Apparently arriving at the airport in Moscow was not the final leg of my trip. After waiting for the remaining students to arrive on the next flight (3 hours later), we finally left for the dormitory. Unbeknownst to me, this was actually a 2 hour drive from outside of Moscow meaning that we would be braving some of the most treacherous roads before we actually made it to our residence. If you have ever seen the movie death race, you have a good idea as to what rush hour traffic is like outside of the city. Unmarked roads (room for 8 lanes), no speed limits, short entrance/exit ramps and a volume of traffic that would make the D.C. beltway shutter made for an intense car ride. On top of this, aggression is the prescribed medicine so our taxi driver certainly did not take any nonsense. Luckily, I was so intensely jet-lagged that the white-knuckle commute could not keep me from passing out in the first 20 minutes. I awoke to the sight of a teeming 22-story dormitory (общежитие) that now houses me on the 14th floor. Here are a few images of my humble abode for the next month:

The great news is that it's way bigger and nicer than my dorm room in Eagle Hall so I really have nothing to complain about. Plus, the view is pretty awesome.

Culture Note: It is apparently considered weird to eat pizza without a fork and knife in Russia. This means that I looked like a total tourist when I used my hands to pick up my Papa John's pizza (Папа Джонс, for those of you who needed a translation of this exotic cuisine). Who knew?