Я люблю Россию

Couple fun things to mention...

1. Other things I love about Russia...instead of salt and pepper shakers they have little tiny bowls that they put on the table with salt and pepper in them. They are adorable. Also, bottled water is often carbonated and some people don't like it but I do, it's good.

2. We went out to a dance club last night...it was so fun! It was on a boat on the Volkov River. The music was really dance-techno and there were lights ands a fog machine and the whole 9 yards. I had one drink when I was there (yes mom, just one), but it was a doozy. I can't remember what it was called but the bartender used a martini glass and it had 3 layers that he kept seperated by pouring it on a spoon and they must have had different densities or something. Anyway, he hands me a straw and with a lighter in his hand starts trying to explain something to me in Russian. Luckily my new friend Masha is Russian (she lives here in Novgorod) and she translated. Basically, he lights the drink on fire and you have to drink it fast before your straw melts. Crazy Russians. I was sort of scared of drinking fire but then I was like "When will I ever be young and foolish enough to do this again in my life?" So I did it. I was ridiculous. It burned my throught and it was sort of syrupy and minty and altogether pretty yucky. And, after lighting it he turned on a siren so everyone was watching, awesome. So I guess I can cross that off my list. Everything else about the club was fun though, we danced for hours, it was so fun.

3. Today we went to Staraya Russa which is where Dostoevsky lived for the last 8 years of his life and wrote his seminal masterpiece, Братья Карамазовы (The Brothers Karamazov). It is really a beautiful town and the weather was so nice today, about 25 celcius. We walked around the town and there is a nice river there, it's very picturesque.


Everything else is going well. I finished my first week of class and everything was fine. I am trying to improve my language skills as quickly as I can. Unfortunately we finished our week of art, but we start Russian history on Monday, so that will be interesting. I'm really having a great time here in Novgorod. I love the city already. It's so beautiful and quaint. The mix of new and old is so unique comparted with the United States where things are new or newer. Novgorod is celebrating it's 1150th anniversary this fall, it's the oldest city in Russia. The Kremlin and Jaroslav's Court are like time machines. Then there are interesting features such as old factories that have been turned into brand new shopping malls...love it.

That's all for now, hope everyone is well stateside.

Miss&Love You,
Francesca