Russian Girl

The diversity of people here is crazy. People come here to learn English from all over the world- especially during the summer months because the Universities are not full of regular students. Obv England is closer to most countries travelwise than the western hemosphere but also it is really hard to get a visa in the US- not something that i didn't already know but, you know, talking to international students in US, you only hear from the ones that did get visas. I talked to a Chinese boy named June at Harry's Cafe last night and he said that it is his dream to study in New York but he can't get a visa. It's just interesting.
I'm encountering a lot of cultures at once. But of course it is skewed because I am only meeting the wealthy minorities of those cultures.
I randomly met a Russian girl named Elaina in Borders Bookstore Starbucks today. She was reading a book on Hillary Clinton, "A Woman in Charge" - i flipped through it and it was filled with propaganda (if you cant tell by the title). So we started a conversation about government and war and gradeschool history classes and then on economy. She was 8 years old when the communist regime fell in '91 so she talked about what it was like then and the changes. She thinks animal rights activists and vegetarians in America and Europe are stupid and don't know a thing about the world. In Russia, fruits and vegetables are so expensive in all but 3 months of the year that only rich people can eat them. They really on grains and cereals and potatoes mostly and can usually afford meat. So they dont really have the opportunity to balance their diets and be healthy. She also said that if you tried to tell a siberian not to kill an animal for his fur coat you'd get shot in the teeth. Clothes are so expensive there too. She can barely afford to live here. (my living expenses are twice as much here from America) The exchange rate is 52 Rubles to the Pound! So she has to go back soon. She is afraid she will forget English. I told her about Harry's and she said she is going to go. She is not a Christian. i have to go it's dinner time.