metro is our main transportation in Russia, it gets us to all the places we want to be and never disappoint us. The metro reaches every corner of the cities, and each of them has their own feature and style, I could not help to take a lot of picture. I also realized that 
Russian people are always so quiet in the train, it’s very easy to distinguish who is local and who is not.
The Chinese National Flag
Met this Fans from China on the way to the Bazail game with Lisa, we decided to jump in their picture because the this national flag of us. More than 40,000 tickets were sold to Chinese fans this World Cup, even though the Chinese National Team is never here. But I believe we will be here, we just need a little more time. 
Met Dave from Infant
Meeting with Dave from Infant is definitely my favorite guest lecture in Russia. Infant is now working with Wanda, and they brought Wanda to this World Cup, I am happy to see more Chinese brand participating in the world class competition as a Chinese. I want to do what Infant is doing now. 
Budhotel
just had meeting with Andre from Octagon , and had a chance to visited the budhotel because of him. And it was great to know about their work with Budweiser. He also showed us the Budweiser studio which I was pretty impressed about
The Winter Palace
Winter Palace was the official residence of Russian Monarchs, and now the building is housing the museum which one of four most famous museum in the world. It took us an hour to get the tickets, and each ticket cost around 11 dollars and it definitely worths the money.
The Local Graduation Party
This is the view of the firework on the graduation day, definitely the largest graduation party i have ever seen. We had the chance to watch it on the boat which was the best spot to witness the whole firework show
Our guide, Jane
Need to say thank you to Jane and her husband, they have been two helpful tour guides for us in St.Petersburg, we wouldn’t know anything about the city without their help. Love the 24/7 smile on their face
Bar 76
bar 76 is right at the end of the block, t takes us 30 secs to get there from hotel. It has been the best spot to watch games in St.Petersburg so far, i go there everyday before 5pm with the team, definitely the place I will visit when I come back to St.Petersburg later
Nihao Restaurant
had a great dinner in a Chinese restaurant called Nihao (which means hello in Chinese) with the class and Jane and her husband last night in Saint Petersburg, the food was so much better than what we thought, it’s pretty authentic Chinese food. We spent most of time introducing the Chinese food culture to Lisa and Jane. 
A time for reflection…
It’s 2:30 am and I’m sitting in Penn Station in NYC waiting for the train to DC so I can complete the final leg of my journey home. I figure the best way to wrap up what has been two weeks of self-discovery and enlightenment is to go through the past two weeks and offer my personal conclusions.
I’ll start with the easiest, my favorite game of the four I attended was Mexico v. Germany. It was one of the biggest World Cup victories in Mexico’s history and it was so wonderful to see all the Mexican fans that traveled so far to support their team be rewarded by their teams guts and grit to take down one of the best teams in the world. This was also the best live sporting event I have ever seen.
My favorite speaker we meet with was Sunil Gulati, former President of US Soccer. His quick, sharp wit kept all of us on our toes (or at least the ones that got his jokes) and he really challenged us with some tough, thought-provoking ethical questions. We even discussed some recent sports related controversies ranging from equal pay to equal rights to kneeling during the anthem. He provided great insight into how to handle these situations as a manager that I for sure will take with me.
My favorite cultural experience was our walking tour of the area around the Red Square and the Kremlin. I learned so much about the history of the Russian people and appreciated some of the newer initiatives to turn the area into a cultural center with a large park, amphitheater and performing arts center.
The best fan base to experience during the World Cup was Argentina. The Mexicans were amazing and the pregame cheering of the Polish was pretty impressive (note I said pregame as during the game they all but disappeared). But these two do not compare to Argentina. I’ve seen Argentina play on TV but nothing compares to nearly 50,000 of their fans singing in unison so loudly you cannot hear yourself think. It was incredible. Also, the bare chested shirt waving of men of all age was a site to behold.
My biggest disappointment was none to be honest. And if there was, it has been forgotten because of the following.
My biggest surprise was the Russian people and culture. The metro was hyper efficient, easy to navigate, and breathtakingly gorgeous with chandeliers, statues and mosaics at every stop. I was struck by how hard the younger generation of Russians (18-40) are working to fight off the stigmas and stereotypes assigned to them by our own biases and media. I was told many times by the Russian people that we are friends, not enemies and we must work together to overcome differences and make the world better. Any Russian we met that could speak English was so eager to strike up a conversation and I welcomed the opportunity to engage with them. Not once did I feel unsafe the entire trip (well, except for that one uber ride in rush hour Moscow traffic). Expenses were pretty cheap, from uber rides to food to beer to souvenirs, it was a very affordable trip. Lastly, a craft beer enthusiast, the young and impressive craft beer culture that is coming up in Russia will easily rival our ingenuity and creativity in no time and is easily a reason to visit Russia.
I will finish with this. I would encourage anyone to visit Russia and I hope to go back someday. I made some friends that I hope will come visit in me in the US and I hope to return with my significant other to show her how wonderful the country is. This has been the trip of a lifetime and I cannot wait to see what’s next.