2012-04-15 Coming Home Idly

I return to a Russia devoid of snow. My recent completed trip marks the end of winter for me. I met one of my best friends Zach Koopman in Krakow and Prague. Made new friends in fellow abroad American students Carrie, Eric and Lina. Bumped into a Russian schoolmate Zach Knight somehow on a train. Reconnected with my Czechoslovakian friends Martin Poezdna and Oleg Svarkov. The total cost of my trip is about $750 but that can mostly be accounted for by traveling. The flights costing $350 and the inter-city trains costing another $150.

I must stress again that eating is perhaps the most enjoyable part of travelling. I refuse to be caught eating a boring meal on these trips. At the very lowest I will have a large chocolate milkshake from McDonalds, or perhaps their local ‘strange’ option they have created for the country. Polish food, was practically the same as Russian, I found very few differences between. However… Czech food was sublime. It is a delight when I stumble upon such a great cuisine, and it may have helped that my local friends knew all about the restaurant scene there. 

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There is no benefit in me explaining the food. It was good, writing the paragraph simply made me want to go back and find some more. I really enjoyed the food there, and it of course helped that the most expensive meal I had (an appetizer, main course, and three half-liter beers) cost about $8. Traveling through these Eastern European countries is helping me understand the differences of cost of living in cities across the world. Greenwich and Amherst being the norm, New York and Saint Petersburg being expensive, and cities like Krakow, Prague, Bucharest and Kyiv being cheap.

Unfortunately I broke my sister’s camera. Not sure how it happened, but the screen is dead. I believe it still takes pictures but I cannot promise anything at all.

Less than one month here in Russia. It is sad to leave soon, but necessary. I have a very busy schedule in attempt to experience as much as possible. Multiple museums every week, old and new trips to nearby locations (with the group again to Peterhof and Novgorod, and on my own hopefully to Pskov, Kronstadt and Schisselburg) and seeing my Russian friends, all on a budget that will make this an extremely difficult challenge.