Russian

I'm currently struggling through Russian 1. I can't spell. I can't pronounce words properly. I can't remember what the little letter that looks like a "b" does to the consonants preceding or immediately following it. And I can't stand that it feels like I'm sitting in a high school class (there are actually people who answer their phones in the middle of class--wtf?). Nonetheless, I go twice a week and learn about the seven-letter exception and try to remember that "n" is really "p" and "p" is actually "r."