Some reflections ...

Next week I begin full time school at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies where I'll be focusing on Russia and Eurasia. I doubt that between getting married, taking classes, and working that I'll have much time to blog. When I have a chance, I'll try, but thank you to all of you for reading. In the last couple days it's become apparent what I do and do not miss about Russia. Here's a sampling:

What I will not miss about Russia:

• Some food: Overpriced Sushi, cucumbers for every meal
• A haze of cigarette smoke everywhere
• A permanent state of sweatiness, usually combined with a general grimy feeling.
• Air conditioning that gets just cool enough to make you think it’s actually cold upon entering a building, but actually its only 2-3 degrees cooler than outside; and now you don’t even have a breeze!
• Cell phone shop employees thinking I’m a Chechen terrorist since I had a cell phone with Arabic lettering. I actually had to get my host family to help me get a phone the first time.
• Being afraid of the police
  
• Smelly water in the showers.
• Not having to lug 8 liters of water back to my apartment for a week’s water supply.

What I will miss about Russia:

• The people
• Keri the dog
  
• The way that you can always find a beer at any street corner
• Cheap food/drink: A pint of beer in a bar for as cheap as $1.75, bananas for 10 cents
  
• Café Stolle's pirogs
  
• Red Caviar on a Bliny, basically bliny's in general - Teremok at Sennaya Ploschad:
  

• The waitresses at Bliny Domnik who took a liking to me (or pity on me) and gave me free juice
  
• Knowing that I drank 8 liters of water in one week (kind of a good feeling for some reason)
• Quickly moving escalators
• The palaces and their grounds: