4 continents down, 1 to go...this year at least!

Happy New Year! What a truly amazing couple of weeks it has been since my last posting - okay, okay more like a month. But as always, I'm chalk full of stories from my travels! Of course, I flew home to California to celebrate Christmas with my family. We have a lot of little children in the family these days and I have always felt this makes the holiday season more fun because it is almost as if I get to experience it through a child's eye again. The photo below is a picture of my grand father with 8 of his 10 great grand children.

I then got to celebrate the new year in Rome, Italy with my good friend and classmate, Meloney. We really only had one full day of sight seeing though we spent two nights in the city. We managed to see quite a bit of what Rome has to offer, but I can definitely see myself returning someday.

But I know what you're really itching to hear about...my trip to eastern Europe! I participated in one of the Johnson School's study trips that allows students to travel abroad for a couple of weeks during the school breaks. They typically take place during winter, spring, and summer breaks. The trip I attended was the inaugural trip to Bulgaria and Turkey and I was joined by roughly 20 other Johnson students and our professor. While in Sofia, Bulgaria and Istanbul, Turkey we met with some of the countries most influential business and governmental people and organizations. We also received a number of lectures from faculty at American University in Bulgaria and Koc University in Turkey. What I most content with from this trip is not only the growth and expansion of my knowledge of business, politics, economics, culture, history, and religion abroad, but also the personal growth I feel as taken place. The difference, I think comes with application of either. What I have learned from an academic standpoint will certainly allow me to further my understanding of the people and places of these two countries. The personal growth factor however, is applied through future decisions and thought considerations I will make when I might reflect on a memory or lesson from this trip for guidance.

This trip has certainly fueled my growing passion for macroeconomics and for travel abroad. Fortunately, I have at least one more trip planned this year. I will be headed to South Africa during my spring break. I am also considering going on one of the summer study trips which will allow me to visit Japan and Korea. Although this winter trip to Turkey allowed me to technically step foot on the Asian continent, I have not truly had the opportunity to explore and learn more about the some of the other countries in Asia.

Below are some photos from my trip and I tried to include a caption so you know what you're looking at though it might come out a little too small to read...sorry!


Cheers!