Baba in Action

Very worried about my beloved Ecuador!

2008-03-04T23:16:00.001+01:00

The last couple of days made me realise once more how little information we get on countries other than US or Europe in Swiss newspapers...

If you really read a newspaper you might have picked up that there were some heavy rainfalls in Ecuador but more than a few lines? I hardly doubt it. But there is more to that actually. Over 23 people died and damages reach up to 1 million USD. Pictures and German story
http://www.n-tv.de/927005.html

Due to these rainfalls, a pipe burst and a lot of oil entered a swamp in the Amazonas region and finally reached a river people used to drink from and fish in. Also other rivers robbed several families of their houses and therefore their whole existence. Like this family with 6 children, the father earning USD 40 (!) every week to feed 8 people (I would like seeing us all living on that amount of money..I know Ecuador is cheap, I have lived there, but that, believe me, is little money especially for 8 mouths
http://www2.elcomercio.com/noticiaEC.asp?id_noticia=174554&id_seccion=10

But most of all I am scared because of the recent incident with Colombia. Colombian forces shot 16 members of the Farc rebels, including number 2 (senior commander) Raul Reyes. Even though some people claim that his death is a drawback for the liberation of the hostages, including the former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, this is not the big problem. The Colombian forces however had to shoot those Farc members on Ecuadorian ground and that is where all the trouble originates. Here is a small BBC video about it http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7270000/newsid_7276200/7276291.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&asb=1&news=1&ms3=54&ms_javascript=true&bbcws=2

The Ecuadorian president ordered already some 6000 men to the Columbian border, with a back up of Chavez, sending his troops to the Colombian border on the North of the country. Although the other Southamerican nations like Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Chile as well as Mexico and the UN are trying to step in and find a peaceful solution, this is a highly dangerous situation. The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said that South-America is not prepared for such a conflict and that no one wants a war because the region needs peace in order to develop further. http://www.lahora.com.ec/frontEnd/main.php?idSeccion=689884

Well I really hope that there will be no fighting and that they can get back to being neighbours again. I really believe that Ecuador has other problems and does not need to follow some crazy ideas of the northern neighbour of Colombia...

With that little research I just wanted to point out that even if we claim our newspapers to be covering every part of the world, they hardly really do it. Just bits and pieces but not all.

Soundtrack of my last weekend: I'll be there for you

2008-02-25T22:16:00.001+01:00

So no one told you life was gonna be this way
Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's D.O.A.
It's like you're always stuck in second gear
When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even
your year, but

{Chorus}

I'll be there for you
When the rain starts to pour
I'll be there for you
Like I've been there before
I'll be there for you
'Cause you're there for me too

You're still in bed at ten and work began at eight
You've burned your breakfast so far, things are going great
Your mama warned you there'd be days like these
But she didn't tell you when the world has brought you down to your knees, and

{Chorus}

No one could ever know me
No one could ever see me
Since you're the only one who knows what it's like to be me
Someone to face the day with
Make it through all the best with
Someone who always laughs at
Even when I'm at my worst, I'm best with you
Yeah!

{Chorus}

I'll be there for you
I'll be there for you
I'll be there for you
'Cause you're there for me too

LOVE YOU ALL; MY FRIENDS!!!!!

Zendagi migzara (Life goes on)

2008-02-22T22:52:00.004+01:00

Zendagi migzara is a saying from Afghanistan which means life goes on. I took it from the book "The Kite Runner" which I read a couple of weeks ago and which is now shown in the cinema (if you have the chance to read it, do so. No matter how good the movie is-it is supposed to be not bad- the book is better!). But the reason I chose this saying for the title is that it fits so very well. Life goes on. Life went on, but I didn’t blog about it. I am really sorry for that. I am trying to make it up a little with this post but I won’t be able to cover everything that happened or no one would make it to the end of the post before they fell asleep.

So to fill you in on what you missed out in my life:

I went back to Dublin in November to meet up with some of the girls. It was an hilarious trip although we kind of got off to a bad start by missing our plane due to the delayed Deutsche Bahn (yes you are right, we were really pleased about that…) but once we got there it was well worth all the trouble, time and money spent (or in some cases: wasted). The weather was really nice and it just felt TOO good to be back. It really felt like coming home in a weird way. To illustrate this I have to remind you that they drive on the “wrong” side of the road (at least for everybody not living in the UK or any previously owned country of the Kingdom including Ireland..). Anyway, to close a long story short, you normally have to watch out in order not to get run over by a car. The very same happened to us when we first got there, at the beginning of last year. However, being back after almost 6 months and not having spent one single day since then in one of those “wrong-sided” countries, we did NOT have to watch out now. We didn’t even notice that we weren’t paying attention. There was no need too. We all turned our heads unconsciously to the right side. It felt so natural. So I am curious to see how it will be the next time I will be back in Dublin, which is going to happen soon, at the end of March :-). I am really looking forward to that already.

Christmas and New Years Eve were a quiet time so I got to spend a lot of time with family and friends and really enjoyed it. It was good to catch up with friends, to talk to friends having returned from Singapore (for sure), Germany and France (temporarily) or heading off to the wrong-side of the road country UK. Those gatherings made me realise once more that neither time nor distance can destroy a good friendship once those bonds are strong. And I feel very privileged to experience those kinds of friendships. It is so nice to have you around guys, even if it is just for our annual New Years gathering. We may get older, but some things never change and I am so happy about it, love you heaps!

The new year brought the exam period (I got my results today and I passed all of my 11 exams except one and I didn’t need that one anyway so yeah!)and the necessity to start thinking of “the time after”. The time after means what am I going to do after having finished with my Bachelor. Do I go back to work or enjoy some more time being a student while doing my Master of Law at university? What about becoming a tax-expert? Or taking off to a new part of the world for an AIESEC internship (I developed an interest in both Pakistan/Afghanistan and Colombia very much to the dislike of my mother)? And what about those international PWC possibilities, Spain sounds not too bad neither…so yes, there are many options and that makes it even more difficult because I am not 22. So the answer can’t be which one first. It will have to be “either/or”. Which I don’t mind, but it keeps you thinking. And being me, I keep on changing “decisions”. I might be sure about one option and completely dislike it the other day, which makes it even harder. I tell you, sometimes it’s not easy being myself :-).

I am getting nearer to a “final” decision but nothing is sure so I won’t spill the beans yet.

So now my last semester started and with it my Bachelor thesis. I can’t believe it. It feels like yesterday when I joined the ZHW (now know as ZHAW) and AIESEC but that was now already 2.5 years ago. Time IS running. Faster than I do sometimes. But I am still hoping that I can catch up with it I promise, I will try!

Nothing to add ;-)

2007-10-09T23:36:00.000+02:00

You're 50% Irish

You're probably less Irish than you think you are...
But you're still more Irish than most.

How Irish Are You?

The privilege of birth

2007-09-24T23:47:00.000+02:00

Lately I have been thinking increasingly about some facts we hardly ever consider: our privilege of birth!

I know this might sound random but think about if for a minute. Don’t you think that much of how your life will be is already decided before you’re even born? I am not saying that all is god-given and that we can not influence our lives or what becomes of us, but still…

My parents celebrated their 60th birthday some weeks ago and we made this huge party. It was a great success and everybody was happy. My parents wanted to “give something back” so we collected some money for the foundation I used to work in Ecuador back in 2005. As a preparation I wrote a little report about my experience, to tell people what it was like. And that made me think. Those children at the foundation are all cerebral handicapped, which means, that during the “process of birth” the brain got no or not enough air and its function is therefore limited (this explanation is really poor, I am sorry for that but I lack deeper knowledge). All of the children at this foundation needed a wheel-chair although some were able to walk at least a little without it. The level of their handicap varies greatly and the foundation therefore “divided” the children into three groups according to their ability. I do not want to go into too much detail here but I might write another post about that later on. It was an incredible experience for me to work with those children and also very rewarding.

However, there was also one thing that made me sad. Those children don’t have a future. Any future, to be more precisely. Unlike Western Europe, Ecuador has no possibility to integrate those children into its labour force. They most probably won’t be able to live an independent life and will live with their parents for all their life. This makes it also more difficult for their parents to work because they need to take care of their child. So “just” because they were born in Ecuador, they will never be able to live an independent life whereas if they had been born here there would be some organisation for them, they could live either alone or with some other handicapped people. Don’t you think that is not fair? What have we done to deserve the luck of being born in Western Europe? And do we at least acknowledge that and are happy about it? I would say most time we don’t. We don’t even think about it. We take all those opportunities for granted. We are so used to such luxury that we do not even recognise it anymore, left alone appreciate it.

But this example is not the only one. I also read a book of a Swiss woman named Lotti Latrous, married to a manager of Nestle. She lived a nice, luxurious life wherever they lived. But one that she wanted more, a meaning for her life and so she started working with children affected by AIDS in Abidjan (Ivory Coast). Some of those children were orphans, other had a dying mother. Slowly she opened up a hospital where they can live together with their mothers, get food and also education. She also runs an information service about AIDS and HIV or other health issues like nutrition and gives out medication (very often for free if people can’t pay). Furthermore there is medical centre where everybody can get a free consultation.

This book is very touching because it’s about somebody who enjoyed luxury and gave it up on purpose in order to “do some good”. “Do some good”, but not in a “I know everything better” way like many other people. I admire her for all she does and I am not sure if I would be strong enough to live her life. It is great to have people just like her and we really need them, currently maybe more than ever. But again, there was this nagging feeling. That somehow this is not right. AIDS can not be cured. At least not today. That is sadly also true for Western Europe. People die from AIDS also in Western Europe. But the WAY the die, and HOW FAST they die, that is a completely different story. And this leads me back to my first remark. The privilege of birth. Those two (quite extreme) stories illustrated hopefully what I mean by this. We can not change our privilege. But we could at least try to live up to it. To think about it and to acknowledge it. To be happy about what we have and to think about people with less privileges. At the very least THINK about them from time to time.

100 years of scouting and more to come

2007-09-02T23:07:00.000+02:00

I know it was very quiet lately on my blog. I am sorry for that but there is not much to tell at the moment. I was working until Friday. Now my internship is over and I can enjoy some free time before I go back to University on the 17th. But my days are rather filled up already. There seems to be little time for dolce fa niente. But I am ok with that. It's not that quantity that's important, it's the quality .-).

So today I would like to share with you some thoughts about my oldest passion: Scouting! The youth organisation is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and it still is very young at heart ;-). Honestly. Scouting was the best part of my life for years after years. I joined when I was about 8 years old and spent every Saturday with it afterwards for more than ten years. Much more actually. But scouting was always more than just a hobby. It is where I met most of my oldest friends and we still love each other. It is where I learnt to cook, to knot, to build up a tent, to light a fire, to pond streams. It is where I first spent time apart from my parents at my first camps, where I first took over responsibility (by being a leader for the girls aged 5 to 12, for the Saturdays or during the camps), where I first got abroad without my parents (for a hike with the bike), where I first “possessed” a leadership role (as well as being a role model for the young ones) and it is my first international experience (in an international camp in Interlaken, Switzerland (2001), Iceland (2002) and Belgium (2003)).

But it is also where I first spent time with 24'000 people (and so far my only time). This was at the national camp of 1994. It was an incredible experience and I still often think about it. This camp will now be „reinvented“, so to speak. Next year there will be another national camp. It might not be as big as the last one but I am sure it will make as big an impression on the participants as it did to me back in 94. So now that you get to hear more and more about that camp I am more and more tempted to take part in it. To enjoy it all for the last time. To give something back to the organisation that formed me and is, at least this is my belief, responsible to a huge amount for making me the person that I am today. I am really tempted. I have not have given in but I might…given a good opportunity I really might. After all it is not that different to being part of AIESEC. There is actually just one difference. AIESEC is run by students for students with the purpose of a career or at least a good preparation for a good career whereas scouting is run by teenagers mostly for kids. I took over my first group at Christmas 94. So I was still very young but I loved it. I just did, what I had to do. I didn’t think too much. I was not thinking of a strategy, there was no year-plan that we worked hard on but many tools which are much simpler but have the same effect. It is really amazing how well it always worked just by enjoying what you did. This is maybe the biggest difference to us doing something as adults. Sometimes we try really hard and put a lot of time in effort in something. But if we would just follow our heart we might even get a better result, without too much thinking and planning.

But maybe I get carried away here . Anyway I just like to thank all those great people out there who made it possible for me to get such a great scouting experience. Thank you B.P. (founder of scouting) for that idea! My childhood would not have been the same without it.

For those of you who have no clue what I am talking about I am sorry. I am sorry, not because you think that I must be crazy, but sorry because you really missed something. And this can not be experienced now. That is gone, forever. All the others who know what I am talking about, smile and enjoy the videos.

Amen ;-)

I just knew it :)

2007-08-13T22:57:00.000+02:00

Some things on the internet are just too random! Like the test I just did: "Who's your inner European"?

Guess what, yes you were right, I am not Swiss, of course not, I am IRISH!!!! :-)) This is really so funny, I am still laughing ( I know, it doesn't take a lot today..)

Here the link, if you want to try as well...but watch out, you might be English and then I won't talk to you anymore ;-)

Your Inner European is Irish!

Sprited and boisterous!
You drink everyone under the table.

Who's Your Inner European?

My Italian break

2007-08-11T17:19:00.000+02:00

Two weeks ago I spent a very nice weekend in the Italian part of Switzerland, Ticino. It's a shame but I have to admit that I haven't been there for three years! I don't even know why it just kind of happened. I somehow feel that since I got back from Dublin I have this urge to travel all over Switzerland and see everything. Go and explore places I haven't been at all or just for a very long time.

On Saturday we went hiking or rather we tried to. It was so hot and obviously I am in such a bad shape that it was simply too much for me. We had to stop and turn around after one hour. I feel really bad about that and I want to work on my fitness to be in better shape the next time. But it is such a beautiful spot. After I will be done with internship (soon) I might go to Ticino for a couple of days to enjoy the nice weather, the friendly people, the beautiful landscape and the great Italian food :-). Elena, I might also visit you, if you're home...just let me know.

Here are some pictures of this great trip.

View from the apartment/garden in Tegna

Ponte Brolla

Ascona

beautiful flowers at Isola di Brissago

and last but surely not least my friend Claudia posing as Italian princess :-)

Wisdom of books (part 1)

2007-07-24T23:22:00.000+02:00

During the last weeks I took some time for myself, mainly to sit down with a book, any book, and read. I read some great books so far and I would like to share sometimes which I came across and I deeply agree with. I am sorry but it is in German and I am too tired now to translate everything now I might do that later.

The text is taken from the novel "Nachtzug nach Lissabon" by the Swiss author Pascal Mercier.

…Und nicht nur in der Zeit sind wir ausgebreitet. Auch im Raum erstrecken wir uns weit über das hinaus, was sichtbar ist. Wir lassen etwas zurück, wenn wir einen Ort verlassen, wir bleiben dort, obgleich wir wegfahren. Und es gibt Dinge an uns, die wir nur dadurch wieder finden können, dass wir dorthin zurückkehren. Wir fahren an uns heran, reisen zu uns selbst, wenn uns das monotone Klopfen der Räder einem Ort entgegenträgt, wo wir eine Wegstrecke unseres Lebens zurückgelegt haben, wie kurz sie auch gewesen sein mag. Wenn wir den Fuss zum zweiten Male auf den Bahnsteig des fremden Bahnhofs setzen, die Stimmen aus dem Lautsprecher hören, die unverwechselbaren Gerüche riechen, so sind wir nicht nur an einem Ort angekommen, sondern auch in der Ferne des eigenen Inneren, in einem vielleicht ganz entlegenen Winkel unserer selbst, der, wenn wir anderswo sind, ganz im Dunkeln liegt und in der Unsichtbarkeit. Warum sonst sollten wir so aufgeregt sein, so ausser uns selbst, wenn der Schaffner den Namen des Orts ausruft, wenn wir das Quietschen der Bremsen hören und vor dem plötzlich einsetzenden Schatten der Bahnhofshalle verschluckt werden? Warum sonst sollte es ein magischer Moment, ein Augenblick von geräuschloser Dramatik sein, wenn der Zug mit einem letzten Rucken zum vollständigen Stillstand kommt? Es ist, weil wir von den ersten Schritten an, die wir auf dem fremden und auch nicht mehr fremden Perron tun, ein Leben wiederaufnehmen, das wir unterbrochen und verlassen hatten, als wir damals das erste Rucken des anfahrenden Zuges spürten. Was könnte aufregender sein, als ein unterbrochenes Leben mit all seinen Versprechungen wiederaufzunehmen?
Es ist ein Fehler, ein unsinniger Gewaltakt, wenn wir uns auf das Hier und Jetzt konzentrieren in der Überzeugung, damit das Wesentliche zu erfassen. Woraus es ankäme, wäre, sich sicher und gelassen, mit dem angemessenen Humor und der angemessenen Melancholie, in der zeitlich und räumlich ausgebreiteten inneren Landschaft zu bewegen, die wir sind. Warum bedauern wir Leute, die nicht reisen können? Weil sie sich, indem sie sich äusserlich nicht ausbreiten können, auch innerlich nicht auszudehnen vermögen, sie können sich nicht vervielfältigen, und so ist ihnen die Möglichkeit genommen, weitläufige Ausflüge in sich selbst zu unternehmen und zu entdecken, wer und was anderes sie auch hätten werden können.

I don't think I have anything to add.

Snapshots from my current life

2007-07-19T19:52:00.001+02:00

Here some impressions from my last trips around Switzerland

Berne, the small but beautiful capitol of Switzerland

Zurich, my beloved hometown

view from the lake to the city

along the river Limmat (view from the Limmatquai)

alley in the Old Town

illuminated buildings at the Züri Fäst

it might be a little hard to see but it was beautiful

and finally some pictures taken in Horgen

me in the garden :-)

beautiful blue sky

thunderstorm approaching

Isn't life just great? I l o v e summer!

My other life

2007-07-10T19:01:00.000+02:00

No I don't spend (or waiste, actually) my time in or with "second life" but right now I am living another life. Not a student life. A "normal" life people my age usually live. With a paid job from Monday to Friday. I commute to Zurich every day which takes me 20 minutes and even gives me the possibility to leave with my Mum in the morning and to talk to her in the car.

Zurich! Not Winti, Zurich! I can even enjoy lunch at the lake, how cool is that?! Finally I am back in the CITY and I am soo glad. I can meet up friends for lunch, I can go shopping, I can return my books to the library.. Very nice! You can't imagine how much I missed that. I used to be in Zurich everyday for over 10 years before I had to go to Winti. At least I get a break from that. No hour-long stop and go by train only a 20 minute ride. No cafeteria and students but colleagues at work.

I am even the youngest - what a change!! And then there is work itself. I have responsibilities, I can handle cases, real cases, nearly on my own and I can talk to the clients. It is SOOOO nice. It's a nice paid, 8 to 5 job which will definitely help me for the future. I already learnt a lot, things I might not have learnt at university. Oh how I love working! I could never be only a student, I always knew that but now I understand that even better. I need a certain "real-life" feeling otherwise I go mad. I like to be able to do what I need to do when I want to do it but I also need some pressure to work best (which might be the reason why I always end up doing things at the last minute...). Don't get me wrong, I like studying, I really do. I like what we learn and I enjoy the subjects. I really know that this is what I have always wanted to do and I enjoy it. Being a student gives you many opportunities and I want to use (most of) them. But I could never be a student for a indefinite period - I would go crazy!

You might wonder what I babble about, I will tell you :-). I am doing an internship at the moment. This internship is compulsory for my studies. Which is a good thing because otherwise I probably wouldn't be around at this moment, I would be in South America or Ireland, traveling or working and having the time of my life. But being obliged to do this internship showed me that there are other possibilities after my study that I have not tought about earlier. I am working in a insurance company. A legal costs insurance. In case of legal problems you can turn to them for advice and they will help you out or pay even pay you the costs of a lawyer. On the presumption that you are insured...

And then there is my other job: my beloved children at the crèche in the fitness club. I really missed them as well. They are so cute and it just feels so good to finally cuddle a baby again. And we have some new ones, very small ones. They weren't even born when I left for Dublin, incredible. Last weekend we already had 18 children at 10.15 in the morning, that was fun - and loud ;-).

Yes I am happy, like most times :-) and I am glad about it. Life is beautiful!

Big Five

2007-06-28T18:45:00.000+02:00

I just took this small personality test and I think the results are quite true. Here the result:

Big Five Word Test Results

Extroversion (64%) moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity.
Accommodation (66%) moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly kind natured, trusting, and helpful at the expense of your own individual development (martyr complex).
Orderliness (44%) moderately low which suggests you are, at times, overly flexible, random, improvised, and fun seeking at the expense of structure, reliability, work ethic, and long term accomplishment.
Emotional Stability (56%) moderately high which suggests you are relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic.
Inquisitiveness (52%) medium which suggests you are moderately intellectual, curious, and imaginative.

Take Free Big Five Word Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

There are just too many things out there in the inernet to spend your time with!

Emotional

2007-06-24T22:02:00.000+02:00

This last week has been really, well, emotional. Some of it was really nice, other things I could have done without.

Last weekend I finally decided that I would not move to Winti and that I will stay for another year with my parents and enjoying a two-hour train ride everyday. Once this decision was taken I wanted some action. Because the situation was strange. I moved back to my parents already in summer 2005 but it was always viewed temporarily and I still somehow felt like a guest. I didn't have a room. First I slept in the guestroom but then my Mum told me that she wanted to be able to have guests staying over again so I moved to my brothers' room as he had moved out. But it still was that, my brothers' room. So last weekend we cleaned and emptied the (children) desk and opened an account to sell it at Ricardo.ch (same as E-bay). While I was studying, my brother and my father went to Ikea to buy two bookshelves and a desk. Now I am able to study in that room and I also have all of my books etc in my room. My room. Sounds really cool. Now I just need some more pictures on the wall and then I am fine. It's really nice to have "my" own room....

But there was also a sad story connected to that. Two years ago, before I left for Ecuador I gave up my apartment and moved back into with my parents. Of course I could not keep everything that I owned. So I sold some items and gave others to some friends. Kitchen equipment but also furniture. I gave two of my bookshelves and my garden furniture (table) to a friend who had just moved out and needed things. We agreed that she would keep them until I need them or then she would be pay me some money later if I couldn't use them anymore. So far so good. Unfortunately I don't have any written proof of that agreement, given the fact that she is friend. But as you surely already guessed, I should have kept a written note. Because she does not want to pay me now. She behaved very childish, telling me that it is unfair of me addressing her now after all that time and that she will not pay. Although another friend of mine was there, when we discussed that she still claims that we didn't have such an agreement. I still feel sad when I think about that. It's not a lot of money, and it's also not only about the money. What bothers me most is the fact that she completely refuses to talk about it at all!

And then there is university. It's really unbelievable, it's such a mess. Next semester we have the possibility to choose from a range of subjects. Which is really nice and I was thrilled when I saw the list. Even though the process already was very tiring at the end I was happy. But last week they told us about the courses the cancelled. Most of them! Because they didn't have enough applications. I could live with that because they told us from the beginning that it would be like that. I had to choose another Spanish diploma now (a lower level) but that might be good because my grammar is really bad so it might be good for me. :-) I am sure poor Laura knows what I mean ;-).
But there is one thing that I can not understand and that I will not take, just like that. I already told you about my plans for India. Well, who knows if they will come true! The cancelled the course but when I asked the teacher in charge he told me that he was not informed and that he wants to DO that course. A couple of hours later he tells me that they got the ok and that they just need to handle some administrative tasks. So I don't do anything. The next day I get another email from a girl who wants to do the same course only that she was told that it will NOT take place!?! I mean, hello?! School of Management?! They can't be serious, they must be joking right? This is really so unprofessional, I mean imagine if we would work like that or even if I would behave like that! I am still furious. It is so embarrassing. Really. Of course now all the nice options are already taken and there is no more space available. So I am stuck now with things that I didn't want to do just because I believed what I was told by a teacher? I really don't think so! I will definitely not sit back and let that happen. I will talk to them, that's for sure!

Ok this post is getting way too long so I stop it here. I will let you know what happens. The last word has not yet been spoken in none of the above matters...

Yes I did it!

2007-06-14T12:03:00.000+02:00

Now it's officially done. My term in Dublin is "over". Today we got the results. I passed and not only that, I also passed with really nice marks. Given the time I invested in getting those marks I should consider studying in Dublin full time. That really wasn't toooooo difficult...Or they just treated us nicely? I don't know and to be honest, I don't care. At least not today. Today I'm just happy. No I only have to pass the 2 exams in Winti...maybe I should study. Those won't be that easy. But I think I will manage.

Oh, another cool thing: I have my own car! How cool is that? I got it last week as a surprise. It's my godfathers car and his wife gave it to me as a memory. It's nearly brandnew and I love the colour, it's blue, but not too dark. I have to post a picture later on...Maybe next week I can get it. Yeah, life is beautiful! I am happy, hope you're too. Big hug to all of you, love you :-)

Liberté totale

2007-05-30T01:10:00.000+02:00

I am enjoying my life. To the max! I am talking on the phone to a friend of mine in Singapore, for three hours, for free, on Skype (Sabrina what would we do without? it is such an amazing invention/tool). I am on facebook, extensively. I surf the net, for hours. I invite friends over to my house to talk about nothing and everything (Eveline that was nice, wasn' it?). I stay up late and even very late and I sleep in. So nice! I travel to Berne to spend a whole weekend shopping and strolling around town with Karin or anothertime just for a two hours session with Aida (very random!). I visit Lucerne, spend two hours on a round trip on the lake, get off at Weggis and walk into a Fiesta Latina (yes, how cool is that?! Nice food, great music, Colombian people to talk to..home away from home, isn't it Jeannine?). I sit in the garden with Nuria and instead of studying tax law we talk about Gossip and AIESEC party and men, the usual suspects really, but soo nice. I stroll around African stalls in Winti with Vijay, Kenoma and two interns from St. Gall (André and Eric) and that was just the weeks before Pentecost!

Since then I spent a day in Zurich with the Student Review Board interviews AIESEC members have to attend before they can go on an internship abroad. 7 candidates, 30 minutes each, very intense but also very interesting. It was like attending a job interview only from the other side-great experience once more! On Thursday I went to Lausanne, in the French speaking part of Switzerland to visit a friend who studies at the Ecole Hotelier Lausanne (actually she's nearly done now so I figured it was about time..). We went to eat at the Gastro Restaurant on the campus, 5 course menu with sparkling wine, very nice! On Friday morning I joined some people from my university and two teachers for a hearing at the federal court of justice. It was actually really interesting to witness a powerfull moment of law-making history (they overruled a tax law made by the canton of Obwalden which favoured the rich people as being unconstitutional...).

From Lausanne my journey went on the Fribourg where I spent some hours at the Mexican dinner together with most of the executive board members of Switzerland. It was really nice but I was glad to fall into bed at 2.30 am! Few hours later I was up and off again, this time heading for the East of Switzerland, Arbon, situated on the lake of constance near the boarder with Austria and Germany. There I spent a weekend with 34 other business law university students listening to speaches about different philosophs and their views/beliefs in human rights. Together with 5 friends we also spend some time preparing our panel discussion about "Gerechte Arbeitsbedingungen im Welthandel-ein Menschenrecht?" (Are fair working conditions in world trade/international trade a human right?). We are still trying to gather speakers but I am really looking forward to the event. I am sure it will be fun.

Inbetween all those travels I worked for AIESEC (a lot) and I studied (a little). And I managed to plan my next big adventure: India! I am on the organisation commitee for a study trip to India by my university. 10 days, at the end of January! I am really looking forward to that and I will also stay longer :-). But I will keep you posted on that one. But how cool is that?! I am soo pleased, life is beautiful!

This week I will do some more travelling (i.e. to Berne) and more work for AIESEC. But it's really nice and this is my time now, my chance. In two weeks time this will all be over (exams) and afterwards (if not earlier) I will start with my internship for my studies. But more about that to come. Next time. For sure.

Which European city is right for you?

2007-05-23T11:05:00.000+02:00

Following my last entry, here comes another (useless) test for yourself which might make you think...

And those of you who have known me for a longer period of time might have to stiffle a laugh..my European city is: ROME

You scored as Rome. Rome - The eternal city is a favourite amongs many tourists. Certainly not renowned for partying it is one of the most beautiful places Europe has to offer with some of the best remains of buildings of cultural importance.

Rome

75%

Berlin

69%

Barcelona

69%

Munich

63%

Moscow

63%

London

56%

Paris

50%

Athens

50%

Which European City is right for you?
created with QuizFarm.com

Me and Italy...well, to put it midly, not really a hot love. But I was actually thinking about giving the country another try, so maybe I really should consider the eternal city an "challenge my worldview" which we like so much at AIESEC..growing is only possible outside your own comfort zone. Rome might be just that, definitely outside my comfort zone...but if I think about it I would still prefer Dublin,in the North or Barcelona in the South. But hey, you never know where life might lead you and I wasn't planning to go to Dublin neither and still I had an incredible time there.

So what's your city? In case you scored Zurich (which probably isn't even on the list) you know where to call ;-)

Scary

2007-05-16T23:06:00.000+02:00

I just took this test and the result is scarying...is this really me? Is this how you see me as well or is it just some stupid test without any meaning? It doesn't sound very familiar but maybe you disagree with my feelings and agree with the text? I am little confused...Just let me know what you think.

You are The Moon

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

stunningly beautiful

2007-05-15T14:31:00.000+02:00

I am home. I really am. At least since last weekend. I went to the conference and it was really great. Amazing. It was such a nice feeling to walk into there and to see all those people, friends, who were really glad to see me! It made me feel at home for the first time since I got back. Thank you all for that, it was just what I needed!

But it was not only all those beloved faces, it was more. It was the way there. The "voyage" by train, those 3 and a half hours slowly climbing up to the Swiss Alps from 400 metres above sea level (Zurich) to 1000 metres (Fiesch). We took the train along Lucerne, to Andermatt and from there with the small Matterhorn Gotthard train to Fiesch. Switzerland is stunningly beautiful! The sky was blue, the view was clear and the mountains were covered with snow. You felt like you could touch them! Three months without mountains and I behaved like a tourist :-). It took many pictures and I want to show you some. Maybe you will understand why I felt that way, maybe you will still think I am crazy, I don't care :-).

I am a proud owner of complete freedom, at least for one month and at least for all the trains in Switzerland. I own a "general abonnement" which means I can freely travel all over Switzerland. Every train, every bus, all included. That sounds great? I tell you, it's even better! So I will use this freedom combined with my freedom of not having to go to university or start working yet and I WILL travel. I have travelled to many places in many different countries but I can't remember the last time I was in Lausanne or Geneva. I have never been to St. Gall and there are many places in Ticino that I don't know. So I will change that. I want to travel. I have one month to see places. Do you have some free time? Do you want to join me? Or you want me to spend the night in your hometown? Just let me know and I am on my way :D.

But to close a long story short: I will keep you posted on my adventures, on my trips to Swiss places and I will show you some pictures so that you can even travel with me if you're far away...

Back home

2007-05-08T21:47:00.000+02:00

I am back. Or so. Yesterday I arrived "back home". It does, however, still feel strange. Kind of like being on holidays..I know that I will get used to everything and start feeling at home again but I think it will take time. I am not surprised because it used to be the same when I got back from Ecuador. I even hope that it will take less time than last time as it took nearly two months back in autumn 2005 and I did not stay there much longer than this time. But Ireland is Europe and not South America so maybe my reverse cultural shock will be shorter..I haven't given up hope. :-)

Today I felt like walking in a surreal world, everything was so calm, green and tidy..It's always funny how many things we notice once we have stayed outside of the "box" for some time. I really love Zurich, it's MY city, this is where I grew up, where most of my friends live and where my roots are. Living abroad is on the other hand very tempting. I don't know why but I DO love spending time in other countries and like back in Ecuador I could imagine living in Ireland. Maybe even more so as it is Europe, much more like Switzerland and a very young and vibrant city...I am looking forward to going back, the sooner the better.

Right now is however not the time, I have to make some important decisions. Do I want to move to Winti for my last year or stay with my parents? Independence or save money? Where shall I do my internship? Shall I do a short internship and work afterwards until September or take some time to find a nice internship and work there all summer? And finally, when and where will I spend my holidays this year? So many questions and answers are not yet in sight.

Tomorrow I will go back to Winti, to talk to my friends and attend the two classes that I will sit the exams in July. For lunch I will meet with my friends of AIESEC Winti to talk about what had happened and to prepare the forthcoming conference and in the evening we will have our Local committee before I will leave for Fiesch on Thursday for the Kick Off conference. I am looking really forward to that as I did miss AIESEC in Dublin and it will be very nice to see all my friends again before some of them head into new adventures abroad...On Saturday I will present myself for the ILEC (legal English Cambridge) exam before I return to Fiesch :-).

I will keep you posted!

Done!

2007-05-03T18:34:00.000+02:00

I did it! It's all over! My semester in Dublin is over.

My last exam was today. We had 5 exams (EU law, Employment law, Business law, Human Resources Management and Principles of Marketing) during the last two weeks and two assingments (Strategic Management and Irish Cultural Studies) during the semester. We already know, that we passed the two assignments and unofficially also that we passed EU law, yeah.

No it's time. Time to celebrate and time to say good bye. We only have 5 days left, including today and Monday when we leave. It will be very strange and I will miss A LOT. Mostly, I think I will miss my girls, all the girls here at the residence with whom we laughed and even cried, sang (a lot and all the times :-) ), had dinners and breakfast with and talked. We visited places together, we went out and had great fun or we stayed in and watched a movie. I will miss all of that! I will miss the mixtures of languages at the table, the where have you been, what have you done today or last weekend, what are we doing tonight or on the weekend? It was so easy. There was always sombody there. You just had to go there and know at the door. Somebody was always there to talk to you or to spend time with.

I will miss the food. Well, obviously not ALL of it, but some at least ;-). I will miss my blackcurrent (how am I supposed to live without it?!). I will miss the crumble, especially with Rhubard (the yoghurt is SOO delicious!). I might even miss the chicken but I might not miss eating it 4 times a week.... :-) .

I will miss the Irish WHEATER! Yes, I know, it's crazy but hey, it WAS beautiful. It's so nicely warm and sunny.

I am sure once home I will miss more. But right one, that's it. I have to enjoy the few hours that I have left here and not think about what I will be missing :-).

Running off to grab some dinner..

2nd Roadtrip (the North)

2007-04-26T19:30:00.000+02:00

Time always passes by much too quickly and there are so many thing I would like to talk about but I simply don't have the time...So here is just a short overview about what had happened here since my last entry.

2nd Roadtrip, North

First of all I went with Eveline, a very good friend of mine from Switzerland, and Petra to the North, for another Roadtrip. This time we only left for 2 days but we decided to rent a car because we would be more flexibel. It was great fun! We drove around in the countryside just outside of Dublin, trying to find the Hills of Tara and see some nice places on the way (like the gravehill where you had to ask the farmer for the key..) but we got lost and did a nice detour.

But we met many nice Irish people who showed us the way, explained it to us, drove in front of us or simply tried to help us get out ;-) It sounds bad now but it actually wasn't. It was funny and amazing to see how friendly those people are and it made us all think whether this would be similar in Switzerland (and somehow we all doubted it..). But we finally made it to the Hills and decided to drive over the city of Trim to visit the castle (where the movie Braveheart was filmed) and had lunch.

We afterwards followed with our trip up North. As there is no border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (which belongs to the UK) it is very hard to realise when you've crossed it. But the prices for gas and the speed sign were different (pounds and miles). It was fun to drive with speed sign in miles if your car only has a tachometer in kilometres. We spent the night in Belfast but we didn't see a lot of the city. We went to eat in a pub/restaurant and ordered a drink at the end. They however showed a price for a glass but brought us a pitcher and said that didn't have a glas. When we showed them the menu where the price for the glass was listed they gave us the pitcher for the price of the glass! So we had a nice and cheap evening :-).

On the second day we drove trough the countryside and along the coast to the giant causeway. This natural stones on the shore look like a giant "way" and the legend goes that a giant wanted to build a way to his love who lived on another island. Here are some pictures.

Weekend with my parents

Last weekend my parents and Laurence came to visit me. It was very nice seeing them again and showing them around "my" city! We had a great time altough it rained for the first time in 3 weeks. We did some sight-seeing and a musical pub crawl which was great fun. Here some picutres

Exams

At the moment I have exams. That't the reason I need to study and don't have a lot of time for blogging. But I promise that I will write about a couple of other (funny) things that happened here in Dublin.

Road trip part II

2007-04-15T00:08:00.000+02:00

I know that my last entry was very short and maybe didn't satisfy your curiosity. Therefore I would like to give you more information about my road trip. Those days on the road made me finally realize that I was in Ireland. Ireland as the country most people see it, the "green island" with lots of sheep and farmers, narrow streets and small houses and rain. With the exception of the latter ;-), this idea is true. Ireland is a beautiful island, very green, very narrow streets and many farmers and sheep. The people are extremely friendly and several times we were offered help when we seemed lost (and sometimes were).

Don't get me wrong, Dublin is a great city and I love it, but capitals and big cities are rarely a true picture of the country and neither Zurich nor Geneva are typical of Switzerland (I know that they are not the capital). Ireland has a beautiful landscape, astonishing coast-lines, cute little towns with picturesque houses and a funny road system. The streets are narrow and have many blind bends but still the sign shows a speed limit of 100! How anyone can drive that fast without loosing control of the car and the road is a mystery (at least for us). Many Irish cars (=locals, not tourists) passed us while we drove and some of them very fast. On the other hand they hardly ever drive faster than 100 on the streets where you COULD drive faster because they are wide, have several lanes and you can actually SEE where you're going, not just guessing what may lie ahead...and the road sign are so small..oculists must make a fortune in this country! The sign are usually are visible two seconds AFTER the turnoff...but hey, we had fun :-). We ended up at nice places, talked to friendly people telling us that we are lost or completely at the wrong place or just smiling knowingly when we turned...and we drove on the left! With one European Union they still can't manage that everybody drives on the same side of the road..it wasn't that difficult actually, just sometimes a little funny we were shouting-drive on the left, after we entered the road or: you are too close to the side, drive more to the right". ..

The trip led from Dublin to Kilkenny where we had our first stop and turned onto the scenic drive, a "nice" route with very small signs, mostly visible after the junctions and many turns. Once in Cashel, we visited the church "Rock of Cashel" and drove onto Cobh, just a little outside of Cork in the South. This was a very nice little town directly on the sea with beautiful houses where we spent the first night.

On the second day we drove through the Ring of Kerry (which is a nice route along the cost-line, a circle starting at Killarney and the streets were sometimes REALLY narrow, especially if there was a lorry crossing...we skipped the town Killarney and drove onto the Dingle peninsula which was one of the highlights of the trip. In Dingle we spent the second night in a hostel and got to spend more money for our dinner in one of the finest fish restaurants of the island as for the night...

As there was no breakfast at the hostel we got to leave really early and managed to see most of the peninsula before the other tourists woke up which was perfect. We passed Tralee and went onto to Tarbert where we took the ferry to Kilrush. It was still early in the day so we headed further north and even got to see the Cliffs of Moher on that day! We spent the night at a small town called Ballyvaughan in a completely new bed & breakfast.

After a "cooked breakfast" with sausages, beans and bacon, we left on the next morning to see the landscape called "burren". A must, as Karin's surname is Burren :-) This landscape looks very lunar as there are just stones. The great variety of plants can only be seen at second glance. But even in this remote area we managed to locate a place to spend money: a perfumery! After "some" shopping we headed for our final destination, the town of Galway. In Galway we spent some hours with shopping (again *lol*), eating and enjoying the sun before we squeezed into our beloved red Nissan Micra called "Ed" for the final hours of our journey back home to Dublin. We returned him safely and hope that his next owners will treat him with the same love and that they might laugh as much as we did while enjoying his company!

Holiday!

2007-04-13T14:22:00.000+02:00

A friend of mine recently published the following sentence in her blog : silence on the blog can mean two things: either there is too much going on and there's simply no time to post. or there is nothing happening that is worthwhile babbling about. (http://cileia.blogspot.com/2007/03/better-right-than-kind.html)

In my case there is too much going on, way too much, to be presice. There are so many things I wanted to do and should have done during those two weeks off at Portobello:

think about my future (once again, I refer to Cileia's blog and my comment on her last entry) and send out my CV for the internship I need to do back home in Switzerland
send emails to the few friends who didn't forget about me already (there seem to be not too many though)
study for my exams at Portobello (we still have no clue when they will take place and what we're supposed to learn for them but hey, we still have two weeks to go so why bother with dates and requirements already?!)
finish the presentation for strategic management about the merger of SWISS and Lufthansa
write postcards to the above-mentionned friends and some others who then might remember me ;-)

I could go on with that list but as I told you, I don't have time. So to close a long story short, I didn't! I didn't deal with most of those points and instead followed the advice of the postcard sender and enjoyed life! I decided to travel and visit more of my host-country, to get to know the country-side and to finally start driving (on the left and driving at all). So I left for a roadtrip last Tuesday with Petra, Franziska (a friend of her) and Karin (one of my best friends). 4 days of driving around and visiting places. Amazing! As a picture speaks for more than 1000 words (bad German translation), I will let my pictures do the talking and finally work on my presentation...

Rock of Cashel

Cobh

Karin and I

Posing at the beach

Dingle Peninsula

Cliffs of Moher

No comment!

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

2007-03-23T15:24:00.000+01:00

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

2007-03-20T23:36:00.000+01:00

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!

2007-03-14T21:40:00.000+01:00

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

2007-03-09T18:47:00.000+01:00

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!

2007-03-03T23:59:00.000+01:00

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

2007-03-01T18:14:00.000+01:00

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

Dublin: my first week

2007-02-03T20:44:00.000+01:00

Hello again

It's incredible how time is running. My first week in Dublin is already over...So far this city treated me really nicely. The weather was nice (it only rained on Sunday) and yesterday and today the sky was an incredible blue all day long. But it also seems that now that it's beautiful, it's also cold. The first couple of days it was really warm and I even HAD to buy new clothes at the final sale (:-) ) because I only took woollen sweaters with me and it was too hot for them. I also bought shoes but I don't have an excuse for them other that I just liked them and that they were cheap :-).

My school is quite funny: the first day there were only 3 people in the first and 5 people in the second class so we were really surprised ("we" is my friend Petra, who is also from ZHW and myself, you can see a picture of us, if you scroll down the page..). The second day we did all the shopping because two teachers were ill and instead of 6 lessions we only ended up having 2..It seems that there are much more people in the lecture than in the tutorial but that's just fine, then the teachers have more time for us in the tutorials :-). "Us" in business subjects is 2/3 of Asian people (sorry I can't tell you where they're from, they all look the same for me, but I will try to find it out for Simon, Chris and Sabrina), some from Germany and Austria and the rest from France. I think I only once saw an Irish person in one of the tutorials. In the law subjects however, it's quite the reverse..there are only Irish people! So the mix of taking both business and law courses is not too bad :-). One really "nice" subject is strategic management-I know, I only ever complained about that subject, but our teacher here is just so gorgeous! Just looking at him is a great pleasure..so yeah, that way even I may get interested in those subjects..

On Thursdaynight I had my first pub night. I went with some people of AIESEC Ireland to a Czech pub in the temple bar district (they place where all the tourists go if they want to go to a "real" Irish pub..). It was rather nice though and I even tried Guiness and I have to admit: I DON'T like it! At least I didn't that night. They do however have a nice cider (apple wine) so that was nice.

Today I had a really "boring" day as I was studying and writing my paper all day long. I just sat at my desk while there was beautiful weather outside. But hey, that's life :-). Now I just returned from a girls-night at the pub (it was Petra's birthday so we went to have a drink with my roommate and hers). We watched some Gaelic football and Rugby (so good-looking and strong guys running around half-naked, not too bad *lol*).

Tomorrow there will be another session of todays programm, maybe interrupted by a visit to Petra's place to study there. On Monday I head into my second and already last week of Ireland before I "may" return to Switzerland for my exams. I will stay there until February 26th so we might meet for a coffee sometime or the other, drop me a line if you feel like chating me up.

Ok, I need to get some sleep now. Have a good time!

Big hugs from Dublin

I am in Dublin

2007-01-27T23:04:00.000+01:00

Hello my dear friends

Just a quick note to tell you all that I am doing fine. I managed to pack my suitcase on time and even got some sleep although I went out to a birthdayparty of a very good friend of mine and returned on midnight. I therefore got to bed at 2 o'clock and got up at 7.30 so that we could leave at 8-we left only 5 minutes late so I am very pleased with that :-). I even manage to get my 6 kilo overweight onto the plane without having to pay..

Once in Dublin I took the bus and made my way to the YWCA where I am staying. I only had a streetname and took a nice little walk with my "light" suitcase before I found it but here I am now! Very tired, but happy so far. My room is very small but nice and clean and we even have a private bathroom. My roommate is ok and the food is not too bad. And there is wireless internet everywhere so that is pretty cool.

That's about if for today..I will let you know once I started exploring the city.

If you want to call me, my room number is A 25 (Phonenumber: 00353 1 644 96 66, ask for me :-) ). Or use Skype, barbara_dublin07.

Looking forward to your messages.

Adios and nice Sunday

Hello!

2007-01-24T22:40:00.000+01:00

Hello everybody.

This is my first try so don't expect anything great or unusual..even doing this means that I am NOT doing what I should right now: studying, trying to organise my stay in Dublin, spend time with my parents, clean up my mess in my room(s), learn my speech for tomorrow-just to name a few. But I know that I am not the only one who becomes quiet interested in doing a lot of things she/he is not supposed to do if it just means you don't have to do other things you don't like or simply don't feel like bothering at that specific moment.

So here I go, my first Blog. I still don't know where this will lead to and if there will even be someone interested in reading boring stuff about my life. But for those who have gone that far, I am about to leave to Dublin for my Erasmus exchange semester. And even though it didn't look like that one week ago, I think that things will fall into place and that all will turn out really well: I have a flight booked, I have a place to stay (roof over my head and even a roommate, American, I have been told, we will see how that will turn out :-) ), I am expected to start studying in Dublin on Monday and even AIESEC Dublin already invited me to their meetings and added me to their social list..my life will therefore hopefully go on just like it is here in Switzerland: interesting and unpredictable.

I will tell you more about my first days in Dublin once I settled next week..

Oh, before I forget: not only did I manage to get a laptop for Christmas and open my Blog, no; I even have a microphone and Skype! Yeah I know, it's incredible, I entered 21st century...

Looking forward to your comments and staying in contact with you all, in writing, with Skype, sms, emails or simply face to face.

Ave, over and out