Day 41:
We visited European University, which might have been more interesting had they not used the first half of it to try and recruit us to study there. Then we talked some about the current state of democracy in Russia, which was much more interesting. We had to choose between that and Catherine's Palace because of incompetant scheduling so no one was happy. That was pretty much it for the day.

Day 42:
First we visited a communal apartment. It was very similar to the apartment that I stayed in in Novgorod, with the exception that the woman only had one room, but all of the rooms, the kitchen and the bathroom looked the same as the ones in Novgorod. In the afternoon we had a scavanger hunt. We were to find the strangest thing possible not on Nevsky. I found this creepy looking golden toad in an Asian shop and I thought that it was the best, but Highlander 5 won. That night I had a talk with Jack about not saying everything he knows in the group meetings because it makes them painfully long and everyone is bored. I feel bad for the poor kid because he's just socially akward.

Day 42:
Today was an interesting day, but for part of it we split up into smaller groups, so I can only tell my part of the tale. First, we went to the Hermitage, also known as the Winter Palace. It is a wonderful museum, full of beautiful art and antinquities collected by the former nobles of Russia and by the State. The architecture is also amazing. We spent several hours there wandering by ourselves or in small groups. I spent most of my time looking at Egyptioan, Greek, and Roman artifact but I also visited the Malachite room, and exhibit on the Middle East, the Russian culture exhibit, and some of the Western European painters. After that, some of us met for an afternoon walk. We went to the Summer Gardens where we once again saw the statue of the Twelve Chairs. Then we returned to the hotel where we talked and set about buying supplies for the boat ride. We had dinner and then walked down to the canal as a group.
While walking to the boat ride we passed St. Issac's Catherderal, which is an imposing church that was once a museum of anti-religion. We got a little confused trying to figure out where our boat was and when we finally found it the dock was flooded. We had to get on by holding onto the column and stepping on a plank, which was interesting, but not that difficult. On the boat we had a little party, we sat around talking and having a little snack while we took in the riverfront architecture of the town. The best part was when Adam decided to have some fun. He waited until the boat was under a bridge then jumped up and grabbed one of the supports. As one might expect, he could not hold on forever, so he was forced to let go. When he did, he misjudged the speed of the boat and landed several feet back from where he started on his rear. It was rather funny and he was quite embarassed, but I think the thing that stung the most was his pride. Then we walked back to the hotel for the night. The students continued to sit around and talk long after our professors went t bed.
One thing that I didn't put in the school blog was that I was hit by a motorcycle on the way back to the hotel. We were walking on the sidewalk and the motorcylce decided to drive on it so that he could park on it. In the process he hit my hand, causing me to drop the wine bottle that I was carrying and it to shatter. It was pretty funny because I was not seriously hurt.

Day 43
It was supposed t be our free day but we had to go on a horrible Crime and Punishment walking tour where we broke ito half of the lacations on the tour. I also watched some RUssian TV and I need to sign off because I have almost no time left.