Thirteen places where I lived for more than two months

• I have to start with my once-home city — Moscow. I used to love it, and when I traveled away from Russia for education in the 1990s and then in the early 2000s, I loved it even more. I was homesick. I wrote about my Soviet childhood here and how we left Russia in 2013 here. I don’t miss Moscow at all nowadays. No a drop of nostalgia. How times change. I don’t want to get political in this story, but we never went back after we left, and we don’t miss Russia for obvious reasons. I have to admit, though, I dream about Moscow almost every night. In my dreams, I find myself traveling through Moscow’s streets, usually the city center, and wondering — why am I here? What year is this?
• Wichita, Kansas (America!). My first experience of America in 1995! The story is here.
• Enid, Oklahoma (America!). After my summer in Kansas, I spent a year in Enid, Oklahoma. I have the warmest memories. I’m forever grateful to my American host family for their kindness and support.
• Cologne, Germany. Breaking the chronology. My very first experience of the “West” in 1990 — even before the collapse of the Soviet Union. I already mentioned one of my stories where I shared my memories of my stay in Germany.
• Buckingham, England. Not the actual town of Buckingham but close to it — Stowe School, one of England’s elite boarding schools. A bit of trauma here.
• Cambridge, the UK. I did my undergraduate at this very old university. It’s a special place but I kind of hibernated through most of it because I was going through a long-distance relationship with the love of my life. This is my girlfriend (and now my wife of more than two decades) at Cambridge twenty years ago:

This is us last year. A bridge in Cambridge, and now a bridge in San Francisco!

• London, the UK. Why does it feel correct to say “Buckingham, England” and “London, the UK”? I don’t know. I started my career with Morgan Stanley in London. Not a fan of England’s countryside or London either. Read here and here.
• Boston, Massachusetts. Two years at Harvard Business School. It was good, overall. Too cold at times, even for someone coming from Russia. I’m a passionate runner. I wasn’t as good at running then, more than fifteen years ago, as I am now, but I loved my runs in Boston. I often ran with a jogging stroller — our first kid was a year old. Countless times I ran along the Charles river, looking at the Boston skyline, counting bridges, and passing friendly runners of all ages and races. There were days I ran to embrace the beautiful warm sky, and there were days I ran against the howling cold wind.
• Cupertino, California. This is where we spent our first five years after coming to America in 2013. It’s the heart of the tech world (Apple!), yet quiet. Insanely expensive, yet somehow humble. Good memories. ’Cause California is always special. Sorry, not so sorry, about this announcement.
• Memphis, Tennessee. Well, technically, it was Olive Branch, Mississippi. In 2018 we made a crazy decision — we moved to Memphis because of our kids’ tennis. My wife interned with a very experienced tennis coach, and my kids trained with this coach. It wasn’t a long stretch but I appreciate it. A bit of a rough place at times, but I’m happy we experienced it.
• Coppell, Texas. Near Dallas. Well, we tried living in Texas…
• Delray Beach, Florida. Well, Florida is worse than Texas…
• Irvine, California (America!). I’m writing this in Irvine. I love Irvine. Irvine isn’t anything extraordinary, but Southern California is. Southern California’s sunsets are magic. I can run and hike SoCal’s trails and hills forever, in this life and forever after. This is where I will eventually settle down, no matter where my life takes me in the interim.

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