the flight was long. absolute hell. the amsterdam airport the cleanest, most efficient thing i have ever seen, america could learn a lot. the security deals are at each individual gate, the only line is the other people getting on th esame plane you are.
got into Novgorod on sunday, town founded in 859, original capital of Russia back in the day. just a little south of St. petersberg. It's 'white nights' right now, sun sets around 2-3 in the morning and comes back up between 4-5. the afternoons are hot as hell but the rest of the day is averaging 70 degrees, about 20 c. first night we walked out through a park, found a public stage where locals were singing karoake, a buddy in our group got up and sang a beetles song, recieving much applause. met a local metal head who only knew russian and dutch, but somehow we were able to carry on a conversation between bandnames and singing riffs. the food and beer here is very cheap and extremely good. classes started today, tuesday, going well. Nice to have european coffee again. cars do not stop for pedestrians. have yet to try the vodka, probably tonight. taking a train to moscow friday night, then back up to st. petersberg for the next three weeks on sunday night. I've figured out how to order beer, coffee, and say thank you, other than that, absolute language barrier. people are real nice here though.