selves. Ahh. 

On Thursday I went to go see Wes Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel” all by my lonesome (all my friends told me they had a test to study for. Psssh). I decided on the walk to the movie theater Angleterre that me going to the movies by myself is either incredibly independent and praiseworthy, or extremely pathetic and sad. Perhaps it’s a mix of both, but I’ve wanted to see this movie for a really long time. 

Everything went smoothly, until of course, I had to interact with someone. The movie theater is located within the Angleterre Hotel, and when I told them what movie I wanted to see, they responded to me in English, to my surprise. Nevertheless, I responded in Russian, but I should have taken advantage of the available English. When the woman behind the counter gave me my ticket and then told me directions to the screen, I swore I never heard her tell me how much the price of the ticket was, so I pointed behind me and meant to say, “will I pay there?”. I panicked because I don’t know the verb платить (to pay) like I should, and I wanted to say “will I pay there,” hence, future tense, so on a whim I just guessed about the perfective aspect of the verb and said, “я плачу там?”. Well, that got laughs. Oh shit, I thought. Did I just say, “I will cry there?” instead of “I will pay there?”, knowing that the verbs to pay and to cry are somewhat similar. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with any of my mistakes, so after she told me 300 rubles, I gave them to her and marched on. I didn’t have the nerve to look up to see what the perfective form of платить was until the day later, and when I checked, I realized that I wasn’t far off. And then, I turned the page of my 501 Russian Verbs book and looked at the verb плакать (to cry). In sum, I learned that the phrases “I pay” and “I cry” both look like this: я плачу. They are absolutely identical, with the only thing differentiating them being where the stress is placed. So it turns out I used the imperfective instead of the perfective aspect (therefore, I didn’t use the future tense), and I think I managed to put the stress in the wrong place. I said "ya plAchu" instead of "ya plachU", which means that I said “I cry” instead of “I pay”. Swing and a miss (fuck Russian). 

Just kidding. I love Russian, and I know it (although I have been slowly realizing how easy English and French appear in comparison. They aren’t kidding when they say Russian is one of the most difficult languages to learn... Jesus). 

Anyways, the movie was an absolute riot. If you have no idea what movie I’m talking about, I suggest you watch this trailer right now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fg5iWmQjwk. I think I was a little disappointed with the plot (I don’t know why, exactly), but the characters made it all so worth it. Ralph Fiennes is the funniest. He is such a cartoon character. He is ridiculous (well, the whole movie is), and is oblivious to it all. Edward Norton, Jude Law, Owen Wilson, Tom Wilkinson, Adrien Brody, Harvey Keitel, Jeff Goldblum, Saoirse Ronan, and Tilda Swinton are all in it too, and Willem Defoe plays the creepiest (yes, I know that’s already a given) hitman you could conjure up. I won’t say anything to spoil the plot, but I sincerely suggest that if you plan on going to the movies anytime soon, that you should see this one. 

I don’t have much more to report, except for the fact that MEGHAN METTE IS ARRIVING IN RUSSIA IN 3 HOURS! My best friend jumped through the numerous flaming hoops that are Russian bureaucracy in order to get a hotel reservation and a travel visa so she could come visit me and stay until Wednesday. As you can imagine, I am ecstatic. Meghan was nice enough to let me visit her when she spent her gap year in Cork, Ireland two spring breaks ago, and I’m excited to return the favor and show her around Petersburg. I warned her that although I’m learning Russian, we’re definitely going to flail and flounder a bit when it comes to communicating. I’m looking forward to introducing her to my friends, and going back to all the must-see sights that I saw when I first arrived here. I’m also just excited to spend time with someone with whom I can just be my complete and utter self. I love my friends here, but they don’t know me like Meghan obviously, and I’m excited to say stupid things (more stupid than usual) without worrying about how I sound, and to talk about things that someone gets without question. SO. EXCITED. 

With that said, I’ll be busy until next week. I’ll try and keep a running lists of all the incorrect things I say, as well as more silly anecdotes to write about next week. Wish us luck (= pray for us)!