Sverige, jag kommer!

(Sweden, here I come!)
Well, my last night in Austria for a very very long time. In the last few days I met some friends, said Goodbye and shed some tears (oh yes, men can cry...). I've started to realize that I'll be away for several months, away from my home, my friends, my family. It's not like I can catch the next train and stay home for a weekend, no, next time I come here will be on Christmas.
But honestly, I'm not that sad - because I know that I'll see my friends and family again and that we stay in contact. It's not like we'll never hear or see us ever again. Still, some good-byes have been really hard...

And I'm really looking forward to Sweden. I can't wait to explore Karlstad, see the swedish landscape and meet some new people.
So, all my bags are packed, I'm ready to go (100 points if you know the song ;) ). Tomorrow, 4 o'clock a.m my father will drive me to Zurich. 7.05 a.m my plane to Kopenhagen leaves. And at 11 o'clock I'll arrive in Karlstad, where someone will pick me up from the airport.
As soon as I have access to the Internet, I'll write a short note. In the meantime I will do "RFOL (right from on location)" (Copyright by Mr. Schmidinger ;) Gregor wars *fg*) which means that I'll write down my thoughts on a piece of paper and re-type them, when I have access to the internet.
So, Good-Bye, hej då...see you in Sweden :)
Manuel

Time to say goodbye...

The last few days have been full of "Goodbyes", "Good Lucks" and other wishes... On Friday I had dinner with my best friend and his girlfriend (who is also a good friend of mine). It was really nice, talking and eating the delicious chinese food...Afterwards we played "Singstar" - of course I lost ;)
it wasn't really a "Farewell-Dinner", because we'll see each other again before I leave, but nevertheless, it was a nice evening that I'll remember, when I'm in Sweden.

Yesterday night I went dancing with some of my friends - my last weekend in Austria had to be "celebrated" in a proper way, so we've decided to go to a disco (instead of making a farewell party...).
It was really cool and funny - as always, when we go out.(don't know why I look so angry in this pic...:-/ )
Well, within the next few days I'll meet some more of my friends to say goodbye...

And I have to pack my suitcase and organize some more things. I planned to go to various doctors before my departure (dentist, orthopedic specialist, dermatologist,...) but I think I can't consult them all in one week...As always I postpone the awkward things until the very end...
Then I have to contact Erasmus, because they sent me the contract so late (on Friday), they won't be able to give me some money before end of September (signed contracts have to be sent to them 1 month before the departure...).
And of course I have to pack my suitcase...so I won't be bored this week, that's for sure.
I'll keep you updated,
m.

2 weeks and 1 day...

...then I'm in Sweden. I'm really looking forward to it. Until now I had the feeling, that it's not that big deal to leave Austria for 1 year (or longer) and told everybody that it's not that hard for me to leave. But last night I couldn't sleep because so many thoughts were in my head.
Thoughts about my friends, family, things I have to do before my leaving,..stuff like that. I began to wonder how the goodbye will look like...

Well, I'm planning to make a small farewell-party next saturday...nothing big, just me and some friends, going to our favourite Disco/s and having some fun...
On Saturday I'm going to London with my best friend - I'm really excited, I love London (my fav. city) and hope to have a great time there...
Manuel

Sitting here...

in a boring room...
I'm moving out of my room in Salzburg - this is my last evening/night in my room on the Campus. I'll miss this room, because I spent so much time here and there are so many memories connected to this small apartment - good and bad ones. Well, and now it has come, the time to leave Salzburg (at least for a week...) and soon I will leave Austria behind and start a new chapter of my life in Karlstad, Sweden. I still can't believe that I'm actually away for 1 year....
Yesterday I said goodbye to all of my colleagues and friends in Salzburg and on thursday there was an "end of semester" party. I'll see some of my friends during the holidays and I really hope that we'll keep in touch afterwards...
Enough sentimental babbling, let's get to some news.
I still don't know how much help/money I'll get from the Erasmus program. Yesterday I was at the international office, but they told me that Erasmus had some problems with their database and that they'll let me know how much money I get as soon as they know.
Furthermore, my flight to Karlstad changed - I'll leave from Zurich on the 17th of August, 7 a.m - not 10 a.m as planned. They rescheduled the flight due to some weird circumstances I don't understand...so now I'll arrive in Karlstad 2 hours earlier, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Tomorrow I'll leave Salzburg and go back to my "real" home (although Salzburg feels more like home than Vorarlberg...), at least for some days...
bye
manuel

Oh, and btw - I changed the layout a bit and uploaded this strange, cheap-looking banner. I'll change it when I come up with sth better.