My area is very nice and I love living here, although I am sure I would love to live anywhere in Russia, Even somewhere classed as "depressing" by non-russians such as the area Norilsk :). I am personally unsure about the lines but I will ask around my area.

I Have travelled a fair amount around Russia including to the borders of many countries like kazakh and mongolia by the trans siberian, but I havent been to the far north-east yet, but I will get around to it :)). I went to murmansk and teriberka as well, which were quite different experiences from normal Russia but still well worth visiting. I plan to visit chechnya and dagestan at some point but I have been wanting to buy body armour for the trip just in case, I am quite paranoid about that area. Also, one of the main things I go outside in is a classic Afghan Gorka 1, which can be interpreted by terrorists to be a military or former military operative, which would not bode well for me, especially if I want to see the "real" areas of chechnya or dagestan.

It is awesome to be a Russian, our history motivates a lot of people in Russia to work harder and smarter than your average westerner to I guess prove they have strong Russian blood. Many people here are patriotic and nationalistic which is good as there are a low amount of self hating people like in Britain and a lot of people who truly love their country and would sacrifice themselves to defend the "motherland" ;).

In terms of Education, Russia has one of the best systems in the world (heavily underrated by institutes across the globe, not to mention the basis for the system is based on the СССР system, which WAS the best in the world). The people here academically are pretty smart, but what every Russian excels at is Street Smarts and Common Sense (which is not as common in the world as the word suggests). We are very good at puzzling out a dilemma and are generally good debaters, which is very good in a work environment as new ideas can be discussed easily and clearly. We are, in a sense, Wise, Like the ancient chinese ;).

What do you think about Texas and NYC compared to California? And what do you think about the Education In America? Also, what do you think about GTA 4 ? (If you have played it).

:D