Quick post

Fourth of July / general weekend was very good, consisting of the following:
- Went to the Hermitage. It was amazing--they say it's the number two art museum in the world after the Louvre in Paris. I will admit, when I got to the Matisse Room, I felt an incredible longing to be in Paris.
- We taught some Russians how to play base(wiffle)ball
- I learned what "good" Russian beer is, and what "redneck" Russian beer is
- Learned that the best hamburgers in Russia are at Carl's Jr.
- Found Baskin-Robbins in Russia to be cheaper and richer than in America but basically the same
- Ate some tasty bliny
- Walked for many, many hours on Saturday, all over the city
- Inevitably, got stuck on "the wrong side" of the river on Saturday night, so walked around more watching the bridges go up until about 4am or so when it became possible to get home. Definitely an experience worth having.
- Discovered Lenta, a Russian super-store that is somewhere between Costco and Wal-Mart. It's a pretty incredible place. I wish I could put up a picture of the t-shirt I bought there.
- Went to an awesomely fun surf-rock show on Friday at Club Griboedov--possibly the most fun I've had dancing at a show next to the Aquabats/Streetlight Manifesto show or the Ladytron/The Faint show.
- Talked to a lot of friends
- Took lots of pictures

There are pictures and videos of everything, but unfortunately, my computer is out of commission again as of this morning. It's incredibly annoying. I'm trying to do what I can, but there's not much I can do about it here. There's an IT guy at the university building sometimes though (and he knows a thing or two about Macs) so I'll solicit his help.

There's more but I have to get off the school computer now because they're locking up.


Address again:

Alexander Michaelson
c/o Smolny College / Bryan Billings
St. Petersburg State University
Lt. Schmidt Embankment 11, Office 416
199034, St. Petersburg, RUSSIA