First Korean Cooking Lesson

The day started with a lesson in leadership and corporate strategy. Next we had lunch in the university canteen. Korean food is quite different. We had a lot of vegetables, like spicy kimchi. The dessert was very weird: Salad with a sweet apple sauce and chocolate pieces. At 2.30 p.m. we arrived at the Female Monk's Association. We learnt how to pray correctly and after that we got a cooking lesson to make temple food which is "clean" and "healthy".

Later we arrived in Samsung town, and went into the Samsung delight store. We then passed the river, and went to the Dongdaemun market near to our hotel. We tasted some dry fish...it was horrible!!

This is another impressive toilet in Korea.

Welcome To Korea! 한국에 오신 것을 환영

At 8.30 a.m. the bus left the hotel for the airport. We landed at 4 p.m. in Seoul, and had a welcome dinner with very nice food and red wine. After that everyone checked-in. For our stay in Korea we had double rooms. There were washing machines and even a small kitchen to cook in; very sweet. I am sharing my room with Sandra, like I did in the U.S.

Farewell Party With Host Families

We met Mari’s parents at the train station. I quickly changed my clothes in the restroom and we then met all the other students in the lobby of the hotel. The directors made a speech in front of all the host families and students. The atmosphere was very nice. A buffet was ready with drinks and, of course, sushi. After the directors’ speech everyone joined the buffet and chatted to each other. The highlight of the evening was the karaoke with everybody. We sang both Japanese and German songs. At 7 p.m. the host families had to leave. We said goodbye and checked into our hotel rooms for one more night. I told Mari to join us for the rest of the evening. We wanted to go out in Tokyo. About eight of us went to Shinjuku where we met two other boys and entered a bar to have some drinks and food. After that we tried to get into some clubs, but as the boys didn’t have the right clothes, we couldn’t get in all together. We tried several times and decided at 5 a.m. to go back to the hotel.

Disneyland Store In Tokyo

Although we were in a hurry, we had time to go into the Disney store. The design of the shop is very cute. Inside they have more than just teddy bears. Mari and I enjoyed it and felt like children in the store. We greeted Minnie and Micky and took a picture as a souvenir.

Marriage At The Meiji-Schrein

The next morning we wanted to leave the house very early. We first went to the Meiji-Schrein, and took pictures of the temples and monuments. We had been lucky, because we saw a Japanese marriage that day. The bride was wearing a Kimono. Next we went shopping again. We had to hurry up, because we had to be back at the PSK hotel by 5 p.m., for dinner with all the students. We passed Shibuya for the Apple store, Disney land store and ate sushi at a sushi circle restaurant. You cannot compare the sushi taste of Europe with the one here, it’s so delicious. I bought a lot of clothes and I decided to wear one of the dresses at the party.

Traditional Japanese Massage

After dinner, Mari and I went to Shibuya to shop. She showed me one big store with a lot of small shops. A lot of clothes were cheap because of the summer sales. Girls were shouting for customers, like in Turkey. When the shops closed at 9 p.m. we had a cold coffee and went back home. Mari promised me a massage, because she had learnt how to do one. For one hour I could relax. I really enjoyed the massage and I wanted to fall asleep. At 3 a.m. we finally slept.

At A Ninja’s House

The Ninja restaurant in Akasaka is a special restaurant designed as a Ninja house. It’s not a woman who is serving you, but a Ninja in a black costume. The way to the room where our meal was, was very adventurous itself. We passed down a dark hallway, a door closed, another opened. Finally we arrived, the food was Japanese, and had an aperitif as a starter. The meal took two hours in total.

Welcome To My Host Family

At 2 p.m. I had to be back at the PSK hotel, because a host family was meeting me there. I will stay with them for one day at their home. I was super excited to see them. Mari is 23 years old and came with her parents. They have a dog, a Chihuahua, which is a really cute dog. He liked me a lot. The family hasn’t got a traditional Japanese house. It was really modern and I didn’t have to adapt at all. Mari can speak pretty good English, because she lived in Sydney. Her parents also understood English. After a green tea and giving them my present, we all went to dinner together.

Perpetuation In Tokyo

Each of the girls had three minutes to draw my face on a piece of paper. The results were amazing and interesting. The students had been very happy with me as a model and asked if I could come again. Next time, when I’m in Tokyo, I should spend a longer time there and then I am sure that my face will be immortalised in one of the most popular Universities of Arts in Tokyo.

How Would Mona Lisa Feel?

The next morning I wanted to wake up at 8 a.m. to meet Saiko at the University of Arts, but my lack of sleep caused me to oversleep. I was really delayed, so packed my luggage and called her to let her know, but she was okay with it. I went by cab to her university and four students drew pictures of my face.

Ladies Night In Tokyo!

I met two Japanese girlfriends in the evening and we went to a summer festival. I tried to dance to the traditional Japanese music. We ate some green beans, crushed ice with syrup and drank water with sprite a flavour. Afterwards we entered a very nice restaurant. It is one of the newest restaurants, and each group had an individual room. We ordered a couple of different things like sushi, tofu, sashimi and fish. It was really fun with three girls. We laughed a lot and couldn’t say no to the desserts. We had a crème brûlée which was traditionally burnt on top. The two girls left and I went to Soikas home. She told me that she never locks her door, because she can trust her neighbours. Most of the Japanese families don’t lock their houses. When she changed her outfit we took a cab and went to Ageha, a huge club with different kind of music. We stayed there until 4am and then I took a cab back home.

Earthquake In Kawasaki

I came home very late and while I was in the bathroom, I felt like I was drunk. The floor beneath me seemed to move, and yes, it turned out to be a small earthquake tremor in Kawasaki. At 4 p.m. I had my presentation and now the weekend can start! I am so excited!

The Shady Side Of Tokyo

We did the last bits of work for our presentation today. Afterwards I went out with a friend to spend the night in Shibuya. We took the train and asked a guy to help us finding the right line. As usual in the Japanese culture, he followed us until we reached our destination. I wondered whether he really had to go the same direction as us or if he was just being kind. There is such a "never say no" attitude in Japanese Culture, which is so different to many others. People always help and say yes, but be careful as you can’t trust just anybody. However, it is a very very safe country. Marita and I walked across the streets of Shibuya. We met some locals on the streets and spent some time with them. They showed us the love hotel area where you pay around 4,500 Yen for three hours in a luxury hotel. Kissing on the streets is forbidden in Japan. The locals we met told us that Japanese people can become really rude when drunk. We saw two girls lying on the ground totally drunk and six boys standing around and trying to take them home. This was just one example. Marita and I took the first train back to our hotel at 4.30 a.m. and arrived at 6 a.m. and fell straight asleep...

A Day At Neturen

This morning started at 6 a.m. again. Today we had a meeting with Neturen, a company that develops heat technologies. The CEO's of the firm explained to us the philosophy, history and technical details of the company. For me, as a non-technological student, it was interesting to see how machines work. Afterwards we got back to hotel to have lesson in International Marketing and Communication.

A Quick Bite To Eat In Japan

I wanted to find a place to eat something quick and cheap. I entered a snack bar but couldn't understand anything. Luckily there had been pictures to identify what the writing might be. I tried to guess what the waitress was saying, and luckily I was right! She was asking if I wanted to have the noodles warm or cold. Look at the picture; the meal was 4.90 Yen and pretty tasty!

Entering The Kōdōkan - 講道館

After our lesson we took the train to the Kōdōkan, the oldest and most important school of Judo. The school is very big with eight floors, in Bunkyō. I wanted to participate, but there were only advanced sessions, so I looked on as my colleague sweat his arse off, haha. I watched him fight for half an hour.

Calamari Instead Of Chips

We started very early today. Our bus left at 6.40 a.m. straight to the Kanagawa Factory which is a corporation working with Fuji Film. The company is situated very close to the Fuji mountain, which is the highest in Japan at 3,776 meters. We couldn't see it because it was too cloudy. At a rest stop I decided to try out some calamari which was packed like chips. It was disgusting to eat, because it wasn't cooked. It was in a vinegar sauce and still looked like it was alive. The CEO of the factory told us about the history of the company and they showed us around. It was pretty interesting. After our tour we headed back to the hotel for the seminar.

New Culture - New Habits

After a very short night we had our first seminars with a Japanese professor about General Management. After that we visited the company Greentech Solution which was situated pretty far from our hotel. We talked about our case study for Friday and then searched for a restaurant to eat some sushi. I asked a Japanese girl who showed us a very good one. I thought the sushi was so delicious that I ate close to 25 dishes, haha! Returning to the hotel always felt like a puzzle. Some words were in English, but the train system wasn’t that easy for foreigners, especially when your hotel is that far away from the city, as it was for us. It took us two hours just to find our way back home. On the way we saw the Sony’s showroom. It was very interesting to see all the new 3-D cameras which will come soon to the market. In the hotel we met with our groups to work and tomorrow we'll visit Fuji Films.

One Day In The Temple Of Tokyo

We arrived on Sunday night in Kawasaki. The next morning we had a long day in Tokyo.
We visited Asakusa, which is in Taito and had a look at the Buddhist Temple, the Sensō-ji. It's magnificent, and around the temple you can pray and inhale the fragrance of perfumed candles, which should bring luck in life and keep you healthy.
We went into the Hama-rikyu Garden, which is really beautiful. Afterwards we went on a ship across the Sumida River.
While we sailed down the river we passed a lot of different coloured bridges.
We saw the building home to the biggest beer company in Japan, Asahi.






For the evening we went out in Shibuya where we just sat down and watched people crossing the street. It's so interesting to watch the Japanese with their extraordinary clothing style. Women always look like dolls, which I like a lot. Afterwards we met a Japanese girl who went with us to the womb club. People here are very shy and don't dance too much on the dance floor. They prefer just to have a drink and watch people going crazy.

This picture shows a Japanese toilet and can give an answer to why people spend more time than on European toilets.

Enjoying The Sun

My little brother visited me this weekend and I showed him around. We first went to the Attersee where we tried out wakeboarding. It was my second time. The water conditions were different. It was quite wavy and some staves [what is a stave?!] were in the water which is really dangerous. My brother had difficulties getting on the board. I did pretty well, and succeeded at boarding with one hand, but only for a few seconds, haha. However, I have proof of it on the camera. Next day we went to the Fuschl Lake. It is one of the cleanest lakes around Mondsee. We swam a lot and got tanned. The city of Salzburg is very lovely when it's warm. There were lots of tourists walking around, taking pictures. We had dinner in a nice restaurant eating typical Austrian food before leaving to go to the railway station.

The Magic Stick

The guys in the digital media department had already tried out all my fun-sport products. The one they really liked was the pogo-stick. With this stick you can jump very high, but first you have to pump some air into it. For me it was a very strange feeling to stay on it. I couldn't jump at all, because I wasn’t heavy enough.

Rolling Around

The orbit wheels look fun, but they aren't that fun to move on. I tried several times to stay on them, but couldn't. I think it's a good way to make you do the splits! This is not the only product with skates. There are a lot more and you'll get to see them on my blog over the next few days. Stay tuned!

Wobbly On The Waveboard

Today I got a new model of waveboard, which looked good, but to stand on the board wasn’t easy at all. Some of my colleagues, who are skateboarders didn't have too much difficulty, but I really struggled, as you can see from my photo!

Approach to Barefoot Water Ski

While I was searching for some funny sports, I found out that there is something called "barefoot water ski". I got in touch with the trainer in Miami, Florida, Robert Teurezbacher, and luckily he was in Austria for a couple of months. I decided to drive to Wallsee for one day, and try it out. We first started with water ski. I learned it pretty quickly, training to slide on waves. After that Robert gave me special shoes with which I could practice how to get in the right position for barefoot water ski. After my third try I could stand up and it was a really nice feeling. I can't tell you yet, how it's going to be without the shoes, because it was too early to try it barefoot!

The Intended Jet Ski

Today I had the pleasure of trying out a kind of Jet Ski, but without motor. The machine functions with a rechargeable battery. The battery life lasts 30 minutes. I was trying it out at the Mondsee and from my experience I can recommend it to everyone who hasn’t had the chance to ride a Jet Ski. The racer can reach a speed of 40 km/h and it's really fun!

Always In Search Of New Trends!

As a journalist you need to be curious. Fortunately, that is exactly what I am! My friends all agree, and it's a very good skill for my job. During my traineeship at Red Bull I worked on a pilot project, trying out new, fun and trendy sports. At the moment I am researching new products, getting in touch with all the retailers and ordering prototypes. Today I got my first package, the Eaglider, which is a kind of skate product, produced and developed in Japan. It's a very good workout for your
balance and difficult to use as a beginner. Usually you are supposed to use it with sport shoes, which I didn’t have with me, so it was pretty hard. Have a look at the picture!

First Wakeboard Lesson

The weather in Austria is damn hot! This is why I decided to try out new water sports. I went to the lovely lake of Mondsee to have my first try at wakeboarding. The beginning was pretty difficult, but as soon as I got to know how to stay on the board I really had a blast! Wakeboarding really worked my thigh muscles hard. Everyone told me that I was good for my first time! I will definitely do it again
this summer and can recommend it to everyone :)!

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!

Jönköping And Stockholm

Two weeks of my studies took place in Jönköping, a small city in Sweden. The business school was really nice, but the lectures had been less interesting. During the week nothing much happened in the small city, that's why I decided to visit some friends in Stockholm. It was a 4 hours drive by train. My friend just picked me up and we went to a Swedish lunch. In the evening we went out close to the train station. The Swedish people start partying really early, even at 8 pm and finish early. I recognized that girls are more flirty than the guys, but all in all it's very difficult to get in touch with Swedish people, they don't seem to be very open for new people. The alcohol consumption is in general very high. The clothing style is like in France, guys love tight jeans and a more feminine style. A big advantage is that Swedish people can talk very good english because they watch movies in English, but Swedish subtitle. This makes the communication really easy.

Snus is dry tabac and very popular in Sweden. You place it under the lip and let it sink in. 

The Bull's Are Calling

This is my new working place. It's situated in a place in the middle of nowhere, called Fuschl am See. I spent 18 months at this company, working for the Communications Department, helping out with the events: Red Bull Crashed Ice, Red Bull Thre3Style, Red Bull Air Race and Red Bull Trendspy.