Dosvidanya Russia, Hello Europe!

This week has flown by! School was the usual, kinda boring but not too painful. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings were not TOO exciting; mostly we hung out and went to cafes. I did my laundry at a laundromat here on Monday. They don't let you do your own, you just drop it off, pay, and come back in like 3 hours. It was nice not to do it by hand and wait like a day and a half for everything to dry. On Wednesday, we went on a boat tour of the city, which was really nice despite the crappy weather. The water level was VERY high, so we barely made it through some of the bridges (scary!). We didn't have class on Thursday, only a really short closing ceremony of sorts. We got certificates and our grades. Jess and I of course both kicked ass (we're kind of a big deal...). In the evening, we went to the Marinsky Theater to see Swan Lake! It was UNBELIEVABLE!!! I was absolutely blown away, I can hardly describe it. Needless to say, it was definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip. Friday morning we went to our Program Director, Anna's, house for final grades, evaluation forms and of course delicious pies and tea. She has a beautiful apartment and it was a very nice way to officially end the program. After tea, some of us had a "park day" where we went to a couple very nice, famous parks around the city. First we went to Letney Sad (Summer Gardens), which was slightly different than where Jess and I had gone before. It was gorgeous and the weather was perfect. Aparently, after this summer the gardens will be closed for 5 years, so it was a good thing we went. From there we stopped at the souvenir market again because some people wanted one more thing (I just kinda people watched and enjoyed the weather). Then we all kinda split off and I went, with a friend, to these northern gardens by the Gulf of Finland. They were SO beautiful. There was a large beach at the end of the park looking out at the Gulf. I wish we would've had more time to walk around, but we had to get back for dinner. At 10pm, we all met at the bridge to go out all night for our last night together. I suggested to go to that beach and just watch the sun set and rise. Everyone seemed to be ok with that so we bought some beer and picnic blankets and headed for the beach (it's a long metro ride and walk). There was a HUGE party going on at at the end of the beach so we heard pounding, super loud music the entire night (Russians don't sleep). It was fun though. We just hung out and had a good night together, even though people were cold and tired. It never actually got completely dark which was weird, but cool - It was so beautiful. At about 3:30am, we started a fire which was the highlight of the night. Everyone was warmer and happier then. We also shared a bottle of champagne as the sun was rising. It was so weird that NO ONE cares in Russia about just hangin out at a public beach all night with alcohol and building a fire (that would never happen in America; we would probably be there all of 5 minutes before being kicked out). I got home a little before 7am and slept until about 3pm; I was exhausted! What a good night though. Today I'm just getting ready for Europe. I'm so excited!!! Jess and I leave tonight for an overnight bus to Helsinki, Finland which should be fun. I don't know when or how I will get internet around Europe, but I'll blog when I can. It's really sad to say good-bye to Russia. I feel like it went by really fast although it feels like I've been here for SO long; it's a bitter sweet feeling. I've had SUCH a great time here and look forward to more adventures in Europe!