What is it about Russia??

I've met few people who've been there because I think most people who go stay for a very long time. 

Moscow is home to more people than New York City.  It is the cultural, economic, and political center of Russia – like America’s Hollywood, D.C., and New York combined into one.  Anyone who wants to be someone in Russia goes to Moscow.  It's a high-energy place, packed with motivated as well as worn out people - people worn down by Communism, war,  and instability, people looking for change and new hope.

I hope to go back myself, perhaps for a year to learn the language completely, or maybe later on in life.  Perhaps I could use my future medical degree to teach in a hospital there or help with public health (since Russia has the fastest rising AIDS rate in the world).  My friends invited me for Christmas, but I might die in the cold.

A note about the weather:

It was cold (in June and July).  We had no heater.  It got down into the 30s and 40s some days.  One day there were even flurries.  Too bad we only brought light windbreakers.  I wondered why Russia was so cold until I looked on the map and found that almost the entire country is above the latitude of the United States.  Oh.

Peter - an important guy.  Period.  Has a few monuments, a city here and there named after him, whatever.

Sculpture graveyard - old communist stuff.

Lenin and Marx.  I actually saw Lenin's body.  It's still preserved and on display in the Red Square.  Rumor says they're gonna bury him soon, so get a glimpse while you can! 

The Red Square, and the famous Saint Basil's cathedral (covered in scaffolding for the summer - just my luck)

These are all sights of the center of town - the Moscow River and surrounding areas of the Red Square.

My friend Julia!  (in front of Stalin's Arc di Triumph) 

Christ Our Savior Cathedral - the largest cathedral that Stalin tore down.  It was replaced by a swimming pool.  The church was rebuilt in the early 1990s, and the swimming pool is still in the basement.

I love the city!!!

Entrance to the Red Square.

Class time!  Us with our lovely professors, and Brad explaining our lesson for the day.  Looks pretty easy right?

The Bolshoy Theater, outside and in.  I saw a ballet there!

Traveling to St. Petersburg - I fit pretty well in an overhead compartment.

The town of Sergiev Posad, and Zagorsk, the oldest monastery in Russia (1300s I believe)

Surprises around every corner . . . literally.  I stumbled upon this old orthodox church while hiking in the woods.

A cool pic of my friend's sister on a swing.

The 19 crazy Americans on the fifth floor who attracted so much attention - we're loud!

Hanging out with Russian friends in the woods.  For some reason they love the woods.  Maybe I should say "woods."  We're still in the middle of Moscow.  The "woods" means a Central Park-ish type place.

I think I look cool in this picture.

Then I went to Europe.

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