The followers of my blog may be interested to know that starting from now I'll be sharing my experience of living and working in a new country. Right at this moment, I, Andrew Carter, am writing my blog from a very remote place in Russia.

When I accepted the offer of the international ecological group to take part in the project in the Russian North, I never expected the experience would be so amazing. As a professional ecologist I have worked in different parts of the world, but never in Russia. A trip to the north region of the country looked really challenging. Now I see that it is a very special place. My journey is to last for two months and now I wish I could stay here longer. Two months are definitely not enough to enjoy the beauty of this place, which is called the Kenozersky National Park.

Anyway, my adventures started two weeks ago. Patrick and I landed in Moscow at 10am in the morning and our plane to Arkhangelsk was at 11pm so we had the whole day to see Moscow. We did not need to stay in a hotel at that.

My first impression was that, well, Moscow is a huge city! My colleague, Patrick, who’s visited Moscow several times already, told me that the best way to get some idea of the Russian capital was to take a bus excursion round the city. And he was right!

We managed to see the historical centre, and walked across Red Square. I have to confess that I’ve never seen a square so huge and grand. Then the bus took us along the wide streets and avenues. We made a brief stop near the famous Russian university - the Moscow State University. I had certainly seen the building in the photos, but in real life it looks even more impressive.

When the excursion was over, we found ourselves in the centre again. We still had plenty of time and decided to visit the State Historical Museum that is on Red Square. We only managed to see a small part of the vast collection of the museum. Its exhibitions range from relics of prehistoric tribes that lived on the territory of present-day Russia centuries ago to priceless pieces of art that belonged to the Romanov dynasty.

After the intense cultural programme, we were just walking along the streets. Then we dropped into a small restaurant and ordered some national dishes. They tasted unfamiliar, but I liked them.

The next day we got to our destination.

Kenozersky National Park is exactly at the border of the Arkhangelsk Oblast and Karelia. The park is centred round the Lake Kenozero, one or the largest lakes in the region. The Russian colleagues met us at Arkhangelsk airport and drove us to the place where we were to live and work for two months. It was a long drive but it was worth it!

As I’ve already mentioned, the national park is a very remote place. Three quarters of its territory is covered with taiga. The environment is untouched, and we were charmed by its beauty. The park is inhabited by a great variety of animals and birds. Some of them are extremely rare species. It’s actually a paradise for a person who studies nature!

However, the place is not only interesting for nature lovers like me. In spite of the remoteness of the place, there are tourists from all over the world here. They are charmed by the wooden architecture of the region. There are many authentic wooden houses and churches with wonderful painted ceilings. Some tourists, including the people from America and Asia, come specially to attend carpentry courses and workshops, where skilled craftsmen teach them to make traditional wooden toys, furniture, and home decorations. Some of their works are real pieces of art.

I have to stop now as we are setting off to the lake. The story is to be continued…