long days

This is stacking up, so I'll keep it short.

Monday:
long placement exam--three hours; more difficult than anything I've ever taken, ever
lunch--apparently it's not assumed that everyone needs to drink while they're eating
long lecture--on economics, in a hot room, in Russian (like everything); fell asleep after it was clear this would not affect my comprehension
walk home--took me two and a half hours, which is two much by an hour and change; I could have gotten help, but refuse to ask for directions to Broadway, which Nevsky prospekt is. Why aren't there any street signs?

Tuesday:
placement--into groups amusingly code-named by preci0us stone, presumably so they wouldn't have to tell us how we ranked. Dad's a geologist; I placed in the low advanced (low, high intermediate; low, high advanced) group, which is better than expected.
class--finally, I understand what's going on. Professors claim they'll speak slowly; some stick to it longer than others.
lunch--again, no water. Why, God?
lecture--on linguistics; again, finally something I understand. I keep saying "finally" like it's been a long time, but this is only true subjectively.
movie--we may or may not have had the entire history of Russian film explained to us beforehand; couldn't tell. Movie was mercifully silent.
dinner--at a Turkish restaurant; highly recommended

Wednesday:
walk to university--bad decision; normally I take the marshrutka (taxi-bus). Took longer than I thought, and was raining harder than I wanted by the end of it.
more class--I could get used to this
lunch--they begin to understand that we will always want water; provide us with 4 oz. glasses
lecture--cancelled; updated blog instead

Next: some kind of actual description of St. Petersburg?