First 2 weeks in Santiago: Impressions

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mehr fotos mit compañeros sind auch auf facebook zu finden..

..mir gehts gut, wetter ist sommerlich, hab schon die erste klimaanlage-erkaeltung hinter mir und bin fit fuers weekend ;-)

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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