Ама́нда Ли

Amanda Li

Amanda is a graduate student in Art History at the University of Southern California, working on a dissertation on the Russian avant-garde.  She is spending the year working in the Art History Department at the European University in Saint Petersburg. She shares a room in the dormitory with Monique, a graduate student from France.

Дени́с Гу́рин

Denis Gurin

Denis is originally from Yaroslavl', but is studying at Moscow State University. He meets the American students at the airport as part of his job as Natalya Mikhailovna's assistant in the exchange program.  Although the Americans are all in different cities, he maintains ties with them throughout the year.

Анто́нио (То́ни) Мора́лес

Antonio (Tony) Morales

Tony is an undergraduate from Texas majoring in International Relations and Russian. He has an older brother (Tomas), and older sister (Sandra), a younger sister ((Isabel) and a younger brother (Jose). He is studying at Yaroslavl’ State University and living with Zoya Stepanovna, a retired doctor who also happens to be Denis Gurin's grandmother.

Ке́йтлин Бра́унинг

Caitlin Browning

Caitlin is an undergraduate from Ohio who is majoring in Anthropology. She is an only child and gets quite homesick while abroad. She is spending the year in Kazan’, where she lives with Marat Azatovich Abdulov, a businessman in the construction industry, and his wife Rimma Yur'evna, a school teacher.

Джо́шуа (Джош) Стайн

Joshua (Josh) Stein

Josh is an undergraduate from New York state, who is studying ecology and economics at Columbia. He has two younger brothers, David and Benjamin. During his year in Russia he is studying in Irkutsk, where he lives with Svetlana Borisovna, a divorced advertising executive with a college-aged daughter away at school.

Ка́тя Никольская

Katya Nikolskaya

Katya and her roommate Lena live next door to Amanda in the dormitory. She is a good friend to Amanda and provides advice and counsel on a range of issues in the course of the year. Her boyfriend Oleg, who spends a lot of time in the dorm although he has his own apartment, introduces Amanda to Zhenya Kuznetsov.

Евгений (Же́ня) Кузнецо́в

Evgenii (Zhenya) Kuznetsov

Zhenya is a third-year student in mathematics at St, Petersburg State University. He is friends with Katya’s boyfriend Oleg, and so he and Amanda meet not long after her arrival. Zhenya’s family has lived in Petersburg for several generations, so he is a natural tour guide when Amanda wants to get to know the area.