Safar Hotel Kazan Tatarstan

... a million times but it is totally different when you go in the dark? It seemed like that to me anyway.  It seemed much more serene and safe. The night air wasn't tremendously cold so it was quite a pleasant evening. Soon we had to leave because we had another place to be but it was so nice to just kind of relax through it and enjoy it as it is. As we walked away, I didn't look back.  I couldn't.  Is it possible that I may never see it again? My heart sank.

... a muslim population and even its own language. Some signs in city are in both Tatar and Russian language, but Russian seems to be used more frequently. The several mosques of the city, even inside the kremlin, clearly outline Islam's strong presence in Kazan and from what I've heard, it's quite unique in Russia. It wouldn't be so surprising if there was something like that in the Northern Caucasus region (Dagestan, Chechenya, Ingushetia etc.) near to ...

So I told you before that the weather has turned for the worse.  It is dark at 2:55 in the afternoon now and I have to say that it is killing me.  I thought that it was the weather that has affected my mood and I still tend to think that it is a little bit of the case, but I think I may have some culture shock as well.  It only took four months, but I am ready to get out of here.  I know that when I finally get home and get into ...

... Ball, the captain of the volleyball team, came over next.  "wow," he said.  "You guys have an amazing American accent for Russians."  We started to laugh and he was curious as to where we were from.  We told him and he talked with us for a pretty long while.  We know all about his tattoos, his wife and children.  He has played European volleyball for 13 years all over and Kazan for three.  "When are you guys leaving Russia?" he asked us.  We told ...

... how one sided the news is here.  I have yet to hear one word about McCain but this is not unusual, all through Europe was the same thing.  Obama.              Anyway, this is not a political blog (well, it may be because the conversation was political) but I am not here to rant about McCain or any other presidential nominee. It is just strictly a blog on our conversation the other night and it really opened my eyes to how powerful the ...

... is more like an Applebee's because you can sit and eat/drink and it closes at like midnight.  There were several people that night, most were International students at University and I was surprised at the number.  I had such a good time. There was an incident, though.  A man was outside and was completely drunk, which is not so unusual here.  I mean, we are in Russia, but he wanted one of my friends to go and have a drink with him and my friend said he didn't want ...

... at university in Moscow and took a small excursion to Kazan because they had heard it was "cool."  Unfortunately, we met them at the most inconvenient time because they were to catch the train back within the hour.  However, they told us of a second group that were planning to come in a couple of weeks.  So we exchanged numbers, not fully believing that they would call when they got into town.             Two weeks later, we get a call.  It is the ...

... but it says something about a culture or type of person, when you walk into the foyer of your building where class is and there is a mirror that covers a whole wall and several girls stop to look at themselves before preceding to class.  Mirrors are everywhere and in every building and I have never seen anyone not looking at themselves in them.  They are impossible to get to know and refuse to give foreigners or anyone else the time of day.  However, having said that, I have ...

... of water and toilet paper.  We even brought our own chai (tea) so we could have our hourly fix of hot tea.  After all having hot tea is the Russian way but we forgot to bring mugs so we had to watch our bunkmates drink theirs. It really sucked. Oh well, I guess you learn as you go.  I really, really want some chai.  It is so funny how when you are some place for any amount of time that you adopt their customs.  NEVER in the states would I drink hot tea ...

... all my information, then they put us all in a van and took me to the place I got beat up and we went back to the station where they asked me again for the story and as I watched them write stuff down, I noticed that they added things. I would try to correct them and they would say things like, you know it happened this way. I just agreed and let them do it." Kristen, Liam and I talked about it and decided that they were so serious about finding ...