Brightest Young Things

words and photos by Dakota Fine

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Okay, so I learned a lot about Russia on Wednesday night. The number one thing I learned being the fact that in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, the new year is celebrated almost two weeks later than the Gregorian calendar. So Russians get drunk on January 13th instead of December 31st... or just all the time, I can't tell.

2) The Russian Cultural Center is beautifully ornate and contains all kinds of awesome artwork. It's up near the embassies tucked about 3 blocks away from the Russia House on Connecticut.

3) Russian women apparently dress up like "snow queens" on Russian New Year, and all the dudes wanna pose with them. They also collect donations.

4) Apparently, in Russia, certain forms of waste count as donatable items.

5) Russian babes are hot. Duh.

6) Kids who go to GW are stupid and annoying. Duh. (I am a GW graduate, so I know, okay.)

7) Russian people WAIL on the most unbelievably sweetest guitars imaginable. And they look like cowboys when they play their ghee-tars. (In all seriousness, the musical interlude was the highlight of the night. This band was very good... and I don't know their name.)

8) Russians love cosmonauts!! Get your space on.

9) Christmas trees last longer in Russia than they do in America... probably because it's so cold there.

10) Russians like dolls, and American dudes of Czech dissent like to play with said dolls and talk about becoming connected on LinkedIn.

11) If you go upstairs to the library, you can find lots of giant books about Moscow. Fuckyeah.

12) And last, but certainly not least, Russians like to drink, so arrive earlier next year to the Russian Cultural Center for their annual Russian New Years party!