An appearance in the People's Friendship University of Russia gave me an opportunity to update my impressions of Moscow. The first time I visited the city was more than 20 years ago, and of course, a lot changed, since the start of the post-Soviet era. Moscow is a lively, pulsating, cosmopolitan city with amazing culture and very friendly people. A trip there is a serious alternative to a visit to London, and should the Brexit agony continue to drive smart people out of the UK, I will clearly give Moscow the preference. At the Universiy, we were extremely kindly welcomed and guided, and I am looking forward to making this exchange mutual. Among the students, you find extremely capable ones and even exotic figures like a Georgian who studies international trade in Russia and imports pharmaceuticals from China to Uzbekistan. Today I got myself a Russian language guide, to see how much of my Russian course from my student times I can still activate. As I am slowly scaling down my use of English, Russian is a good option to fill the appearing foreign language gap.
There are two quick Lackmus tests for a city's cultural level: 1) a view at the library and 2) a scan through the FM band on the radio. In both indicators Moscow did extremely well.
Visit to the Kremlin
For those who wonder why Ivan the Terrible had this suffix in his name. He blinded the architect of this St. Basil Cathedral to protect the IP how to build it.
Back then these were the big guns
View from the window of the faculty residence.