One of my favorite skylines

As time passes, I realize how much I will miss this place. As I feel right now, I don't want to leave at all.

Hallstatt

23° C. I'm loving it!

Livin it up in Linz

I am enjoying the spring even more now.

More pictures to come very soon.

Spring

Spring is here, 20 °C weather and more than two weeks of holidays. I spent the afternoon downtown, next to the river. The sunset was magnificent.

Linz by Night 1.0

Mid March Reflections: A (good or bad) night in London

Spring is still to come to this part of Austria (or world if you will). It's cold, snowing, raining and windy. However, I am experiencing something new. I am enjoying life and my workload is "limited" for the time being. It is a unique situation but at the same time logical. This is my third semester here, and the number of relevant courses have decreased - hence my sudden overflow of spare time. It should be said though that the action begins in April - that's when the difficult courses commence.

About a week ago a friend arranged a farewell dinner downtown due to her departure from Austria back to her native country, The Netherlands. We ended up on a greasy and sleazy Mexican restaurant with nice decorations, a stupid (and possibly retarded waitress) and average food. Anyway, on the way home we passed by a Chinese restaurant (there are many Chinese restaurants in Linz) and they had put a glass showcase outside the restaurant with samples of what they serve. Judge for yourselves.

These images raise a few questions, and I think the samples (that consisted of plastic fruits and vegetables) looked disgusting. Enough said.

The final rounds of The UEFA Champions League is running and Inter is playing Chelsea on Stamford Bridge tonight. The outcome of this game could determine if 2010 is a good year or not. I will watch the game as the football junky I am, dressed in my jersey (haven't decided for which one yet!) nervous and in full ecstasy.

A day in Salzburg

I spent yesterday in the beautiful and picturesque city of Salzburg. A city characterized by salt, classical music (read Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), art, history, sweets and bakery (Mozart Kugeln) and the mighty Alps.

The city was charming and calm. People were friendly and the air was fresh. There were many tourists but not too many. All in all it was a good experience.

The dome was magnificent and as calm as only a dome can be. It was not commercialized and most importantly, there were real candles and not battery driven lights (as in Venice)!

We had lunch in a Chinese restaurant (I was looking for a decent restaurant serving Schnitzel but we eventually chose Chinese food over Burger King). It was the worst Chinese food I have ever had. It was expensive and it was disgusting. It sucked!

Anyway, after lunch we went towards the castle and the hill it is situated on. The view was great and the weather was as good as it possibly gets this time of the year.

Now here's one thing that disturbed me a little yesterday. Those of you who follow this blog regularly know that I believe that many Austrians still have a lot to learn when it comes to fashion and all the "dos and don'ts". At one point yesterday, my eyes ached.
This is a wonderful view:

And this is how you ruin a wonderful view:

 

What the fuck?!? They all wore horribly designed (and fitting!!!!!) jeans. The guy in the middle made me curse. How can you ruin such a great view with this shit? It's a sin!

After our long walk from the castle, over the museum of modern art (which probably is a big excuse for wasting time) down to the city center again, we passed by this weirdo:

He was playing music. Period. I'll let you judge for yourselves. To me it sounds like shit. I would gladly give him a couple of coins if he had played an instrument with verifiable tones and melodies, not one that sounds like a Boeing 737 jet engine. Whatever...



Thank you for reading!

Contrasts

Back in Austria - ready for kick-off.

It's warm and, sunny (oh well...) and inspiring to be here again. I'm stoked about having left the winter and snow behind me for sunny days and blue skies.
Before:

After:

Feel... Feel what?

January 30th, more and more people check out of Julius Raab Heim, never to return again. It is starting to feel sad. 

There was a large party last night, called "Feel's Anatomy". The "Feel"concept includes hot parties in Linz and outside Austria, arranged by ambitious (oh well....) students that obviously make a lot of money each time people decide to attend their parties, pimple booze and shake their asses to the pumping tunes that the DJ's produce. I have never seen so many fliers for a student party. And I have never seen even more fliers handed out AT the party for the coming one.

The theme of last night's party was (as mentioned earlier) "Feel's Anatomy", taken from the tv show "Grey's Anatomy". Most people were dressed out to doctors, naughty nurses, general douchebags looking to get laid or metropolitan cruisers sipping Vodka Redbull in plastic cups. It was a great party!

Tonight it is a birthday party in the dorm. More are leaving tomorrow and just an hour ago, I bid my Brazilian neighbor farewell as he was heading back to Rio de Janeiro (if I'm not mistaking). This will be another "last chance" event. I hope it will be epic.

Thank you for reading.

More winter

It keeps snowing and snowing, and despite my wish for warmer weather, I can't stop to think that it is beautiful. This is the first time I enjoy the view outside my window.

Winter is not over yet

This winter must be one of the coldest ones I have experienced. I cannot remember last time it was this cold.

The semester is more or less over. I have one exam left on Tuesday and then one month of freedom begins. I had an exam in global management and strategy yesterday and I managed to hand in my last paper for the semester last night, and I can feel a great feeling of relief. Many friends are leaving Austria these days and I will most likely not see some of them ever again. It is going to feel so strange and empty in one way, but it will at the same time feel good to come back and begin the second semester.

It's in the middle of the winter right now, but I have heard that Austria is beautiful in the spring.

[Jänner] (= January)

It's (almost) late January and the semester is almost over. I have two large exams, one minor exam and one deadline left before the semester break in February.

It is interesting that I after a week and a half back in Austria feel as if I never left the place at all. As the semester is reaching its end, a lot of people pack their bags to leave the country. Some to return soon for the second semester, while some are rounding up their studies at Johannes Kepler University. It's sad in a way when people you have got used to leave. You know deep inside that the chances of seeing some of your friends again are minimal, almost non-existent. It's sad, but at the same time something normal and typical in life.

It's Wednesday and I have to finish my last big paper for this semester within the coming 48 hours. Time to leave and be a little more productive.

Thank you for reading.

Reaching the end

It is slowly getting time for me to return back to Austria after a little more than three weeks in Sweden again. It has done me well to see my family and a limited number of my friends again. It has done me well to come back home and sleep in my own bed, drink my coffee out of my own cup and take a shower in my own shower. I know the streets, I know the language and I know my life in Sweden pretty well by now. I have not had to live like a stranger like I did during the three months in Austria. However, despite my happiness about being back home, I am happy about returning to Austria. I am happy about returning to my girlfriend, to my friends and to my studies. I am returning back to Sweden shortly, so as soon as I start feeling homesick I'll already be sitting on a plane back home again. No worries in other words. It's only three weeks left of the semester. There are a few parties left to attend, a prom and possibly one major football game. 2010 has just begun!

Merry Christmas

It's one day left till Christmas eve and the snow has covered the surroundings just as it should this time of the year. It's beautiful and it is original.

The past few weeks have been hectic and I have experienced many nice things. Not long ago I attended "Broker's Festival", a party organized by (from what I have been told) a conservative (and pretty right oriented...) youth organization in Austria - Austro Danubia.

This party was unique. The prices in the bars were adjusted after the supply and demand. Several projectors were constantly showing graphs and prices throughout the whole evening. It was a very interesting experience and I had the luck to attend the party with good company!

This party was arranged the last weekend before the Christmas holidays. A lot of people went on a ski trip the next morning and after that it was pretty much time for departure for most of us. We had one more "Stammtisch", the Asian one, and the night after that we all went out to eat at a Thai restaurant (I don't really know why we picked that place). After having said goodbye to most of my friends, I went home around eleven in the evening, and three o'clock the next morning I got up to begin my trip back home to Sweden. After almost one week back home in Sweden, I miss Austria and I am looking forward to returning. Unfortunately a lot of friends have left the country, most probably to never return again. I will miss the Americans and Canadians! Fortunately, there are still many friends left and most importantly, Nicole will be there :).

Being home means many things. Mainly it is about catching up with family. Most friends are out of town or busy with their own lives (which is something I sympathize with). The holidays are here and I will try to get some rest. Thank you for following and Merry Christmas :).