COPENHAGEN'S WINTER-WONDER-LAND

Yesterday afternoon we started our trip to Copenhagen. We were sitting in unmanned underground railway*really strange*.

After some sightseeing and a delicious lunch (club sandwich, Smørrebrød) and an even more delicious dessert - crème brûlée, we went to the Tivoli-park to have our first Grog. We enjoyed the amazing christmas market there with all the light shows, the entertainment park, Santa Claus from Coca Cola and of course all the sweets.

More pictures of our great trip you can find here.

IKEA

The successful shopping trip from yesterday has had to be continued today. Therefore Dani and her dad went to Kalmar to get the impression of a real Swedish IKEA store.


They have got very good ideas about how to furnish their house at home. They think it has to be repainted in Swedish blue and yellow and all the interieur has to be replaced by IKEA stuff.


More pictures of the trip you can find here.

SHOP UNTIL YOU DROP

Today Dani has been shopping with her dad in Kristianstad. They have spent lots of money and have been totally fascinated by the superb interior shops. One of the "shopping booties" is this enormous cute elk glass. We put a perfumed candle in it and so our flat is sweet with lemon grass. :)

Of course there also has to be bought a "real" elk when you go shopping in Sweden...

And of course Dani has had to buy some jewellery- diamonds are the girls best friends ;). So this is our current jewellery collection...but don't tell anybody that we have such expensive things at home *g*


More pictures you can find here.

ODYSSEY TO STOCKHOLM

Yesterday I picked my girlfriend and her dad up in Copenhagen. We planned to go to Malmö with the train and from there then up to Stockholm with the X2000. Unfortunately the public holidays put a spoke in our wheel. All the trains, busses and plaines were overbooked and therefore, after some hours of organizing ;), we rent a car (Opel Astra) and drove to Stockholm within 7,5 hours. It was exhausting but unforgettable!!

When we arrived in our youth hostel at about 1.45 am, we straightly went to bed and were glad to be inside somewhere warm.

Today we have slept until 10 o'clock and after an extensive breakfast we started our sightseeing-tour thru Stockholm with the VASA museum as our target. Afterwards we had a delicious ;) meal at a Mexican taco bar.

I hope we will go to bed today early because we feel the last night still in our bones.

See you tomorrow.

Pictures from the trip you can find here.

ASPM EXAM

Yeah ... now I have finished my last exam this learning period. It was a great effort to learn the whole stuff consisting of project management, leadership and motivation theories.

And now I look forward to Saturday: Dani's arrival for a whole month in Sweden. We will visit Stockholm, Copenhagen and maybe if there is enough time Goeteborg.

GSE EXAM

I just came home from my first examination in Sweden. It was about important factors and risks of outsourcing of SE tasks. It was funny to compare the exam rules to that of Austria. Here this process is a very formal one - you have to show your ID card two times, an every table there is a instruction paper, etc.
I think I have done a good job and now I concentrate on studying for the Wednesday exam on advanced software project management :(

TRIP TO POLAND - THE RETURN

This morning we came back from a very long trip to poland (1 night, 1 day, 1 night) ;)

We were in the Gdinia, Sopor and Gdansk. It was a nice trip but I was wondering about the poornes of some of the habitants but I plan to come back to Gdansk because it has such a nice old town.

The pictures of the trip you can find here.

Größere Kartenansicht

GOOD START INTO THE DAY

Todays start into the day was very hard. I woke up at about 5 minutes to 6 o'clock. Because I decided yesterday to train my mental strenght, I got up and had some breakfast. After that I took my swimming stuff, jumped on the bike and drove to the indoor swimming pool of Ronneby. There you have to possibility to do some morning sport (opening hours in the morning: 06:30 - 08:00). So started to swim a slalom between all the retirees and had two sauna sessions (in Swedish: Bastu). After doing sport for 1,5 hours I went shopping and sit now working on my assignments.

Have a nice day, too :)

BIKE TOUR TO ASPÖ

Today I decided to visit Aspö again. So i picked my bike and took the train to Karlskrona and afterwards the ferry to Aspö. I drove a whole round on the island. It was very interessting especially because I found a museum of the coast artellery division.

The pictures of the trip you can find here.

ALEX AND ROBERTS VISIT

My sister Alex and her boyfriend Robert stayed in my flat for about 5 nights. They left today after getting a clue what my life in Sweden looks like. I think they enjoyed their stay and will remember it.

Here you can see many of the pictures of their trip.

TWO DAYS IN COPENHAGEN

Today I picked up Alex and Robert from the airport in Copenhagen. Afterwards we drove directly to the youth hostel "sleeping-in-heaven" which we found immediately after search a whole hour :) It is a very lovely place to stay which I can recommend to everyone who wants to visit Copenhagen. We started our pleasent stay with a bunch of beer directly from the hostels office desk (cheap price: about € 3). Then we walked around in the city and enjoyed the evening in a sushi restaurant - very delicious.
The next day we had some sight-seeing and afterwards we drove back to Ronneby.
The pictures from the trip you can find here.

BODY LANGUAGE

Today we had two interessting hours organized from the international office. It was about body language - how the swedish people communication thru their gesture and mimic. But the whole thing tended more and more into the direction of a discussion on different cultures which was very interessting. We all acted some situations about our lifes in our home countries like how we greet in the different situations, etc.

I hope to get some nice pictures of today to share them with you.

LECTURE NOTES - EN1115

Here you can find a link to the lecture notes of todays academical writing session.

DAY IN COPENHAGEN

Tomorrow I will visit Copenhagen to pick up my sister Alex and her boyfriend Robert from the airpart. We will have a snugly afternoon and evening. On the day after we will have some sight-seeing thru the city and in the afternoon we will go back to Ronneby.

We will sleep at the "Sleep in heaven" hostel. When I booked the accomodation I made the mistake to book over www.hostels.com so I had to pay a fee which wouldn't be necessary if I had booked directly thru the hostels web page. So guys don't do the same mistake too.

ELECTION RESULTS

Today we had the election in Austria. Here you can see the results without the votes from the absentee ballot - as you can see there is a huge empower of the FPÖ and BZÖ:

SPÖ	29,71%
ÖVP	25,61%
GRÜNE	9,79%
FPÖ	18,01%
BZÖ	10,98%
FRITZ	1,76%
DC	0,63%
KPÖ	0,77%
LIF	1,91%
RETTÖ	0,72%
LINKET	0,01%
KHK	0,01%
LINKE	0,04%
STARK	0,01%
TRP	0,04%

TOUR TO HÄRSTORPSSJÖN

Today we have beautiful weather here in Sweden so I decided to take my bicycle and go on tour :) At first I visited the jumble sale which takes place nearly every sunday here at Brunnspark. Afterwards I continued to the west side of Ronenby namley to the Härstorpssjön lake. It is a lake with a diameter of about two kilometers. I gave my bike a little break and walked by feet to a wonderful and very silent place on the other side of the lake which could only be reached by feet. There I stayed nearly one hour and enjoyed the great nature. I took some pictures and read in the book Hourgame from David Baldacci. Here you can see some impressions of the tour:

7 DAYS LEFT

Well, I'm back in Austria again but one thing has remained the same: I am still working on my diploma thesis all day (and night) long. Next Thursday, 2nd October, I will finally hand in "my baby". It's really funny but somehow I have fallen in love with my diploma thesis. There is so much heart and soul in these 300 (!!!) pages. I also think it's the right time to say THANK YOU to my personal mental and love coach Joe ;) who gave me the necessary power and energy to finish my work so efficiently. This makes me remember our holidays in July: We were definitely spending two great weeks in Kreta, but there was one hard day for me: We decided to "walk" thru the Samaria canyon which is 16km long and has a really high difference in altitude to overcome. I had some moments of simply wanting to give up and just lie down and wait for some donkeys to carry me down ;). Fortunately Joe was strict enough to motivate me to take the strains. Right now it's the best time to think back to this situation and keep in mind "Just struggle through as the goal is so near!" Thank you Schatzi!

TRIP TO POLAND

We are affered a nice trip to our friends in Poland from 12th - 14th Oktober. We will visit the northern part of that big country, especially Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot. I am looking forward to the photos and the impressions I will get.
The price will be 400 Kronas (~40 Euro).


Größere Kartenansicht

ELECTION CAMPAIN

Because I am in Sweden and don't have the chance to follow the converge of the different parties for the up-coming election at sunday I had to think of a plan B. At that page (ORF) you can find every debate of the top candidates:

1. Faymann vs. Molterer
2. Molterer vs. Van der Bellen
3. Faymann vs. Strache
4. Faymann vs. Haider
5. Van der Bellen vs. Strache
6. Van der Bellen vs. Haider
7. Molterer vs. Strache
8. Molterer vs. Haider
9. Faymann vs. Van der Bellen
10. Strache vs. Haider

Have fun and enjoy it ;)

ADVERTISEMENT FOR KARLSKRONA

Yesterday at the erasmus meeting we were shown a nice advertisement video of the telecom city Karlskrona and also the BTH - Karlskrona is one of the three placed were the BTH is located.




Locations of the BTH:


Größere Kartenansicht

DEBATE

Today I had to deliver my first assignment this semester. It was a debate about the topic "global software engineering tools replace the personal contact" and not an easy job because we had to argument that these gse tools are equal or maybe better than having personal contact. But we found some arguments to support or line and had a very emotional debate on that topic. I was very happy to hear that both groups (the affirmatives and the negatives) were graded with an A.

VISIT OF ASPÖ

At the last sunday of Dani's September visit to Sweden, we decided to go to the island Aspö near to Karlskrona. But before we had to wait for the ferry on which you can have a trip for free with both bike and car. So we went to the Maritime Museum of Karlskrona for a hot cup of tea. Here you can see Dani's reaction when I bantered her a little bit:


Her reaction was to pop up the weapons of the women :)

Half an hour later, the ferry to Aspö finally arrived. We had a convenient voyage which takes about 25 minutes.


After arriving at the island we walked around some time and found very lovely places. But as you can see the weather was not as good as it was at the previous trips.


This is a lighthouse on the island which is for rent. We decided to book a whole level for us at Dani's next visit in November.

TRIUMPH CONVENTION

Today we had perfect weather and so we enjoyed the TRIUPMH convention in Brunnspark:

As you can see there were many cars from Sweden, Danmark and also many German guys with their old and beautiful maintained cars.

KAISERSCHMARREN

To bring some Austrian feeling into our Swedish life, we decided to cook one of the most typical Austrian meals ... the Kaiserschmarren. After an extended shopping tour to get all of the credentials we started to cook. Here you can see the result:

BUSINESS BEFORE PLEASURE

After a hard working day at the diploma thesis we decided to go the the Ronnebyå which is a river flowing thru Ronneby. There we had a picknick and enjoyed beautiful weather. Here you can see the pictures of the day:

DANI'S RETURN

Fortunately after an absence of three days, Dani returned to Sweden again :)
So I went to Copenhagen by a little detour thru Vaxjö. It is a little town northern to Ronneby. Then I took the train over the Öresund bridge to Denmark:

I picked her up at the airport in Copenhagen and travelled with her back back to Ronneby.
Enjoyment of reunion:

After traveling the whole day we planned the schedule for Dani's diploma thesis:

DOCTOR AND RONNEBY HAMN

Today I've visited the first time a swedish doctor here in Ronneby at the caprio clinic. I needed him because of the injection for my pollen imunization. As it is in sweden, everything was uncomplicated and unbureaucratic. The only thing I had to do was to pay an amount of 80 SEK, which I will get back from my insurance company in Austria. After the visit of the clinic, I decided to make a tour with my bike to the Ronneby hamn. It's some few kilometers out of Ronneby and a good trip with the bike. Here you can find some pictures of the tour:

BLEKINGE MUSEUM

So, now I've finished my course selection. The courses which I've choosen for the winter semester 08/09 are the following:

• Global Software Engineering (PA2411)
• Advanced Project Management (PA2414)
• Software Quality Management (PA2408)
• Software Productline Architecture (PA2410)
• Swedish for exchange students (already done)

I also managed the problem about the injection for my pollen imunization. The very friendly nurse at the BTH Ronneby will make an appointment with a doctor who can give me the injection. I am fascinated how friendly and helpful all the people are.
After that I went to Karlskrona with the train. There I visited the Blekinge museum, which was nice but not very dazzling:

Finally I delivered the filled form for the swedish resident permit. Hopefully I will get the permit :)

The other pictures from the day you can find here.

TOUR TO KARLSHAMN AND KARLSKRONA

Today we visited the surrounding of Ronneby - especially Karlshamn and Karlskrona. We found a lovely camping site where we plan to stay next summer for some days. Also the campus in Karlshamn would be worth to study there :)
In the evening we travelled to Karlskrona by train. There we did some sightseeing and enjoyed the biggest ice cream in the world.

The pictures of the trip, you can find here.

TOUR TO ÖLAND

Today we have visited an island called Öland. It is located beside the city Kalmar in the historical province Småland. After a drive with our rented Ford Focus we arraved the island at about 10 o'clock. The island is connected to the mainland by the six kilometer long Ölandbridge:


At first we tried to go to the coast to get a view from the sea. So we found a campsite, where Dani had some fun with domestic children :)

Afterwards we traveled up to the most northern part of the island, to a village called Byxelkrok with a wonderful historical lighthouse:

We also found some windmils which are special because they can be rotated over a wooden axis:

We enjoyed the tour and finished the trip with a birthday lunch for Dani at a nice restaurant at Borgholm directly at the seaside:

The map of our trip:

Größere Kartenansicht

The fotos of the trip, you can find here.

DANI'S BIRTHDAY

Today is Dani's birthday. Now she is 22 years old and very happy to celebrate it with me in the amazing country Sweden:

Afterwards we took the Wittus from Karlskrona into the Schärengarden of Blekinge.

When we reached Utlängan, we walked through the typical Schären-landscape - wonderful!!! - to the most eastern point of Blekinge. After half an hour or three kilometres of walk we came to a glade, where the deep-blue sea was gleaming in the background. It absolutely was a sight to behold. But it even got better: We passed a lighthouse, in front of which we decided to picknick and celebrate Dani's birthday with champagne.

It was also time for some romantic moments and so on ...

Before we returned back home, we refreshed ourself by jumping in the Baltic Sea.
I think this picture represents Dani's emotions the best: SMILE. It was a perfect day full of sunshine, a little bit dreamlike.

For more pictures from this great day just look here.