life is an adventure

Exams Countdown =)

2008-05-20T22:41:00.000+02:00

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Harry and Barry - a look behind the curtains

2008-04-23T17:34:00.000+02:00

Soooo coool.... and sooo true...

Popping the Bubble

2008-04-22T00:42:00.002+02:00

This weekend we popped the bubble. thanks for your contribution =)

I can post again

2008-04-11T15:24:00.002+02:00

Now I can finally post again on my blog. So for a start, I will share some really nice songs with you.

Abriendo Caminos by Diego Torres and Juan Luis Guerra

Suenos by Diego Torres and Julieta Venegas

And Las Avispas by Juan Luis Guerra

Hillary vs. Obama

2008-03-15T16:09:00.004+01:00

Hammerlied

2008-03-14T15:13:00.006+01:00

2Raumwohnung - Wir trafen uns in einem Garten

Exciting times

2008-02-13T23:52:00.002+01:00

After having to say goodbye in Spain I'm just one day in Switzerland and then off to Macedonia to the international presidents meeting. Really looking forward to it.

Here some music of the moment... Kanye West - Stronger

By the way. I made it through in one exam. So there is still hope =)

%&?ç%&%!!$£&* - DAY

2008-02-08T19:32:00.000+01:00

ok, today was definitely a freaking day. really. here in short why:

- 2 exams - both really random and i had to invent stuff (hopefully i will pass them)
- i just got to know that I failed one of the exams (the prof told us that he didn't care whether we are native or not. he expects everything perfectly explained in the best Spanish ever. vale...puto....)
- this means i have to take another class in Geneva (which makes it not easier to pass all the exams including final exams in June.)
- no, it's not over. so far, these were all more or less my faults. but now comes something which is really not our fault. actually to get our marks we have to get a paper signed by the prof and three different secretariats - per faculty we are in. (this is a very different story than what they told us in the beginning how it works) anyways, this we can only do once they have our marks, which is not before next week. BUT, we all have to go back because university starts the week after and i am going to IPM.

WHY....????? I hate these days......

And just to top everything, when I went to the shop to get a bottle of wine (a reason for drinking can always be found...) this bottle was 3 times as expensive as written on it on the shelf but the queue so long that I really didn't want to go back and get another bottle....

Ok, tomorrow everything is going to be better, at least I hope so.

Something to listen to

2008-02-07T23:55:00.000+01:00

I just found the mp3 file of the "Totemügerli" online. (Click on the link in the website to download it) This is a sketch with imaginary swiss-german sounding words. Really funny to listen to and some of the swiss people might even know it from their own childhood. And for all the others, this is how Swiss-German could sound if you have never heard it. And no worries, even for native speakers this story does absolutely not make sense, as most of the words do not really exist. =)

Franz Hohler, who invented the story

Sitting in the Library

2008-02-07T13:02:00.000+01:00

I am just sitting here in the library, trying to find out many things about the European Union and Latin America... This is for my two exams I have left and which are going to be very freestyle. Meaning, you just go there and write whatever you know about the topic and then hope that the professor lets you pass. I'll know by tomorrow how it went, as I have my two last exams then.
And then there it is, my last weekend in Madrid. Really, this went far too fast for me to realize it. I have been here now for 5 months... It was a really good time. As it is all the times, there will be things I will miss from Spain but I am also looking forward to go back. At the moment I could not tell which one is stronger. Actually, I am now excited to go to Macedonia to IPM (international presidents meeting, where all the current and future presidents of the 103 AIESEC countries meet...). This will be for sure very exciting and the fact that there are more and more people elected president that I know already just makes it more exciting. Seeing them all again and meeting a lot of new people.
But before this, I have to write my exams and then to read through many documents for the conference.
Ok, another hour of working and then I can go for this "very delicious" university food. Might be meat, chips and salad again... With a lot of Oil. (As it is the Spanish habit to tell that olive oil is healthy oil of which you can therefore put a lot...)

Birthday in the sun

2008-01-29T00:42:00.000+01:00

I just had to share this. Usually my birthday is in the coldest time of the year. I mean it's January. So when I was born there was loads of snow. This year I was celebrating my birthday in Madrid and was actually sitting outside in the park in the sun, in a T-Shirt. Here pics to prove it :)
Thanks again for the cake =)

And here specially for Nadine, so you know what I was "singing" the whole time:

Herbie Hancock, I thought it was you....

Love this intro.....

2008-01-25T15:50:00.000+01:00

Things I want to do in my life

2008-01-21T00:16:00.000+01:00

There are some things I really want to do in my life

- dress up and go to the Opera
- see the Matterhorn
- tell someone that I love him
- travel around Latin America
- keep my friends
- get new ones
- work for a company I really believe in
- go snowboarding in the Rockies
- get a tattoo
- do skydiving
- finish university =)
- have loads of talks with friends
- challenge myself in a very difficult period
- improve my Spanish
- go to concerts of bands which I like
- have my own flat
- cross the Sahara
- learn everyday something new
- invent something
- have enough money to live
- work in a foreign country
- become more patient
- climb a mountain
- step out of my comfort zone
- travel foreign countries with my partner
- do something nice without wanting something back
- learn salsa dancing
- go to the Oktoberfest
- work in a team
- sing a song
- ...

There would be loads more, but these are just some that come to my mind at the moment.

Song of the Moment: Lunik - Through your eyes

studying

2008-01-20T21:08:00.000+01:00

Since about three days or so I finally started studying for my exams. And I am already fed up. More than with the stuff I have actually to read I am fed up with me. I just can not concentrate. There are too many things in my head, to many things I could do. Ok, I know, it's quite stupid to keep the laptop next to my desk and to chat with people. But it really means a lot to me to talk to friends that are far away and to be able to be somehow part of their life, to catch up with people I haven't seen for a long time. To search for advise and to give it. I want to enjoy my last few weeks here in Spain and to meet the people that are important to me.
I tried to work for some hours (or one hour) and then have a break where I can talk to people etc. But now I always have the feeling of being inefficient and not doing enough.... Man, eventhough I have been doing this studying for exams thing for the past years (actually that's the main thing I have been doing half of my life) and I still don't manage it...
Anyways, hopefully this summer will be the last time for a long time that I will have to study. The only thing is, to get there I need to work now... Ok, get your ass up and do something. At least one chapter more... Promise.

My new Team

2008-01-16T14:10:00.001+01:00

Curious about the future

2008-01-08T22:21:00.000+01:00

First of all, I want to thank all that were there for a very nice time in Switzerland, Barcelona and Madrid over the holidays. I really had a blast and will not forget the time so fast =)

In my past life there was probably never a time of so much uncertainty as there is now. It's something I usually don't like, but that's probably very good that I have to go through this. I am quite sure, whatever happens, in some time I will be able to connect the dots backwards.
Soon I will know more about all the things occupying my head. Things will be sorted out, others messed up, fears faced and probably causes lost. Then it will be the time to move on with all the things I got out of these quite troublesome but exciting times.
Life is an Adventure and I am very curious what it brings....

Music of the Moment: Guru's Jazzmatazz

L'humour français

2007-12-17T02:31:00.000+01:00

I just love these sketches.... Trop drole...
Have a look at "les inconnus" and "Gad Elmaleh" on youtube.

also check the following sketches of les inconnus: les gosses, les branleurs, telemagouille, Manu and not to forget les pétasses and les préservatifs Européens.

Half time over

2007-12-07T17:26:00.000+01:00

Everything is soo fast. I am now nearly 3 months in Madrid, which means, more than half of the time I will spend here. If I think back, it seems such a short time that I am here. But this is normal I guess. There have been many great moments so far. Travelling around in Spain to Salamanca, Cordoba, Toledo and Sevilla, all the people I got to know. Ira, the German gang from university, the mc, Spanish aiesecers and many more. I guess I have never been out so much as here. Ok, I am not going to clubs so often, but going for a drink or so seems to belong to the programme here. These are always the best moments of the day. Chilling, chatting and so on. I also really got used to the rhythm here, and it's actually getting difficult to go to sleep earlier than 3 am. Never mind, I’ll get used to the Swiss timing soon enough.
There have also been some challenges here for sure, finding a flat, my flatmate, dealing with the banks or just generally not always being able to express myself that well in Spanish and now sitting in the library and writing papers. So what, everyone has to do this, and at least I can do these here. Madrid, the place I still can go for something to eat after 10 pm, where there are sooo many people in the streets (even though the shops are closed) wearing wigs just because it's Christmastime and where they are having the ugliest Christmas lights I’ve seen (just for your information. Christmas lights in Spain use up as much electricity as a 50.000 people town in a year), but so what, that's Madrid. Sometimes you don't have to ask and just accept and enjoy it. And that's definitely what I do here.
¿Buenas, nos vemos en Madrid, no?

Pictures from India and Nepal

2007-11-28T16:14:00.000+01:00

Today I found by "accident" some old pictures from my travel to India and Nepal in 2004. Here I now share them with you. Have fun watching them.
(There are much more pics if you click on the link below)

Sevilla

2007-11-28T13:38:00.000+01:00

These days I am a bit lazy to update my blog. Updates will follow, but so far I'll just put some impressions from Sevilla, one of the most beautiful cities I have visited so far.

Another Regula :)

2007-10-29T12:38:00.000+01:00

Regula - Especial (Brazilian Rap)

Champions League - Real vs. Olympiacos

2007-10-27T14:30:00.000+02:00

This Wednesday we went to the Champions League Match between Real Madrid and Olympiacos Piräus in the Bernabeu stadium here in Madrid. Even though I am not this big football fan, but this is just a thing you have to do if you go to a football-crazy city as Madrid is. Even though the atmosphere was quite good; I was surprised that there was not more cheering. But maybe this has to do with the fact that Real anyways thought that they will win, what they finally did, 4:2. Here you have some impressions of the match. But in TV this is really different than if you are in a stadium with 80.000 other people and you are so high up that you nearly can't read the numbers on the back. Hehe. We will definitely go again to the next CL match in December.

Córdoba

2007-10-22T13:41:00.000+02:00

Thanks to an invitation of my gene van flatmate Miriam, I could spend an amazing weekend in Cordoba in Andalusia, which is in the south of Spain. It was already great for the weather, as we could enjoy temperatures around 28 degrees, and this in mid October.
On Friday we went to a wedding of a friend of Miriam, which took place in the Alcazar (a former castle), which is surrounded, by a huge park. This gave me the possibility to have an insight to a Spanish wedding, where many people were crying, screaming ¡Viva! During the ceremony, the woman dressed in colourful dresses and all men with the obligatory sunglasses. It was definitively a very lively ceremony and I understand why there are so many people marrying in this city. (We saw about 10 other marriages).

The castle in which the wedding took place and Miriam and me ready for the ceremony.

The rest of the weekend we spent walking around in the small alleys of the city, discovering nice places far from the other tourists, drinking "Tindo de Verano" (my new favourite drink - basically just red wine with sparkling water) and chatting for hours.

On Friday we also went to the Cathedral of Cordoba, which is actually a mix between a mosque and a cathedral. It was first built as a church but when the Arabs arrived in the south of Spain, they transformed it into a Mosque. After the defeat of the Arabs in Spain, they transformed the building once again, this time back into a cathedral. The impressing thing is that they did not destroy the Arab construction, as this was done so many times, but they actually just built the cathedral in the middle of the Arab building. So you can see very catholic constructions, with all the gold and crosses everywhere in the same building, just some meters away from Arab influenced ornaments.

Some impressions from the Cathedral:

Madrid is great

2007-10-17T00:32:00.000+02:00

This is just going to be a very short post whose main message should be positive. I know in the last few posts I was very negative. I was stressed because of not having a flat to live in, then about all the insecurities with the university and also because I did not have Internet at home.
Now all this worked out. I have Internet, thanks to Juan, I am getting used to the comunication style of my flatmate, I did my inscription for university, paid the fee and also got the confirmation from HEI. Today I also handed in my first paper in Spanish, had a presentation in one of the courses and generally feel like things work out.
Now I can dedicate my time again to going out, eating tapas, chatting for hours with Ira and Sarah, working on AIESEC stuff (which can be fun, really, I mean why would I do it otherwise), learning about Real Madrid to be prepared for the next Champions League match which we will hopefully watch in the Bernabeu Stadium, pick topics for my papers, try to speak more Spanish, maybe even do some exercises, right sports wouldn't be too bad, but maybe also cook again this really tasty "Rösti with Zürigeschnetzeltem" as we did last Saturday, get to know the best clubs in town, even better bars, do some shopping (if I have enough money), travel around Spain or at least in the region of Madrid, finish "kite runner" and start "don Quijote", watch "Cheroes" (Heroes but pronounced in Spanish), getting to know more people and places, short, to enjoy life.
Madrid is great.

Am I being too picky?

2007-10-09T12:12:00.000+02:00

This is quite a weird story and I really don’t know what to think of it. Let’s start with the beginning. I just moved flat two days ago. I now live with a maybe 35 years old Spanish woman in this flat I was talking about some days ago. When I moved in, one of the first things I did was testing internet. But it did not work with the password she gave me. Never mind, I left for a weekend and thought that this would work out. Hoping to get internet as soon as possible as I am, you could actually say, addicted or rather dependent on internet. I need it for working for university and AIESEC, to communicate with my friends and family, to get information and to have some divertissement. Anyways, when I came home tonight, quite tired (as my classes lasted until 9.30 PM) and a little sick my flatmate asked me again if it worked now the internet. I tried it once (rather 100 times) again and it still did not work as my computer told me the password is invalid. She then called the company and was talking with them for 20 minutes. I did not understand everything they were talking about, but basically the outcome was that this very password worked for the person that was here before and if it did not for me then this is kind of my problem. They told me that this company usually has problems with Mac and that this is just the way it is. Which is a very good explanation for someone that spells wireless wrong when writing down things, which they told her on the phone. Anyways. I called Juan from the Spanish MC who really knows about computers. He offered me that I should send him the data of the router and that that he would try to find out some stuff. So far so good. Now came the point that irritated me. I told her and asked to note me down the data of the router. But she refused for security reasons and told me things like the password are only for her and me and for no one else. Wow, how nice is that, shows that she really trusts me. But I could not say much, was just speechless and being a little sick did not help me finding the good answer for this. I then took the paper with me that had my notes I made during the phone call, which had also her notes including her IP number or something like that. When I was than in my bed reading a bit, she came to ask me for the sheet so I thought that she wanted to copy something or anything like that. But no, she actually RIPPED OFF the part where she wrote things on and gave me back the part with my notes. Now I really don’t know what to think about this. I really think that she is very rude and I am really pissed of this. It’s not about the internet anymore but I can really not accept this kind of treatment. Or am I now unfair? Am I just being very picky on small things or am I kind of right? What should I do? What would you do in my place?