Back in Petersburg

So, just wanted to let you guys know we just got back into Petersburg. We got in around 9:30 I guess, and we walked back from the train station to our hotel. I <3 Petersburg because it's so easy to tell where you are and where you need to go.

Yesterday was a pretty fun day - and the last day in Moscow. So last night I went out to this club called the "Hungry Duck". John had been telling me about it for a while, since he went there last year when he was living here (he lived in Novgorod, but went to Moscow and Petersburg). So a bunch of us went out after hte opera at the Bolshoi, and only like 3 of us ended up staying for any decent length of time. Haha, some of the Chechnians ended up showing up and one of the girls we were with got in some trouble - so we had to leave earlier than we intended on. Oh well, it was still fun, we all got to dance and stuff for a few hours.

Then haha, today we got checked out of the last Soviet institution in Russia - the Hotel Russia (which will not be there next year). I don't know if I told you guys, but it's this humongous, run-down hotel from the Kruschev era still owned by the city of Moscow. So since we had so many things go "Soviet" while staying there, we didn't bother to really check out. We just turned in all our keys to our key lady (which is a Soviet institution, in a way, itself) and left without telling a lobby or anything.

So we had 4 hours to waste before our train for Petersburg left. So we took our bus and chilled in this one little are of Moscow. I ended up going to the first McDonalds in Russia - holy shit, it was sweet. It was the greatest McDonald's I've ever seen in my entire life. It was incredibly clean and set up like, maybe, an avant garde office building or cafe or something. They had an internet access thing, and listening stations at some of the booths for certain cds. And they had their own cafe... and like 24 cash registers.

Then it was the train ride back here. Which was pretty nice. On a non-Russia note - Allyson and I sat together one the way back to Petersburg and I've been talking to her a lot lately. I think she's pretty cool, and in the very least, someone I hope to keep as a friend after this whole Russia thing is over. And pshhh, she's from mason, we can hang out over the summer!

But yeah, that's all the news for now. I think I'm about to head out here and see if I can maybe get some dinner. I didn't have a chance to do a cash exchange and the ATM I used to use in Petersburg is closed for the night - and I only have 200 rubles. That's not going to get me very far, except maybe another McDonalds dinner....or maybe I can eat ath the Okey Pokey - the Russian restuarant right by our hotel. We'll see...

And I'll catch you guys later. I got the syllabus for our group officially changed for my birthday, by they way. We're all going out after the our tv appearance to this place called Tinkoff (sushi/microbrewery).