From Russia With Love...

So this is a blog entry that I have been really excited to write, because, honestly...how often do you get to go to Russia? Personally, I have been waiting 26 years...

Anyway...here is a brief catch up and a little history on yours truly...

First off...Many people do not know this, but I was born in a city called Lvov in the country of Ukraine. That being the case, my whole life I grew up speaking Russian, and not tooting my own horn or anything, still feel like I speak it not too bad after having lived in America all of my life...

Secondly, since LBS is so ridiculously global, of course an amazing Russia trip was organized by two students. So a very, very, very bug thank you to Omar and Evgenia for taking 30 eager LBS students to Russia and bringing everyone back in one piece...

The trip started off in what I now consider to be the most beautiful city in the world, St. Petersburg. The previous title holder in my opinion was Stockholm...but St. Petersburg was just another level beyond. The city was beyond description...kind of like a fairy tale of castles, cathedrals, canals and palaces.

I hope some of the pictures do it some justice, but honestly...you have to see it to believe it. Also...St. Petersburg has "White Nights"...basically...LIGHT all of the time...one of the coolest things I have ever experienced...Walking around at 11:00PM and having it be light outside is extremely surreal...

HIGHLIGHTS
1. The City - Walk around, soak it in...stare...just breathtaking to behold. Hop on a river boat cruise and revel in history...


2. The Hermitage - To call this a museum is a joke...astonishing interiors, masterpieces hanging everywhere, go for a few hours and just get lost...



3. The Summer Palace - Just when you thought you had seen it all...this comes along and BLOWS YOU AWAY...I thought it was better than Versailles...and to really put everything away...there is an entire room made of AMBER...yep...AMBER...




The food was great, the people were friendly and the nightlife was a blast. I did not know what to expect from St. Petersburg, but I am fan forever...

Now...onto Moscow...and what a better way than by night train? I thought so...It also happened to be my birthday...6 hours, 12 bottles of vodka later and an entire train FULL of wasted students we stumble in Moscow...


WHAT A CITY...I don't know about a lot of people, but most of the pictures of Moscow that I have seen revolve only around the Red Square...so when I saw this city...I was just really impressed. It is SO BIG...Some streets have 8 LANES...

Moscow sucked everyone in and refused to let go...One night we had a fantastic dinner with everyone form the trip and new incoming LBS students for next year...I had a chance to finally meet RUSGIRL...she rocks, as does her blog...I linked to it so check it out for yourselves...

HIGHLIGHTS

1. NIGHTLIFE - BAR NONE the most stunning women I have ever seen. All of the guys on the trip still cannot get over what they saw...

2. Kremlin - As many pictures as everyone has seen, it is still more breathtaking in person. St. Basil's rivals anything I have ever come across...

3. The City - Huge, sprawling and wonderful...From Gorky Park to Nevsky Prospekt...walk, wander and witness a city transforming itself...


Long story short...Russia did not disappoint in anyway or in any form. I was with some great friends and I already cannot wait to go back. I give it my highest recommendation...

LBS...YES, I do still attend...

Well...I wanted to take a well deserved blog entry to reflect upon the fact that my first year at LBS is 3 weeks from conclusion...I am in a state of disbelief...nuts right?

Anyway...Some of the stuff I have done the last 6 weeks of my life, I will 100% remember forever...and I know that I would never have been able to what I have done without LBS. Looking back, I can now say that without any doubt, LBS was the best decision I have made in a long, long, long time...

Before I sound like a complete dork, here are some of the highlights that I have enjoyed recently:

1. The chance to go on some really cool Treks where I have seen and met with companies that I never would have met with otherwise...

i.e. - Dubai, Silicon Valley

So...let me give you a sample of an incredible day on the Silicon Valley Trek...(By the way, as an aside, I decided that San Francisco is my favorite US city other than my beloved Chicago)



--Meet with the founder of HOT OR NOT.COM---Who is astonishingly candid, open, and captivating...
--Venture Capital Panel with Stanford Business School...We heard from Accel and a bunch of other cool firms...but of course FaceBook dominated the discussion...our final analysis = Accel is really smart!
--Touring the Yahoo! and Google campuses...I felt that I was in college again...it was another world that I have never seen before...FOOD EVERYWHERE!

Also..when you travel to these far off lands, you really bond with you MBA classmates more than ever...I am really happy with my new friends and all of the relationships that I have made...Despite my depression that first year is almost over, I am already looking forward to second year...which leads me into my next big LBS related announcement...

I AM GOING ON EXCHANGE AT KELLOGG!! I know it sounds funny to go on exchange to Chicago...but LBS has a great partnership program with a few select schools and I could not pass up the opportunity to see what Kellogg has to offer. So, everyone can get excited for some fun Chicago adventures from September to December...

In the meantime...I am way behind on some fun London, non-LBS related updates...Many of my friends have celebrated birthday's lately...so...roll call please...Happy Birthday: KEVIN, MAYUR, MILAN, ANIL, JAMIE, PAYTON and everyone else I probably forgot because I am AWFUL with birthdays. I also celebrated my 29th year on this earth last week...so thank you to everyone who called, wrote, or somehow communicted with me :-) But more on my B-day in my next post...




Lastly, with all of the new Chicago excitement, I'll with a fun weekend I recently had in Chicago...which included a friends, a trip to Wrigley Field, Beer Gardens, proper hot dogs, and my amazing mother's 55th Birthday!



Finally...I am beginning my official build the buzz for TRANSFORMERS campaign...it comes out July 2nd...GO SEE IT!

Talk to everyone soon...