Gulf Stream Hotel Kazan

... burger is quite good, isn't it? After all, it seems that there is not so much to see or do in Kazan and you can see the main sights in a day or two. The central areas of the city are very clean and newly reconstructed, as the city had its 1000th birthday a few years ago and a lot was fixed for it. However, all you need to do is walk one street away from the main street and you will see the usual ramshackle buildings. Did I write all this? I probably had ...

... the whole breakfast croissant/biscuit angle isn't going to work. 35. Discover the mystery bacon is a substance almost but not quite like Canadian bacon. 36. Triumph in the fact that you didn't just try to fry fruit roll-ups. 37. Eat your scrambled eggs with a side of not fruit roll-up and heart attack and decide that American breakfasts can wait until a return to America. 38. Enjoy (while you can)...

... but we had to haul those crazy boxes up five flights of stairs.  We did it and we tackled those boxes before the door was even closed. Mine didn't have much, just a few sweaters, a pair of jeans (that actually fit!!  All my others are so big that I have to put elastic around them to hold them up) and white socks!!  Yippee!  I was thrilled.             Hope's dad however, sent her everything but the kitchen sink and if he could have sent that then I am convinced ...

... player in the oil and gas game, which has an amazing potential to be a superpower.  Lets not even talk about the abundance of natural resources like diamonds, malachite, lapis, jade, quartz, gold, iron and copper. (To list a few)  This place is a goldmine and guess what people, any place that has the potential that Russia has, is going to have major influence on the economy, especially these days when everything is global. So, if you knock out Russia as a ...

... is free and since volleyball is free, I thought that perhaps it would be a bit cheesy and I was very looking forward to writing a blog that would be full of sarcasm and perhaps a little bit of tasteless wit, but alas, I cannot.  It was fun.               We came to find out that the Kazan volleyball team has two Americans players, both of whom competed in the Beijing Olympics and for those of you that don't know, America won gold.  So I was ...

... it to happen, they just watch it very carefully, which I feel is a true testament to allowing freedom of speech here.              However, after going through all that description, the demonstration on Baumina is not a demonstration that is demanding separation but rather a younger set of the population.  They all looked to be in the age group of students but they were all dressed from head to toe in black as well as covering their faces with black scarves ...

... Both Kristen and I with camera's in our hands so we could get pics of the tv.  (I know, Russia has made us loony) and there she is... in her bathrobe and pointing out the window.  No words were said, just Iilka pointing.  It was so fleeting that we missed it to take a pic and we were at ready.  I looked at Kristen and said,"that was it?"  And she said "must be. Are you hungary?"  So we left the tv on and left to scrounge up some food and realized that it was ...

... is and she seemed so happy that I had gone but also happy that I had returned.  I was only gone for a week but it seemed so much longer and it surprises me every time how a person can adjust so quickly to another place and culture.              I was thinking of all us and after a few adjustments, all of us "sevenoi karolinaians" have been very lucky.  Liz has an amazing housemother ...

... skip.  While we were eating, we got a text telling us that the class was going on an excursion and it was leaving so if we wanted to go, then we needed to book it back.  We got there in hardly anytime and Valeria was almost instantly asked where we were by our professor, who is Rustem (for those of you who have been here before) and she answered that we were at the bus station.  He was instantly interested.  "ahh, St. Petersburg will be a good place to go ...

... hit or miss. The first bag of ketchup that we bought ended up being more of a salsa then a ketchup with dill and huge pieces of garlic in it. It was really sweet and really odd. The second time around it was more like the ketchup that we are used to but a little more sweet, we found that if we added salt to it then it tasted almost like home. Anyway, then when we finally have enough of trying to figure things out, we go to check out. Now this is a different process from ...