Part 2/7:
Starting at 15 years old, the speaker reflects on his childhood spent in the projects, growing up with limited resources and little exposure to the outside world. Everything changed when he had a professor who led a trip to the Soviet Union in 1986, a time when the region was known as the "Evil Empire." Desperate to join the trip, he pleaded with the professor, eventually finding himself halfway around the world, exploring life behind the Iron Curtain.