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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