I grew up under Communism so we could only learn Russian, and then when Communism fell in 1989 we could learn a few more things and have the freedom to travel and the freedom of speech - and the freedom of dreaming, really.

I love to dance. I can dance for, like, four or five hours nonstop without even drinking water. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing.

We cannot stop natural disasters but we can arm ourselves with knowledge: so many lives wouldn't have to be lost if there was enough disaster preparedness.

If we focus on the minuses, we go down the spiral. But if we are able to focus on the pluses, we can become stronger and put more meaning into our life.

So, we have choice, and sometimes it seems very hard, but the best way to heal physically or emotionally is to keep positive.

My secret passion is motorbikes. I want a Kawasaki Ninja.

I was so afraid to even read a paper in front of my classmates. It is very funny because at that point my teachers would never have believed that I could speak in front of an audience of over 2,000 people.