Travel Timeline
A day in Kosovo
Kosovo is one of the "youngest" countries in Europe, having declared its independence in 2008 (fact: Ukraine has not recognized Kosovo's independence). Its capital, Pristina, is known for its vibrant street life and unique blend of cultures. I was especially impressed to see a very big Ukrainian flag displayed on the central square, a symbol of solidarity that stood out during my visit. The main reason for my trip was to see the National Library of Kosovo, famous for its striking and unconven
A few days in North Macedonia
North Macedonia! If you want to name one country that renamed itself in the past years, that's North Macedonia. After the visit I continued my journey to Greek's Macedonia - the reason of the change. Both Greece and North Macedonia wanted to claim the name "Macedonia" - and in February 2019 it was renamed to "North". The country itself feels like a peaceful piece of land to live in, with its own language, style and governance. Mountains and lakes around Skopje make it a really beautifu
A weekend in Belgrade, Serbia
Visiting Serbia was part of my ongoing journey to visit every country in Europe—after this trip, only North Macedonia and Kosovo remain on my list. My time in Belgrade was short, but it left a strong impression. The city itself is quite compact compared to other European capitals; you can easily walk across the center in under an hour. During my stay, I noticed groups of people regularly crossing one of the main bridges—a routine that started with anti-corruption protests back in November 2
A week in Barbados
Who in Europe even thinks of Barbados as a destination? Barbados was a result of the spontaneous decision to go somewhere "very far" from Poland. Indeed, it was over 14 hours of flights and 3 layovers! The island was nice, nice nature. Having monkeys just at your villa are so wonderful. Some nature sights and beaches are also worth it all. Two things I didn't like about Barbados is food and the stylishness of places on it. Food (especially vegetables) feels like a typical american low
Vatican and the Sistine Chapel
Second visit to Vatican, this time more thoughtful. Walked through the Sistine Chapel and saw everything with my own eyes. Very beautiful and very touristy. Fun fact noticed during the trip: Rome has a free water network - you can drink from the street fountains. Very cool!
Trip to Iceland
One of the most wanted destinations is done! That was a huge experience. We enjoyed a night with Northern Lights while we didn't expect it at all. This is an amazing experience. Amazing nature views & off-road adventures. Hot volcanic springs, for sure. Geysers! Experienced an off-road car crash with the group (but all turned to be good, it was just about the car which has flipped over). Black beaches and Puffins, while they should not technically be there at this time! 10 hours
A week in Jordan
Jordan was a great destination for our 4-day trip. Route: Start at Amman. Next day, fully-day visit to Petra, including Petra by Night show. Then move to Wadi Rum sands and spend a night there in a cave :) Then dive at Aqaba. At the evening, watch sunsets at the Dead Sea. Next day, depart from Amman.
Stay at Kaunas, Lithuania
Kaunas is a small city in the central Lithuania. I decided to run through 4 near-Baltic sea countries before the Winter starts and see how they live. Kaunas was neat. Rainy, it didn't have much people on streets or shops: all were half-to-completely empty. In the center, I met maybe 2-3 tourists like myself.
Stay in Cambodia
Cambodia isn't that advanced as Dubai, Singapore, Australia... But it has a nice local vibe, and definitely has things to see and do. We came here to see Angkor Wat, the world's most famous "Wat" :) This is a cash country, you can be a millionaire here. Prices though are relatively the same as in other countries nearby.
Travel to Singapore
Singapore was an unexpectedly longer stop in our world journey. We planned to go to Indonesia, but unfortunately just during our layover in Singapore, it turned our we can't travel to it and we need a visa. So, we decided to go back to Malaysia instead and complete a bunch of things we didn't finish there :) A short 2-day layover in Singapore was enough to see the most of it.
Stay at Malaysia
Malaysia, and especially Kuala Lumpur, a city where we decided to stay for almost 2 month personally impressed me. This is the best life quality/price city I've seen in quite a while. Imagine living in modern 2-room family apartment in the complex with pools, saunas and gym for just $30/night. It's real! To add, the city is clean and developing fast. I have an impression that around 30% of buildings around are in construction. Moreover, Malaysia has no issues with electronics. Apple, Google -
Teaching in Saudi Arabia's hospitals
Saudi Arabia is a very unique country. I was pleased to come here on behalf of InterSystems to conduct a few courses for local groups at: International Medical Center Hospital, Jeddah Security Forces Hospital, Riyadh This was a quick course for database-related technology.
War in Ukraine
This is a day when Russia decided to invade my home, Ukraine. Missile strikes all over Ukraine, in all cities, Russian troops are attacking all across Eastern Ukrainian land border. Russia not being happy with the presence of independent Ukraine is a long story. But long story short, from my point of view, last 2-3 years before the war, with our new president Zelensky were amazing years for Ukraine. At the time of invasion, just in 2-3 years after Zalensky stepped in: We've got an a
Travel to Colombia
That's the second time I come to Colombia, now in a group of 8 IT specialists. Fun fact: there are 2 major cellphone carriers. This time I purchased another carrier from what it was a year ago. And it turned out that I just wasted my money, because my phone turned out to be locked to the previous carrier. This is the trip during which we learned about Russian invasion to Ukraine...
Databases & Web Training in Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Oman
Meeting new people, this time in Muscat, Oman! It is a great pleasure to be welcomed by Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, the university which works with InterSystems technologies. I will provide a one-week training for them, which includes InterSystems technologies training and a basic web course. As always, I will spend a bit more time in Oman for traveling and doing creative things!
Victory at ETHCapeTown Blockchain Hackathon!
EthCapeTown is a global hackathon organized by ETHGlobal and dedicated to Ethereum blockchain. I came up with an interesting idea which our team could implement in terms of the global Ethereum hackathon. The service which we were aiming to build allows anyone to benefit, as well as DreamTeam, who is sponsoring our participation in the world's biggest blockchain hackathon. \*\*\[And we've mad
Day trip to Malmo
A day trip from Copenhagen crossing the Oresund Bridge. The Turning Torso tower is a fascinating building. The view of the bridge is gorgeous from this side - you can catch the sunset perfectly. One fun discovery: street saunas right on the water! A 100m wooden bridge goes into the waters and the sauna is split between men and women. Worth spending an entire day here if you're visiting Copenhagen.
Copenhagen and the Oresund Bridge
Visited Copenhagen with a day trip to Malmo, Sweden on October 14th by crossing the Oresund Bridge. The bridge view is outstanding, but actually more impressive from Malmo's side as you can see the sunset. Nice city with great architecture and the famous Nyhavn harbor.
Database & Web Trainings for Dubai Healthcare Organizations
It was a pleasure to be invited by InterSystems to conduct a series of courses on databases and web technologies. In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, InterSystems has quite a lot of customers who use their technology. This Summer they were about to join a couple of new hospitals and clinics to their list, and these people needed a training. For me personally, this was an exciting opportunity to meet new people, get familiar with the new culture and see the city! Duba
Train trip to Minsk
A train trip from Kyiv, Ukraine to Minsk, Belarus. Also visited a castle nearby. Clean, nice city. First impression: all roads are so smooth! Comparing to Kyiv, by sitting in the taxi I was thinking something is wrong - then I realized it's the smooth road with no holes! A funny thing happened on the return - I was late for the train and literally jumped on it the same second it departed.
Egypt - Sharm El-Sheikh and Cairo
Visited Sharm El-Sheikh with a 1-day trip to Cairo. The Cairo trip was tiring - we were stuck on border control for countless hours due to anti-terrorist measures. Egypt at that time felt like a "tourist processing factory": everything made for tourists. Around our 4-star hotel in Sharm El-Sheikh there was literally emptiness. All the shops on the local bazaar worked just for us. The good parts: water and sea nature is indeed fantastic, the food in the hotel was excellent. The trip to Cairo w
Organizing Course and Hackathon for Students in Czechia
More students are waiting for their programming experience! This time, InterSystems corporation with myself as a teacher organized a course in Europe in Brno, Czechia. I was teaching a basic course of InterSystems Caché technology, web technologies and basic programming practice. Some of the students were not experienced in programming at all, and during the one-week course of intensive trainings w
Teaching Teachers in Amity University, India
Amity University in Noida, Delhi is the biggest private university of India. This winter was hot to me: I came there to spread the knowledge of InterSystems technologies! During one week, I was teaching InterSystems Caché DBMS for the teachers and professors of AIIT faculty of the Amity University. This was my first trip to India, and
Teaching Web Technologies in Moscow's Government Company
The government company, MosVodoKanal, which provides a water for the whole Moscow required a web-development course, based on the InterSystems technologies. I was a teacher for the engineers and a manager of the company, and it was a three-day course during which I introduced not only the InterSystems stuff, but all the trends in web technologies as well. The feedback was exceptionally positive and I enjoyed this time in Moscow with
Teaching Students in Czech Republic
It was an exciting trip to the Czech Republic, where I handled my first international course. I was teaching Czech students to use InterSystems technologies and, when we finished with the basic course we made a "bonus" web course and have written two more web applications — an online bulletin board with the authorization key retrieval from the super server, and a WebSockets chat. It was fun and a tremendous experience both for me and the students.
Participating in InterSystems Innovations School
Once a year, InterSystems corporation organizes a big event named "InterSystems Innovations School", where people from all over the world share their experience and projects done for the past year. This year I was talking about my Class Explorer project and the "new" way of developing web application on InterSystems products. Also, we had a small hackathon during which my team and I developed an Object Document M
Internship in the United States
It was my first trip to United States. It was a tremendous experience! The internship was held by InterSystems international corporation in Cambridge, MA, but I have also visited New York and a Cape Cod island. I was staying there for three months. Me and around 25 more interns were practicing with the corporation's internal projects during the Summer in the biggest corporation's office located at \[One Memorial Drive]\(
Internship in Russia
It was my first internship, and a first long-stay experience abroad. I was the one of three interns who passed the tests and were chosen for the InterSystems Summer internship. From July till September I have been staying in Moscow, Russia, where the closest affiliate to Ukraine of InterSystems corporation were located. It was an exciting trip during which I got my first corporate experience. It turned out that working in a big corporation (it was my first year
Bulgaria trip as I recall it
When I was just 2 or 3 years old, my parents took me to Bulgaria. It was my first time traveling abroad. I still remember the place and the sky I saw from the plane… It felt magical and unforgettable in that moment. I asked my mom to find at least one photo as proof of this trip, but she couldn’t find any. So until I revisit this country, this memory will just stay here as a record :) P.S. OF COURSE, the trip was lovely!