Today is high time to finish my blog and to say goodbye! I am really sure that someone even more exciting will take my place and will share all the important things he/she has!

I hope that you have found my articles helpful, interesting and, at least, not very boring :) I really tried to share with you some ideas which you may use during your stay in Berlin and just some experience from my life!

In the end I would like to wish you to take your time in Berlin and to take everything from your life!

Use your chance to travel throughout Europe! Now you have a great opportunity and very useful facilities for that, for example, advanced European transport infrastructure and Airbnb accommodation. Visit other European countries (France, Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, etc) also!

Do try to use your stay to learn German! It is really crucial to know this language to survive in Berlin J That goal still remains as one of the most important for me as well. And the reason for that is the following: the German language may help you with better understanding of the German culture and with finding new friends in Berlin (as well as all over German, Austria and Switzerland). Moreover, during learning German at DeutschAkademie you may find new friends all over the world (for example, from Ecuador, Peru, the United Kingdom, Albania and so on)!

I know for sure that here you will gain lots of fun, great life-experience and new exciting impressions!

Good luck to everyone of you!

On the 9^th of May the Victory Day took place all over the world! It is a very important day in history of humankind due it is the sign of the II World War end. I felt very happy to be on this date in Berlin, in the city where everything was over!

In Russia we have an event on the Victory Day which is called “The Immortal Regiment” when a lot of people meet together in a particular place with portraits of their family members which participated in military actions of the II World War on the side of Soviet Union. People walk through the cities and carry these photos in memory of those who had fallen in battle thus creating real regiment of soldiers. This event is held all over Russia in different cities and, of course, mainly in Moscow. It gathers and unites thousands of people in such a big day!

How I was surprised when I knew that local government in Berlin allowed Russians to hold this event on the Victory Day! There were about 700 people going from the Brandenburg Gate through Tiergarten to the Soviet War Memorial, holding portraits of their family members, listening to the victory songs and placing flowers nearby this memorial! The Sun was shining and the atmosphere was really calm – everything was okay.

Soviet War Memorial on the 9th of May

All of us should thank those who sacrificed their lives for this clear sky and for our bright future! Peace all over the world!

Liebe Teilnehmer,

wir wünschen euch einen schönen ersten Kurstag und möchten euch gerne zu unserem Stammtisch am Donnerstag einladen! Wie gewohnt treffen wir uns in der ersten Kurswoche im Hofbräu in der Nähe der DeutschAkademie am Alexanderplatz. Wir freuen uns auf alle, die sich mit uns ab 20 Uhr auf nette Gespräche, leckeres Essen und typisch bayrisches Bier treffen möchten.

Euer DeutschAkademie Team

Today I was thinking that I have already provided you with some tips about museums in Berlin, about different logistics excursions all over Germany. I guess, now it would be also useful if I give you few advices in case you want to visit Moscow.

Of course, you can google all the main sites in Moscow. I bet that you will find the following:

Park of Victory

• The Kremlin
• Bolshoi Theatre
• GUM Department Store
• Moscow Metro
• Park of Victory
• Historical Museum, etc.

Undoubtedly, these sites are really gorgeous and mainly represent Russian culture but they are too common and full of tourists. There are some places in Moscow which are not less beautiful and so overcrowded.

First of all, it should be said that Moscow is really amazing itself and can be considered as entire site (especially in the central part of the city). It is always wonderful to walk at summer night in the centre of the city and feel its magic atmosphere! Here you can also find many cafes and bars of different formats and styles. Here are the main streets to walk through and to admire:

• Tverskaya street
• New Arbat
• Old Arbat
• The Boulevard Ring
• Pyatnitskaya street, etc.

Secondly, I have my own favorite places in Moscow. They are:

Patriarshiye Ponds

• Patriarshiye Ponds

Actually, it is only one pond in the centre of the city with white swans. This place is really famous due one of the Bulgakov’s novels starts from there!

• Arkhangelskoye Palace

This estate is located around 20 kilometers from the city and it was built in the 18^th-19^th centuries. The Palace is facing the Moscow River and a regular terraced park which Is decorated with many antique statues.

These two places are really beautiful in any season but I like it most in summer when everything is colorful and trees are green!

Once I had working experience in Sony Electronics Russia in logistics (which is a part of Sony Corporation), I totally fell in love with this company as it has really great history and everything about it arouses my curiosity. I find knowing facts about the company you work in very exciting because it makes you part of the whole corporation and brings better understanding of how it works in real life. That is why I have decided to share it with you.

Sony is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo and operated since May, 1946. The company was founded by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita in 1946 as Telecommunications Engineering Corporation and only in 1958 it got its name. Masaru Ibuka was responsible for the technological part of business, Akio Morita – for the commercial part. Their cooperation became a fertile ground for the successful development of the company which has become famous not only for the production of electronics but also for the creating completely new technologies (for example, Compact Disk).

Sony comprises several business units and even several companies which deal with various business activities. Its structure looks like the following:

• Electronics
  • Sony Corporation (incl. Audo, Photography and Videography, etc)
  • Mobile Communications
  • Interactive Entertainment
  • Creative Software
• Electric vehicles and batteries
• Entertainment
  • Pictures Entertainment
  • Music Entertainment
  • Music Publisghing
• Financial Services

Well-known and recognizable Columbia Pictures, Tristar and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer are also Sony Companies.

The most exciting and amazing thing about this company (which makes itcompletely unique and highly comprehensive in the whole world) is the following: it may just take Brad Pitt to make an add, shoot this video with its own cameras, then burn a Blu-ray Disk with Sony equipment, after all watch this add on its own TVs :)

Due I am an owner of MINI car, I am a big fan of this brand and its products! Cars of this brand are not only really cool, nice and cozy, but they also have a deep and rich history since the year 1959. I have decided to share with you several interesting facts that you might enjoy! :)

Originally, the cars was built under two different brands at the British Motor Corporation which were the Austin and Morris names. MINI became a marquee in its own right in 1969. In the very beginning it was British brand but now BMW produces MINI cars. Despite this fact, they always are associated with Britain because of their roofs with flag.

The Classic MINI has been thought to be the most popular car ever built! It sold approximately 5.3 million units. Recently it was even voted Britain’s favorite car of all time! Moreover, in 1999 the brand was voted the second most influential car of the 20^th century, behind the Ford Model T, and ahead of the the Volkswagen Beetle. Legendary automaker Enzo Ferrari (who started Ferrari, obviously) also had 3 MINIs in his garage.

MINI cars have a unique front wheel drive layout allowing four people to fit comfortably in relatively small space. Frankly speaking, I had an experience of driving my car with even six people inside the car but the world record is 66 people! It only looks small – this car can more than you think.

MINI cars (Cooper and Cooper S models) are very successful as rally cars, winning the Monte Carlo Rally several times.

The last but not the least, all four members of the biggest band in the history of universe – the Beatles – drove MINI coopers!

Me and my <3

Yesterday I had a flight from Berlin to Moscow and, while I was waiting for the departure, I have decided to conduct a small investigation in airports ratings and to find out the most loved/hated ones and the reason for that. These ratings might be very useful for travelers :)

According to CNN, world’s most loved airports are:

10. Auckland Airport, Auckland, New Zealand

9. Montevideo Carrasco, Montevideo, Uruguay

8. Victoria International, Victoria, Canada

7. Zurich Airport, Zurich, Switzerland

6. Tampa International, Tampa, United States

5. Ushuaia-Malvinas Argentinas International, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

4. Munich Airport, Munich, Germany

3. Seoul Incheon, Seoul, Korea

2. Singapore Changi, Singapore

1. Hong Kong International, Hong Kong, China

However, most #1 loved airport is the busiest freight airport in the world, it is one of the most accessible in operations today due to express services to/from downtown, remote check-ins for cargo carriers. Moreover, it has lounging, golfing, fine-dining, 4-D movie theater, etc. for travelers.

As for me, now it is really interesting to visit airport in Munich which is #4 and to discover it! :)

In contrast, here is the list of world’s most hated airports, according CNN research:

10. São Paulo-Guarulhos International, São Paulo, Brazil

9. Perth Airport, Perth, Australia

8. Tribhuvan International, Kathmandu, Nepal

7. John F. Kennedy International, New York, United States

6. Jomo Kenyatta International, Nairobi, Kenya

5. Ninoy Aquino International, Manila, Philippines

4. Toncontín International, Tegucigalpa, Honduras

3. London Heathrow, London, England

2. Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, United States

1. Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paris, France

Surprisingly, the most hated airport is in Paris. The reasons for that are the following: grimy washrooms, broken scan machines, lack of signage and gate information screens, dismissive and indifferent staff and so on. CNN strongly does not recommend using it for transfer, only if you want to visit wonderful Paris!

If you are really interested in these researches, please, visit links provided and find much more interesting information!

We are happy at Moscow SVO

Few days ago I witnessed an event on Kurfurstendamm where the crowd of bikers with their bikes participated. From one point of view, it was really great because all of them produced specific driving noise thus created cool atmosphere. On the other hand, it was completely impossible to cross the street as the flow of bikers was endless! This led me to the thoughts about European concerns about pollutions and to the contradiction connected with bikers-event.

Biker-event on the 28th of May

So, I have decided to investigate this issue in the context of the German ‘green’ behavior and found out several interesting ‘green’ logistics tools which are used in Germany nowadays.

In the context of urban passenger transport ‚green‘ tools are: city cycling, mobility stations, business mobility through ridesharing and, what was the most surprising for me, wirelessly-charged E-bus line! BVG runs electric buses since August 2015 and transports about two-thirds of a billion passengers per year by electric traction. The buses charge wirelessly and contactless exclusively with green electricity; they are not only absolutely emission-free but also produce low vibration at the time! Within one year, the four buses run approximately 200.000 kilometers at total, saving 260 tons of CO2 emissions.

As for the cargo delivery, there also some ‘green’ logistics solutions for decreasing CO2 emissions, they are: smartPORT strategy for managing all available modes of transport, transport planning with microscopic emission modeling via software instruments, cargo bikes and unusual eHighway trucks. eHighway system combines the efficiency of railway with the flexibility of road transport without losing necessary flexibility in the way of using active pantograph: the truck may be connected (run by electricity) or disconnected (run by fuel) to the contact lines at all speeds – and this system looks like trolley-truck.

These ‘green’ approaches are really innovative and promising today; to my mind, in the nearest future they will become a part of everyday life in Germany and, hopefully, will contribute to the environmental sustainability!

Once I had an experience of intercultural negotiations with Americans and Germans at Potsdam University, and at the very beginning of our negotiations we had an interesting and rather funny task to come up with stereotypes about other nationalities which participated in negotiations.

Frankly speaking, I expected to hear that all Russians play balalaika every evening, have bears as domestic animals and atomic reactors to heat houses but it was truly surprising indeed.

The first one was about too serious Russians. Honestly, I had never noticed that my nation representatives are really serious (you can see it especially in public transport) until I started living in Berlin. Now I compared people and can see this great difference between people in Moscow and people in Berlin: Germans seem really happy, kind and open (even in the morning) in comparison with gloomy, serious and sometimes angry Russians. It may look like life in Russia is too severe and makes people so, but it is not the real reason for that! In fact, outside the home Russians think too much about work and how to manage all the important things and only at home or with friends they have an opportunity to relax with family and become happier!

This leads to the second stereotype: Russians always drink vodka. Well, I should say that Russians may also drink wine, beer, vermouth, etc. In addition, they do not necessarily drink all the time: the majority prefers to drink on special days and holidays only :) Moreover, there are example of other nations drinking too much (English, Irish, German, etc.)

The last one was about endless Russian winter. Firstly, it depends on the specific part of our country. And secondly, despite winter can last more than half of the year, we do always have very nice and warm summer!

Patriarch Ponds in Moscow in summertime

To conclude, now I know few stereotypes which are not actually stereotypes, they are real facts: Americans always speak very loud and Germans sneeze even louder! :)