Xmas and a new year

Only three days to go (in Sweden we celebrate on the 24th) and I am already filled with tranquillity. The weather has been warm, or rather, less cold than expected and school has gone well. Meeting relatives again is something I am really looking forward to. Even despite all the things that can go wrong during Xmas.

I look upon the next year with the same joy and optimism, partly because of the time I'll spend in Germany but also because prospects for my and Joni's thesis have brightened. However, since nothing is finalized yet I dare not reveal too much about it. For those who want to get a broad idea I can recommend a BBC documentary (video), this article or this presentation. Then add a touch of Colombia and you should have a pretty accurate picture.

May you all have a wonderful holiday season!

Old News

About a month ago or so I, and many others (for instance my sister, to the left) participated in the Stockholm Model United Nations. Here we are, posing together with the former Foreign Minister of Sweden, H.E. Mr. Jan Eliasson, who also recently held the position of President of the United Nations General Assembly, i.e. he is pretty much Sweden's foremost diplomat.

Enough said about him, I mainly posted the picture because both my sister and I look so nice in our Nigerian outfits. I am beginning to grow more and more interested in Nigeria and Africa. Hopefully I can get my African friends in Sweden to come over for dinner soon (we are always postponing it). Did you know that Nigeria is having elections in the spring of next year?

And oh, by the way, both my sister (representing Mali) and the Nigerian delegation (which I advised) received distinctions from the organizing committee for their performance during SMUN. (and so did I :-))

In Pursuit

Jägermeister can be seen as an illustration of foreign cultures. The outside looks a bit strange but you are sure that there is something cool inside. Then you taste, and get your first culture shock. Then you realize that cultures are destined to blend and mix. The question then is what to mix with. This was the question some friends and I tried to solve yesterday.

To give you a very short answer: Red Bull (or also, if you have access to a Swedish foodstore, "Hallonsoda") works best.

Why, one might ask, am I writing about Jägermeister. Well, yesterdays tasting was intendend to mark an auspicious occasion, namely that I been offered to spend the first half of 2007 in Düsseldorf, to improve my German and do an internship.

I'm alive

Pssst, just wanted to tell you that I am not dead, although my internet absense could be taken as a sign of my demise.

And I can promise that the time between this post and the next will be shorter than that between this and the previous one.

Take care

Post-Mania

I got an e-mail asking if I am alive. I have never felt more so! Switzerland is too much fun! Every week something wonderful happens (or more often than that). The following 8(!) posts will try (with many pictures) to clear the back-log. Hopefully also clearing any doubts of how I am fairing.

If you like chronological order I recommend that you start reading at the post entitled "Introweek" and work your way up.

PS this weekend I am attending an AIESEC conference so the fun doesn’t look set to stop

Landsgemeinde

Have you ever in an election voted openly in front of all other members of your community? Well that is how direct democracy works in Appenzell Innerrhoden where twice per year at the Landsgemeinde all citizens eligible to vote gather in a square to (by show of hands) cast their vote. Very fascinating and a huge magnet for tourist. Hence we had to squeeze a bit as we tried to get a glimpse of the proceedings.

At 11:00 sharp it started, with a march of dignitaries to the square, led by a marching-band.

The voters waited respectfully
After the march there was a (too?) long swearing in ceremony
Then the voting begins!
How to best have an "after party" once the voting is over? The Swiss buy sausages and so did we.

Uniball

The same day as we won the competition the UniBall, a ball for UniSG students and alumni, took place. We of course went there as well (to celebrate). Since I had known about this ball for quite some time I had managed to bring some appropriate clothing from Sweden.
Me, entertaining the Ladies (Astrid & Bea)
Joni (fellow exchange student from my home university) at his happiest moment in Switzerland thus far. Look how he is glowing :-)

Competition

Together Martin (Czech Republic), Astrid (the Netherlands) and Bea (Hungary) I constituted a team in a strategy competition that was arranged last weekend. Surprisingly (considering that it was done completely in German) our team won!

What we won was a trip (transportation and housing included) to Freiburg (Germany) where the next leg of the competition would be held. Sadly I have now received the news that this part (due to lack for funding) is postponed to October (by which time our team will be scattered across Europe). We will try to change this, since the team that came second will go to the second leg as well (but their leg is in Stuttgart and is NOT cancelled) but maybe we can arrange a switch. Cross your fingers, please.

Polish Dinner

There are many house parties where you meet up and chat over a drink before going out (Wednesdays is the big party day since many regular students aren’t from SG and go home over the weekend). Some parties stand out, and the lovely homely event that Malwina hosted (and prepared with help of Kamila, and maybe also Bea) was such an occasion.

The hostess with the mostess sitting the closest

Hiking

BuddySystem® together with the MBA program at Uni S.G. arranged hiking trip in the nearby hills. We started by visiting a cheese-making factory/museum and the proceeded to trek for 3-4 hours up and down green hills and into valleys and canyons until we reached our destination: a water park. Oh, the water was so nice and there was so much to do that I think I stayed for almost 4 hours.
Taking a well deserved rest after some serious walking

Easter

What could be a more appropriate way of celebrating Easter than chocolate bunnies? Not surprisingly I went skiing this (third consecutive) weekend as well. Still so lovely.

However, since the weather is getting warmer I have begun enjoying my bike (which I brought with me from Sweden) and am exploring the surroundings of St Gallen.

Luckily Easter is such a long break that there was also time for some genuine sight-seeing. Together with Astrid (exchange student from the Netherlands) I explored Switzerland biggest roman ruins

The place was much bigger than I had expected and very welcoming with a full-size replica of a roman nobleman's house, where we could relax and play a game with utterly confusing rules.

Since these ruins were in close vicinity to Basel (and we have 4 hours to spare) we went into town and walked around. We also climbed to the top of the Cathedral to get a good view of the city.

No prizes for guessing what type of weather we got the following two hours, but the dark clouds do give me an omnious appearance. Looks cool in a Darth Vader kind of way, don't you think?

More Skiing

This is another picture from Laax (pronounced as the Swedish fish with a similar name) where I went skiing.

It is so nice to have the Alps (where the snow is plentiful and the slopes are amazingly long) just around the corner. I have literally made a split-second decision of going for a alpine weekend, something that is impossible (or at least very expensive and cumbersome) in Sweden.

Introweek

Yes I know that this happened almost a month back but we nevertheless had a lot of fun; one evening chatting at a pub/club, another one we went bowling and yet another the BuddySystem® had arranged a pub crawl.

Can you see me behind the Nargile/shisha/hookah?

The week after we went to Zürich for some night-time sightseeing.
No comments/pictures :-)

Böögg Burning

Yesterday I was in Zürich, visiting an old friend and joining the locals in their celebration of Spring’s arrival. It is called Sechseläuten and involves a parade of various guilds of the city, as can be seen in the pictures below.


The highpoint was however the burning of a snowman-like figure filled with explosives and placed on top a big pile of firewood. Supposedly a rapid explosion (less than 15 minutes) heralds a warm and long summer. It felt as if the entire city was on the move, luckily we managed to squeeze ourselves into a position where the Böögg at least partly was visible.




The Böögg burnt very well and exploded after 10 and a half minutes (thus giving me high hopes of warm and sunny weather). Maybe this was due to the 23-degree sunshine on this day or because this wasn’t the real Böögg, but a replacement. The original one was kidnapped.

Achtung: For those who like chronological order the coming posts will be confusing as I try to catch up with events since Easter.

Deutschverständnis

Now that I have been here a while you might wonder how my German is faring. I’d say I'm at the stage where, in order to understand 99%, I need people to speak at a moderate speed. Nonetheless I was surprised during a lecture about Swiss history and politics that I understood almost everything, even the jokes. Outside of lectures it is trickier. Swiss-German is so different that even native Germans who have been here for several years don’t understand it. Luckily most people in SG are happy to speak German-German (Hochdeutsch) when asked. In addition everything is written in Hochdeutsch, giving me ample opportunity to increase my vocabulary. The exceptions that prove this rule are the SMSs. These are, more often than not, in Swiss-German and to make them utterly unintelligible they follow different spelling rules depending on which part of Switzerland the sender is from. Speaking of words, here are, in an expression of my weird humor, my two new favorite words: Kartoffelstandort and Schwalbenkönig.

LG

Skiing

When I first arrived, the sun was so sunny and it was so warm that I thought Summer must have arrived with me. As a consequence I left my winter coat in the car heading home to Sweden. This was slightly optimistic. As my Swiss flat-mate said "April macht was er will" (trans. April [weather] does what it wants). After those Summer-y days I have experienced snow, a mix of rain and fog, more snow, more fog, more rain and today it has snowed most of the time.

This has had one major consequence. Skiing. When there is precipitation in SG (elevation 600 m) it is almost guaranteed that it is snowing at the alp tops. And since there is no sweeter combination than ski slopes covered with fresh snow and free of tourists (we are now in the post-season) I am one happy (and now slightly tanned) exchange student.

But besides hitting the slopes every weekend so far I have also done other things, like...after-ski. Local beer is good and the view is just terrific. It really does help me find the energy needed for my studies.

Last week also entailed an episode that gave me some deeper knowledge of the habits of my host country. At the university canteen I saw a bottle of the local brand fruit juice. I checked the label and it said something about blood orange. Since I was feeling sleepy I thought this might be just what I needed. I was right in my assumption that I would get a jolt from this drink but pretty much wrong about everything else. As I began to drink my newly purchased beverage I quickly discovered my mistake. I had bought Molke, which is not a fruit-based drink but one whose main ingredient is a bi-product of cheese making. Even though it is supposedly extremely healthy I will wait a long time before sipping that stuff again.

Of widerlüge!

Sunshine and a cloud

All signs point to an excellent time here. People are friendly and outgoing; courses seem cool and there is a gazillion fun things to do. I am worried I might get too carried away in my optimism.

I can confirm the impression that everything here is expensive, ridiculously so. The thing that best illustrates this is the tendency of many places to charge for the ketchup for the fries. On the plus side (or negative for my studies) beer and alcohol is marginally cheaper than at home.

Something that is harder to spin positively is the course selection system at UniSG. It is very complicated and it takes forever to check if two courses have a scheduling conflict. But the mere fact that this is my biggest problem here speaks volumes.

Introweek

In a simplified form I can say that everyday last week looked like this

08:30-12
German classes
13:30-16
Intro to Uni, SG or CH. Sometimes this took the form of lectures, other times it came in the guise of bureaucracy.
16:00-18
Nap (I actually needed it)
20:00-02
Meeting other exchange students for bowling, pub crawl or a city walk
08:00
get up and start all over

Climate Change

When I arrived in SG the sun was most welcoming, pushing the thermometer above 20 degrees centigrade. When I left Sweden it looked like this

To compare, here is a picture of a Swiss valley we drove through on our way to SG.

+41-77-42 68 369

My new number.

First impressions

Going from Stockholm to Liechtenstein (yes, we had some time to spare so we drove a bit extra just to see the one place in Europe that voted away democracy) it is striking that there is only one thing reminding you of the fact that you have crossed a border: the SMS that informs you of the new operator you have just roamed unto. No border, no nothing. Sweet!

Once in Switzerland we drove around among the valleys and into the alp villages. In one of the most conservative (and most Swiss?) cantons; Appenzell Ausserrhoden (they gave women the vote in 1989) we found a restaurant where we could have our first Swiss meal. The place looked very promising, lots of stuff related to cheese making was displayed and the atmosphere was utterly genuine. We ordered and while the waiter disappeared into the kitchen the owner offered us some delicate bread. Not shortly thereafter we started sensing something was up. Both the owner and the waiter started to look stressed and ran around. We soon found out what was wrong. Within five minutes the waiter came and said that they could not find the Chef(!). After another five minutes the owner came, with the look on his face as if his entire life work had been brought to shame, deeply apologizing about something that had never ever occurred before. Since he was so obviously sad, and since the whole thing seemed so absurd, all we could do was to smile and walk away. Clearly the image of Switzerland as the most reliable place in the world got a severe hit already on the first day. However, since the owner was so sincere in his shame I would gladly go back and try to eat there another time.

On a purely positive note; I have found a place to stay. It went very fast and easy and is a bowling-ball throw (not an accepted expression perhaps, but you understand that it is very close) away from my university.

The address, for those who want to visit or send stuff is:
Varnbüelstrasse 13, 9000 St. Gallen

The phone number to the apartment is +41 (0) 71 222 49 61
(I will try to get a mobile number tomorrow, when school starts)

Ciao!

Take a ride with me

People say that it’s the journey and not the destination that makes traveling so much fun. I very much agree and therefore I am going to St. Gallen by car, instead of flying. Not only will this allow me to spend two days watching scenic parts of Autobahn in Germany. This way I also get to bring my bike and other heavy and cumbersome objects that would have been difficult to get on the plane. Since I don’t have a car of my own or a driver’s license I owe a great debt of gratitude to my mom who has been persuaded to drive me down.

You are of course welcome to join us, albeit only virtually. Turn on some German music or a Swiss language course (that is what we will listen to in the car) and track our progress as we head south. Our intenarary is as follows:
Depart from Stockholm around lunchtime and arrive in Göteborg some six hours later. (Map)
In Göteborg we have to Check in at our ferry by no later than 19:00. This night-ferry will then take us (Map) to Kiel in northern Germany. Arrival is expected to 09:00 on Saturday morning. We then drive (Map) to Glandorf to visit an old friend of the family. It is unclear how long we will stay. May just an hour for tea or maybe we will even spend the night. Who knows?

Afterwards we will head south (Map) and travel as far as possible to St.Gallen. Depending on the time spent in Glandorf we will reach St.Gallen either Sunday lunchtime or late in the night.

And then the adventure begins.

Hospital Flag

Me: Yes, I'm going to Switzerland.
What do you know about that place?
Cousin: I dunno, isn't it the country with the hospital flag?

Today will be the last Sunday until late July that I have dinner with my family and immediate relatives. As I was talking to them, in particular my young cousins, I realized that they (and maybe others) had a limited knowledge of what I am going to do in Switzerland.

So, in order to give you a preview of what my future posts will be about here is a short list.

• By living in a (almost) German speaking area I strongly hope to improve my mastery of Deutsch. Therefore, don't be surprised if I comment on something language related
• I am after all going on a student exchange, so school will enter into the picture, be it an eccentric professor that deserves mentioning or some random thought I have on a topic related to my studies.
• Exchange is always about meeting people, both local and the other exchangers. Add to that that I will probably hang around with the local CEMS Club and AIESEC LC. Expect bits of gossip and lots of pictures.
• Not only does the setting of a medium sized Swiss town offer something pleasing to the eye. It also brings vast possibilities to enjoy the out-doors. I am bringing my bike, uni-hockey/innebandy stick & badminton racket, but will most likely enjoy skiing, football and just plain sight-seeing as well.
• Being the perpetual optimist I fully expect there to be time over to indulge in reading the many books I need to, in order to research my thesis. I don't know how much I'll comment directly on this work, but I'll probably link frequently to stuff that is related

CH in minus 5!

Singing Japanese Ambassador

What could be stranger than a representative of Japan (a country famous for being less extrovert than others) dressed in a rice-hat, stroking his guitar and singing folk songs in Swedish?
Not much. And of course I, and the rest of the people in attendance, loved it. And so do others. If only Swedish ambassadors were this cool.
This was just one part of Nippon Day, an annual event that involves SSE students working side by side with students from Hitotsubashi University on a project taking place in both Sweden and Japan, in order to bring our countries closer. A very praisable aim and very well executed. My personal favourite event today was when I got to sample 5 different kinds of Saké. One looked almost like milk. Sooo cool.

CH in minus 25 days

Today the world got a little better

Since those who read this played floor ball with me today (except D) there is no need to again recall my current activities. I’ll therefore share what I did afterwards.

I started viewing Podd-TV!

With a simple program called FireAnt I can watch tv-programs, albeit few are available, whenever I want without the hassle of finding the sites and download them from there. SVT is my only source so far but considering that my list of podcasting feeds have consistently grown (now over 40 indispensable feeds) I won’t have to wait long before I have more to watch than I know what to do with.

Ah, what a wonderful world of technology.

Btw, CH minus 26 days

Uppdatering: Ser att även Expressen sänder Podd-TV

Countdown

CH in minus 27 days