An Erasmus Thanksgiving!

Prague!

Well, another weekend another trip. This time to Prague for two nights and three days. We arrived late on Friday night after a 5 hour bus ride from Vienna. After making our way to the Hostel we checked in. We decided to call it a night so that we could get an early start the next day.

The next morning, we worked our way to the town square via bus and foot. We met up with a free tour 4 hour tour here. Not the best tour guide I might add... but we got to see the city anyways. After the tour rapped up, we spent the rest of the day wondering the streets, seeing sights and eating lots of food. We decided to stay on the side of the river we were on, and save the other side for the next day. We ate some Czech food for dinner, and called it a night, spent a few more hours wondering and then called it a night (there is a story here, but you'll have to ask me sometime).



We woke the next morning and cleaned up our things. The Hostel locked up our bags for us so we would not have to carry them with us. After a bus ride down town, we walked across the rive to the castle side. The whole rest of the day was spent sight seeing and walking around. It is a very beautiful city. Tons of old buildings to see. in the evening we went back to the Hostel to get our bags, made our way to the bus station for out 12AM bus back to Vienna. I got back to my dorm about 6:30AM tired and not ready for class at 8.

Road Trip!

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Well, Its been about two weeks, but I finally have a few minutes to do a little blog about Berlin. We rented our car in Bratislava early Saturday morning. And we were off for a long dive to Berlin. As you can see from the map we did not take the most direct route to Berlin. The reason for that is that a car rented in Bratislava can not be driven through the Czech Republic. Don't ask me... So through across Austria and into Germany we went. I did most of the driving, but Alex also drove some of the way. We rolled into Berlin around 7 that evening. After checking into our hostel, we went out for a little night exploration. And saw a few sights. We were all pretty tired so we called it an early night.

The next day we hit up a free tour in the morning that met up near the Brandenburg Gate. (see pic). The tour lasted four hours and we hit a lot of the major sights in Berlin. Good deal for free. We spent the rest of the day wondering around Berlin on our own. Its an amazing city, but it was really freaking cold while we were there.

The next day the real festivities began. It was the big celebration for the wall coming down. We spent our morning and afternoon wandering around, seeing the festivities for the wall. The real show did not begin until about 8. When they began having speeches. The German chancellor spoke, along with Hillary Clinton, Gordon Brown, Dmitry Medvedev, and Nicolas Sarkozy. There was also a performance by Bon Jovi... I know I know, Bon Jovi. Bet your super jealous. Then finally the Dominoes came down. Fireworks. We caught the ubahn back to where we parked our car and hit the road about 10PM. After a long night on the road we pulled up to Haus Erasmus in Vienna around 6AM. Tired. we went to bed.

Back.

Still going to post. I got back from Prague this morning at 5. I have class from 8:30AM to 5PM today. More to come soon!

Back from Berlin.

Well I just got back today. I will post on it soon, but just to give you a taste I'm just going to say... Giant Dominos, Police, Tons of People, Prostitutes, Autobahn, Opel, Fireworks, and Hillary Clinton.

Dinner and a Movie

Just a little update...

Yesterday was a busy day. In the afternoon I met up with my tandem partner (Sophia) for a little Coffee/Hot Chocolate. We went to a fancy little shop in the city center somewhere near the photo. After the the coffee shop we had a nice little stroll though downtown before we parted ways. When I got back to my dorm I met up with a few friends and we went to a Turkish restaurant for dinner. Really Really good food. This was followed by a movie. The Michael Jackson Movie at the english theater. Good stuff.

Side Note. For those of you who don't know what the tandem program is. It is a program through the school were they set up Students who want to learn each others language. There is no structure to it. Basically it ends up being be and her meeting up about once a week, doing some random thing we can think up. We mostly just speak english (practice for her) and she teaches me random German words here and there.

I know, I know. More pictures coming. I need to go buy a new SD card today. Mine Corrupted... Don't know why.

Thanks!

Thanks Mother and Sister for the package!

Strategy Weekend - Payerbach

Well, last week was fun. The majority of my time was dedicated to working on three fifteen page group projects. They were basically an analysis of three different companies. We had to write the papers and put together a power point and 10 minute presentation for each.


On Friday afternoon we caught train to Payerbach (a small town an hour and a half outside Vienna); where we stayed the night in a conference hotel. In the morning we had to be ready to present on one of the three cases. We were not told which groups were presenting which case until just before we presented. The whole process took from around 8AM to around 3PM. It actually wasn't as bad as it sounds. The cool thing is, that was my final for the class. I am now done with one class.

The fun part... After the presentations, we went to a gondola and rode it up a hillside (about 1500m). From up top, we got an amazing view of the Austrian countryside and the first official mtn. of the Alps. It was Cold... There was Snow. From here, we rode the gondola back down and went to the train station to catch the train back home.

Strategy Weekend

I'm back from my strategy retreat in Payerbach, Austria. Info to come soon.