By Anne Tugwell

ALCESTER Grammar School's bid for international status continued last week with a visit from a Russian university student.

Natali Gafarova, 18, befriended headteacher Iain Blaikie during his trip to Siberia last year and accepted his invitation to visit Warwickshire and compare life in the west.

Arranging the trip proved to be a challenge for both of them - the authorities demanded detailed information from Mr Blaikie including salary and family information, and Natali had to travel for 14 hours each way just to get a visa.

"I made the trip between two exams so it was a stressful time for me," she said.

"I was thinking about my trip and about my exams at the same time."

Natali is staying with Mr Blaikie and his family and spent the last week of term in school.

"It was fun to go to the classes, especially the Russian, and talk to the students," she said.

Natali has been learning English since she was eight and narrowly missed a chance to spend a year in America to further her studies.

"But if I had been chosen I would not have met Mr Blaikie and would not have come to England.

"That is the way my life has worked out and it is for the best. I like England, and I would like to return one day, though that will not be up to me.

"The biggest difference here is the buildings. In our cities they are just grey blocks which are all the same. Here they are different and very beautiful and I like all the flowers."

So far Natali has visited Stratford and Warwick and will be taking a trip to the Cotswolds and a beach before she goes home.