Food, School and Rock N' Roll...

Finally went grocery shopping today, so my standard meal pasta with tomato sauce developed to pasta with tomato sauce with salami and cheese. On the green side I boiled some sugar peas. I am extraordinarily talented in the kitchen…

Since pasta is my standard food the gym is going to be my second  bestfriend from now on. And if I want to show myself public in LA I better go sooner than later. So tomorrow I have my first aerobic session (which by the way is provided free by the University J).

I am also considering a no-candy policy but I do not know if I am mentally capable of that? Am I not suffering enough?

Going to enjoy my Thursday evening reading “Crossing the valley of death – Solutions to the next generation clean energy project financing gap”

Sometimes university is actually interesting.

Finally something to look forward to...

One of the best ways to motivate you must indeed be chocolate. Luckily, we have the Toronto Chocolate Show here on Sunday:

Toronto Chocolate Show

Feels like this Sunday will be great!

Best singer right now...

Adele - Turning Tables

The Key Learning of Today

"Facts alone cannot tell us what we should do..." (David Hume)

Indian Summer

To my joy I have found a park, close to my apartment. Probably not the safest place to wander late in the evening but good enough to spend an hour or so in the morning to clear your head. The weather is extremely nice today, a typical Indian summer day so the summer dress is on.

You learn a lot when traveling the world alone. To my own surprise this is the first time I am suffering from extreme home sickness. The tricky question with this is – I do not know where home is (the drawback of moving around between numerous countries the past 5 years) but listening to my heart and soul it is not Toronto. So I am going to enjoy this transition time in a place I cannot call home and hope I find that place in the spring.

The Kids Are Alright

Los Angeles 21-29 October

Weekend

It is most possible that this blog will be a lot of me wining about my studies and current not so fancy apartment.  I do apologize for that but anyhow, that is my current situation.

On Thursday my toilet flooded resulting in that I reached my breaking point and ran down to the housing service and released me whole vocabulary of nasty words. Anyhow my threatening techniques seems pretty useful as 5 min later a handyman came to take a look at my toilet and the next day they were here to change my carpet (which made a tremendous change as I do not have to tip-toe around anymore…)

The stress has let the fever get to me so I am currently eating aspirins as candy, trying to coordinate all my 5 courses and the heavy work load. But to enjoy life I decided to go downtown today to one of my favorite cafes in Yorkville to relax and do some reading (no reading was done actually). And the sun is actually shining today and I rewarded my selves by buying Adele’s new CD 21 (Yes, mom, you can lend it when I am back).

And if everything goes as plan I will book my 7 days vacation to LA tonight. There is some light in the tunnel.

The hard life of a student II

When I chose to go to Schulich School of Business here in Toronto – I mainly did it because I wanted to try out a MBA program before I graduate (there is nooooo way I am studying after finishing my masters). Well, now I tried it and the conclusion which I already know is – it is tough. Readings, readings, readings and assignments, assignments, assignments…. Therefore my absence here.

So after being here I wonder why I always have to do it so hard for me? Other people go to Australia to relax; I chose to go to the school with the highest workload… In a sense I made the same choice going to St. Gallen – A school I even fantasize about now after experience this. After all the location of University of St. Gallen was very romantic, not to compare with the suburb of Toronto I am stuck in now.

What I learned so far is:

1.       I look forward to vacation in October to LA

2.       I look forward to the end of the semester in December

3.       Once it’s done I will be stronger – and hopefully smarter

Famous actors...

If someone wonders who the two handsome guys from Toronto International Film Festival were, I can reveal that the younger version is Chace Crawford, probably most well-known from Gossip Girl, and the older gentleman is KyleMacLachlan which I know from Desperate Housewives (you know the guy in the wheel chair)…

Black Butterflies

Of pure coincidence I stumbled across the great movie ”Black Butterflies” about the South African poet Ingrid Jonker.

This is one of my favorite poems by her:

Little Grain of Sand

Grain little grain of sand
pebble rolled in my hand
pebble thrust in my pocket
a keepsake for a locket

Little sun big in the blue
a granule I make out of you
shine in my pebble little grain
for the moment that’s all I can gain

Baby that screams from the womb
nothing is big in this tomb
quietly laugh now and speak
silence in dead-end street

Little world round and earth-blue
make a mere eye out of you
house with a door and two slits
a garden where everything fits

Small arrow feathered into space
love fades away from its place
Carpenter seals a coffin that’s bought
I ready myself for the nought

Small grain of sand is my word, my breath
small grain of nought is my death

Welcome to the hard life of a student

A short update to all of you (especially to the ones, whose emails I have not answered)…

 I am doing great, living in the smallest apartment I will hopefully ever live in, 1 hour from Toronto downtown but on campus. The apartment is decorated with a nice light brown carpet (thus no hardwood floor and only God knows when it was last vacuum cleaned) and matched with equally stylish brown cupboards in the spacious 2 sq. m big kitchen. There is not possibility to move around the furniture as the carpet is so discolored beneath…There is also no need to go to India to live on an Ashram since the bed’s softness here matches the floor and the size is decent for approximately half a person ( I am currently sharing it with M – an accomplishment which should be in the Guinness Record Book). The apartment is probably from 1960:s and on and of the ventilation does not work and my bathroom turns into a passive smokers paradise. The area surrounding the building it characterized as one of the most dangerous areas in the whole Toronto area and females are encouraged not to walk alone during night time...

In all, the location and the apartment is great :-)

The good news is, the school is better!

Toronto International Film Festival

Picking up our own tickets to the premier of “the Awakening” at the Toronto International Film festival today we took the opportunity to do some star sightseeing as well. I managed to catch two hot guys with my camera (although there is a substantial age difference between them). They are both starring in the new movie “Peace, Love and Misunderstanding”.

Do you know who they are?

The Niagara Falls

A Taste of Toronto

What we have been up to so far....

Arrived in Toronto on Saturday afternoon only to discover that my mom and dads’ telephones did not work (how we found ourselves at one of the busiest airports in North America is a miracle). After a happy family reunion we caught a cab downtown stuck in traffic jam for an hour and a half… As you can imagine it was a quite turbulent Saturday…

However now we are well settle downtown in an amazing apartment close to all the main attractions. Yesterday we strolled through the old area (where most of the pictures below are taken) to the old distillery which is the best preserved distillery in the whole North America.

Today we were at Casa Loma, an incredible “building” (read castle) built by a rich entrepreneur in the beginning of this century (only to be taken away by the government when he couldn’t pay his tax).  Really a special building which served as a hideout for planning during the 2^nd world war, therefore there was also hidden staircases and a tunnel below ground connecting the building to the nearby stable. What would the world be without crazy people?  Pictures are coming soon…

Now we are chilling at home preparing for a family cinema evening watching the debt. Tomorrow we are heading for the Niagara Falls. Toronto does have potential!

At Calgary Airport

So the end of an era is close… in one hours my plane leaves to Toronto.

Yesterday was amazing. Never thought I would find so many wonderful life-long friends here.

Special thanks to you for everything. I know I will see you again.

In transition

Sitting in the lobby to my old apartment, waiting for Mia to come and pick up some of my stuff that due to practical circumstances will not make it to Toronto. After that I am heading with a cab over to Elin’s place for my two last nights here in Calgary.

Yesterday we had an amazing farewell lunch with work at Metropolitan Grill followed by an equal amazing evening dinner at OX and Angela and today I must admit I did not do too much work as I had to clean out the room (no mother her to help me ;-)). However I managed to spend some precious hours at work which were mostly allocated to say good bye to incredible people (read Cui Zukowski).

Saying Good bye is never easy, but I guess it is useful to learn how to let go.

The upgrade

Top ten cities (scores):
1. Melbourne 97.5
2. Vienna 97.4
3. Vancouver 97.3
4. Toronto 97.2
5. Calgary 96.6
6. Sydney 96.1
7. Helsinki 96
8. Perth 95.9
9. Adelaide 95.9
10. Auckland 95.7

Source: the Economist Intelligence Unit’s liveability ranking