Im not actually on the road yet; Im actually still in Denver waiting for my visa. However, TD asked me to post in order to “get people excited” about my trip to Azerbaijan, where I will undoubtedly will be posting about any hilarious cultural misunderstandings that occur. I will be doing research on the oil industry and the State Oil Fund, thanks for the State Department’s Fulbright Student Scholarship. I even got mentioned on the Azerbaijani Embassy newsletter.

For those who don’t know, Azerbaijan is a small, oil-rich country in the South Caucasus. It borders Armenia, Iran, Russia, Turkey, Georgia and the Caspian Sea.

I will be embarking on a journey for over a year. In preparation, I have bought two flashlights because electricity in Azerbaijan is spotty, and I think the street lights don’t always work. After doing some research, I have discovered that Azerbaijan has SO MUCH oil, that they actually bathe in it:

Hans Rausing, 45, an heir to the £5.4 billion Tetra Pak drinks carton empire, was embarrassingly drawn into the public eye in April after his wife Eva, 44, was caught trying to smuggle heroin and crack into a function at London’s American embassy. When £10m home the couple share with their four children in exclusive Cadogan Place, Chelsea, was then searched, officers found more crack and heroin - and £2,000 worth of cocaine, enough to fuel a whole nightclub full of drug-users.

But at Westminster magistrates court yesterday, it was revealed that all charges against the couple are being dropped after a ‘protracted correspondence’ between their lawyers and the Crown Prosecution Service. Instead, they are each to accept a ‘conditional caution’…They will not even have criminal records. Mrs Rausing is the daughter of a wealthy Pepsi-Cola executive.

:: Thank God We Be Ballers via Daily Mail ::