summer plans

Well, it's about that time again. I have not had an entry here for about 6 months and that usually means that I have not traveled. I have been feeling the itch lately and I am getting ready to embark on a great trip. I have spent the last 4 months in Glendale Arizona going to school at Thunderbird. I am getting my MBA in international business. My first semester was an amazing experience and it was everything I had hoped for. The best part of the school is definitely the people. Thunderbird does an amazing job at bringing in some of the most interesting people from all over the world into one place. The student population is about 60% foreign and 40% domestic. Everyone has traveled all over the world and has experienced some very cool stuff.

Thunderbird has campuses all over the world and this summer I am going to be taking classes in Prague for six weeks followed by China for 6 weeks. The teachers are Thunderbird teachers but the focus at both of these campuses will be on their respective regions. I am going to truly have a global business education upon graduation.

In Prague I have an apartment in the middle of the city and I am going to be living with Gokhan from Turkey and Mike and Patrick from the US. My second week in Prague there is a big beer festival and a few of my friends from Serbia are going to be coming in to visit me. I plan on traveling all over the region and trying to learn as much about the culture as is possible to do in 6 weeks. School is going to be very difficult but I will be able to perform a good juggling act to succeed in everything.

After Prague, Sarah my girlfriend is joining from NYC (she is a teacher and has the summer off). We are going to go on a 10 day trip through Italy where we are going to be hunting the best food and wine that Italy offers. After that we are flying to Beijing where we will find an apartment and I'll start school up there. Sarah is going to be teaching English.
China is going to be more of a culture shock than Prague but it will be very interesting. I studied a fair amount of Chinese history in my undergraduate and I am excited to see the things I studied first hand. I should have decent access to internet while traveling and I hope to be able to post lots of interesting stories. Until then, wish me luck...