Republic of Georgia
Geography: Georgia is a mountainous country boarded by the Russia in the Norht, Turkey in the South-West, Armenia in the South, Azerbaijan in the South-East and Black Sea in the West, which forms a 330 km long coastline. Enclosed high valleys, wide basins, health spas with famous mineral waters, caves and waterfalls combine in this land of varies landscapes and striking beauty.
The founding of Tbilisi as a town in the second half of the 5th century is connected with the name of the Kartlian King Vakhtang Gorgasali, famous for his construction activities. The powerful King’s statue looks down upon old Tbilisi from the Metekhi Plateau. The legend telling about the foundation of the town is connected with the King’s hunting, a wounded pheasant and a falcon chasing it. The pheasant and the falcon are said to have drowned in a hot sulfur spring it is beyond doubt that the name of the town is derived from warm springs (“Tbili” means warm in Georgian translation) According to the old Georgian word “tbili” (warm) the city, was called “Tbilisi” up to the 20th century.
Tbilisi became the capital of the Kartli Kingdom at the beginning of the 6th century.
The most famous feature of Tbilisi are thermal sulphur springs which conditioned building hot sulphur water bathhouses in the old parts of the city, and later establishing a balneological resort.
Hotel business of the country is on the rise now. 
Each hotel room has an air conditioner, telephone and TV set. As a rule, the hotels have bars. Tbilisi hotels are frequently provided with the restaurants. 
The Black Sea coast of Georgia (Batumi, Kobuleti, Ureki, etc.) has the highest prices in the summer (July, August, September) while Bakuriani and Gudauri are popular in winter, during the skiing season.
Harvard senior Samuel Bjork has won a prestigious Marshall Scholarship, allowing him to study for two years in the United Kingdom at the university of his choice.
Bjork, a chemistry concentrator who lives in Eliot House, is one of 35 new Marshall Scholars nationwide. He plans to use the first year of his scholarship to work toward an M.Phil. in the history and philosophy of science at Cambridge University, followed by an M.Sc. in chemistry, with a focus on synthetic organic or inorganic chemistry.
“I’m very grateful for the opportunity to explore areas of research, especially in the history of science, that I might not otherwise encounter in graduate school, and that might inform my future work,” said Bjork, a native of Cambridge, Minn., who now lives in Minneapolis. “I’d like to look at the development of evolutionary theory at the beginning of the 20th century and at some of the ethical issues surrounding current advances in biological engineering.”
Bjork has conducted research with Jack Szostak, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School; Andrew Myers, Amory Houghton Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology; and George Church, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School. His work in these labs has touched on the anti-cancer effects of tetracycline antibiotics and the study of ethanol production in a novel bacterium as a possible source of renewable energy.
“While it seems like a distant possibility at this point, I would love to lead my own research group someday,” said Bjork, who is teaching organic chemistry at the Harvard Extension School this semester. “I am increasingly interested in using the tools of synthetic chemistry in the rational design of molecules with useful reactivity patterns, especially as applied to environmental and energy problems.”
Bjork received a Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Public Service Fellowship to take a leave of absence after his sophomore year at Harvard, which he spent working at a pediatric HIV/AIDS clinic in Gaborone, Botswana. He helped to design teacher-training workshops on HIV education and worked with the Botswana Ministry of Education and the World Bank to implement these workshops for Botswana educators. He was also involved in community outreach and educational activities for HIV-positive teens.
For his first three years at Harvard, Bjork was a violinist in the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra. He has written for Harvard Magazine, the Harvard Book Review, the Harvard Crimson, the Harvard Gazette, and the “Let’s Go” travel guides.
“I bounced back and forth between the humanities and the sciences my first two years,” Bjork said. “Along the way, I was fortunate enough to take classes with more dedicated professors than I can name. Their patience, encouragement, and advice has meant a great deal to me.”
In addition to Andrew Myers, Bjork cites as especially important influences Cynthia Friend, Theodore William Richards Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Materials Science; Peter Galison, Pellegrino University Professor and Walter Jackson Bate Fellow; and Janet Browne, Aramont Professor of the History of Science and Harvard College Professor.
Including Bjork, 247 Harvard students have won Marshall Scholarships, which were created in 1953 to commemorate U.S. aid to Europe after World War II under the Marshall Plan. The program is aimed at promising scholars and likely future leaders in their fields. Prominent Marshall Scholars include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, former Duke University President Nannerl Keohane, and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.
