The rest our journey was more precarious and I gazed at the broken guard rails strategically placed beside the worst curves. Some good they did. The snow fell furiously, Axel Rose screamed “Welcome to the Jungle!” which was remarkably appropriate for the chaotic traffic we kept engaging, and I watched the world drift on. The mountains are intoxicating in this region, not that we needed any more intoxication, and you really feel close to the earth. It is comforting. We made the final turns off the mountain and descended into the basin that cradles Yerevan. It was Genocide Day in [View Full Entry]

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We arrived at the Georgian border, our car devastated by dirt and snow, and breezed through the checkpoint without hassle. Americans don’t need visas to Georgia, which I find a remarkable turn of events given the history of the region. A quick stamp and we were off. Others weren’t so lucky. I didn’t care. The dramatic mountains followed us north, and, while obviously pained economically, there was a notable and sudden change the moment we set foot inside Georgia. Road signs were often bright and new, and frequently in proper English too. Sure there were plenty of Soviet-era Ladas, Volga’s, [View Full Entry]

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It’s been three years now since I departed my life from deep behind the Iron Curtain: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan…and over a year since I departed my life in the Balkans….they seem like only distant dreams to me now. But it took roughly three seconds to revert to the behavior necessary to survive in this place. My first sign that I was back was the contingent of soldiers waiting for us at the bottom of the air-stairs which allowed us to de-board the plane—despite the presence of unused jet-bridges just 300 meters from my now parked 737. The deplaning Czech Airlines [View Full Entry]

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Saturday was a momentous occasion in Italian history. Was it an anniversary of a war of yesteryear? Establishment of a stable long-term government? The end of strikes? No. An Alitalia flight landed, gasp, 10 minutes early! And I was on it! Brilliant. After swooping over what were probably the Austrian and Italian Alps, we banked softly south and shortly landed alongside the beautiful city of Venice. Our plane flew low over the water, and I watched the sailboats and gondolas float lazily out to sea. The airport revealed Venice’s primary oddity immediately—the taxi queue was a 5 minute walk to [View Full Entry]

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This past weekend many of us went south to Bohemia and visited a UNESCO heritage site, the town of Cesky Krumlov. On the way we stopped in a town called, I think, Pilzn, where Pilsner Urquell is headquartered. We actually spent a night in Pilzen, which has nothing really going on except the brewery. We stayed in the "Hotel Continental" which I have learned is code for "Commie hotel trying to pose as classy Western Hotel" in Eastern Europe. It was as bizarre as most of them are--it does have this air of regalty to it, sort of, except inside [View Full Entry]

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I’ve spent much time east of the Iron Curtain and made several visits to Germany, but this weekend I finally made it to the one place where the Cold Warriors stared one another down, literally, face to face: Berlin. I took the 4.5 hour train journey from Prague and arrived early evening on a Friday. After a packed week of class projects, my 6 Taiwanese friends and I were tired, but Berlin was abuzz. Our train arrived at the main station, recently renovated and ultra-modern, and we made our way to our hostel, right in the heart of East Berlin, [View Full Entry]

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Some people have said, "So...do you actually study also or..." Fair enough question I guess. As the consultants from the movie "Office Space" wisely asked, "What it is ya say, ya do here?" Well, we actually do study. It sort of sucks, since we're in Europe, but here are a few propaganda pictures. Any alcohol sightings in this photo must have been Photo-Shopped in by my roommate. But, I live and study in the same place, called the Czech Management Center. It's not bad, especially for a building that was essentially a Communist brain washing center. There's a canteen which [View Full Entry]

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In case I didn’t have time to tell you, I am spending the second half of my spring semester in the Czech Republic. Thunderbird has a tiny “campus” at the Czech Management Graduate School of Business, which is located about 30 Km from Prague, in a village of about 1500 called Celakovice (pronounced Chelakoveetsiya). I’ll be here about 7 weeks. My professors are flown over and they live here with us; I’m with about 60 of my classmates and we don’t mix with other students in class, so it is the Thunderbird curriculum, only in the Czech Republic. This is [View Full Entry]

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