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.

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!

Back home

After a little more than three months, I am back in Sweden for a few weeks. The Christmas holidays are here and we are all taking a break from studying (oh well...) for some time with our families and friends.

In a larger perspective, three months is really nothing. I feel like these three months have been one months at the very most. I have dealt with many challenges this fall (and winter), and I am still battling many challenges (just like most normal people). Echoes from my past dare me to fight and I am haunted by nightmares. I don't want to make this sound as if I am going through something extraordinary, because this is how my life has been for some time now. I wake up almost every night, sweating and frightened by similar patterns and messages that I receive through my dreams. I don't know how long it will take for me to be rid of fear, disappointment and the anger that I am bearing, but I try to move on by embracing the good things in life.

Being home means no surprises, and that is a good thing I guess. You know what to expect and what to focus on. I always have a good feeling about returning home, but I must admit that I am feeling more and more tempted to try my wings elsewhere after my return to Sweden this summer. Right now I am not really looking forward to returning to Linköping for the concluding chapter of my studies. Being abroad has helped me a lot, despite the bad memories from last year and everything that happened back then. I see more and more friends from elementary- or high school settling down in the suburbs of Stockholm, some of them even with newborns in one hand. I cannot see myself anywhere near such life at the moment, it is something I want to avoid as things are right now.

It is Christmas times, meaning a lot of stress and expenses (I am very cynical today). It (could) mean being close to your loved ones and enjoying a very cozy and rewarding chapter of the year. Probably for the first time ever, I just want to be alone, in peace and without any pressure or disturbance. I have not told many friends about being back home, and that has nothing to do about my feelings for my friends. I have just had the toughest year in my life and I have been close to death on more than one occasion during this year. I need to find myself again. When I return to Sweden this summer, I want to have something to be happy about, because right now I am not sure I do.

Another Monday filled with clashes

2009-12-07

It's Monday afternoon and I had my last session in one course earlier today. The only thing left is a home exam due next week.

This course has been interesting in many ways. It has focused on cross cultural management and issues related to this subject. I am glad to finally be done with it (at least in terms of attendance). Despite its interesting content, it has been a difficult course to take due to several reasons. The most prominent are to the clash and confrontational demeanor that they invite the attendants to adopt. Each session felt like a heated debate regarding influx of refugees, the degree of emancipation around the world or immoral elements in foreign cultures (just to mention a few). Don't get me wrong, I think it is brilliant when a class or course can be something else than just monologues by the lecturer(s). I appraise the idea of different opinions and debating. But unfortunately, I have always had the feeling that the majority of the presumptions and debates in the classroom have been based on inaccurate and sometimes completely incorrect ideas of different cultures and mentalities.

This whole theme of the confrontation of cultures and ethnicities is something that I sense very strongly on a daily basis, and it is something that I have felt for some time now. I have the feeling that it is increasing, and it disappoints me. The general trends around Europe in this area are demoralizing and disappointing altogether. A lot of nations are turning more towards xenophobia, and I conclude that on the recent results in various elections around our continent.

A very schematic example of my observations is an article about the Swedish (originally Bosnian/Croat) football player Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Regarded by professionals and journalists as one of the best football players in the world right now. The content of this article is not interesting, but the commentators' field below the article is truly disappointing and disgusting in many ways. Xenophobic comments represent a significant fraction of all comments left by readers. These comments are directed towards the player himself but also fans of him that in many cases are presumed to hail from foreign cultures and countries.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I had a very unpleasant experience when an Austrian girl in this cross cultural course attacked me with insulting and outrageous questions/comments about my origin and my family! This asswipe is just one of many who despise anything that differs from the domestic and traditional values. Like I've said in previous posts, it has to do with fear fundamentally. Fear of being attacked or polluted by something unknown and alien.

This is not all of it (naturally). There are a lot of issues related to segregation as well. As a reason for people to become more segregating (and vote for right-wing extremists with hostile views one immigrants and foreigners). I won't go into that topic in this post, but it is clearly something that is current and disturbing.

I learned a lot during this course in cross cultural management. I really feel that I gained something from it, even though it still is not over. But I am also disappointed in how insular and narrow minded people tend to be. How unwilling many people seem to be about seeing things from other perspectives and not always assuming that one is right oneself.
I'm glad that I won't have to spend more hours in that classroom, discussing these things back and forth with people who only see things in black and white. But I am fully aware of the fact that these confrontations won't end with this class, it is probably something that I will have to live with for the rest of my life.

Thank you for reading.

A taste of Linz

2009-10-20

Post three following my return to the city of Linz.

First of all, like I might have mentioned in the first post following my return to Linz, I see that some improvements have been made to the city since last year. There are some things I would like to underline:

• More cultural hotspots and arrangements. Since the city became the cultural capital of Europe 2009, it has become more "cultured" and less "alternative" so to speak. Linz is a heavy industrial city with a lot of concrete. Highly sophisticated Museums, buildings and improved technical solutions to the already existing infrastructure contributes to make the city less dull and more interesting.
• The tram is now running round the clock on weekends, and that is a huge help when we go out. Less taxis (that might not even show up) and more environmental transportations impresses me.
• The responsible people of the dorms and campus have realized the simplicity and smoothness of WLAN. Wireless Internet is a must in all western European cities. Period.
• Like I mentioned yesterday, I see less people with festival outfits and more people with professional appearances. More of that please.

There are however still things that I dislike, regardless of where I might find these things I might add. The following things do not impress me at all:

• Bad water. Linz is one of those cities where the water running out of the tap tastes bad. It makes the coffee taste like saltwater, it leaves unpleasant stains on surfaces and in pots, and last but certainly not least, it forces me to buy mineral water in order to not dry out. I consume about 9 liters per week.
• The cleaninglady who is supposed to clean my apartment for me. She is an urban legend, I barely see her and hear her. And of course, I don't see any work being done in my apartment! I am paying for room service but all I get is someone who empties my trash three times a week. She doesn't even change the plastic in the bin, she just empties it in her cart, slams the door and disappears. Imagine how disgusting it is to use the one and same plastic bag in the bin for over a month.
  I have been thinking of buying my own mop in order to make things a little better, but if I do that she will probably never come back.
• Stores (and other common places) that are closed on Sundays. Austrians are very catholic, and because of that they strongly believe that no work should be carried out on Sundays. I don't like that. 
  
• The concept of air-conditioning  appears to never have reached the Austrian nation. In a country with one of the highest smoking rates in the world where smoking indoors, both in buildings but many times also in public transport takes place, it only makes it worse. Every country has flaws, and I would most probably nag about something else and bring it up here if I was still in Sweden, but this is beyond anything else. I find it difficult to breathe at some of my lectures. The lecture halls are spartan, the furniture and equipment that has been equipped there belongs to another century. Dust flies around by the least motion, causing endless coughing, sneezing and also creating health risks. What we breathe in will eventually end up in our lungs, and getting it out from there is quite some challenge.
  A Swedish lecture hall:
  
  
  
  
  
  A lecture hall in Linz:
  
  
  
  
  

That was all I had to say for this time. In my next post, I will thoroughly go through my apartment (with images of course) and grade the different features. Thank you for reading.

Back in business

2009-10-06

Almost one month has passed since the last post and a lot of things have happened since then (as you might have guessed already). The most obvious and also most significant reason is that I have (temporarily) moved to another country (once again). I am back in Austria and I have spent the last three-four weeks to set up my new life here. My classes have begun and I am currently taking both Italian and French classes (again). The challenge now is that the courses are being held in German, and it is quite some task to understand what the lecturers are saying.
The parties are continuously taking over from one-another, the beer is cheap :D, the pubs are cozy, the weekly (sometimes daily!) football games are played with a great sense of passion and friendship and the exchange students from all over the world contribute to make this place interesting and challenging in a positive way.

Some differences have taken place since last year. The most obvious one seems to be that the Austrians have attended fashion schools, they all look much better than how I remember them, and I have seen less boys and girls in lifeless pink hairstyles, too tight and outworn jeans topped with turquoise fleece-jackets. I saw a representative from Amnesty International on my way home from campus today, and she was really struggling to attract the attention of me and my American friend Lauren, but Lauren declined abruptly by saying that she might have paid more attention to her offer if she didn't look like a gypsy. Harsh perhaps, but brutally honest at the same time.
They still seem to have a great passion for piercings, cigarettes and weed though, but I guess I can live with that. So here's the things I've seen (that are perhaps worth sharing):

The stadium of Linz where L.A.S.K (what a stupid name) plays. 

The botanic garden of Linz.

The beautiful towns/villages Hallstatt and Gmunden (Gmunden, hahaha).

The fantastic annual Oktoberfest in Munich.

Even though I have been here for more than three weeks already, I'm still trying to keep myself updated on what is happening back home. Even though I miss it sometimes and I remember many beautiful and warm things from home, I still believe that I have made the right thing. I'm back in action, one year older, a few kilos heavier and generations wiser!

Thank you for reading.