I arrived in Moscow on a direct flight from JFK International. Just a few hours before the flight I was notified that Moscow State University had somehow forgotten to reserve our rooms for us American students… something they haven’t done in over fifteen years. I arrived at Sheremetyevo airport a little nervous. I knew nothing about what lay ahead. After a few moments I met up with other American students and we were told to get into a car heading to our apartment in Shablovka. Luckily, I grabbed a car with a student from New York who spoke fluent Russian. As we crept slowly toward Moscow, and I say crept only because traffic is insane and ever-present here, I was shocked by the beauty of Moscow’s architecture.

I had, for some reason, imagined Moscow’s architecture as being austere before coming here. I pictured easy-to-build, mass-produced, government-planned concrete buildings everywhere like I had seen in many Soviet history films. Instead, I found myself in one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. Moscow, to me, is the “crossroads of the world” because the buildings here are so eclectic. It sits at the intersection of Europe, Siberia, and Central Asia. Its buildings have hints of Middle Eastern, European and Central/South Asian influences coupled with uniquely Russian elements.