"I just want a Big Mac."

  Moscow may be considered the cultural capital of the world, but they whip up a serious Big Mac. With so many new sites, sounds, and tastes to experience, one typically wants to branch out into the unknown and pop that comfort bubble you think will somehow protect you against a foreign culture you don't understand. This is why we decided that we weren't going to that McDonald's on the corner for "at least 3 weeks." Well as it turns out, we went to the one downtown instead. But we'll get back to that later.

  We went to the Kremlin Armory today. I'm not really sure what I expected to see there. Tanks, maybe? Every model of the Kalashnikov ever made? Anyway, it wasn't like that at all. 

STOP- there is a drunk Russian man singing merrily in the courtyard below my window. These are reasons why I love Russia.

  I digress. The Armory. It was filled with some pretty baller stuff. Diamonds, silver, wedding dresses, thrones, some bejeweled swords, loud buzzers that went off when you got too close to the velvet rope because you just HAD to touch that 200 year-old carriage plated in gold. You name it, they had it. Note: if you are an American, babushkas WILL cut you in line. They won't even try, they will just do it. Throw some 'bows and be aggressive. Or just let them go in front of you and wait for your teacher to verbally own them so you don't look like a stupid tourist who can barely say, "I don't speak a lot of Russian."

  The Armory was amazing, but the opera I went to tonight was even better. It was my first, and I loved every minute of it. There is just something special about beautiful music. It doesn't matter if it is in Italian, I don't need to understand what they are singing. I love feeling the story and filling in the blanks myself. What I do not love, is turning to my friends on either side of me to find them BOTH sleeping. To be fair, even though I have no desire to validate such behavior, we had a long day, and I think we are all still trying to adjust our clocks. Not everyone can appreciate the same things. For example, the fact that we found basketball courts has no bearing on my life whatsoever. It takes all kinds, I guess.

  After the opera, Galina Ivanovna took us downtown to eat. By the way, the "us" I keep referring to is Julia, Nicole, Mike, Craig, Scott, and me. Before we knew it, Galina was saying, "Okay, this is where I leave you." Then she disappeared. It's pretty precious- how much faith she has in us. She just wants us to spread our little wings. Most people might find it absolutely frightening to be left in downtown Moscow. However, for some reason, I have full faith that Galina can just magically drop out of the sky whenever you need her. I swear, she has done it before.

  So there we were, in the middle of downtown. And there IT was. The McDonald's. I don't think I can even count how many times Mike said, "Ya hochy Big Mac" while we are at the theater. But at this point, we all wanted it. And we were going to have it. Shockingly enough, I think Russians might like McDonald's more than Americans do. This place was huge, and the food was so much better. Employees will even come and take your tray when you are done. Oh, and they have guards at the doors. Yeah. They mean business.