tomy-abroad

second part of the US/Canada trip

2007-06-17T05:18:00.000-05:00

After our visit of the Algonquin Provincial Park, we went to the 30'000 Island Coast at the Georgian Bay. Unfortunately, we were 3 days too early - boat cruises were only offered after June 1st... so sad... so we decided to visit Killbear Provincial Park to get at least a little the impression of the Islands.
The day after we drove north in direction to Sudbury through a rought but very beautiful landscape. Sudbury was an industrial town which produces 95% of the world's Nickel. Therefore, we decided to do a tour through a mine. Otherwise the town did not offer much more, so we drove further to Sault Ste Marie. Back in the US we visited Mackinaw Island - an island only for pedestrians and bikes... no cars! It was very impressive and picturesque, especially due to the awesome weather. The next stop was Munising at Lake Superior where we took a boat cruise to the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Due to the different metals in the rock, they show many different colors. Together with the shallow water it produced a great color play.
The next day was rainy - 24h... and we spent the day relaxing and drove south go Greenbay. During the last days we covered Door county in Wisconsin and visited Milwaukee: We made a tour through the Miller Brewery and visited the Harley Davidson Powertrain production site. In order have a great last evening, we went again to Ruth's Chris for a great peace of filet: this was a perfect end of our holiday and gave us the energy for the flight back home ;-)

I realy hope you enjoyed my blog with stories and experiences from Minneapolis and our holidays. The blog will not be updated that regularely as before, since I go back to my daily life, which is a little less exciting that being abroad :-)

first part of US/Canada trip...

2007-05-24T20:49:00.000-05:00

It has already been quite a while since I left Minneapolis...

Carole and I started in Chicago where we spent the first three days of our vacation. I invited her to the Cité restaurant on the Lake Shore Tower where we enjoyed a delicious dinner on the 70th floor with view of downtown during dusk. We then went to Michigan City where we spent time in an Outlet Mall - I did already my shopping so it was her turn ;-). In Detroit we visited the African American History Museum which was absolutely great! Detroit did not offer much more and a planned tour through the F-150 Ford Truck factory did not work out since it was already sold out that morning... bummer! Nevertheless, we enjoyed american Car culture by watching a movie at a drive-in cinema. Next, we crossed the boarder to Canada and went on to te Niagara Falls. They are just great and very impressive. The following day we went over Niagara On the Lake to Toronto where we stayed at the Sheraton - Thanks to Hotwire for 59 USD instead of 209 USD :-) well, we enjoyed the jacuzzi, steam room and the pool :-) Toronto is pretty neat, especially the old part. After this two day stay in Toronto, we travelled alongside Lake Ontario to Kingston where we spent the night in a shabby motel... just the opposite of the room at the Sheraton ;-). The day after, we travelled alongside the Lawrence River on the 1000 Island Parkway - just great Canadian landscape... until we reached Ottawa, Canada's Capital. It is a cute city that offers everything in walking distance. We spent the last two days of our journey at the Algonquin Provincial Park at Bartlett Lodge - a beautiful Lodge withing the Park. It was a little above our budget, but the food (5 courses each night :-) ) and the spectacular location was worth it!

Today, we are in Barrie and relax a little. The remaining days will lead us to the 30'000 Island shore at Georgian Bay up to Sudbury and west to Sault Ste Marie where we enter the US again. After a visit to the Pictured Rock National Lakeshore we will drive south to Milwaukee and finally back to Chicago...

I uploaded a few pictures and I hope you enjoy (for facebook users; please see orginial post on my blog)....

the end....

2007-05-14T19:17:00.000-05:00

last day in Minneapolis...

2007-05-14T18:23:00.000-05:00

Well, after almost 4.5 month my time is over here in Minneapolis. The city has turned very green in the last few weeks and it is a little sad that I have to leave... nevertheless, I am also looking forward...

Therefore, here some things I am really going to miss:

- Dinkytown with its coffeeshops, bars, restaurants...
- All the great people I met and I spent time with...
- being part of one of the biggest US campuses...
- Bottled beer for 1 USD!
- everyday specials in food or drinks all week...
- the infrastructure at Carlson...
- the nature in the west of the US...
- the variety of restaurants and bars around a campus of 45'000 people...
- the young city (because of its students)
- good waiter and waitresses...
- affordable and delicious meet...
- no taxes on clothes...

On the other hand, I am also looking forward to:

- See finally Carole again and travelling around the Great Lakes...
- Opening the door of my new apartment that I have unfortunately not seen yet...
- Starting a new job...
- The Swiss public transportation system (bus and train) with smooth roads without wholes ;-)
- hanging out with my friends and organizing a grill party at my new place...
- not having to study anymore for exams... not writing papers for the U...
- a cup of Nespresso coffee...
- coming back to Florida in August ;-)
- much more...

To sum up; I very much enjoyed it here in Minneapolis. The city is great - not too big not too small and it offers all you need and people are very friendly. Furthermore, you are very quickly out in the nature and this makes it very enjoyable.

I will be back sometimes...

Minnehaha Falls and Fort Snelling....

2007-05-13T10:46:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, Bulscu (a student from Rumania) and I visited the Minnehaha Falls and Fort Snelling south of downtown.
The falls are located close to the estuary of the Minnehaha river into the Mississippi. They are about 20 meters in hight and are very nicely located close to Minnehaha park. So on that nice Saturday a lot of people were in the park picnicing or just enjoying the nice weather.

After walking around a little, we then went to the Fort Snelling. The Fort was once the northern-most outpost of the US (for further information see this link). It is build on the bluffs above the Mississippi and the Minnesota Rivers. As a visitor you could tour around the Fort and at every interesting spot there were people in their 1820s clothes and roles withing the Fort. They were telling you how life was and one could also ask questions about the life and situation around that time. It was very interesting to hear about the history of the soldiers and the life of the people living at that time. Also, we learned a lot about the indigenous people's life at the time when the US army arrived in the Midwest.

Here you go with a movie about the loading and firing of a canon - very cool!

St. Anthony's Main and Stone Arch Bridge...

2007-05-13T10:39:00.000-05:00

On Friday I made it to St. Antony's Main - a very nice place across downtown at the Mississippi. It offers a few bars and restaurants to sit outside as well as newly build lofts. They turned a lot of old mill buildings into costly lofts recently.
I walked alongside the heritage trail and also crossed the old stone arch bridge where once the train came from the east to its final destination in Minneapolis. Today, the bridge is a pedetstrian bridge and a nice spot to overlook the St. Antony Falls. These falls were the originally the end of the passage on the Mississippi, since it was impossible to overcome them in their original shape. So, Minneapolis has basically started here due to the need to unload the ships...
Nowadays, there is a big lock and the falls are streamlined... it's sad, since they looked pretty nice in their original shape (see picture).

Sculpture Garden, Lake Calhoun and Uptown...

2007-05-10T23:44:00.000-05:00

Today was the warmest day so far this year; 30 Degrees Celsius or 86 Fahrenheit... blue sky and just awesome sunshine from early in the morning until late into the night.
First I had lunch with a partner of the Transaction Advisory from E&Y in Minneapolis... this was kind of cool, since I got his contact over my roommate's boss who joined us on Friday in downtown for a couple of beers...
After that I returned home, changed into shorts and t-shirt and took the bus downtown again to browse throught the market at the Nicolet Mall. I walked to the Loring Park where the famous Spoonbridge is. After that I took the bus to Lake Calhoun where I enjoyed the sun laying in the grass. There are a few nice places where you can play beach volleyball, beaches or parks to take a sunbath - just an invitation to relax. About an hour later I walked almost all around Lake Calhoun to Uptown, where I enjoyed an iced frappuchino from Starbucks - what a refreshment.

After this very nice trip, I returned to downtown where I was looking for Phil a homeless guy I met two weeks ago. After that I found him, I went home and returned with two bags of clothes he could use. I also invited him spontaneously for dinner... I think he liked it. He told me a little out of his life and how he ended up on the street... was kind of sad, especially when I thought about how much luck I had and how much better my situation is. well, he was very greatful for the clothes and made his way home to his sleeping place in order to share the stuff with his friend.

funny and amusing things :-)

2007-05-08T21:41:00.000-05:00

Here are some funny things I have encountered over the last 4.5 months... enjoy with the caption underneath each picture...

Goodbuy lunch, BBQ and soccer game...

2007-05-07T08:34:00.000-05:00

All exchange students met last Friday for a last lunch with the exchange coordinator. In the evening there was a BBQ with Globe, the International Student Association of Carlson School. Due to the beginning thunderstorms we had to stay inside and the BBQ turned into a catered event :-( yet it was fun to see everyone a last time and to exchange a few words with everyone's mentor...

In the afternoon - between the lunch and the BBQ - I attended the soccer game "First year MBA againgst Second Year MBA". Again, the weather did not work in favour of us... so the playground was wet and in a pretty bad condition... I don't know when there was someone who took care of the lwan the last time. It seemed to have been quite a while...
Well, we (First year MBA) went ahead pretty quickly ahead with 2:0... Our team comprised two Turkish, a French, an Indian, a Japanese and some US Students... After a lead 3:2, we finally lost in the last 10 minutes with 3:5... Bummer!

Trip to Chicago...

2007-04-30T11:36:00.001-05:00

I spent the days from last Wednesday to Saturday in Chicago together with my Godmother Yvonne and her husband Markus. Since I did not find a good deal on Priceline, I stayed at the Hostel in the Loop, whereas Yvonne and Markus were at the Hyatt. :-( But the Hostelling International was a great location: Clean, modern and very central in the loop - it was even voted the best big hostel in the world! So if you decide to visit Chicago on your own, check it out!
It was rainy the first day, so we decided to go shopping in the Outlet Mall in Aurora. After a long shopping trip we returned to Downtown and went to Wilfire. There I ate a Trio of the filet with different crusts... it was awesome.
The next two days we toured around Downtown and also went to the Navy Pier where we watched a Imax movie due to the rainy weather. The second of the two days was sunnier, so we went up the Hancock Tower to the observatory to enjoy the view and the skyline of Chicago - the gold coast, the Loop and the Navy Pier. We then walked alongside the coast line to the Grand Park. This took quite a while and was over 5km long... So we were pretty exhausted once we enjoyed the sunny weather on the lawn with a sandwich and something cold to drink.
On the last evening we went to Ruth's Chris, a very well reputated Steak house... and guess, yes we ate filet again :-) that was probably the best filet I have ever had. ... 12 ounces (340 grams) and tender like nothing else... (seebthe pictures). After that we visited the Blue Chicago, a very well known Blues bar with live music every night. A band played great Blues and also performed some songs with a female singer that had a great voice...
On Saturday afternoon, I had to get back to the airport for my flight back to Minneapolis... so the four days in Chicago passed very quickly and we had a great time together... I am already looking forward to going back in two weeks, where I will meet Carole again... :-)

Kayaking on the Chain of Lakes...

2007-04-24T10:58:00.000-05:00

A couple of guys went kayaking last Sunday on the chain of lakes close to downtown Minneapolis. It was a lot of fun, since I have never tried it so far.
Jennie and Annie lead the trip from the Center for Outdoor Activities. They instructed us with the basic techniques and safety procedures in case we flip over. After that we started at Cedar Lake and made our way through Lake of the Isles to Lake Calhoun. It was pretty windy on Lake Calhoun with pretty big waves... a lot of fun!
We stopped at a little beach on Lake Calhoun to eat lunch. After that the expected thunderstorm/rain was getting closer so the trip leaders decided to turn and paddle back. Well, the trip was therefore a little shorter than expected but still very enjoyable. Even though you can barely see it on the pictures, the trees are turning green right now. So it was a pretty day outside where we have seen also turtles, gees and other birds. Wecould even see the skyline from the lake which was awesome.

Here you go with a couple of pictures...

bomb threat after Virgina Tech shooting...

2007-04-19T07:12:00.000-05:00

After the shocking incident at Virgina Tech on Monday, a couple of Universities received bomb threats on Tuesday. There was also a threat at the UofM on Wednesday, after which 7 buildings got evacuated. Luckily, these buildings were all on the other side of the Mississippi. So our classes took place as usual. It is still kind of desturbing, that there are other people who try to make a hoax out of this... Nevertheless, I am happy that the UofM takes it seriously.

Today, there will also be a memorial event for the students at Virgina Tech. I think the whole student community is mourning and feels also very sad about the event in Blacksbourg.

Al's Breakfast and trip to St. Paul...

2007-04-16T23:35:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday I got up early after 6 hours of sleep to enjoy the sunny and warm spring day outside. First, I walked 150 yards to Al's Breakfast in Dinkytown where I enjoyed a great american breakfast; a short stack of blueberry pancakes, scrumbled eggs with tomato, swiss and basil and a side portion of bacon and wheat toast.
The restaurant is reportedly the narrowest full service restaurant with seating... there are 14 seats lined up at a counter. It is funny, since I was there 10 minutes before opening (9am on Sunday) and there were already two people waiting... the line up then got longer until the opening (see pictures). I also got to know Marcia and Michael who invited me sponteanously for the breakfast, just because it is a special thing to eat at Al's and since I am a foreign exchange student... Something funny which has to be noted is that if people leave and others are waiting behind the seats, you may have to move with the food in order to make it possible for the new guests to sit next to each other... really funny tough!

In St. Paul I walked around Harriet Island to enjoy the Mississippi and the Skyline. Then I discovered the rather sleepy downtown and made my way up to the huge cathedral. A chirch service was in progress when I entered so I did not take any pictures from inside. But I have to say it is a big and very nice cathedral. Around the area of the cathedral, you can also find some very nice streets with colorful houses. After discovering the neighbourhood I went sponteanously to the Historical Museum of Minnesota to discover a little the state's past. I read a lot about the natives and immigration into the state during the last 150 years, and I even saw a picture of Dred Scott who once stayed at Fort Snelling and started a famous supreme court case regarding slavery (regards to Dr. Drolshammer and his class about American Law Culture). After that visit I enjoyed the sunny day in front of the State Capitol and almost slept... it was an awesome spring day - I hope it stays like that!

Twins territory...

2007-04-11T11:38:00.000-05:00

Last Monday we went to the Twins - Yankees baseball game here in Minneapolis at the Metrodome. So we took the bus after classes from Carlson School (two stops!) to the stadium. People were already mingeling in front of the stadium as I know it from Europe, but no fanatic fans were visible ;-) What suprised me was that we were allowed to drink beer outside in front of the stadium! New manners here in the US ;-) they finally get a bit closer to Europe... hihi ;-)

So Duc, Ivan and I checked out the food stands; first we ate a burger or a corn dog, accompanied with a beer. We then discovered roasted turkey leg... like a chicken leg but about 3 to 4 times bigger... so we had to try it... (see pictures below)... it was great but also filling. Well, that wasn't the last thing we ate on that day.
We then started to watch the game when the Yankees made two homeruns in the first two innings. Rather disappointing for us as "Twins fans"... Although our team had a bad start people were still cheering for the Twins. So the game was pretty interesting, and it got even better when we decided to go on with beer and food :-)

After 2.5 hours we lost 8:2 but we also enjoyed a great atmosphere at the Metrodome. By the way the Metrodome holds 48'000 people max and is supported by an air-inflated roof. So there is overpressure in the stadium; we were literally blown out of the Stadium when we left!!! You can actually very well see the Metrodome on Earth Google... check out the flag in the sidebar.

Once on the bus back to the west bank, we decided to go to Bullwinkles for another beer and chicken wings (25cent a piece ;-) ). We ended the evening with Honey beer and barbecue chicken wings... awesome!

highest quality of life in Zurich...

2007-04-03T00:28:00.000-05:00

Well, this post is from a real Swiss guy currently living abroad for anyone who might want to consider coming to Europe and visit Switzerland, or who is considering studying or working in Switzerland.

Mercer Consulting has been studying the quality of life for 251 cities accross the globe, and Zurich (biggest city in Switzerland) has again won the first place in this study and Geneva ranked second and my favourity city Vancouver third... in another study from the Economist, Switzerland ranks second concerning quality of life...

Here you go with some pictures of Zurich and a link to the Tourism site.

soccer intramurals update...

2007-03-31T11:52:00.000-05:00

It is high time that I posted something from our intramural soccer league. We have played 7 games, of which we won 2, tied 1 and lost 4. The last game next Tuesday will be against the leader of our group - so I don't believe that we will win or qualifly for the play offs... last time we played the pharmacy team we lost 7:2...

The game on last Tuesday was pretty tight, but we finally won 5:4. This time I even scored three goals - must be the new Puma soccer shoes that I have bought ;-)

Looking back, the intramural league was great fun and I am impressed especially by our girls in the team: they play very well. It was also cool to meet people outside of Carlson School... throught that you could also get the feeling of beloning to the whole campus and the UofM community.

Since the fieldhouse is pretty big and the picture did turn out to be to dark, I decided to post a short movie: unfortunately you won't see anyone scoring...

Paria Canyon - 38 miles hike, 3000 miles drive (!)

2007-03-23T21:12:00.000-05:00

I finally found some time to write about our trip to Paria Canyon. It was an awesome trip with a couple of funny moments and some new things about US culture that I did not know before... but back to March 9th....
On that Friday the whole group met at the Center for Outdoor Activity to load the Van with the group gear and the personal backpacks (almost everything was provided). we then drove about 24 hours from Minneapolis to Kanab, UT... here you go with a map: The distance of 1530 miles corresponds to the distance on the road (not air!) from Winterthur to Gribraltar plus 200 kilometers into Africa :-) A nice short road trip though!

Once in Kanab, we unpacked all the stuff and splited the food, gas stoves, one tent and the pans. We set up camp at the entrance of Paria Canyon, called White house. We then prepared our first meal: Hobo - vegetables and meat with a little oil, salt and pepper and wrapped in aluminium foil. It was awesome (see pictures)!
The next morning we started our trip with a backback of about 35-40 pounds each. Well, my shoes wouldn't get dry until the very last day when we went home again... yep, we walked throught the canyon. That meant in the riverbed or alongside the riverbed. First the canyon was wide open and not deep, but this started to change with the second day. The second night we spent on a little hill close to Buckskin Gulch. This was awesome; total silence during the night between two step walls and a clear sky above... We then went on the next and the following day and got to the deepest point of the canyon where the walls are probably 400-500 feet high (see pictures to get a sense). Along the way we also filtered water from springs into the bladders and our bottles. In the middle of our hike, we stopped and took a side valley up to Wrather Arch - a huge arch (see Dan standing at the bottom of the arch). The last day was pretty much outside of the canyon again; the landscape opened up and it was mainly flat (if we had not taken some detours ;-) ) We arrived at Lees Ferry on Thursday at noon and we were all exhausted - everyone was longing for a cold drink and something sweet to eat. We went back with the Van to the Coral Sand Dunes State Park campground, where we could shower for the first time after 6 days :-). We ended the hiking week with a feast (I got to know S'more) and a last night outside under the sky where you can see the milky way and several shooting stars.
The next morning, we headed back in direction to Minneapolis, not directly though. We stopped at Bryce Canyon for a quick look - back again for me after three years! :-) After this amazing stop, we headed back north east, crossed Utah, Colorado, the city of Denver, Nebraska, Iowa and finally Minnesota. We passed an amazing landscape in Utah, the Rockies in Colorado, flat and neverending Nebraska (sorry, but there was nothing - and I mean realy nothing but flat and dry land), and a snow stom in Iowa before we got back to Minneaoplis after 24 hours...

Some sidemarks:

- we hiked 38 miles (60.8 km)...
- the weather was awesome: up to 25 degrees celsius, the nights were cold but ok in the sleeping bag or the tent...
- I got to know s'more, hobo...
- I learned what it means to be mooned - from a guy in another car and inside the van (upon request I will post the video ;-) )...
- I don't know if I have ever managed not to shower for 6 days...
- I am happy that I was not sued for sexual harassment...
- luckily it was still to cold for rattle snakes and scorpions...
- only Sean's heel hurt and Matt's flat feet ;-)
- everyone did stink...
- we saw a mormon family... funny though!
- Road trips are fun, driving half across the continent is not as bad and boring as it seems...
- I enriched my vocabulary with sophisticated words: queef
- coffee is essential on a tip like this...
- it also works abroad: one week without alcohol

Hey buddies - thanks for this amazing week out in the nature! See you on facebook...

St. Patrick's day...

2007-03-19T11:18:00.000-05:00

Saturday was St.Patrick's day and this is a rather big party-day for the Americans... --> roots to the Irish :-)
So we went out last Saturday at the Irish Pub Blarney's in Dinkytown (about 200 meters from my apartment)... which is great for tottering home :-)

So the pub was already packed at around 10pm when we got there... everyone was wearing at least some green clothes. People were partying and a band was playing great sound. So it was a funny evening with friends. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home - lazy me! I checked the homepage of Blarney's and so far they do not have any pictures of this event... dam it! But I tell you - this was an awesome night!
The also organized a Pub Crawl - where about 50-80 people go from pub to pub in green shirts. After an hour they leave with a bus to the next place and so on... I did not know about that unfortunately... that would have been even better!

I wish St. Patrick Day would be that big an event in Switzerland as it is here!

back from spring break - pictures follow later...

2007-03-18T22:29:00.000-05:00

I returned yesterday from an awesome week in Utah/Arizona in Paria Canyon. I will post another post within the next week and as soon as I have all pictures from the other participants.
Attached you find some pictures of the international food competition of the full time MBA program at the MBA lounge. It took place just before spring break (on the day the university was shut down due to bad weather) and was a great opportunity to try different international food styles... unfortunately, I only new it a couple of days in advance... otherwise I would have tried to compete with "Alplermakkaroni" or "Fondue" :-) but I am sure I would not have had a chance to win ;-)

off for spring break...

2007-03-08T17:33:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow I will go to a backpacking and hiking trip to Paria Canyon, close to Grand Canyon. We will hike and camp in or close to the canyon. Weather is doing fine so far and it looks as if we will have a great week. I have also added a google earth flag for the canyon.

...opening show of the game

2007-03-07T10:29:00.000-06:00

Here you go with a taste of the opening show. The movie was taken with my digital cam... so the quality could be better... you could see wolves on the screen and exhilerating sound surounded the movie.

Timberwolves - Utah Jazz....

2007-03-07T09:12:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the delay in posting, but I had to finish my master thesis. This was very important, since I have to hand it in next Monday... and a friend in Switzerland (Heiner - the great) :-) will hand it in for me - thanks again!
So back to the title topic: Last Saturday we went to the NBA game Timberwolves - Utah Jazz at the Target Center in Minneapolis downtown. Utah is currently the fourth in the Western Conference and the Timerwolves rank eleventh. This situation was then also present on the field: The Timberwolves made so many mistakes... it was sometimes unbelievable. And by the way; basketball on TV is much more interesting than live in the stadium - it seems much faster and more ambitious on TV. So a couple of minutes before the end of the game, people started to leave the seats and go home! Five minutes left, and the stadium was almost empty - what a shame! We stayed although the Timberwolves finally lost 83-109.
Afterwards, we went to the Local pub (an irish pub in downtown), and I took the chance to take some pictures. We drunk beer and ate great food: 5 burgers for 5.99 USD! ...and the burgers were awesome. Fritz (Austrian - alias burger king) ate all five, I was full after three of them!

See sidebar for additional earth google flags.

some impressions of the latest storm...

2007-03-04T14:36:00.000-06:00

Ok, the strom is over and the Midwest was hit pretty hard. The University even closed on Thursday afternoon... according to my room mate that has never happened during the last couple of years. On TV they even talked about the heaviest snow fall over one weekend in 10 years... so as you can see from the pictures, it was a lot of snow. Meanwhile, the weather is better and it was even very pretty with the blue sky and all the snow covered landscape. I put some impresssions online, I hope you enjoy.

Especially watch the piles along the street - it's a pain getting on and off the buses. And it is even worse now that the snow is melting...

severe weather again...

2007-03-01T11:11:00.000-06:00

Last weekend a big snow strom crossed the midwest, resulting in 500 flight cancellation in Chicago and at least a foot of snow Minneapolis. So far so good - winter is nice here and not like currently in Europe :-) we have plenty of snow, just no real ski slopes like we do in Switzerland...
Since yesterday afternoon, another snow storm is crossing Minnesota and they expect another 14 inches of snow. Right now it is heavily snowing and it looks like somewhere in a ski ressort outside. Also check out the weather forcast in the sidebar to see the details.

The weather here was anyways crazy this winter: December was way to warm and one of the warmest winter month here, in January we faced the longest consecutive period in days with temperature below zero Fahrenheit and last week we got the first snow storm so far...

So, nothing for people that like warm weather or sunshine :-)

new google earth flags...

2007-02-27T14:47:00.000-06:00

I added some google earth flags form my trip to Greensboro. Check it out on the right sidebar...
Furthermore, I also uploaded a video I took out of the car before I went back to the airport. It shows a medium road from the highway towards my former apartment.

weekend in Greensboro with unexpected layover...

2007-02-26T21:04:00.000-06:00

Last weekend I went down to Greensboro, North Carolina where I spent a six month intern in 2004. My schedule was full with visits of co-workers and people that I got to know at that time. I first visited my old workplace and talked to a lot of people - some of them have left, but all in all Novartis Animal Health has extremely expanded. Business has been ndoing very well over the last three to four years. After the afternoon visit, a couple of my co-workers and I went out for a beer at a close bar (forgot to take pictures, sorry). On the same evening I then headed to Winston where I met with Lawren (co-worker) and her husband Jigar. We went out to a great restaurant, talked a lot and enjoyed the evening. I could also stay over at their place from Friday to Saturday, which was just great. Thanks again :-)
On Saturday I then drove east to Hillsborough to meet with Laurie also a former co-worker. She has had her first baby (Katie) just a couple of months after I left and she is going to give birth in about three weeks again. It was also great to catch up with her again... When I was talking to Lawren and Laurie I didn't feel that it has already been 3 years since I left!
On the same day I headed back and visited also two friends (Donavan and Donavan) I knew from outside work. We also went out for dinner and they also put me up for one night. We also played ping pong for an hour and had great fun. The next morning I went to see my landlord at my own apartment and his house. It was also cool to catch up again and it was great to see that they both were very well!

Well and then everything did not go how it was supposed to be: due to bad weather over 500 flights were cancelled at Chicago's airports. Leaving thousands of people stranded. Unfortunately, I spent about 10 hours at the airport... but the plane was either not allowed to leave due to the bad conditions in Chicago or because the crew was not allowed to fly anymore (too long air time)! So after three security controls (they finally recognized me when I returned the last time!) and a lot of annoying hours lying on the floor, reading the newspaper etc. I ended up in a hotel for the night. I had a seat and was to leave at 7am next morning. My flight got to Chicago with a delay of 45 minutes. There I had to run to another terminal - fu**** far away! - and try to get on the next plane on stand by. I finally was lucky since some other guys did not show up and I could make it to Minneapolis! If I were not boarded on that plane, I would might not have made it until very late the same day... so I was lucky.
It is funny, though, how people bend together if left in the same situation - I have talked to so many different people over on Sunday like never before...

network breaks for MBA's...

2007-02-22T08:45:00.000-06:00

We had a unexpected break (at least for me) yesterday during my Corporate Finance class: It's called network breaks for part time MBA and takes place twice a semester. The school offers all part time MBA half an hour to network with free snacks and drinks. Here are some impressions.

weather forecast only for iexplorer...

2007-02-20T11:03:00.000-06:00

I have noticed that the weather forcast picture is not shown in firefox only in iexplorer... I have no idea why, but I try to fix it.

something to add to Carlson...

2007-02-20T08:46:00.000-06:00

... I forgot the best here at Carlson: They provide Norton Anti Virus, Windows XP and upcoming Windows Vista for free for Students!... That's customer orientation :-)

That's something the HSG should start... I think I need to talk to Bösch or the Dean when I am home ;-)

classes at Carlson...

2007-02-15T22:02:00.000-06:00

Meanwhile, I have been here for five full weeks of the term and I feel like giving you an impression of how the classes are structured and differ from Europe:

- every week I have to prepare a Harvard Business Case for Corporate Finance and Strategic Alliances... sometimes solve book questions (which sucks...) or present a Minnesota based company...
- The presentation class requires a mini-presentation every week with focus on certain issues like introduction, transitions, and so on...
- there is generally a lot to read... quantity matters ;-)
- participation in class is graded...

As far as non-material stuff is concerned:

- on the first day, the professor introduces him-/herself personally to everyone...
- they provide even their cell phone number in case of questions...
- you can use the first name of most professors when talking to them... so for example: "Tom, could you please explain...."
- today we had a negotiation on a Harvard Business Case. After the case we went into a bar with the professor having a beer and enjoying a nice talk not relating to university... that was kind of cool, though, since I think that the relationship between professors and students are much closer than at the HSG.
- classes are very interactive. Due to that a lot of different experiences around a business problem emerge in the classroom and are shared among the students. This makes the class lively and interesting (lately we discussed the Iridium case and one student told about his experiences using the phone in Afganistan's mountains...)

Furthermore, you can pick up every day the New York Times, US Today or the Herald for free... Printing is also free (I hope HSG will catch up!) and you can access the whole school via wireless internet. Important books are available online, so you don't need to reserve it and pick it up at the library - just great if you need only some pages for the master thesis for example...

So I hope all HSG-Students reading the blog got an impression of some differences to the style at home. :-)

Soccer intramurals - second game...

2007-02-13T23:00:00.000-06:00

Today we played our second intramural league soccer game, and we won 5:2 this week. Yeah! All the guys showed up this week, whereas last week some did not get informed in time. So right now we are a pretty cool bunch of people... I actually wanted to take some pictures during the game, but I forgot the camera... furthermore I wantet to go out for a beer after the game, but everyone seemed busy (I am probably the only one only taking 12 credits ;-) ) I guess it could be due to the mid-term exams that take place this and next week. So I unfortunately hat to put off the 1$ pitcher for one week :-) Well... next week I try to post some pics of the game at the fieldhouse and hopefully of the drinkt after the game...

downtown Minneapolis...

2007-02-12T00:08:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures I took during my visits of downtown Minneapolis. So far, it was just too cold to take the camera with me when I went out in the evening. If the temperatures rise a little, I will take some pictures of bars and clubs and keep you in the loop of the places around Dinkytown, Uptown or Downtown.

Soccer intramurals - first game...

2007-02-07T13:34:00.000-06:00

The intramurals soccer league started yesterday. I signed up for one soccer team in the intramural league. So at 9.15pm, 6 girls and 4 guys lined up that the Fieldhouse for our first game. There was a French, a Brasilian, a Turkish guy, five US-girls and a US guy and finally me in our team... a pretty international team though :-)
It was a lot of fun and we played twice 25 minutes... I was exhausted afterwards, but I really enjoyed it. By the way with all the fast food I eat more than at home, it is wise to go to the Rec twice a week and join a football game every Tuesday :-)
We finally lost 2:5 but enjoyed a great evening. I will keep you in the loop about our standings and will post some pictures later...

XLI Superbowl...

2007-02-04T21:29:00.000-06:00

This Sunday was probably one of the days in the US where everyone talks only about one thing: The Superbowl. Well the Indianapolis Colts finally won over the Chicago Bears... No nipples or Timberlake on screen this year ;-) , instead Prince was entertaining the people during the half time show. As usual you could watch the funniest, greatest and also most expensive advertisement clips... Click here if you want to see all commercials. My favourites are the Bud Light - Rock, Paper, Scissors Commercial or the GM - Unemployed ad ...
We spent the whole afternoon at the Library bar in Dinkytown, drinking beer (bottle 2.50 USD!) and eating great burgers... I will post some pictures from bars and clubs some times later when it gets a little warmer... By the way: This weekend was the coldest I have ever experienced in my life... the temperature went down to -24 degrees Celsius, but with the wind it felt like -36 degrees Celsius! Just unbearable...

the Mall of America...

2007-02-03T12:47:00.000-06:00

Shopping in the US has always been fun so far: enough parking space, big shops, friendly sales people and very reasonable prices compared to Switzerland - especially during sale. So I decided to go to the biggest Mall in America, located in Bloomington near the airport about 12 miles south of Minneapolis, to get some new clothes...
The Mall of America itself offers in more than 520 stores about 235'000 m2 retail floor area (total area is nearly 400'000 m2) and is considered to be the biggest US Mall and the 20th biggest Mall in the World. For a comparison: The "Glattzentrum" near Zurich offers about 42'000 m2, the "Shoppyland" near Bern about 32'000 m2... The Mall also offers over 50 restaurants, around 13'000 parking spaces on the west and east side of the Mall (and in Bern the VCS complains about 200 parking speaces more!!!) and employs around 12'000 people. In the middle of the building there is a huge amusement park that offers a variety of roller coaster and places interesting for children and teens. It even has a wild water roller coaster... There are also 14 cinemas a Lego-Land, a dinosaurier museum and an underwater aquarium. In phase II they plan to integrate a whole water amusement park, a dinner theatre, a ice rink and three hotels (!) ... just crazy!!!
So here you go with a little taste of "the Mall"...to locate the building, download the Earth Google flag in the sidebar.

journey of a pike...

2007-01-29T21:22:00.000-06:00

Well, the movie is just capturing a glimpse of a great day outdoor. This photo album will give you an impression of how ice fishing works. For me, a total beginner in fishing, it was a great experience to go out with my fellow students and some guys from the activity outdoor center. Have a look at a journey of a pike from the lake into my plate :-)

can't see the movie below?!?

2007-01-29T19:05:00.000-06:00

If you can't see the movie from my ice fishing trip. Download the newest flash player here and install it...

back from ice fishing...

2007-01-28T22:04:00.000-06:00

This morning, I headed off north west to St. Cloud for ice fishing. The activity is organised by the Outdoor Activity Center of the University of Minnesota. Mike and Andres lead Bryan, Mark and me to the Little Rock lake near St. Cloud (download the Earth Google Flag in the sidebar for the exact location). Ivan and some fellows from the St. Cloud University brought the equipment (drill, tents, gas-heater, fishing rod...). We spent nearly 4 hours on the frozen lake. The ice was about 40 cm thick and even supported the weight of a small truck!
We first put the bail on the hook, and waited as instructed for the fish to bite :-) I caught one after 10 minutes, but it was too small to keep. Nevertheless, Mike and Ivan finally caught a big and a huge fish. They are called Northern Pike ("Hecht"). After our feet almost got frozen (it was -19 Celcius and windy), we returned to the Rec Center of the University of St. Cloud to clean the fish.
By the end of the day, everyone got home with some fresh fish... so tomorrow night, I will cook pike with vegetables and rice - enjoy :-) .

my apartment and my street...

2007-01-23T09:17:00.000-06:00

I thought it would be cool to upload some pictures of my apartment at Dinky Town. The pictures were taken after a night of light snow fall. On the last picture, you see the view from the stairs in front of the entrance to the apartment building. I live at the edge of Dinky Town, where all food chains are present and also many coffee shops an bars.
It is a great location; close to campus and with very good bus connections to the campus, to downtown, to uptown and with one change to the airport.

e-mail subscription added...

2007-01-19T14:54:00.000-06:00

I added the tool "e-mail subscription". Subscribe if you want to get updates via email.

16 exchange students...

2007-01-18T13:35:00.000-06:00

Here you go with a picture of all the 16 exchange students, that participate in the exchange program during spring semester 2007. Most of my fellow students are taking part in the undergraduate program. Monk, Bryan and I are taking MBA classes.
As you can see, the whole group consists of 11 asian students from Hong-Kong, Singapur or Bejing as well as three Austrian students, an Australian student and me - a pretty international group, though.

I finally signed up for the following subjects:

- Andvanced Corporate Decision and Analysis (Corporate Finance)
- International Accounting
- Strategic Alliances
- Presentation Skills for Non-Native Speakers in English
- Complex and Cross Cultural Negociations

getting settled in Minneapolis...

2007-01-12T19:42:00.000-06:00

Almost one week has passed no 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 succed in academic matters. It was all very well organised, sometimes even with breakfast and lunch - well twice pizza but I like that :-)

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 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, a huge 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! They even have "wärmelampen" at the bus stops, but believe me I already used one of them... ;-)

Today was the first day, that was really cold: the temperature went down to -16° Celcius, somewhat I have experienced last time at Brice Canyon. It is so cold, that I am voluntarily wearing a cap! The next two to three weeks are going to be the worst, I was told... afterwards it will steadily get warmer.

first signs from the west...

2007-01-09T18:13:00.000-06:00

After a rather long flight I finally managed to get to Minneapolis. My flatmate Anne picked me up at the airport and helped me getting settled. I live at the edge of Dinky Town and the Campus area, a pretty cool place. I added a section with Google Earth Flags - you can click on the link, download them while having Google Earth opened, and then you will fly directly to the place indicated.

The last two days were pretty easy: a lot of information about the University of Minnesota and Carlson School, getting organised with the apartment, bus system, courses. Besides the vast quantitiy of information we also had time for socializing: yesterday we went to Famous Dave's for Spare Ribs, country fries, cole slaw corn on the cob and so on.

I will post some first pictures within the next few days...

ready to leave...

2007-01-06T08:04:00.000-06:00

I have now packed all the baggage and I am finally somewhat like ready to go. The only thing I feel really sad about is to say good bye to Carole tomorrow, but otherwise I am looking forward to a great time in the USA - Volume 2 of tomy going abroad ;-)

Just a remark: I checked the weather forecast for the next 10 days... the low temperatures are around -10° to -12° Celsius... freezing!

I keep you in the loop when I am settled in Minneapolis, regards so far.

housing settled...

2006-12-20T15:24:00.000-06:00

Meanwhile, I also settled the housing. I will be living just two blocks off-campus where I found a great place in a two-person flat. I am quite curious and hope to have a great time together with my roomie. I let you know about my housing as soon as I am there...

visa... I finally got it!

2006-12-01T01:21:00.000-06:00

Last Tuesday was my appointment at the US Embassy in Berne for my J-1 visa. The procedure was not much better than 4 years ago during my first trip to the US... all the forms and to be filled and information to be provided was just a pain in the a.... waiting outside the embassy for nearly 1 hour, and waiting inside for about the same amount of time... and I also had to give my finger print and answer some short questions... but I finally got it and everything went well.
So I am pretty much ready to go, except for the housing which I am currently organizing. I found a pretty decent room close to the campus. It will probably take several days and I will also have settled my accomodation.

world-locator tool published...

2006-11-09T11:25:00.000-06:00

Another nice feature has been installed. neoworx provides a great tool to locate the blogger and the visitors... right now it looks quite empty, but there have already been people from South- and Northamerica, Asia and Europe on my blog (according to my blogcounter statistics)...

shout box online...

2006-11-07T14:51:00.000-06:00

I discovered another cool feature for my blog. Visitors that want to place a comment without using the comment option in the blog can now use the shout box in the sidebar. It also provides smileys and other options to express whatever one thinks! :-) I hope you enjoy...

"bookmark me" link available...

2006-10-13T11:47:00.000-05:00

As of today, you can not only subscribe for RSS, but also bookmark my blog by using the link I created on the sidebar...

I guess I spend too much time adding features to my blog... :-) It's fun though...I keep you informed about further tools and gadgets on my blog...

time and weather information added...

2006-10-12T01:18:00.000-05:00

I added time and weather information on the right for Minneapolis. There is more to come...

skype status bar installed...

2006-10-11T07:13:00.000-05:00

There are still three months down to my departure. Nevertheless, I already added a skype button on the sidebar. The button informs you about my online status. If I am "online" and you want to chat with me, you can simply click on the button and will be connected with me through skype... in other words: a great tool to stay connected over the ocean
:-)
If you do not have skype so far, use the link on the right in the rubric "links" and download the program.

translation...

2006-10-01T05:08:00.000-05:00

I have decided to translate the first posts into english, so that everyone will understand what's written on this blog.
Bloggers that are not familiar with certain english terms find a link to LEO, a online dictionnary for French, German, Spanisch and English.

RSS Feed installed...

2006-09-30T04:38:00.000-05:00

As of now, you can pull new posts automatically to your RSS reader... just click on the RSS logo and add the url to your feeder.

Furthermore, the blog is currently being expanded. I added some friends in the friends section on the right and also added a counter that counts visitors... So far I haven't found a counter that show hits on the blog, but I do not give in and will search again. If anyone of you has an idea where to fina a hits-counter, which can be shown on the blog, feel free to send me an email: tomy_abroad@mysunrise.ch

Preparations...

2006-09-22T08:32:00.000-05:00

I finally booked the flight: I am leaving Sunday 7th January at 12.55 with Swiss to Chicago and with United to Minneapolis where I will arrive arround 19.30 local time.

The desired courses have been accepted by the "Anrechnungsstelle" at my home university as desired... :-) I only have to get the elected courses during the first week in Minneapolis... due to visa restrictions, I am only allowed to "preselect" the classes, they will finally be approved during introduction week.

So, what's left.... I only need to get an accommodation... and yes, the visa application on the US-Embassy in Bern...

the excitement...

2006-09-21T07:11:00.000-05:00

Minneapolis and the Mississippi

Skyline of Minneapolis and the Metrodome

I will leave Switzerland in January in direction to Minneapolis where I will attend my last semester of my studies at the Carlson School of Management...

Carlson School of Management

Tomy goes abroad....

2006-09-21T06:56:00.000-05:00

Hi all, ...the blog world has finally reached tomy :-)

On this blog you will find my stories and experiences during my exchange term at the Carlson School of Management in Minneapolis.