learn_russian | Aug. 31st, 2006

I am a senior in high school, and college seems to be the only thing on my mind. I want to study International Relations, and I would like to learn Russian, but I have absolutely no experience with the language. I have used websites and books, but I can't seem to get the Cyrlic alphabet.
I live in the middle of nowhere, and there are no Russian classes available. [The only language class in general I could find outside of school that isn't Spanish, was an Italian class, and there were only two people in the class..including me] I don't want to give up..I think with a formal class I could get it, but I don't want to wait until college [just so I can get somewhat of an idea if I like the language or not], but I'm wondering if because I don't understand now should I give up because I never will? Do you have any advice?
What really helped me with pronouncing French is listening to music...any recommendations? Preferable things that aren't too fast or anything that would make is even more difficult to understand. My music tastes are in my profile, but it's okay if I don't like it. [I'm also looking for good Russian movies if you have an recommendations for that either..]