And they'll survive again. The students learned that the currency crisis has imposed some changes and cutbacks for U.S.-based companies, but it hasn't scared them away. This optimism is an American trait. Pizza Hut has revamped its recipes to include locally-grown ingredients. Coca-Cola has created a new drink based on the nationally popular and plentiful apple juice.
Russian culture is all about adapting.
And nowhere is this better illustrated than in towns like Vladimir, a quick stop on the whirlwind tour, near in distance but far removed from the shine and polish of modern-day Moscow. In a thousand satellite towns like Vladimir, the morsels of middle-class wealth were largely washed away by the crisis. But the outlying people are perhaps the most resilient of all, revealing a quality that merges their historic survival instinct with and a new-found capitalistic bullishness. Entrepreneurs are looking to make money. And there happen to be more niches to fill here than many places.