By the way, their website isn’t so easy to navigate if your Russian isn’t fluent, so here’s a link to the Russian for Foreigners program page, in English.
Just wanted to thank you all again. I emailed American Councils and received a very helpful reply, even though I’m not likely to take their particular course–they’re just happy to hear of someone eager to learn Russian. 
madmonk28–funny you should mention Belarus. My current tutor is from Belarus, and she actually suggested looking into her alma mater in Minsk. With all due respect to her, I think I’ll stick with Petersburg!
Were those the dorms on ul. Korablestroitelei? If so, the section I lived in had greatly improved by 1995 (dom 1). At least the part where they housed foreign students - the upper floors, for Russian students only, were probably much the same.
Yep, that’s the place - I don’t remember which dom I was in. But when I was there, there were Russian students in all the rooms on our floor as well (though I’m sure they were hand-picked for political reliability; my roommate, for example, was the daughter of the Soviet ambassador to India, and the granddaughter of Mukhtar Auezov, probably the only Kazakh author halfway well-known outside Kazakhstan).
I had two Russian roommates in my dorm room as well, but they weren’t anybody famous or nothin’.
And I still wanna know: What were you doing in Turkey, and where?
Just a week’s vacation: Istanbul, Selcuk, and Pamukkale. PM me if you want a link to the photos.
I know people who love Minsk, but one of the Americans who told me I should visit there ended up serving 5 years in a Belarusian prison. On the bright side, I bet his Russian is excellent, if a bit colorful.
ETA: You can find out who ACTR works with and contact them directly. ACTR are a good, but extremely geeky, bunch (full disclosure: I’m an ACTR alum and former employee).