It has certainly been a great week. Classes end today (not that mine have been hard) so we are all thankful for this. Only finals left on Tuesday and then we are all free until we come home. I went to the political history museum on Wednesday, that was one of the more interesting museums with much to see and learn. It would be much easier if I spoke Russia, however. Wednesday was also Russia's biggest match of Euro2008 and I arranged for three local students here to take me to one of their favorite places to watch the match. The atmosphere was like nothing I've ever seen and the results made it even better, Russia 2 Sweden 0. I even got to sing "We are the Champions" with the rest of the bar after the game even though the win only meant Russia secured a place in the quarterfinals. They plan again Saturday against the mighty Dutch. Netherlands has really been playing well so it will hopefully be a great match. Yesterday I went back to Yusopov Palace to get a more historical tour of the palace. Rasputin was killed inside the palace and so I got to go and see where all of this took place as the guide did her best to make the facts known. There is a lot of mystery and uncertainty about Rasputin's death, but it is known for sure that he was killed in or just outside the palace by Felix Yusopov and his fellow conspirators. Pretty interesting stuff. Today I'll be going to the Zenit store and stadium. I don't know if anyone is going to go with me, but I'm pretty excited about it. Tomorrow we go to Staraya Ladoga where we will tour the castle and have a picnic with our tutors. Should be a good time. Not much longer and I'll be home, go Russia.