Svetlana, 20, was sitting near the second floor window of the only Starbucks in Rostov-on-Don on a late Saturday morning. There was only one other person on the entire second floor.
A public relations and media student, Svetlana said in very good English that she was waiting for a friend to arrive to practice conversational English.
I asked if she had studied English abroad. She said no, but that she watches US TV serials, such as ‘Friends’ and ‘2 and 1/2 Men.’ Svetlana said that is why she prefers US English to British English.
She said its hard to improve her English in Rostov. ”I would love to travel a lot and use my English. You don’t have any opportunity to use it here.”