When I visited Russia in 2002 on the four hour flight back I was sitting next to a girl who was 22, bright, attractive, had just dropped out of her senior year

When I visited Russia in 2002 on the four hour flight back I was sitting next to a girl who was 22, bright, attractive, had just dropped out of her senior year of college studying French and German literature ... and was a mail order bride on the way to be with her new husband. We talked almost the whole way and it took me some time to put together the pieces since she didn't just come out and say it. It was her way out. The logic was that even if things really went to shit that she could put up with it for three years until she had permanent residence and could get divorced if she needed to. It certainly changed my view on the stereotype.