To answer your question, my Russian is alright understanding wise. I watch a lot of movies and listen to music and can pick it up, and I've been practicing speaking, and I have some of the grammar down, but I have difficulty reading Russian-- I'm a little slow at it and I seem to not recognize a lot of words. I'd really love to improve my vocabulary. I've been working on my Russian all summer to prepare for my move. And my computer's microphone/camera seem to be a on the older side and not very reliable, so I don't think I can skype at all

Also, I go by Dasha now but when I was younger in school (like in high school and middle school) I would just go by Daria, but once I got into college I decided to go by Dasha To save a long explanation, I just tell people it's my "Russian name", because people in America seem to find Russian nicknames very bizarre. And thank you for all your help! I've spent some time in Kiev and Minsk, but my mom tells me SPB is nothing like either of the two cities haha.

And yes, technically I'm paying but I receive academic scholarships through my University in Florida, so really it becomes free for me, anyways.