Russian Smiles.

Pushpins! I probably have boxes and containers full of these little things in my room and office space left over from school. I started with one 100-count box of pushpins and ended up with 2 boxes of aluminum and clear ones. I guess that's a profit. I also ended up with 3 t-squares and 3 rulers when I graduated from architecture school when I started with only one of each. Funny how that works.

Welcome to the Pushpin Post. I wanted to start something where I can blog about my adventures and misadventures in school and travels. I will be beginning my course of study during RISD's summer term in ::: drumroll ::: Copenhagen! About 3 weeks ago I bought my plane tickets. I don't think it had completely soaked in me yet because my mom said that I looked like a deer in the headlights when I was buying my tickets online. After searching daily, hour after hour (almost), for an entire week after I got my admission papers, I booked my arrival for Moscow and departure from Berlin. It was cheap. Like $300-500 cheaper than arriving in Copenhagen (or any other European city). I decided I might as well because I've wanted to visit the former USSR since I was 12.

Russia = visa acquisition.

Getting a visa to Russia is like getting a visa to North Korea. Okay, it isn't anything like that, but it sure seemed like it at first after reading about it for 4 days straight. My first step was to actually renew my passport since it was going to expire in September. I needed a passport valid 6 months after departing from Russia, and 3 months after departing from Denmark. Thank goodness for those hard working employees at the National Passport Processing Center because I got my passport (new and improved) back in 2.5 weeks. Three days later, I find myself at the Russian visa agency in West Hollywood applying for a Russian tourist visa. I was in and out within 5 minutes. Of course, I came prepared with a completed application and a brand-spanking new passport. Now all I have to wait is 2 weeks.

Who ever said Russians don't smile are right, but they sure are quite helpful.