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.

London, Baby!

Yesterday night I came back from London - I had a great time there, sightseeing, shopping, relaxing...We (my best friend and I) had much fun and I'd say we saw everything that's important of London.
The Hostel we stayed in was quite good, too - but, when we wanted to check in (tired of the journey, at half past 12 a.m) the guy on the reception wanted us to pay 192 Pounds, because he didn't believe us, when we said that we had already paid over the internet. Well, we tried to convince him but he got quite angry ("Don't tell me how to do my job"...shit like that) and in the end we paid the money but went to the manager the next day - who gave us our money back. Apart from this small incidence everything was fine with the Hostel. Rooms were good (8 people in one room, so you can't expect a french bed ;) ), breakfast simple, but ok.
London was great, as always. One day we drove to Highgate and Hampstead, suburbs of London, but they still belong to London and are connected to the tube. It was really amazing, because you have a great view over the city center and Hampstead is full of idyllic lanes, unbelievable that this is still London.

Of course we went shopping, too. And - obviously - I spend most of my money on CDs. Next time I go to London I will sleep in the Virgin Megastore...;)

Well, the thing that REALLY was exciting - when we wanted to fly back to Salzburg, Austria:
We entered the plane, the plane started, flew for 20 minutes...and turned back. The pilot said something about a problem on the plane's backside and that we have to return to Stansted and continue our journey later. Well, that sounded OK - but when we landed in Stansted, they announced that the flight will be CANCELED, because the airport in Salzburg is closing and won't let any planes in. F*ck.
Well, so we had to book a new flight and because everyone in the plane wanted to do so, the good flights were soon gone. We told the (really nice) guy on the Ryanair desk, that we had to go on a wedding on friday, so we REALLY need to be in Austria by friday morning. If we had some money, we would have stayed a little longer in London, but w/o any money and no booked hotel we had no other chance than to find a flight.
We ended up booking a flight to Venice on thursday morning, 6.30. So we had to spend the night at the airport, where we met 2 nice girls from Salzburg. We had a blast together (oh, that sounds nasty ;) ), talking nearly the whole night in the arrival hall.
Nevertheless, at 6.30 we flew to Venice - this time without a return to Stansted. In Venice we took the next train to Innsbruck, both of us tired, dirty, sticky and exhausted. The journey to Innsbruck was OK, one italian conductor wanted to charge 50 Euros, because we forgot to put a stamp on our tickets (WE DIDN'T KNOW! Nobody told us...!) and since we didn't have any money left, he wanted our passports, to contact the embassy... Well, to put it in a nutshell - we were f*cked up (sorry for the strong language...). We went off the train at Verona and a nice italian lady, who heard the whole 50-euros-for-one-stamp-wtf? thing on the train, took us to the costumer service, where she told the whole story. In the end, they said that conductor didn't write down our names and won't contact the embassy...so we're well off. Who would have thought that italiens could be so nice? The lady who helped us, had to leave and we had to catch our train, so we couldn't invite her on a drink or sth like that...but she really helped us, so a BIG THANK U...if she'd ever read this ;)
The rest of the journey was calm...

Well, and in one week I'll be heading to SWEDEN. Finally I got an e-mail from Erasmus and now I can download the contract, sign it and send it to them. And I still haven't packed anything...! I'm starting to get really excited. I will arrive in Karlstad at 11 a.m, someone will pick me up from the airport (I already got a e-mail telling me where to go...Oh, I love how the scandinavians organize everything :) ).
I'm off now, trying to pack some things and sign the contract...
Manuel

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

Kent - Den döda vinkeln

Some swedish music to get in the right mood for Sweden ;)
Another good song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwPdIpqBML4

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.

Hej Sverige...

Hur har du det?
In a few months I'm in Sweden and I'm already so excited... In the last few weeks I had some Swedish lessons - at least I can speak some Swedish yet. The funny thing is, that some words are really like "vorarlbergerisch" (my austrian dialekt), so it's not hard for me to remember the words ;) If I forget something, I'll just start speaking dialekt*lol*
I still can't believe that I'll spend 1 year in Sweden...I think I'll start believe it when I'm in Karlstad, sitting in my Swedish room (on my Swedish IKEA Bed), looking at the swedish forest outside and smelling Swedish air. Probably I'll listen to ABBA while during that ;)
I've already started listening to some Swedish bands, such as KENT - they sing in Swedish, so I can learn something from listening their music...;)
Hej då,
Manuel