evaluations and the farewell party

I had always imagined the MXAT evaluations to consist of a panel of all the teachers sitting behind a long conference table, Anatoly Smeliansky sitting in the middle of them. One by one, they would evaluate my work, telling me what they thought of my participation in each of my classes.

But actually, it was just me and Oleg. We said goodbye to Sasha right after the final, as he was leaving the country the day after, so he wasn't at the evaluations. But I walked into the American Studio, and Oleg sat behind this little table, and we chatted. Talked about class as a whole, then about my specific scene. I won't write out our conversation here-feels too personal for a blog entry. But it went well, and then it was done, and I went to the Starbucks across the street to sit with others whose evaluations were finished. We went through our journals and pulled all the crazy quotes we had from our teachers and shared them. Then we went back to the Studio for our final Theatre History class with Smeliansky. We talked about our impressions of Moscow theatre, the best and the worst (my favorite: Masquerade, least favorite: Medea). Smeliansky paid us a huge compliment, saying that in the 20 year history of the NTI-MXAT exchange, ours was the best, most remarkable group. He said that he considered us colleagues, not students, which was enough to make me cry. And then we stayed for the Farewell Party with our teachers, during which I cried all over again. We said goodbye to Oleg for the last time, which was awfully awful. I had to avoid Katie, because we made each other cry.

We all slowly made our way back to the dorm, where we drank and somehow, a game of Spin the Bottle began (?). We avoided goodbyes and ate chocolate chip cookies and deviled eggs that Lydia made (I ate the cookies, anyway... eggs freak me out-thus, my extreme lack of protein on this trip, because I also don't eat red meat). And then I made my way to bed at around 3, woke up at 11, and here I am. Waiting until 1:45 to leave for the souvenir market once again, to do last-minute shopping for myself and others (hehe). Hopefully avoiding the rioting as I make my way there... ( http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/cops-averting-riots-heave-sigh-of-relief/427009.html )

Packing tonight, leaving tomorrow. Really and truly can't believe I'm leaving behind my life here... But something that Igor (Group 1 Acting teacher) said last night at the Farewell Party really struck me:

"Your life is now divided into two halves - how you were before Russia and what you became after Russia." -Igor

So we'll see.

lovelove.

m.