Back home With A Lot Of Souvenirs

Goodbye America! I had a great time! I enjoyed it a lot and I met a lot of interesting people. The flight back to Munich was pretty good. In Munich I stayed for a couple of hours in my brothers apartment and at around 10 p.m. I drove back home, to Mondsee in Austria. Tomorrow will be the first day of work after my holidays in the US. It will be pretty hard to work with a jetlag, but let's see. The next stop will be Tokyo and then Seoul. Can't wait to see Asia in July!

Sightseeing Marathon In New York City

At 9 a.m. the alarm woke us up. We had a lot of things to do today. We started our sightseeing tour with the Statue of Liberty. We got there using the ferry. Next stop was Wall Street, then Ground Zero. A store with pictures, videos and souvenirs of 9/11 was next to the area. Then we decided to go for shopping in the 21 Century. I found a lot of nice clothes there. We continued to Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Building and the Rockefeller Center. I next went to China Town to get my money changed, but it was not as easy as it seemed. Most of the Exchange offices were closed and the banks wanted a passport which I didn’t have with me. I asked a Chinese man around the corner for help. He was so friendly that we ended up at a Chinese dinner with his daughter. She changed my Euros to Dollars. I enjoyed the conversation with them both and hopefully I will see them again one day. It was getting pretty late and I had to hurry up to get to the Greenhouse club at midnight. I told Joey to meet there. The club had two dance floors with mainly hip-hop and house music. I met a lot of interesting people.

Shopping Mania In New York

I met my friend, Julius, today for lunch and we spent some time together. He lived in New York and got his singing education here. He was a really good guide. Later on we decided that I shop ‘til I drop! I found lovely shoes, accessories and dresses. At midnight I called a friend of one of the guys I met in Miami and he told me that he could get me in a club for free. We went to the Juliet Supper Club. There was a swim wear show and a lot of models were there. Joey welcomed us and offered us to party with his friends. It was overall a very nice club with nice people and good music!

Hair Show On Broadway

We finally reached the hotel in New York. The Broadway hotel is nothing special. You share the restrooms and the internet is sooooo slow! My friend and I decided to get something to eat. I ate a typical American burger and then we walked down the whole Broadway to Times Square. I convinced my friend to go to a musical this evening. We went to the musical "Hair" which was a really good performance. I was so excited after the show, I wanted to go to another one, but with only 2 days to go, I had to prioritise.

So Close To The Stars

We had a bus and boat trip today where we went to Fisher Island and little Havana. Fisher Island is an island where many stars have an apartment. One flat costs around 14,000 Euros per month. You can only reach it via private helicopter or ferry. The houses were so huge, I got really jealous. Next we saw the little Havana city where you really feel like you are in Cuba with all the Cuban music. I bought two cigars for a unique price of 10 dollars. When we arrived at our hotel I finally bought a new suitcase with a very fancy design.
No time to waste. The program for today is to meet the German guys, I met at the ferry, at the Cleveland bar and go after that to the Louis Club. At 5 a.m. the cab will pick us up to go to the airport, heading to New York, finally.

Karate Kid in Miami

We walked down Lincoln Avenue. The end of the street seemed to be very crowded. A lot of people were standing around and the media were there. A woman explained to me that it was a promotion event for the new film, Karate Kid, and that the son of Will Smith, Jaden, and Jackie Chan were there to give some autographs. I took some very nice photos and some close ups. Afterwards the Italian guys from our hotel cooked some pasta and offered us to eat with them. Tonight we will go to the Mangos.

Burning Down The Beach

I am burning! Help! The sunburn made me suffer the whole day. We went to the beach for two hours and decided to go for some ice cream in the Ghirardelli. The ice cream was hand made and tasted pretty good.

Bienvenido A Miami!

6.45 a.m. was the time of our flight from Indianapolis to Detroit and then to Miami. We already felt the humidity and warmth of the city when we got out of the plane. At 1 p.m. we finally arrived at the hotel Tropics in Miami South Beach. It's a small, sweet hotel with a lot of young guests. After getting in our bikinis we went to the beach. On our way to the beach we saw a lot of flash cars and palm trees. The sea wasn’t very clean, it was full of algae, but the temperature was very enjoyable. What I also recognized was that most of the population spoke Spanish. The restaurants were mainly owned by Italians, Mexicans and Spaniards.
We got back from the beach and made plans for the evening.Saturday night we went first to the Mynt Lounge and then to the Shore Club. The entrance was free at both clubs, but the ambiance wasn't great, so we decided to go to another bar. On Sunday we met with another colleague, Thomas and went to the beach. I got really brown and my skin started peeling. In the evening we went to the Sobe Club and then to the Nikki Beach Club.

Results Day

We had two weeks to prepare a case within our groups. Today was the day of our presentation. Each group has twenty minutes to talk and ten minutes to answer the teacher's questions. We did a pretty good job and were the best group of them all. Our group got a bottle of champagne and a university t-shirt. The farewell party was that evening. At three o'clock we caught a limousine and drove to the airport for our next destinations, Detroit and then Miami.

Chicago At Night

We travelled for the whole day. We went to the Navy Pier, Millenium Park, Willis Tower and Michigan Avenue. Chicago is a really lovely city, and I wanted to stay longer than just a weekend. For dinner I met with my friend Natalie and her boyfriend. We spent the rest of the night together. It was a super interesting evening and I enjoyed it! Finally we arrived in the Le Passage club where I met a couple of PHD students.

Chicago In The Daytime

Eleven of our students rented a car to drive to Chicago. After four hours we arrived at our Holiday Inn hotel. It was an amazingly nice hotel in the centre of the city. We went out for dinner and had a drink in a bar. Our first impressions were "Oh my God, it's awesome!"

Drink Competition

Today we went to one of Kelly School’s graduation parties. It was just a simple bar with all drinks only $2. The music and the people were nice. I met a lot of nice students and talked with them about their student life. I saw one fight between two students in the club. At 3 a.m. all the clubs in Bloomington closed. Some students went to a nearby fountain to take off their clothes and swim, but unfortunately I had to leave with my colleagues.

A Campus Like A Paradise

The university in Bloomington is one of the five most beautiful universities in America. It is a public research university with a lot of green space and historic buildings. Compared to my first university in Germany this was amazing with an own science building, different, huge libraries, an art museum, a theatre and drama center and athletic complex. I was proud to have intensive tutorials in the Kelly Business School for two weeks in accounting, Management and Entrepreneurship and Marketing.

Divine Steak

After having spend too much calories in shopping three hours in the College Mall, we entered the longhorn steak house and I ate such a delicious steak that I'm sure to eat there twice. One of the best steak houses in America is definitely the Little Zagreb in Bloomington where is always a huge line.

Aéropostale Pauperized Me

After a very interesting lesson of Strategy I went with a couple of students to the Whitehall Crossing Shopping Center in Bloomington. It wasn't huge at all, but I made it to spend too much money. Luckily I was accompagnied by some guys who helped me to carry my bags.

America As You Know It From Films

I'm not kidding, but the first impression I got when I arrived in Bloomington is this feeling of knowing why it's the country of liberty. Huge houses on huge lands, big pimped cars and big burgers, fast food. What bothered me the most was the air-conditioning inside a room, in the shuttle or university. They turned it so much up that you feel as if you are entering a fridge. As expected people are very friendly, extroverted and like to chat with anybody.

Discovering Bloomington

1 p.m. on Sunday. We had a welcome-lunch at the university in Bloomington with some wraps and salad. The campus is huge and gorgeous with all its green area. Unfortunately there aren't many students in the city, because they already got their graduations and left mostly for vacations. After getting fulled up, we had two lessons: One which introduced the case which we have to prepare in groups until next Friday and we had a music course, explaining the role of creativity in management. Closing off the day was a dinner in a pub where we got tons of pizza and beer.

The Boiling Vulcano

Saturday morning, Munich airport. This is my first flight to the US, I am so excited about that. It was always my wish to fly once in my life to New York. The first challenge of the day was of course the security check. The security team did their job pretty good. They asked us questions like "Did you pack your bag on your own?" or "Do you have stuff in your luggage which could be dangerous for the flight?".
Second challenge: After having passed all this process, I met the pilot who explained me that we'll have a long flight to Philadelphia, because of the vulcano and its ash cloud. So we flew through the nord, across Greenland. He was very friendly and allowed me to enter the cockpit for taking a picture and at the same time he showed me the map of the flying route.
Waiting for permission. 30 minutes before landing the pilot announced that we cannot land and that's why he always turned and turned and with all the turbulences it didn't get better. My stomach didn't feel well. There have been a lot of air pipes and finally I made it to the barf bag!
One night in Philadelphia. We couldn't catch our next flight to Indianapolis, that's why we got a hotel room in the Hilton Airport Hotel and had to fly the next morning at 6 a.m.! After a stop in Washington we finally arrived in Bloomington with all the other students and got already to know that the university has planned a program for Sunday, on Mother's Day!

I'm going on a trip and I'm taking...

One day before my huge journey to the US, I'm still asking myself what I should pack in my luggage. The reason for this problem is simple. One luggage allowed for each person, including 23 kg. And I can assure that I will even have like 20 kg before I'll get there. So I tried to have a healthy mix of summer and autumnal apparel. Let's see if that is the right decision!