She smiled and waved off Oliver's apology. "It's okay! And yes, that's how you say it," she added with a nod to Aoife. If she was American, she would have probably asked Aoife to repeat her name as well, but considering the complexity of Ukrainian names Lyubov doubted she would have much of a problem pronouncing it.

Aoife asked her what Ukraine was like and Lyubov frowned slightly, a bit uncertain of how to describe it. What was any country like, really? "I guess you could say it is more open," she said finally. "Kyiv, the capital, is split in half by a river. The streets are wide and the buildings are tall and carved, with pillars and art. There's art everywhere." There was an art to the whole country. The smell of meats and spices that hung in the air of the markets, the bright colours of dancers in the streets, rolling forested hills and elegantly-shaped buildings. The environment of it, the culture, was what she missed the most. At RMI there were many individuals of culture, but no essence of culture to speak of. At home, she could feel the culture everywhere.

She agreed wholeheartedly with Oliver. She liked to read books, but there was nothing quite like actually doing something. "Practical work is more useful, too," she commented. Practice made perfect, right?

Lyubov blinked in surprise when the boy suddenly darted up the tree, glancing up at him every few seconds to make sure he wasn't about to fall on them. "No thank you," she said politely after he offered them chips. Chips in general didn't appeal to her. They were too hard and crunchy for her taste.

Neither of the two seemed particularly keen on studying. She looked at the book on her lap, half-heartedly flipped through a few pages, and then closed it. She could hear Jolanta's imaginary voice-in-her-head scolding her for her lack of focus, but easily shut it out. She'd already read most of it, anyways; it wasn't like she was actually slacking on her work. "Let's work on spells together!" she suggested brightly. "Aoife, what was it you were having difficulty on? I could probably help you, if you wanted."