Move over God, because there's a new God in town, and her name is Nastya Vasilieva. I don't know about your God, but my God got me a free ticket to see Swan Lake at the Mariinsky Theater. Does it really get any better than that? Not to mention, she swung us by this beautiful synagogue nearby, as I have not yet been to a synagogue in Peter, so that I could catch one last glimpse at my old God. JK, of course, I love all Gods equally. Anyway, a lovely experience, to put it mildly. She's such a cool person, and conversation comes so easily with her. She treats me like a younger sister, spending all of first intermission trying to hunt down an English program and buy it for me so I could understand the plot of the ballet. I kept telling her not to worry about it, but she persisted and eventually found one in the hands of the elderly woman sitting beside us. Granted I don't know much about ballet, but everyone knows beauty when they see it. It was amazing.

I saw my first dead body in Russia on Wednesday. Finally! Everyone's got their own dead body story in Russia, really it's the strangest thing. Walking by the metro on our way to the excursion at the Museum of Political History, we see a body on the ground covered in a sheet that does not cover all. Two men, perhaps police, were standing idly by doing nothing, maybe waiting for transport, but acting strikingly nonchalant. I would assume it was a homeless man, died perhaps of the cold or hunger, not too "exciting" but all the same... it would surely have attracted more of a crowd in the US. Especially in such a crowded place. Maybe not? Either way, interesting stuff! Dead bodies!

Speaking of which, Halloween! I am part of a team that has been tasked with arranging a party at our resident director's apartment. Tomorrow I'll hunt down some sort of costume. Keep your fingers crossed for some quality fake blood!