I am back!

Time really flies!

This May was so busy for me that I did not have time to slow down, stop and look around. However, I am so happy that my spring semester is successfully finished with excellent grades, calmness in the soul and one more goal fulfilled: I aimed at finishing this semester with only A’s and I did it! But my happiness about this ‘achievement’ seemed not so important because I was going to Europe. Yeah, I’ve just returned from Germany where I visited my Russian friends. It was so interesting that during these weeks I meet all my past: my childhood (my friend, who invited me, and I grew up together from 2 to 10 years), my school years (another my friend and I were classmates) and my happy youth, my college years (my friend whom I met at college and we were group mates). Isn’t it great to meet with your past?!
A trip to Europe has brought calmness to my soul: I spent all the time with Russian people speaking only Russian, watching Russian films and eating traditional Russian food. I hope that energy I got will be enough for one more year in a distance with my culture. However, during the trip I also enjoyed Europe: we visited the Island of Flowers with wonderful flowers and trees from all over the world which were in full springy bloom , beautiful old castles and went hiking in the Alps!!!!! For the first time in my life I saw famous Alpine meadows, ate Alpine cheese (I have never tried anything better!) and saw high mountains.
What I found out is that my friend is amazingly crazy! One morning, Zhenya woke up and told us, Lena (his wife) and me, that he wanted to drive us to Mont Saint Michel Abbey in France on the Atlantic Coast. And we did it! I enjoyed the drive through France. The way was very long and tiring but we forgot about it when suddenly after one of the curves in the mist we saw a high island with a beautiful abbey on it. The view was so magnificent that for a moment we could not even breathe. This Abbey is more than 1000 years old. It is on the island and every day there are high and low tides which are considered the highest in Europe. This Abbey has been listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since 1979. On the way back we stopped in Orleans where could see the city saved by Janna d'Ark. It is so beautiful!
In this trip I could not but do the best thing in the world… SHOPPING! :-) I enjoyed French perfumes, French and Italian wines, and European clothes and food. At the same time, I did not forget that I am a student and followed my summer classes. I am so happy to have a writing class and hope to improve my writing skills. What I like most about this class is that everything we write now is about our culture. Being with my friends helped me to write about three values in my society which I would like to share with you after I completely finish it.
I am so happy that I saw new beautiful places, visited my old friends and now I am ready to enjoy my studies in St Mike’s and communication with my friends!

See you soon!

Sincerely yours,

Natasha