#12. Spring break (Liza's topic)

Sometimes it seems to me that I'm looking forward to spring break as no one else. Actually, I think it is because of my grandiose plans. 

My friends often ask me, "Why don't you go to your hometown that time? You haven't been there for 4 months and won't have been for 6 months till the second semester end". I agree with them it is really long term I haven't been at home, but I'm not going to there because of two reasons: firstly, that trip is expensive enough because if I want to go home I should by plane tickets so that to fly to Krasnoyarsk and train tickets to go to Kansk from Krasnoyarsk.  It seems to me that I can spend that money at Moscow more efficiently. However, it isn't the main reason. The main reason is my grandiose plans that I wish will be performed completely. 

First of all, during the first week of the spring break I'm going to visit an event that is called "The Night in the Culture Centre" at HSE. There will be many entertainment I'm going to take participate in: dancing, playing "Mafia", and others. However, the most important entertainment for me is a poetry evening. I'm fond of reading poetry by heart in public, so it will be great opportunity to do it! 

Secondly, the first and second May I'm going to attend two theatre performances in the Satirikon and Bolshoi Theatre. Since I had gone to Moscow, I became fond of theatre much more.
         Moreover, if I have some free time, I'm going to visit the Ostankino Tower once more. I visited it in January. It was 10 a.m. and weather was foggy, so I was upset because it was hard to see Moscow's scenery when I was staying on high 337 meters. In addition, during the winter a viewpoint is only close, but at May it is open, so it will be great to stay here in the open viewpoint and enjoy evening Moscow's scenery.

         Fourthly, I’m going to visit Saint-Petersburg with my classmates. I've never been there and I think the spring break is convenient time to attend many cultural places in Saint-Petersburg. Moreover, I'm going to visit my best friend from Saint-Petersburg State University. May be I will stay at his dormitory.  I wish I will get unforgettable memories. 

Fifthly, I and my friends from HSE and MSIIR are going to participate in case-championship that will be based on cases of the real American company Nielsen. The best thing about that case for me is it has fully English format. All our solutions should be formatted and then presented in English in the second half of May. I think it will be great challenge for me to present our solutions in public from many Russian and foreign large companies. Now I'm anxious about it because except oral presentations I didn't have opportunities to say in English in public. However, I'm full of tenacity I can handle this task. Therefore, one of my goals on this holiday is to take participation in that case and train my public English speaking skills. I promise I will try to do my best. 

Of course, I'm going to have some time that I will dedicate finishing my history course project. It will be complex work because my goal is to do real research so that to answer whether GULAG really had important impact in the Soviet Union economic. 

I should also mention that I'm going to read some prose which is Demons by   Dostoevsky and One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. I will fell catharsis if I can accomplish all my goals for that spring break.
         I think, that's all. If you have some suggestion for me to pay much time in Moscow efficiently, feel free ;)

#11. What would be in my room 101?

 In 1984, Winston has to face rats when he goes to Room 101 because he fears them more than anything.  What would be in your Room 101? (David's topic)

In the first semester I wrote a blogpost  "A short, but scary story of my life" where I told about one case in my life when I was only 6 years old. It was a story about me and huge dog which began running towards me at the moment I got had got away from my parents. It was really one of the scariest case in my life. I even haven't got a clue how I didn't become a stutterer after that. Since then, I have been afraid of big dogs. I become anxious when hear a barking dog close to me.
Therefore, it isn't a secret that in my Room 101 I would meet big, barking dogs with crazy eyes, who would try to bite me.
When I see the pictures below I begin understanding fears of all prisoners in "1984" to go to the Room 101.

#10.Reserve-officer Training Department

For boys: are you going to go to reserve-officer training department (a class which gives you the knowledge of soldiery and which is similar to army) next year? Why? Why not?  (Tim's topic)

In short, I'm going to go to reserve-officer training department. It was a tricky question for me during March. I thought whether it would be useful for me except I got an opportunity not to go to the Army after graduation. Really, the reserve-officer training department has some big disadvantages:
First of all, it is one more day I have to pay for activity I'm not going to do in the future.
Secondly, as I understand, I won't be able to do my homework during lectures in the training department. But even if I have that opportunity, it wouldn't be convenient to learn efficiently because of many distraction factors. Therefore, I expect my grades won't be much better than I have now. 
Thirdly, I will have to be in the training department (T.D.) at 8.45 a.m. one day every week. It means my day will begin at 6 a.m. because of too much time to go to the T.D.  from my dormitory - approximately 1.5 to 2 hours. 
However, the reserve-officer training department has some important advantages.
Firstly, having finished it, I won't be go to the Army and will have the rank of Lieutenant. Some people can say  that they will find a method for not to go to the Army because of bribe to an official or medical conclusion that will confirm they are unfit for the army. However, I'm not sure I will have that opportunity. Therefore, know I see only way to avoid military service. 
Secondly, I will get some knowledge about soldiery and army at all. I think it is very important for every man to be aware of this. 
For one more point, I will get a second profession "Military economist" that isn't bad because we never know what will be tomorrow and sometimes extra skills are very useful in our life.
As you can see, despite the fact that there are some disadvantages to go to the training department, there are the same quantity of advantages at the same time. Moreover, the advantages are more important for me. Therefore, now I prepare myself  to enter reserve-officer training department by doing exercises on the horizontal bar and running.