Soooooo. hello. I’m not sure how good I’m going to be at this blogging thing.. but. might as well give it a shot. At least so I can occasionally mock Abhi. which. Lets be honest is pretty much the only reason I started this. Anyways. I’m in Russia.. St. Petersburg to be exact. So hopefully far enough away from pulonium and His Royal Highness Putin so that I can stay alive. Basic salient details: i’m living 8 metro stops away from the center.. with a nice Russian family of a woman who sells flowers in the middle of the night, a mechanic, and their 18 year old son who plays a lot of guitar. I’m with a bunch of cool people… some a little crazy.. some a little weird. No one in Russia smiles. ever. annnnd everyone smokes. and. That should give you a good starting idea of what the hell is going on.

I seem to split my time here between being in class, understanding maybe 30%-80% of what is said (depending on the class), going on excursions to palaces, and wandering around the city, usually with my new friend Chole who is also the only other theatre kid in the group. Not a bad life i suppose. Unfortunately i spent my first two weeks here sick as a dog but what can you do. oh.. we also have a dog in the family. Assia. she likes me.

Two nights ago I went to see an opera.  We thought we were going to see a Russian opera.. but turns out we had bought tickets to an Italian opera on accident. Which was ok because it was really fun.. I understood really none of it at all. but. what can you do. anyways. now that this thing is up i’ll try to tell some stories on it occasionally. or. make fun of John McCain. or. something. hope whoever is reading this is having a good time doing whatever it is you are doing. say hello sometime.