I spent eight weeks in Yerevan, Armenia with SRAS and another eight with a US-government run program in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (SRAS also hosts programs in Bishkek). Afterwards, I was surprised by how similar the two cities felt despite being thousands of miles apart. That said, each city also has characteristics that make it unique which […]

Poland may not be the first place that comes to mind when thinking about vegetarian cuisine. However, as a vegetarian, and having now traveled to Warsaw, Krakow, and Gdansk in Poland while attending Security and Society in the Information Age, I can say that these cities all have great vegetarian options and even strictly vegan […]

The following interviews were taken Eddy S., a student who studied with SRAS over the summer of 2024 who is lesbian and trans. In addition, those sharing their thoughts are John Doe, a gay trans man who wanted to remain anonymous, and Jane Doe, a lesbian trans woman who also wanted to remain anonymous. SRAS thanks […]

I spent 3-months backpacking as a solo female across the Caucasus, visiting each of the three republics there. In this article, I’ll cover how I spent my final three weeks in the Republic of Armenia. If you are interested in the other parts of my trip, you can check out my intro page or my […]

My Central Asian Studies Program with SRAS in Bishkek included a fantastic 9-day trip to the major Silk Road cities of Uzbekistan—Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand—which was book-ended by visits to Tashkent. At the end of my program, I made the trip to the capital of Uzbekistan again, this time independently. I stayed there for three […]

In my six years as a competitive ballroom dancer in the United States, I’ve been struck by the fact that most of my coaches, teachers, and judges are from former Soviet states. Even Ukrainian President Zelensky had a star turn as a dancer when he won a Dancing with the Stars competition in 2006. During […]