Winter Holidays - I love my bed

First of all, I LOVE being at home, but it leaves me bored sometimes... And not wanting to study for produces something like that:



Oh, and I LOVE my BED!!

Actually, holidays are great, I saw nearly(!!) all the people I wanted to so far :), I already was sick for 2 days (check), I'm helping some friends with their French and English stuff they have to do over the holidays (who better to help than me ;p) and I am sleeping alot... I'm trying to sleep ahead for the next 4 weeks where I guaranteed won't get more than 6hrs of sleep per night, because I will have to study sometime soon for those wonderful "contrôle continu"s and "examen"s ;)

As I WILL have more time the next weeks, my boredom might produce some more of these "vlogs" XDD

STAY TUNED!

PS: you have NO idea how many hours of youtube I had before making that :D

10 days until christmas

I know I'm repeating myself, but time flies so incredibly fast, I don't know what happened!!!

Most importantly, I have found 2-3 companies where I would LOVE to do my internship, but they are located both in Geneva and Prague, and I really don't know yet where I should go, applications are on the way nevertheless!
And I just got called by one company where I'm not sure I want to do my internship with, to check my level of French over the phone and apparently it wasn't that bad. But still, with that company I'd probably work Front Office(Airlines Customer Service) 80% of the time, and I might get a look into the Back Office(Compensation Claims etc). That is not the thing I want, I so want to work as an assistant in a trading company, getting a real life-experience of what that means. Oil trading is one of my favourites and I so hope that I can get a job there, either Geneva or Prague. But I'd rather do it in Prague because of the language, otherwise my Czech will never improve...

So far concerning serious issues ;)
I had sooo much fun the last weeks, and SOOOOOO much more work with it... Highlight most DEFINITELY was the visit with Eva & Nicolas to Château Chillon, Montreux, Vevey and Lausanne. OH MY GOD, it is so beautiful there!!! I don't have words to describe it, not even my pictures are enough...



Last weekend was pretty special too, I went from Geneva to Saas-Grund on Friday, from Saas-Grund to Zurich on Saturday and from Zurich back to Geneva on Sunday... I travelled around 650km in 3 days. ALL by train of course, other means of transport, for example a car are really slow in comparison. That's one reason Switzerland is so appealing to me, you can get anywhere, at nearly anytime by public transport and every hour at least :)
Sister-time in Zurich was great because next time we see each other it will be Christmas at home with ALL my family and we won't have the chance for quality talk time. I loved it!!! :)



And while we were taking a nearly 2hrs walk, it started to snow ever so slightly... I felt like in winterwonderland :)

And Hohsaas - Kreuzboden had their ski-opening weekend for free... of course I went there and haha, down in the valley the weather was so bad, but up on the mountain the sun was shining, it was very lightly snowing and I even saw a few rainbows.



sooo beautiful, the Swiss Alps are something!! (And that is me saying that, a patriotic Austrian!!) ;)

I will be at home in Carinthia in 117 hours. And I'm looking forward to seeing my friends again and having a happy christmas and relaxing holidays :)

Oh and like yesterday I discovered that the soundtrack to my Erasmus life is gonna be legendary... you wait for it ;)

and oh YEAH, I had fun snowboarding :D :D

it's december

and I'll be missing you... YES, that song crept into my head 2 days ago. and it's not leaving.
I think my brain wants to keep reminding me of how screwed I'll be after Geneva, cos I've met so many people here that have found a place in my heart :)

and wow, time flies like crazy. I didn't want to realize that it's December already, I refused to. Or my subconscious wants to tell me something ;)
just kidding. a friend of mine told me 2 days ago that if time passes too fast for you, you must be having a really good time and be happy. and he is right. I have the best time of my life. And I am happy. It borders ridiculous sometimes.
But I feel so alive here, like I never was before.

back to my status report:
another lazy weekend happened, just broken with a birthday party and some going out which was goood :)
have so much stuff to do, you wouldn't think I'd be doing an exchange, but I'm so used to it right now, that I don't even care about the weekly presentations & tests because I'm doing them without any difficulty - another sign of progress in language and personality XD

And tonight, I'm gonna go see THE MELVINS live in concert, and they are playing 2(!!!!!)sets :) Geneva is an awesome place and I feel good here.

But I wouldn't miss out Christmas at home, I have some special presents for my cookie.kids :D

I actually do a lot of things every week

And I have done so much stuff, I was too lazy to update... until now ;D

soo, you recall how exhausted I was from my first exam completely written in French? Good. It was worth it. I got a C+ which I consider like an A if it was in English, cos I didn't understand every question, it was a LOT of guesswork. I'm really happy about that :)

And then I was snowboarding for the first time this winter, and it was so worth it... over 3000m on a glacier, envy me ;)

After 4hrs I was dead and we went back home and I fell asleep until I got woken up... my revenge was sweet, cos NOBODY wakes me up without a reason... ;)

There's so many presentations, assignments and group works to do, you wouldn't imagine ERASMUS as a place to actually do something, but as those are in the English classes, I simply cannot pretend I don't understand.... But that's good, some presentations I have to do every week, and as you may know, practice makes perfect :)

But I can assure you, I really don't get bored, I have a lot of entertainment in my student's home and from all the other Erasmus-People :)

I actually quit going out during the week, cos it is tiring to talk so much with so many people (not the talking part, the many people part^^)... and who likes who :D

So, I'm good, my life is in motion, my dreams are starting to come true and I feel loved by God and my friends in everything I do :)

PS: I don't count sheeps to fall asleep, I count heartbeats.

first exam: done

my first exam is finally done but it was a very difficult birth... really!!

First of all, I knew it was open book, so I kind of blew off studying until the last two days before... well, as usual ^^

And 6hrs before the exam, I looked like this:
well, I was pissed off at studying, after 7hrs straight with a maximum break of 30mins you can't blame me, and I really hated www.leo.org & my dictionnary, cos both were VERY VERY often insufficient to provide me with the necessary information... ^^

then I gave up studying and went to sleep, woke up early enough, I checked the tram times again so I would be there early enough not to stand at closed doors... First shock, M. called, "oh yeah, our tram is leaving in wait... 5minutes. can you make it?" - "Of course I can" was my reply, already fiddeling nervousely to lock my dorm door... and I ran 700m straight to the tram stop. In 3 minutes. with a backpack. nothing in my stomach. and no chocolate in sight. I think I should be rewarded for that ;D

needlesss to say I got the tram, we were there early enough and EVERYBODY was nervous and flipping through their docs over and over... 08.00 AM: exam time... way too early, never will I do that again...
because, this exam was THE horror... 22 pages, 6 of them were for the case study, which asked us to analyze a company in 3 different ways and to describe a good strategy for the creation of a subsidary. that prof is a little crazy I guess... cos after that we also had 10 theory question with answers to write & 5 multiple choice questions. and guess what, NOBODY finished the exam in time... although there were some high achievers who were still writing after he called the time^^

I have to say one thing I am proud of though: I wrote 98% of the exam in French although I was allowed to write in English... I hope my goodwill(^^) gives me more points ;))

everybody looked so beat & wrought out... and the most-heard sentence of today definitely was "c'est NUL!!!!" (=that was complete bulls***t!!) & "trop dur, il est fou"(=way too difficult, he is crazy)... well, an agreement there, iLike that ;D
and there obviousely was the exam for the fulltime and part-time students at the same time, never saw this many guys in a suit at 8AM at a university ;))

well, as for how I looked after the exam... watch for yourself^^

hope you enjoy my difficulties :P

Swiss People and their Quirks ;)

I think I'm now long enough in Switzerland to be able to say what is "typically" swiss...

The most IMPORTANT... Never, I repeat, NEVER confuse or compare the italian, german or french-speaking part of Switzerland, they kind of don't like that ;)

The famous swiss punctuality, perfection & being on time is more likely to be found in the german-speaking part, here in the "suisse romande" they are not thaaat accurate except when it's business :)

What also was kind of interesting to observe... the differences in the redlight - districts... ^_^ I have friends/relatives in Zurich, and sometimes I go there and go out... In Zurich, the prostitutes run around with 20cm-height see-through high heels but in Geneva, nothing like that is to be seen... Not even on Saturday night! But that's better for me anyways as I live there ;)

I was in the Wallis (le Valais) two weeks ago, and it was simply awesome...

Zermatt is a beautiful, maybe a little too expensive mountain village, but the view of the Matterhorn, just WOW, just like at the TOBLERONE-chocolates ;)

I was really amazed because of the landscape and mountains, I didn't know I missed it so much until I got there... Now I am mountain-sick ;)

Another "typical" quirk especially here in the french-speaking part is, do NOT confuse anyone with a frenchman... that's the same if you say to a British person he is American and VICE VERSA ;)

At the moment I am procrastinating cos I have an exam tomorrow... but I guess I'll start studying now... Last Friday was Eva's 21st Birthday and the party was really cool, with a lot of ERASMUS-students around, but the really hard core that went dancing to a club until 2AM was Austro-Swiss :D

time mgmt

just a short update, cos I got holidays right now (just one week, but it's holidays xD) and I'm using them :)

first of all, I finally got this time management thing bagged - I am able to actually manage my time now! my parents probably WON'T believe me, because I never ever managed to do that during primary & grammar school, but hello, here I am ;)
It might have something to do with me not going out so much lately, but I guess it'll stay this way cos I really need my strength to stay healthy and to meet people who might just become friends =)

Autumn is also approaching Geneva and the cold winds and temperatures below 0°C/ 32°F at night suggest that winter is not far away either... I am sooo looking forward to snowboarding in the Swiss Alps :))

The last two weeks I had some decisions to make, none of them were easy but I hope I always made the right choice - pretty sure though, cos I feel so loved by the Father here, it's just incredible, this experience is beyond anything I've ever felt before :)

And just for the record, I am in love with Switzerland and I hope I will return to it to work maybe later in my life, but at least for some time again =)

peace out.

one month geneva

wow. the day has arrived.

I have been living in Geneva for one month.

And I don't regret choosing Switzerland... not for one second!

I have met so many people here, my facebook friends are exploding... at the beginning of september I had about 400... today I made my 597th facebook-friend :)

All the people I have met so far are precious to me, I've gotten to know a lot lot lot of ERASMUS-students, but I have started to get to know some regular students here as well... Of course it is difficult, because most of them don't speak English or German and my French is "okay", but it is awesome to see them & me trying hard ;)

Where I live, the Paquis, it's got everything I need, I probably wouldn't have to move around more than 700m in order to survive, go out & have fun, if there wasn't university I'd have to go to ;)

Of course there is always difficulties, be it with people or myself, but ever since I came here, I felt so protected by the Lord - everytime I would pray to get a word for my situation and then open my bible, I always get words of protection, love and faith... It is so amazing, sometimes I just sit there in my bed and I am so thankful, I sometimes even start crying because I am more than content, I am happy!

This picture is funny & it kind of represents, how I feel.

time. is. racing.

It is CRAZYY, how fast time flies, it really shocked me 2day when somebody told me that I am now for the 3rd(!!) week in Geneva... To me it still feels like the beginning of week 2... Creepy ;)

Very slowly, a rythm is starting to develop but I probably won't get a boring day-by-day life... There is wayy too much happening & I still get to know like 5 new people every day!

I'm also getting used to the French lectures although I usually understand MAX. 60% of the content, but what for do we have WIKIPEDA in a lot of languages with a lot of entries ;)

Many of the Profs also really try to pronounce their French cleary if ERASMUS are in class, that is a biiig PLUS+... It's actually nearly unbelievable how good the teachers are... You can talk to them, ask them why they did or said this & that, they really know how to command respect and NOBODY dares to walk all over them... Austria can learn from them, really ;)

Tuesday is now my "CANADA"-day, cos I manage to to meet Chris everytime in kitchen & afterwards we go watch TOP GEAR!!!

Wednesday is aaalways ESN-day where we usally have a pub-night, where I SADLY cannot stay very long because I have (yet, I might drop it^^) class at 8(!!!!) in the morning where I should know all about operating systems & networks ;D

Thursday is the "EVERYTHING CAN HAPPEN"-day (Big Bang Theory FTW:D)... I never know where I will end up... I might poker with some people at the student's home, go out or just cuddle up with my laptop and watch TV -shows... Or I might write a blog (like today :P) xD

One very particular incident this week:

Tuesday, 13.30, Tram station:

We just wait there for our Tram, Tram 13/Palettes, which should bring us to university, when suddenly a middle.aged man(clearly drunk, he had a bottle of wine in his hands) waves from the other side of the road... What he said, now in translation: "hey hey cuties... I know you (points at me... *aaah*), I called you yesterday (very confused exchange of glances at our part)... I know you too (points at M., a friend of mine; we are starting to panic, M. asks me, if I really don't know the guy... me NO, where from?!?!?!) girls, you are in the yellow pages!"

THANK GOD the tram arrived 10 secs later and we fled... Panic & Shock!! ^^

aaaaand, BTW, the tram in Geneva is REALLY dangerous... they don't have a light sensor... getting sandwiched in the doorway 2-3x a week is usual... whatever^^

But it is sooo awesome here... and very very slowly, the regualar students melt out of their frenchspeaking ice, and when they see us, they come over, ask " ERASMUS?" and start to talk in English or German, it is sooo AWESOMEEE :))

Finns on ERASMUS

Finns are by far the nicest & awesomest & most likeable Erasmus-Students I have met until now :)

Scandinavian people are said to be a bit shy & holding back, but those who really go on Erasmus, are open-minded, sociable(well, you just have to go there and talk to them, they still have some first contact shyness) & the guys really are GENTLEMEN!

Last Friday we(the Erasmus people) were going out in Geneva, and there was supposed to be an "Oktoberfest" in some bar, but the watchdogs there wouldn't let us get in...
After some rethinking, I talked to them in French and informed them, that our whole group was German(of course not exactly true, there were some Germans though) and we wanted to get inside, whereas the watchdogs said, it would be okay.
But then we didn't want to go in there, because the music was not good and everybody was pissed off at those watchdogs for not letting us in in the first place.
We then went to a cool and for Geneva very cheap bar, where the wife/companion of the owner was swiss-german :)))
It was great there, but at 2 in the morning, like every club/pub in town centre, it shut down, so we decided to go to E. & T.'s flat to chill out & then go home.
Of course we (M. & me) had a good time, buut this led to missing our last bus - GREAT, we were stuck in the middle of nowhere in Geneva town, where we couldn't exactly go home alone, cos it was dark & in the middle of the night.
So we asked E. & T. if we could crash on their couch for the night, and hello, they forced us to take the bed!! Very rarely have I met people in my life that were this nice, considerate & helping!
:)

This way I want to thank the Finnish Education & Family System that Finns are one of the best nationalities I've ever met abroad, and everybody everywhere just loves them!

And it's not just their hospitality, I really really like their approach towards human interaction... :)

Something nobody is able to resist

and this DEFINITELY is the charm of Switzerland & especially Geneva!!

Well, the first week has passed by, very quickly btw, I was quite surprised when it was Tuesday again!! And wow, I so love it here, you cannot image how much... I don’t know if i ever want go back home... I just can’t imagine being somewhere else right now ;)

I had various subjects during the week, held in English and in French(see last blog), but the most interesting and awesome course is “Négoce International – Commodity Trading”! It lasts the whole Friday from 9.30 ‘til 18.00 and we have to do a lot for it, but it is worth 10 ECTS :) It is held half in English & half in French, and it’s not thaat easy to “switch” between the languages that fast... but as I usually think in English it’s okay, but if I would have to explain what I do there in German, I don’t think I’d be able to do so sufficiently... ^^

3 minutes before the lecture, nobody BUT the erasmus students are there... hmmm ^^

But the REALLY awesome thing is the multilingual approach& the multicultural feeling everywhere – just simply amazing!! Just sitting in the tram and listening to parts of French, English, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian and Arabic, I definitely am on cloud no.9 :D

Last Saturday I finally had time for myself and sorting out my thoughts and also my pictures ;) It was really liberating to have total peace & a quiet environment after all the hectic of the whole week... I am everyday so tired from the courses that are held in French because I have to concentrate very hard to understand enough to get what exactly “le prof” is telling us & wanting us to do!

Buut, as I knew that a certain Finn is in Switzerland too, I had to use my very expensive railway ticket to get there... Olten was awesome, I had a LOT of fun and it was so good to finally see some of the people from last year again and in a different setting too... Olten is a small town, just like my hometown in Austria, and I felt like at home immediately... Especially the view that you can have from the 12^th floor of his flat, WOW... I was mesmerized!!!! It was also awesome to just speak one language for one day, because it is not as tiring as switching between 3 all the time ;)

I don’t really want to know how the language part of my brain looks right now, but I am pretty sure it is VERY VERY confused because of all the different languages I hear & speak all the time :) And on the other hand I am so happy to have this opportunity to practise so many languages at once, because that means I will get better... Like yesterday I even understood about 80% of the lecture, which is a huuuge step in comparison to last week where I had like a headache because of really having to concentrate TOO hard...

And what I really really love the most about Switzerland is the character of most of the people – for example, when sitting in a train in eastern Austria, people usually don’t speak to you… in western Austria it is nearly the exact opposite of that, they are friendly and ready to talk about anything with you! And it is exactly like that in Switzerland... I think, I am falling in love with this country! :)

One grows with his challenges

The first courses were veryy okay, Financial English is really in English, and I like it, cos it's quite easy for me... :)

French for non-frenchspreaking is like the following: "le prof" (with a real GERMAN name: Schöttke) gets into the classroom, talks ONLY French & everybody is like WHATTT??, except our two imports from Brasil, and their French is too good to be in that course, cos they are FLUENT, but whatever :D

On Tuesday I was late to Projectmgmt (I had problems registering in the city of Geneva, because they were really thinking I was from AUSTRALIA!!!), the first part was already over & only a place in the last row available, but it was HORRIBLE, cos those 2 guys next to me were talking ALL the time and I even got a HEADACHE from concentrating so hard... I dropped the course cos I found out where the really good courses were and well, I sent Mrs. Werner already my changed Learning Agreement, I hope she knows how to figure it out :D

On Wednesday I had at 8(!!) in the morning Éthique des affaires (= Business Ethics), but as N. pointed out, "le prof" is sometimes just NOT coming, without notice^^

Thursday I had lectures held in French from 8-3, but it was actually very okay... IT, Consumer Behaviour & Marketing and Scientific Working - it worked out quite well already, I think I have surprised myself^^

One grows with his challenges.

Geneva is welcoming me.

Monday, 9:20, the train is finally arriving at Geneva main station, Genève-Cornavin. I got out of the train, no "exit"-sign anywhere... yeah, I guess, the frechspeaking swiss people don't like them ;)

Then I just followed the "taxi"-signs and I did find one, cos I had decided very soon, that I probably wouldn't be able to go to the Students Home by myself, cos even the Taxi Driver had difficulties lifting the suitcase into the luggage space in his car :D

I got into the taxi, told the driver my adress... he was like: "Foyer St.Justin, what & where is that???" I explained once again, showed him my map & he was then like: "well, we'll try to find it..." what a confident man^^ No German, no English and of course no Italian... They are not even TRYING to adapt a small vocabulary of the other Swiss languages.... buuut I am proud of myself, I understood everything he told me and the price was okay - 15 SFR.

Then I got into the Students Home, to the reception and they recognized me at once... huh, maybe I do look like my pictures ;) Well, I live at the 6th floor, thank God we got a working elevator, otherwise I'd probably have died getting up there with my stuff ^^

My room ir REALLY small, but it is okay for 5 months, about 9m². For the whole floor there are 2 toilets & 2 showers... good I got plentyy disinfection spray with me.

The shared kitchen is really roomy and absolutely not gross, as you'd hear about other students accomodations.

All in all, it is very okay, I am close to the city centre, the Lac Léman is not far away and the tram station like 70m, and I got free WLAN, which is the most important thing :))) without limits, btw :D :D D:

I was 3 days at the Côte d’Azur with my sis & my bro and on Thursday I arrived back at Geneva.

The weekend I'll write about 2morrow, cos now I should go to bed to get ready for my classes 2morrow, Financial English & French for non-french speakers.

I am excited about it & a little afraid.

Railcards & a short trip to the UK

Hey there :)

I came back yesterday from a short trip to Switzerland, where I bought my Swiss Railway Services Railcard. It cost ~ 165€, which is MUCH MORE than the Austrian one (20€).



I had to get some money from the ATM there, that exchange rate is not good... but stupid me, why didn't I change in Austria. ;)




I even got a ticket for the emergency case I wouldn't have it soon enough... it is valid for 2(!!) days. swiss bureaucracy... I bet I'll become crazy if I have to dance around it very often^^



And as I am going to the UK for 5 days (that really is just a short trip!), I was very happy, when the Royal Mail sent me my train tickets & I got my online boarding pass by Ryanair :)










I am so looking forward to the UK & those precious 6 days I will have left at home, when I'll be back from the Isle... :)

PEACE OUT.

First Step Done

mysterious - strange - fun - tiring - interesting - desirable

this is how my journey is going to be.

and the first step is done. I created this blog ;)

I'm finally starting to realize that there are only 32 days left in Austria, my beloved mother country. And I am starting to get nervous. And stressed. And my head is full of lists.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak = I didn't pack anything yet or was able to focus on anything concerning my 5month-ERASMUS-stay in Geneva, Switzerland.

This is going to change now.
Cos I started the blog.


I am ready.