After a little break, I'd like to get back to the main goal of my trip to the US - ITW'11. After arriving to DC, my boss and I came to the Marriott hotel (the place where the show took place) to make sure that everything was prepared to the next day, when the show would begin.

Marriott was a kind of amazing hotel with a huge lobby and a lot of space for hosting as big telecom show as ITW was. Luxury was everywhere =)

After finishing all preparation, we went to the

reception organized by Vodafone. Exposing Vodafone all over the world, there were several re-presenters of the biggest and most famous cities, like Paris, London, New York, Singapore, Mumbai, Dubai and so on. Every single city presented

their native cuisine. The jazz band played, making the soft and warm atmosphere, even despite of several hundreds of attendees, who were present in the lobby. That was first time when I got to such a reception an everything looked amazing and quite interesting to me =)

I enjoyed that time, feeling like that would rarely happen in the future. After the reception ended,

we went to White House, so I've got a chance to see the heart of American Democracy =) No, really, in spite of all my doubts and concerns about the politics of the US, being near such a place inspires you and makes you feel the greatness of this country, sometimes very contradictory, but powerful and inspirational anyway. Good end for such a great day I think =)

So, I've just came back to the hotel (pls remind me to tell more details about it, it is worth to do so =) and after a short rest I'm ready to tell you a little about my first full day spent in NY. Why in short? Because so many feelings and notices I've got cannot be shared just in one post. I think there will be enough time in the future to tell about many facts that I noticed and many thoughts that came to my mind after that.



The first thing that I'd like to tell you is actually Newark Liberty Airport, the first place I got to in the US, and the first place that made me believe that I'm really there. My first impression was, "Wow, they have carpets laying down everywhere!" the second was, "Why there are so many children rolling on the ground?!" Seems like this is their legal right - to do so.



Anyway, after passing the pass control and taking an airtrain (I love that kind of transportation now =) I've got to the hotel. That kind of hotel is not very expensive, so I did not expect anything like amazing comfort there. I was wrong. Everything, literally everything what I needed (and a lot of what I even didn't need) was there. Including a bed where with no problem 5-6 @ers can spend a night =)

Next morning I faced the first seriuos problem - the breakfest. No, really! The scheme is simple - there is a kitchen and the dining room. You need to take everything what you'd like. The problem is that you have no idea about what you like, especiall when you don't know what all that stuff on the kitchen is! Dozens of plastick packets, cans, packages and pieces of bread, rolles, buns, cookies and muffins were there. Since I didn't have much time for figuring out what is what, I'd made a toast, pick up a maffin and took a glass of juice. Let's leave investigation of the american food for the better times =)


Walking on the streets was really cool, because that was the first time when I was attending so many interesting and great places in so short timeframe. Grand Central Terminal, Briant Park, Public Library, Times Square, Central Park, Rokfeller Center, Museum of Modern Art - all this impressed me a lot. In the Briant Park I met a homeless guy, who's appeared a really interesting one with a lot of philosophical thoughts, and what was more important, who was ready to share them with a foreigner like me. We spend a couple of hours discussing everything from the politics of the former Soveiet Union and to the problems of the modern system of raising up children. I bought him a hot dog, being thankful for so interesting spending of time.


During my walking I've met a black guy, who's asking for supporting him in playing basketball. He was keeping a piece of paper, where he wrote down hames and amount of money given him by random supporters. "Playing basketball requires a lot of money to spend on uniform, balls and so on", he said. After my question why don't he find some job to earn those mpney, he didn't reply anything. Perhaps, that's not my business at all, I don't know, but that case was one of the most characterising ones that I saw.

Another interesting thing was about black guys who're selling their home-made audio CDs with hip-hop music recorded. They tried to sell one to me, but to spend money on it was the last thing I was going to do. Anyway, they asked for my name, and after hearing it, started asked whether I'm from Russia or not =) The interesting thing was that they know something about Ukraine, particularly, that Kyiv is a capital.


Actually, the places mentioned before stopped to be my goal after I realized that the most noticalbe experience I can receieve here is to talk with people. Really different ones, who're open to talks, and who do not hesitate to spent a few minutes with a stranger. A few guys, whom I was buying goods from, several walkers, girl who was spending cookies on the street, bus dtrivers and a stuardess have got to the list of people I was talking with today. And impressions they made are quite opposite sometimes. As well as the impression made by the city at all. Too many different sites, contrasts and fellings it causes to me.

I'm on my way to International Telecom Week, telecomunication expo show that will take its place in Washington, DC. I've just arrived to Kyiv from my native Lugansk and feel a bit jumpy before my first flight =) Hope it will be not really chilling.


A few words about ITW - that's a show where a lot of the companies who're making their money in the telecomunication business meet. The main idea of this is simple - to show and adevertise your products, to see what others offer and to build and enlarge your network of contacts. I'm going there to help the team of Telinta, Inc. , the guys I'm working with. By the way, I have a pretty nice job as a VoIP hosting switch support engineer. Hope I'll have a chance to tell more about it in my future posts.

So, I'm going to the US and feeling a bit nervous about the flight. Actually, there will be two flights - the first onу to Frankfurt, that's in Germany. The second one from Frankfurt to Newark (that's New Jersey). It's sad that I'll be wasting two hours in Frankfurt with no ability to leave the airport.

Before going to ITW I'll have a couple of days to spend in New York. One of the city I've been dreaming to get to for years. So, that's my lucky ticket =) Don't change the channell, I'll be in touch.

Let's get started =)

All cool stories usually start with introductions. Since I'd like to make my story cool, I'll not make any exception either =) My name is Andrey, and this is my story. Story of what I do, worry about, feeling like and so worth. Story about people, pictures I see, and decisions I made. Story about truth, the real truth that we shouldn't be afraid of, even if we really like to.

You may consider me as a strange kind of guy, who enjoys doing something non-commercial in his life. In my case I'm talking about AIESEC, the biggest international organisation driven by youth in the world. That's what takes a lion part of my life, and what I'm proud of. That doesn't actually mean that I have nothing else in my life, I do have and have a lot, but somehow this part is more important for me, at least for now.

You know, I have been doubting for a long time thinking about whether to start blogging or not. I'm not quite sure even now. Mostly because this blog is supposed to be for me in its first turn, and only after that for my friends, colleagues and people, who might find it interesting. I just feel that there is something I need to express in writing. And why not to share all that with others?

I'm not going to restrict my posts just by the @ (this character means AIESEC) stuff. Everything what I keep my eyes on will be disclosed and shared here. That means a lot of aspects of people communication, some interesting things about economics, marketing, sometimes IT and everything that can look interesting for guys, who like to be informed and not to loose the touch with what is going around . Hope I'll open these posts in several years, and will find them not only funny but containing the stuff to think on and reconsider the way I was thinking and doing in the past. Experience is born by our own mistakes, so it is fine to save them for recalling them in your memory.