"Pop goes my heart" or Music & Lyrics part 2

If you should not have seen the movie "Music & Lyrics" with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore that I already mentionned here-yet, do so, now!

I just came across this videos today and I couldn't stop laughing again, I can't wait until this video's out in the stores, I think a have a new favourite movie :-) So close the door, turn up the volume, sit back, relax and enjoy!

Paddy's Day

The 17th of March is a very important date for Ireland: St. Patricks Day! I think all of you have already heard of that day and have their own imaginations or associations and even memories of this day. But what actually is this St. Patricks Day all about? Don't worry, I won't lecture you now for ages but just some small points to enrich your knowledge about my host-country:

St. Patrick was an Englishman, born in Wales in the fifth century, who was kidnapped by the pirates and brought to Ireland to work as a slave. He escaped and flew back to England. There he started studying theology and decided to go back to Ireland as a missionary to convert the pagans. He opened monasteries and schools and lay the foundation for the catholic Ireland. He died in Cork (Ireland) on March 17th. After his death he became the patron saint of Ireland. The festivities developed from being a holy catholic day into Ireland's biggest and best known festival and is celebrated all over the world in Irish pubs. The green hysteria started, as many other things, in the US where they even colour the river green (Chicago) or have a huge parade (New York).

So much for the theory :-). Of course we wanted to celebrate this event to it's fullest (or greenest *lol*). On Saturday we went out early to get a good spot for the parade. It was really nice to see the colourfull parade but it was tiring to stand there for hours. After the parade we went back to the residence to rest for the evening. We then went out to the Pub where Moira is working (she is an Italian girl from the residence). All in all we were 9 girls. It was a lot of fun as you can see on the pictures.

On Sundaynight we went out again, this time to celebrate the birthday of Stephanie (the other Austrian girl). Of course, there were most of us involved, 11 girls! It was a great night out :-) Here some more pictures:

YES!

The last days were like a rollercoster of emotions. The weekend was very nice and I spent a great day together with Petra and a girl from Austria called Melanie at Bray on Saturday. Bray is little south of Dublin on the coast. The weather was beautiful: it was sunny and warm, we even sat in the sun without our coats! We decided that a little adventure would be needed to spice up the trip so we walked along the cliffs instead of on the "normal" way. Once there was REALLY no way to go on, we crossed the railway lines and climbed up the hill to the "normal" way. And we even saw some swans, swimming in the sea! Strange swans they have in Dublin :-).

Here are some impressions of our trip:









In the evening we went out to an Irish pub to here some Irish music played live. That was really cool and I even found a way to like Guinness: I just drink it with blackcurrant (I am addicted to blackcurrent but I will tell you more about that in my next blog).

On Sunday we went to a movie at night, to watch "Music & Lyrics" with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. Oh my god, what a movie! I haven't laughed like that for ages. It was hilarious! For those of you who know me for more than a few years even know why I was screaming with laughter at all those Wham like scenes and at the references to the Groupies, it was just brilliant. Steffi (a friend of Melanie) and myself entertained the whole audience with our endless laughter and screaming :-).


After this great weekend waiting began-our exam marks were supposed to be online by Monday night and we rushed there but nothing! At last I got my first good news when I received the email about the paper I already mentionned in this blog before. All the hazzle seemed to have surved the purpose because my teacher was really pleased with the outcome and gave me a 6 (that's the best mark in Switzerland)! I was so glad. Although I think it would have been better if my mark had been worse, maybe I then would have started earlier next time...On Tuesday waiting ended: I passed ALL my 11 exams! I had hoped for this but I wasn't really convinced, especially the group with accounting, strategic management and project management worried me. I got two 4.5 in project management and strategic management which let me even pass with 3.5 in accounting! I still don't believe it, I passed it, all! No more accounting, it's done, 11 exams, traveling to Dublin and back, studying for Switzerland while studying in Dublin and simultaneously writting my paper-it worked. My markes dropped but I passed. Now I have to concentrate on my next tasks and projects and there are many :-). I will write two assingments (strategic management and Irish cultural studies) and 5 exams (employment law, european law, business law, human performances managment & priciples of marketing) here in Dublin before I return on the 7th of May. Once back in Switzerland, I will sit the ILEC (International Legal English Certificate, the latest Cambridge exam) in Zurich and attend our national AIESEC conference Kick-off before I start with my internship. Right now I don't know in which company I will work for my internship but I have several options and I am looking forward to that. But more about those plans at a later time.


Now I have to get some sleep before the craziest weekend of the year in Ireland starts: tomorrow is St. Patricks Day and I don't want to miss that :-). We bought lots of green things and I sure I can show you some great pictures after, so watch out!

Liebe, love and amor

Yesterday I got this short, but very nice story about love and life...(at least I think so). For those of you who need an English translation, just let me know.

Eines Tages entschloss sich der Wahnsinn, seine Freunde zu einer Party einzuladen. Als sie alle beisammen waren, schlug die Lust vor, Verstecken zu spielen.

"Verstecken? Was ist das?" fragte die Unwissenheit. "Verstecken ist ein Spiel: einer zählt bis 100, der Rest versteckt sich und wird dann gesucht", erklärte die Schlauheit.

Alle willigten ein bis auf die Furcht und die Faulheit.

Der Wahnsinn war wahnsinnig begeistert und erklärte sich bereit, zu zählen. Das Durcheinander begann, denn jeder lief durch den Garten auf der Suche nach einem guten Versteck. Die Sicherheit lief ins Nachbarhaus auf den Dachboden, man weiss ja nie. Die Sorglosigkeit wählte das Erdbeerbeet. Die Traurigkeit weinte einfach so drauf los. Die Verzweiflung auch, denn sie wusste nicht, ob es besser war sich hinter oder vor der Mauer zu verstecken.

"...98,99,100!" zählte der Wahnsinn. "Ich komme euch jetzt suchen!"Die erste, die gefunden wurde, war die Neugier, denn sie wollte wissen, wer als erster geschnappt wird und lehnte sich zu weit heraus aus ihrem Versteck. Auch die Freude wurde schnell gefunden, denn man konnte ihr Kichern nicht überhören.

Mit der Zeit fand der Wahnsinn all seine Freunde und selbst die Sicherheit war wieder da. Doch dann fragte die Skepsis: "Wo ist denn die Liebe?" Alle zuckten mit der Schulter, denn keiner hatte sie gesehen. Also gingen sie suchen. Sie schauten unter Steinen, hinterm Regenbogen und auf den Bäumen.

Der Wahnsinn suchte in einem dornigen Gebüsch mit Hilfe einer spitzen Astgabel. Da plötzlich, ein fürchterlicher Schrei!

Es war die Liebe; der Wahnsinn hatte ihr aus Versehen die Augen ausgestochen! Er bat um Vergebung, flehte um Verzeihung und bot der Liebe an, sie für immer zu begleiten und ihre Sehkraft zu werden. Die Liebe akzeptierte diese Entschuldigung natürlich.

Seitdem ist die Liebe blind und wird vom Wahnsinn begleitet...

:-) Anybody would like to add anything?

More about my week and Irish food will follow on the weekend. Take care and have fun!

Thank you Dublin!

Yesterday I arrived back in Dublin and it was such a nice day. First my brother drove me to the airport so therefore I didn't have to carry my luggage. We got there really early so there were no people and I didn't have to queue for check-in. Then a very special person joined me for breakfast and we spent my last hour in Switzerland as well as his last hours before his last exam together-thank you very much for that, I really appreciate that!

Once on the plane I enjoyed seeing the sun for two hours after a week of pouring rain in Switzerland. It took me a moment to realise that the sun was still shining when we touched ground in Dublin! The sky was blue and spring was in the air :-) However, my luck didn't end there. On my way from the bus stop to the student residence a handsome young man asked me whether I needed some help with my luggage-no doubt, I must have left Switzerland and entered Ireland, people are so much friendlier here!

After having dropped off my luggage, I left with my room-mate, Petra and a friend of hers to do some sight-seeing: Guinness brewery! The view from the restaurant at the top was astonishing but I still don't like Guinness so I only took a few sips...

Today we went to do some shopping (very busy day for my credit-card: shoes, books and a (rain) coat)...no comment for the shoes but I am proud that I didn't buy a hand-bag especially as Petra did..

Tomorrow we will head back to school and spend less time with shopping, I promise :-). School reminds me of something or rather someone :-)). Here is a picture of my "Strategic Management" teacher, the famous and well-known Kevin (a Spanish girl at the student residence, who does NOT study at Portobello College even spends her lunch-break in his lesson, just to have a look at him, isn't that great *lol*).

By the way, this is already the second time that I write this post as I managed to delete everything yesterday night before I could publish it...if this ever happens to you: don't try anything else, just press "control + z" this should undo your latest action (here: deleting everything). Might be worth a try...thanks Claudio for that and all the rest as well :-)

Now I need to get some sleep.

Take care and hope to hear you all soon...

Trying to catch up with life

Incredible! It's been nearly a month since my last entry. And still-I don't feel like updating. But I have been asked by several friends so maybe I should do a quick one nevertheless. What have I been up to since my last blog? A lot and nothing. Dublin seems like ages ago.

But I should try to start at the beginning. The day spent at Petra's home stay family was nice and we took some good pictures

I continued with my paper (Differences between and use of: Letter of Intent, Memorandum of Understaning and Third Party Legal Opinion in Switzerland and Germany). Yes I know, it sounds VERY interesting but to tell you the truth: it actually was! I just didn't have enough time but other than that I liked it!

The second week in Dublin was very nice. We got to talk to our teachers and know now pretty sure which subjects we want to choose. Our handsome "Strategic Management" teacher even missed us in one class :-). Everybody at the student residence was really nice and I had a good time. While browsing trough some shops we even came across something bizarre and I took a picture for you (doesn't that look really tasty?!) I will buy one so that we can try it but I am not sure if I will like it :-).

With studying and writing my paper the week flew by and it was time to leave. This time we managed to have no overweighed luggage (because we left many things at the student residence). But it took us ages to leave from Dublin as it was snowing and the airport only owns two de-icing machines and one was broken-yeah!

So instead of 3.30 pm we arrived at 5 o'clock in Zurich...

Friday was the last day of school in Winti and from then on all I was doing was: studying and writing my bloody paper! On Friday-evening I went to see a movie and I thought it was complete crap - it seems as not everybody shares my opinion because in the meantime it got an Oscar for best film: The Departed!

That was my weekend and my next week was though not that fun but I survived. I wrote 11 exams in 10 days and in between the exams spent over 30 hours writing my paper. I somehow managed to hand it in on time on the 15th of February. My life seemed to be getting back to normal but I was mistaken.

My parents left on February, 20 for Asia for 3 weeks and my last two exams were on February 22nd. I enjoyed my freedom and free-time only for a short time as on Saturday-morning I got a phone-call that shattered my world. My beloved Godfather had died! For the next couple of hours and days we tried to organise the early return of my parents, visited his wife, I postponed my flight to Dublin and helped her in every possible way. Tomorrow is the funeral and on Saturday I leave for Dublin (I hope so, at least!).

So I really hope that my next months will be less demanding as I need to breath! I have two weeks off around Easter and one of my best friends will be visiting me, so I am looking really forward to that.

Big hug to all of you and thanks for all your kind words