learn_russian | Aug. 4th, 2003

Hello. this is my first post here. At the school I currently attend russian is not offered, though i have been intregued by it for as long as i can remeber. thus, I've been taking french classes for years but have always dreamed of learning russian, however basic, on my own. I managed to come across some old text books and language cassettes, but am really overwhelmed by it all, and seeing as how i am going at this alone, i'm not quite sure where to start. i can even seem to get a handle on the cyrillic alphabet. any suggestions for an absolute beginner would be much appreciated. also perhaps if you knew of any resources that have helped you, recommendations would be wonderful.