Goodbye Minneapolis...

My last week in Minneapolis was rather busy which why it took a bit longer to update my blog.. I'm already back in Switzerland, quite tired after a long flight but happy to see my family and looking forward to enjoying a cold beer with my friends.
On Wednesday, we had a last dinner and farewell party together with most of the exchange students before we are spread all around the globe again..
On my last evening on Thursday, I had the great pleasure to eat fondue with my American friends at their house. Afterwards, they organized a typical student house party, I'm definitely gonna miss this. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone I spent such an exciting time with, so we had to drink some beers to make it more bearable ;-) After a short night on the couch (still don't know how we could pass out there), Schneider and Al gave me a ride to the airport, good guys.

It's been a terrific time in Minneapolis, I'll be back someday. Many thanks to all the people who made this experience that priceless. A special thank you goes to

- Jenny, Paul and Christina: the best roommates I've ever had
- All guys related to the OB house: Unforgettable moments and a lot of fun, I'll wear my Minnesota hockey-jumper proudly
- all folks who read and commented my blog, sent emails to me and stayed in contact during my exchange

This blog won't be being updated that regurarly as I'm returning to normal life.. Whenever I'll be abroad again for a longer period of time, this is the place to track my status.. I'll be in Cologne in January and February, so you might find some pictures here from the Karneval.

I wish you all a merry Christmas, happy holidays and a happy new year!

Where do you want to be?

While I'm currently studying for my finals on Monday and enjoy cold temperatures and snow (but no mountains ;-( )....





Martin's outlook from his classroom in Dee Why looks as follows (check out his blog):





Anyhow, I've heard that Switzerland has a new federal council, nice picture too ;-)

NBA: Timberwolves vs. San Antonio Spurs

Here are some pictures from the NBA game in the Target Center in Minneapolis. It was a quite intense and close game, but in the end - as so often - Minneapolis lost.. It seems the only sport Minnesota is successful is Ice Hockey, no wonder with these temperatures ;-)

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Raphael's Blog-Link added

In addition to raking money in his banking-internship, pretending to play his trombone perfectly and commenting my posts critically, he had the guts and the time to start his own blog about his forthcoming exchange semester in Norway.
Good guy, our Raphael. ;-)

Thanksgiving-weekend in Manhattan

Equipped with the address and phone number of my couchsurfing-hosts (check out www.couchsurfing.com) and some google-maps, I headed off to the big city on Wednesday and hoped to survive until the other exchange students arrived the day later ;-)
"New York, what a city! I thought London was big but Manhatten beats it all." I totally agree with Stef's statement about the city that never sleeps.
I arrived on Wednesday evening at Stephen and Bill's house west of central park and spent the first evening there with a french couchsurfing couple eating italian dinner (Stephen is a great cook), drinking wine, listening to music (that's brother Bill's business) and chatting about various things.
For Thursday morning, they had organized tickets for the macy's parade, a huge commercial event that is supposed to start off and boost the christmas shopping season. In the afternoon, they invited us to their family's thanksgiving dinner with a huge turkey, which was delicious and a great experience.
After coming back to Manhattan, Albert from Spain and I met the other exchange students (who stayed in an expensive hotel (elitist students from bocconi ;-) ) at times square.
The next two days, we explored Manhattan: Central park, top of Rockefeller center with spectacular view, Brooklyn Bridge, Financial District, the United Nation, Ground zero, Chinatown and the staten island ferry to see the statue of liberty were just some highlights to mention here.
On the last evening we've seen the Broadway Musical show Mary Poppins.
You just must have been to New York! I highly recommend Stephen and Bill's place to stay: When they were younger (they're more than 50 now), they've been travelling to a lot of countries (all over Europe and Latin America) mostly by hitchhiking, which why they still like being couchsurfing hosts and having international people around.
So, this was my last city-trip during my stay in Minneapolis and the 3 last weeks will be less exciting: final projects and exams are approaching, which will keep me busy. It's anyway better to stay inside and study at the moment because it got quite cold here ;-)
P.S.: Well, Raphaello, hope you are pleased by this report, hope you will set up your own blog about your exchange semester in spring to keep us updated..
P.P.S.: I've heard that the Music Windband Oberurnen had a good concert, hope you found someone being the latest going home, I'll be the one next year again ;-)

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New York

I'm going New York over Thanksgiving, probably the last journey before the final exams and my return to Switzerland. Take care of the snow in Elm, have a good weekend!

Minnesota Thunder vs. LA Galaxy

On November 11, we went to the Metrodome hoping to enjoy a good soccer game and to see which team will win the Minnesota copa trophy. However, the teams played on a very low level, Beckham was just standing around (and still assisted for a goal) and the Minnesota Thunder lost 3-2 after penalty kicks.
For women it was a bit more interesting: First, they could get free sample-perfumes and more importantly, Beckham took his shirt off (fortunately, we already left the stadium that time..)
lesson learned: never go to see a soccer game in the US ;-)

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Something for my Italian friends ;-)

Keep snowing Glarnerland

When I see this picture, I'm already looking forward to snowboarding in Elm!
Yet first, enjoy the beginning of Fasnacht (11/11) and make a big mark in your diary on Thursday 31st January: Schmudo Oberurnen, "tierisch, wild und duräknallt"!

Back from San Francisco

Thursday evening until Sunday night in San Francisco, what a good decision to spend some days there and escape the cold weather in Minneapolis! We were 9 exchange students: 5 Italians, 1 Spanish, 1 German, Johannes from Liechtenstein and me. It's no wonder we went for Italian dinner a couple of times ;-)
We rent a bike and rode over the Golden Gate Bridge, went to Alcatraz, climbed the hills several times and had a lot of fun together.
So far, I would say that San Francisco is the only city I could imagine living in. With the bay, the pacific, big parks and hills, the city provides everything you need and still isn't too crowded or polluted.
And yes, while we were riding on the Golden Gate Bridge, Stef called me and told me that he was going to stay the weekend there too. Hence, we went out together on Saturday evening ;-) By the way, it's hard to find a parking lot in San Francisco (people sometimes fight for them and even destroy side-view-mirrors), for details ask Stefan..

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Halloween

It's pumpkin time in the US: People are dressing up for Halloween. Men are usually a bit more creative, girls just wear even less than they do during the rest of the year.. Halloween is just taken as another opportunity to make party, we've already been celebrating last weekend, quite extensively ;-) Unfortunately, I couldn't join today's party because I had some assignments and papers to work on which are due soon.. well, people who know me might argue that partying on one evening should always be possible regardless of the workload. Yeah, I agree but there will be a longer weekend very soon ;-) Basically, I'm flying to San Francisco with other exchange students tomorrow and won't be back until Monday morning (I hope they won't arrest me in Alcatraz) ;-)
Enjoy your weekend too! By the way, we don't have to incorporate Halloween in our culture, Oberurner Fasnacht is still out of reach!
Comment on some pictures: I didn't know that people dress up for the weekend before Halloween. So , I got this hunter costume from my american buddies. Hunter without weapon, felt somehow like military soldier just equipped with clarinet ;-) They told me I was a honey-hunter, but as usual, I set the priorities differently and ended up beer-hunting (or bear-hunting, the typo would be appropriate this time..) and with a little hangover next morning/noon.
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Weekend with globetrotter Stef

It's been nearly a week since Stef spent a great time with me in Minneapolis. We've been to the Gopher's football game ,they lost again, shamefully against the underdog and local rival "the Bisons". Fortunately, the hockey season has just started and the hockey team is doing quite well, it's much more fun to win ;-)
Further, we explored St. Paul, the capital of Minnesota, and went clubbing a couple of times... Stef even attended a class on Tuesday morning, what an eager for knowledge ;-) Unfortunately, it wasn't a business class as he wanted but in the end, he still picked a good one: our American Studies professor spontaneously sidetracked to talk about scientific racism (e.g. negative correlation between IQ and penis size), was a fun lesson to learn some new slang.. Anyway, check out the material I've posted and browse to Stef's Blog, think he will also update some pictures and stories soon..
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Some nice pictures of the twin cities

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Flight of the Conchords

I'm a bit busy due to some midterms at the moment. Therefore, it will take some days until the report and pictures of the time with Stef will be uploaded.
To keep you entertained, check out the band called "Flight of the Conchords".. ;-)

Welcome Stefan!

My TVO-buddy Stefan, singer and co-founder of the magnificent Band Lakeside, has just started his journey around the world and is going to see me here in the cosmopolitan city of Minneapolis for a couple of days ;-)

Big Honor for Economics Department at the UofM

Leonid Hurwicz, Regents’ Professor of Economics (Emeritus) at the University of Minnesota, was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics, becoming the oldest recipient of any Nobel Prize (he's 90 years old).
Hurwicz shares the Economics Prize with Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson, both of whom refined his work in the techniques of analyzing imperfect markets. Their work is used to help find the "most efficient method for allocating resources given the available information, including the incentives of those involved." (called Mechanism Design Theory)
If you want to know more about it, just come to Minneapolis and attend the Game Theory class with me ;-)
.. or google it, quite impressive what economists do all day long, seems that the cold winter here boosts research activities..

Oktoberfest in Minneapolis and Trip to Duluth

Last weekend we've been to a german restaurant "Gasthof zur Gemütlichkeit" to celebrate the Oktoberfest. It was totally crowded, the party tent outside had to close at 11 because of the neighbors, the temperature in the bar was unbearably hot and there was a long queue everywhere.. After a few beers, we went to other clubs, was much more fun than this "pseudo"-Oktoberfest party.. This saturday, I joined a trip to Duluth - a nice seaport in the north of Minnesota at the lake superior - which was organized by the center for austrian studies.
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The weather has changed rapidly

As you might have noticed, temperatures were 28° on sunday and have quickly fallen to 8° (more or less over night), and due to the wind, it feels like 4°. I'm trying to turn on our heating but it hasn't worked so far (should ask Jenny or Paul as soon as they come back), so I'm sitting in my room with the hair-dryer running (good strategy, Daniele ;-))... As winter here is supposed to be colder than in Switzerland and as I only brought my light fall-jacket, I probably should head off to the Mall of America in order to buy a warm coat, mittens and a scarf soon.

What we learn in the Portfolio-Management course ;-)

„Turnerfahrt“ to Chicago, New Glarus and Madison

The beginning of a trip is quite crucial, especially when the Megabus drives for 7 hours from Minneapolis to Chicago over night and when there isn’t another one until the next day. Most readers of this blog who know me a bit can imagine that it’s sometimes hard for me to catch a public transport system in time due to the fact that I'm kind of a procrastinator ;-)
Well beware of this and with fully packed backpack (i.a. apples: “an apple a day keeps the doctor away; especially important in a fast food environment), I took a bus and considered myself to be on time… However –neither ever been a boy scout nor having broad experience with bus maps different from the Glarnerbus – it mysteriously happened that I caught the wrong bus which was driving in a completely different direction… Fortunately, I asked a woman – Amy - who helped me out and guided me to the megabus: After several bus changes and a big group of drunk freshmen students making the rush even more thrilling – it took them quite a while to get on and off the bus – the bus driver stopped in front of the megabus, not an official bus stop ;-) That was a close shave… Next Thursday, Amy invited me to join a friend’s CD release party in Dinkytown, think I should offer here some drinks..
Arrived in Chicago on Friday morning, it was time for a starbucks coffee (don’t drink American coffee if you don’t need it) and of course, for sightseeing. Due to the gorgeous day, the view from the Sears-Tower was terrific. In addition, I took an architectural boat tour which Beat Noser – Oberurnen’s village president – recommended. Cruising on the Chicago river on a beautiful day, learning about Chicago’s rich history and world-class architecture and taking numerous pictures of all these skyscrapers, what do you want more?!
In the evening, Lukas arrived in Chicago and we had dinner at bubba gump shrimp restaurant on the navy pier(do you remember him promoting all different kinds of shrimp dishes in the movie? Well, I took a hamburger though ;-)). Back in Naperville, where Lukas lives with his host family, and after a few beers, I slept a bit longer. Lukas had to support his cross-country running high school team but wasn’t allowed to run. Kind of foreigner quota he told me (bad excuse for being slow? We’ll see at the next Turnfest ;-)). The whole day was relaxed, we planned our trip to New Glarus, were eating with his host family and organized our rental car. Adapted to American culture as we are, we enjoyed the evening before our trip watching an American war movie and drinking tasty Miller beer (obviously only me, we respect 21 rule…).
Early in the next morning, our road trip began. I can’t remember ever been driving that long, but with country music on the radio, it was a great experience. We lost our way a couple of times but Lukas the navigator always brought us back on track. And driving on empty streets, rushing the “hills” up and down was a bigger pleasure than monotonous high-ways all the time.
New Glarus isn’t a godforsaken place but still kind of a backwater (Kaff) and not worth visiting unless you’re from Glarus. Unfortunately, it was football-time and we only found one swiss-german speaking person (Mr. Freitag), but his Glarner-Dialekt wasn’t striking if not absent at all.. In general, we’ve noticed that most people on the gravestones are of Hinterländer decent (Freitag, Streiff, Elmer..). We didn’t find any Stuckis, seems that we weren’t forced to emigrate, survival of the fittest ;-) After driving that long, we decided to go a bit further and stop by in Madison, a beautiful student city surrounded by two lakes... After coming back to Chicago Airport in order to return the car and taking the train to the city, I caught the Megabus at the Union Station (this time, I was too early but the bus was delayed by half an hour). Arrived at 7 a.m. in Minneapolis, I ate my last apple, took a shower and attended the first class at 8.15, back in university life…
All in all, it was a fantastic Turnerfahrt-Weekend, many thanks to Amy, Lukas’ host-parents and Lukas making this happen!

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Time flies: First month in Minneapolis

As you might have noticed, I’ve been a bit busier during the last week and when I look in my diary (I don’t think I had one in St. Gallen) with all the assignments, readings and quizzes, this might last for a while.. I sometimes feel like in High school in Glarus, classes are usually quite small, you’re expected to participate and will be graded for that. On the other hand, our finals here shouldn't be as big as in St. Gallen, there's always a tradeoff ;-) Just for your interest, I finally signed up for the following subjects:
- America in International Perspective
- Game Theory and Applications
- Portfolio Management and Performance Evaluation
- International Environment of Firms
- Presentation and Conference Writing for Non-Native Speakers in English
Tomorrow, I’ll catch the megabus to Chicago, explore the city with my TVO-mate Lukas and spend the whole weekend with him. This time, I’ll bring my camera with me and take some pictures of our special “Turnerfahrt”. Just in case you don’t know what to do during your weekend, I’ll posted some random pictures… And feel free to check out Anna’s blog, who will spend the next four months in Japan.

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Impressions of Football and Baseball

The weekend before last, I've seen a Football Game of the Gophers, the University's Team of Minnesota, against Miami (Ohio, not Miami Beach..). Despite their terrible kicker (who got a scholarship for that), they luckily won after a dramatic sudden-death overtime. However, most of my friends went home earlier because it was a morning game and some were still a bit tired ;-) All in all, it was great fun: Schneider, who played football at highschool and the only die-hard fan that morning in our group, stayed with me for the thrilling finish and explained the major rules and the tactics . The whole game lasted for 4.5 hours, the players were more standing around than playing, but the music and the cheerleaders made a great effort to entertain us. The baseball game last saturday was a bit less boring than expected but I wouldn't recommend to see it every weekend ;-)

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Drive-in Bank: Business Model for Switzerland?

The last day before her flight to Manchester, Christina had to go to the Bank. Convenient and time-saving as the Americans are, she took advantage of the Drive-in counter..
On the other hand, they have plenty of time for watching sports: I'm heading off for a baseball game to the Metrodome, it's supposed to last for 3 hours at least ;-)The football game last weekend took more than 4.5 hours, some pictures and impressions will follow.. That's the american way of life with all its discrepancies.

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Finally moved to our new house

I've been living for more than one week in our new house, which is actually rather old.. It is just a stone's throw away from our old apartment and I finally have my own room :-) Last weekend, we've already organized/organised (I know, I'll end up with a terrible mix consisting of british, american english with swiss accent..) a farewell houseparty for Christina who is leaving to Manchester for one semester. As you can see from the pictures (or not, I forgot to take some from the beginning of the party), our house and basement was crowded, we didn't expect that many people showing up..

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Bomb threat at the UoM

By 11:30 a.m. today, Weaver-Densford Hall on the University's East Bank campus was fully evacuated due to a bomb threat. Fortunately, I've been on the West Bank campus today and didn't notice anything about it, just a couple of emails in my university inbox which kept us informed (or rather uninformed ;-) ).. Except of Weaver-Densford Hall, the whole University remained in session with all classes and activities taking place as usual. Weaver-Densford Hall is scheduled to be reopened for regular university activity on Saturday morning, it seems to have been a false alarm.
Anyway, there is no need to worry, I've been told that there are usually around 2 or 3 bomb threats a semester, often when they can't identify a package or something similar in kind.. what a culture of fear..
So, don't send me a parcel with ticking Swiss watches ;-) All in all, I feel pretty safe here at the University of Minnesota, they even have an own University police.
On Wednesday, September 5, AFSCME units representing approximately 3,100 of the University's clerical, health care, and technical workers began a strike. Of those employees, two-thirds chose to report to work again because of improved wage offers. Despite the start of a strike, classes are being held as scheduled and day-to-day operations continue, the strike doesn't have any impact on student's life so far.
And yes, I finally managed to get a haircut: I didn't want to cut it too short because I'd like to go back soon, what a pretty girl and it cost only $14 (excluding the tip ;-))..

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Pictures of collapsed 35W Mississippi River bridge

Yesterday, the bridge next to the collapsed 35W was reopened. As I live only one block away, I had to take some pictures. More material about the moving weekend and my first classes at the University of Minnesota will follow in a couple of days.. Today is holiday in the US (Labor Day), I'm relaxing and recovering from the moving action and from a long night yesterday, which started with a swedish crayfish party (organised by my roommate's family)..

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getting settled in Minneapolis...

Almost one week has passed and I am getting settled here in Minneapolis. The Exchange Office of the Carlson School organised a great orientation week, during which we could enroll for the courses and getting organised. We were thoroughly briefed about visa issues, do's and don'ts in the US as well as how to succeed in academic matters. It was all very well organised, sometimes even with breakfast and lunch - well pizza, sandwiches and chips.. :-)

Just to give you a short impression: The University of Minnesota, where the Carlson School of Management is attached to, is quite a bit bigger than the HSG... all in all, there are about 45'000 students, assistants, profs and other employees working on the campus. The UofM itself is like a city within Minneapolis: There are three buslines on the campus for free usage. The UofM offers furthermore cinemas, bowling, a vast amount of computer labs, libraries, student lounges, restaurants, an enormous bookstore, a bank, huge recreation center with pool, tennis, football, squash and so on... During the colder months you are also able to walk from A to B in underground tunnels or covered skyways - all in all over 3 miles!

Well, it's time to go home and help moving to our new house..

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Stuck(i) in Chicago

Due to a thunderstorm in Chicago, my Journey to Minneapolis took me a bit longer than expected: On the flight from Philadelphia to Chicago (which was already delayed for a couple of hours), we had to turn on half way and land in Indianapolis.. Finally arrived at Chicago O'Hare International Airport around midnight, about 500 flights were canceled, no way to come to Minneapolis.. As a consequence, the flights to Minneapolis on Friday were totally overbooked, the hotels around the airport were full and a lot of people had to sleep at the airport. I was lucky and met Tom, a cardiologist sitting next to me in the airplane, who was actually on the way to a medical conference in Chicago. He invited me to sleep some hours in his hotel room in the center of Chicago and explore the city the next day. Unfortunately, I haven't bought my digital camera yet, but Chicago is a great city and I'll definitely go back to take some pictures and meet my TVO-mate Lukas there.
On saturday around moon, I finally arrived in Minneapolis and met my roomates Jenni and Paul. Jenni works as a graphic designer and Paul studies Business (but his real passion is music: visit www.morecowbell.net to get an impression of his obsession). Paul doesn't continue to study until January and Jenni tries to earn some extra money for a short trip to Europe, therefore they are both working at Dunn Bros Coffeshop, which is much better than Starbucks because they mix the drinks by themselves and don't just have to push the button :-) So I get free coffe there, they have wireless internet and I get to know a lot of people..
Somewhen next week, we gonna move to another house which is only 20 meters away from our current appartment. I don't have a room yet, I'm sleeping on a couch and still have all my stuff in my suitcase. Anyway, I feel very comfortable here in Minneapolis and I understand the American English each day a bit better, but there's a lot of space for improvement.
Hope you are fine too, I'll report about my first experiences, the welcome program at carlson school and our house moving activities in a couple of days. I'm keen to know what's going on in your lifes and looking forward to emails or conversations on msn or skype...

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