I am a 20 year old Junior majoring in Russian and Eastern European Studies. This spring semester, 2010, I will be living in St. Petersburg, the old capital of the Russian Empire. There I will be studying the language and culture at the Nevsky Institute.
My interest in Russia began many years ago. Since before I was born, my grandparents had a summer home on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Less than a mile away sits the Russian Ambassador’s дача (dacha or vacation home). Growing up so close, I remember often passing by and wondering to myself what lay behind that wall. And the truth is that a wall, both literally and metaphorically, has stood between our two cultures for so long. Now I am on my way to visit this mysterious land, the home of Pushkin and Putin, Medvedev and Matryushka Dolls.
-Andrew
