Busy bee

Looking back at the last 1.5 weeks I really got the impression that they were really packed. First of all, I had to write an exam for my previous course called Marketing, Technology and Innovation. Although I didn't have the impression that it was too difficult and unfair it took my 2.5 hours to finish, which is kind of uncommen as I'm used to have uni exams which last between 1 and 1.5 hrs. You never know how detailed they expect you to answer, but I have a good feeling though. After the exam and partying in the evening I enjoyed doing anything for once. I went to buy some clothes and for a coffee in town and just made it home before it started to rain cats and dogs. In the late afternoon and evening I just stayed home and relaxed.
Friday morning I then left for the weekend to Amsterdam where I met my parents. We visited several places like the Van Gogh Museum, the Rijksmuseum or the Foam Photographymuseum, walked around or just enjoyed the company over a coffee/dinner. Except the weather the whole weekend was amazing. Another reason for that was, that I met friends again, which I got to know in Stuttgart and haven't seen for almost 2 years. On saturday evening we partying like crazy with the result that I arrived back at the hotel at 6 am and only slept for four hours. And it's kind a strange when the hotel staff is yawning and you still feel energized when you come back :) On sunday evening I joined my friends again, but only for a beer. Later on I travelled back home to Rotterdam where I arrived at 2 am.
Monday and tuesday I spent mostly at home relaxing, except dinner and and some beers as we celebrated Nisha's birthday. On wednesday university continued and my new course (Event and Tourism Marketing) started. They decided to do a shock therapy with us - we had to research and write a group paper in 2.5 days and present it already before it was finished (and it contributes 20% to our final grade). As they only set the "framework" and the research object, we came up with our own research question which was "Can the Olympics 2008 be successful in branding China and Beijing?". I think we did a pretty good job in the short time we had and our professor said at the presentation this morning that it seems to be good but still gave us some tips for further improvements. We handed in our final paper 3 hours ago and now we'll see. Aaaand there we go, off to another weekend!

Half time

On a rainy monday morning I stepped onto this pitch called Rotterdam and soon later I got to know my teammates for this game. We're not la squadra azurra or les onzes de france, no we're more like a club team, without any contingent for international players, which makes our team a tight group of the best players each country has to offer. We have the observers in our team which don't talk too much although they're around and they take their job seriously - they're perfect for goalkeeper position. Then we have those you don't see too much, are diving into their work and stick to their position - perfect for the defense. Then a big group of us is mostly around, keeping the pace up but knows how to vary the speed of the game - our midfield. Another group is travelling all the time, eager to see everything, literally running all the time all over Europe - a perfect match for the wing positions. And then of course we have the ones who try to score on every arising opportunity - our strikers.
After a short training camp we headed off together to our first 45 minutes, which contained back-breaking work as well as artistic masterpieces. It was such an intense game, that the first half flew by at the speed of sound and now they're already over. Tomorrow, is already additional time where we have to put all effort in it one last time before the first half is over. Then, afterwards everyone heads for the locker room to refresh, get the act together, get some time to relax. To drink a cup of tea and exchange the dirty shirt with a clean one. Everyone has his own locker room though. Some have it Italy, in Czech Republic and others in France. Me, I'll have it in Amsterdam where I'll be drinkin my tea with my parents.
The nature of the game implicates as well that there are usually some changes the longer the game lasts. We are having our substitutions already at half time. Some people have finished their work, are heading for there locker room but won't come back for the second half. Others who were on the bench for the first 45 minutes are going to substitute those who're leaving. It's gonna be exciting to see if and how we can keep up the pace. And especially who will be able to do that. And last but not least: how are the substitutes going integrate themselves into the remaining team...

The rise, the fall and back to the future

The last couple of days have been strange somehow. Last friday everything was quite normal. Jacob, one of our dutch buddies celebrated his birthday on saturday and threw a party on friday at his place. After trying to be a friend for certain people at the party and help them overcome some issues, I woke up pretty early saturday morning after only a bit more than 5 hours of sleep. Still with some power left I wrote my part for our final report of a group project and went grocery shopping and all even before lunch time. Deciding that I already did enough for the day I started to relax, watch a movie and procrastinated my jogging to sunday. The evening was quite special as well as almost everyone just stayed at home - so did I and watched some more movies.
Unfortunately though on sunday it was raining. But I overcame my inner bastard and went jogging for 40minutes in the rain and it was quite fun. That's when I got soaked for the first time, but I didn't mind as it was intentional. Afterwards a friend wrote me that she's kind of bored and we agreed to go for a late coffee at around 5pm. When I drove to town it was still raining which was a bit more annoying as I got soaked for the second time, but this time with causal clothes. Anyways I still was in a good mood and it even got better when I came out at home in the evening and wanted to head to our regular happy hour at Concordia - and I saw the stars in the sky. But then after Concordia the fall begun. First of all I had some problems to open the lock of my bike. I felt it already the days before that it got worse but still, it always worked. Then today I had classes and when I wanted to leave I really couldn't open that damn lock - I had to try for almost 15minutes until it finally worked. I was late and so pissed that I didn't want to use the lock again - but of course the stores weren't open to buy a new one. So I somehow faked it at uni and put my lock around the wheel without really locking it. And I was glad and lucky that my bike was still there after classes. But then - of course it had to rain again and when I arrived home (after buying a new lock on the way) I was soaked for the third time in 24 hours! Anyways I started to study and now I feel quite good again.

Beside that nice little story I started really to think about my future. I got my last grade from St. Gallen on friday and it's getting more and more obvious that I'll be done with my studies in the end of may when I come back. So, huge question now is where to apply for a job. I'm mainly interested into consumer goods, technological stuff and highly marketing (branding, PM, online marketing) related stuff. And what annoyed me a bit some weeks ago was, that half of the companies represented at recruitment fair in St. Gallen were consultancies and banks. But as part of my process I decided to write an entry in the forum of an online community and stating that I'm looking for an entry position in marketing. Now, today I got a message from a company which is maybe interested. But the irony is: it's a strategy consulting company focusing on the sectors leasing, asset management, real estate and private banking...

Boring life?

In the past two weeks, things have started to settle down a bit - finally. Most of us were getting more and more occupied with projects, assignments or readings for our classes. Others are still travelling Europe like crazy as their time here is limited. And everyone had gotten the urge to relax from time to time and just stay home once or twice a week, watching a movie, chatting with friends from home etc.
Nevertheless we were still having good times together and having fun during different kind of activities. Two weeks ago for example, was the ABN AMRO Tennis Tournament here in Rotterdam. Jacob, one of our buddy organized tickets for us. We were a group of around 30 people going together to see two matches on a tuesday evening. First there was the french Michael Llodra (who won the tournament in the end) playing against the dutch Raemon Sluiter who's orignally from Rotterdam. This made the whole arena crowded and everyone was cheering for him - expcept the Frenchies in our group of course. The athmosphere was even tighter as Sluiter annouced before, that he'll retire after the tournament - so we got to see the final match of his career. In the second game we saw top player Nikolay Davydenko winning against czech Jan Hernych. Although the level of the second game was better, the athmosphere sucked because half of the seats were empty again and no one seemed to care anymore. Although this experience was interesting for me, I have to admit, I'll never love to go to see tennis matches. You just have to be too quiet and not too much is going on...
Apart from that we've visited Utrecht on a sunday trip, been to museum night yesterday, spent regular nights at pubs or went once to dinner to Hotel New York, a famous restaurant at the spot where the Holland America Lijn started to take off in the early years for their cruises across the atlantic. Tonight finally we'll make an international dinner where we'll gather in a flat of fellow exchange students and cook typical stuff from each country. Gonna be an adventure for our stomachs. As you can see, still interesting stuff is going on.

Boring life? - Not at all!!