Mentor group Beachvolley

On monday, we did something again with our famous mentor group 9. Our mentors organized a beachvolley tournament in IKSU. Around 20 students mainly from our group but also some others joined the competition. Since we were not that many, we played 2 against 2 (like real) but still almost too hard for the level of our skills. I played with Saskia and we were quite bad, but ok, we were also in the harder group (with the two latter finalists), anyway it was a lot of fun. The tournament was won by Daniel and Yki, who beat Katie and Manuel in an close final game.

I'll publish some pictures and probably some videos soon, when I have more time again. But that should be enough for today.

Special thanks to Emma, Caroline, Rickard and Anders (our mentors) who organised the evening. (I hope we have some more events this semester).

Bärlauch - Ramslök

Finally, I know the Swedish word for bear's garlic. Göran, a Swede in Munich, was also searching for a translation and found my page by searching for björnlök (a word creation which doesn't exist). But he then found also a Swedish page about plants. So, allium ursinum in Latin or Bärlauch in German or bear's garlic (or ramsons) in English is ramslök in Swedish (and karhunlaukka in Finnish). And as I thought, it grows only in the southern part of Sweden and not anymore here up north.

So, haben wir wieder mal was gelernt heute.

Tack så mycket, Göran!

Umeå IK - Karlstad QBIK

As you might know, at the moment I do a coaching course at the university. For this course we have to write a paper in pairs. I have the honour to write the paper together with Anne Mäkinen, Umeå IK's most prominent new player (och en av Finlands absolut bästa spelare, according to the match program). No question, I had to watch Umeå IK's first home game this season. They had reduced ticket prices and free cake to get as many people as possible for the season start, finally, 3427 spectators came.
The game itself went pretty well for Umeå but was not very exciting. The home team scored the first goal already after one minute, the end score became 7 -0. The Umeå-girls played really good and had opportunities for several more goals, while Karlstad had not a single shoot on the goal. It would be interesting to see Umeå IK playing against a really good team like Djurgården, unfortunately the game at home is not until october. But I'll probably go again to another game anyway.

By the way, some words about my own football and coaching career; I have a season off now and I think it was really good to get a bit distance from football for once, but now, when summer comes and while doing this coaching course, I feel really motivated to begin again when coming back to Switzerland. The bottom line of this message: I haven't got a contract or an agreement for next season, neither as a player nor as a coach, so if there are any clubs, which are interested in my services, I'm open for negotiations.

Farewell, Part III

And it is time again to say good-bye to another nice person who is leaving Umeå. Kirsi is already on the way home to Tampere (with a detour via Holland). On wednesday, she had a farewell party in Mariehem, which was quite funny (and where I stayed till 3 in the morning). Kirsi, it was a really funny time with you here (ok, maybe not allways), it is a pity we haven't seen us much this semester but we'll probably meet again this summer when I travel to Finland.

On thursday was International Pub no. 3 this semester, this time in Villan. The date was probably not the best, because a lot of people had exams on friday (me as well) but still, having an exam the day after is no reason to miss an international Pub. Ok, I did't stay till the end and only had two beers. On Friday morning I had the exam to Introduction to Swedish Law. It went quite well, I think. But afterwards I was tired and so I decided to stay home once on friday evening. Today it is really nice weather and we will go to Nydalasjön and grill sausages.
Tomorrow, the football season starts here in Umeå, but more will follow.

Trevlig helg!

Ålidhem Barbeque

Today we opened the Ålidhem-Outdoor party season with a first barbeque at Alexs place. It was unfortunately still a bit too cold to sit outside (especially after the sun went down) but it was kind of a promising forcast for the next weeks and months.

The next two days I should study quite a lot for my exam on friday. But Tomorrow evening is already the next farewell party planned and on thursday is international pub in Villan. I hope I'll be able to write the exam on friday morning.

See you

Injured

The university can be a dangerous place. All the main doors at Umeå University have an automatic opening mechanism, actually thought for disabled people, but mostly used by lazy students (i.e. by allmost everybody). This mechanism works with a manual switch and not with a sensor. Yesterday, I was going to the library, the door was open and I was looking to the other side. Suddenly the door closed and hit my hand with the edge. It was probably bad luck how the door hit me but it hurt quite a lot and the hand got swollen. I was afraid this could be the end of my beachvolleyball career. But today it is better again, also thanks to dul-x, and I hope I'll be able to play again tomorrow. If I would live in the United States, I would probably get rich now; search a lawyer, go to court, claim compensation....

but anyway,

Take care!

A Day Out

I haven't seen so much of Umeå region, eventhough I've been quite a while here. So, Sarah thought I should do a trip by car into Umeå's surrounding areas once. A good idea, I thought and we decided to go on saturday. On friday I asked Simon (the international Student coordinator) what would be worth seeing, but he said there is nothing to see. Ok, that's true, as there is nothing really special, but still there are a lot of small things to see, which are really beautiful. Sometimes, the journey is the reward and so we headed northwards without a certain goal. (Actually I have never been before north of Umeå by myself the whole time I've been here). Via Tavelsjön, Vindeln and Hällnäs we traveled to Skellefteå, mostly on side roads, which were sometimes only small gravel roads. Arrived in Skellefteå, I noticed that I didn't think much when choosing my clothes in the morning, I was wearing a Björklöven Sweatshirt in the home town of their archrivals. But besides some angry looks nothing happend to me. The city of Skellefteå isn't that spectacular but still has a special charme, it is a bit like Umeå in small. The way back south along the coast was also quite impressive. Now I can really say, you don't have to travel long to find beautiful places, especially when the weather is as nice as it was on saturday.

Ha en trevlig vecka!

Night shift

There are different ways to spend your nights. You could of course sleep, which seems to be not the worst idea. But sleeping is for beginners, since there are better alternatives. Like I already mentioned you could build paper airplanes from your (still needed) notes till the sun rises, but it is also possible to be productive for university. My choice of courses was probably not that lucky; I have three courses at the time and I'm very busy now. For the course interaktion och medier (which is in Swedish) we had to prepare a seminar in groups of four and because we are that smart we built a group of only three and only exchange students (Leena, Marika and me), vad bra! Marika then decided on monday to leave the course, so we were only two left. Leena will be away on the seminar too, so we had to prepare everything in written form (since I don't want to present all alone). Ok, only half group force, more work and lingual problems, studying can be funny! After a night shift yesterday and working till midnight today we finally managed to finish our work (even if we're not sure if we did it right). I hope it was worth it. Now I'm tired but don't feel like sleeping now. So I'm blogging a bit, since I know what I owe to my readers.

God natt!

Sunday night update

A busy weekend is coming to an end and a busy week is going to start tomorrow. There was a music festival this weekend in the city, but I didn't go there. On friday we went to NH to the 80's party (which was quite funny), on saturday afternoon we went to bild museet (which is really interesting) to have some culture for once. Yesterday was a little birthday party at Stefan's place and afterwards we planned to go to Corona. We arrived there in a bad time and had to queue for quite long. It is always the same, but we don't learn anything. Otherwise it is also funny, because you were not allowed to drink alcohol in the line, so you have to drink in secret. Afterwards we had a little afterparty and the notes I wrote for my paper were folded to paper airplanes. Luckily I didn't throw them out of the window but I was cool anyway. Today I have been just lazy, but ok, tomorrow is a lot to read and write waiting again.

By the way, Skellefteå (Umeå's archrival) lost again today and so also missed the last chance for qualifying for the Eliteserien. They were leading the kvalserien att the beginning and lost now three games in a row. A bit like last season, when they also missed the qualification in the last games. Björklöven fans probably have their pleasure.

Some more pictures

I just uploaded some more pictures from the karaoke evening (I got some more interesting pictures from Daniel, which were taken by Gemma, I think). And It seems as my blog gets more and more readers. Unfortunately it goes a bit beyond the capacity of my geocities account, so sometimes the pictures are not viewable. I think I have to look for another place to save the stuff.

Tonight is ice hockey evening, I watched before the third game of the Swedish final between Färjestads and Frölunda (Frölunda won 4-1 and is leading the series 2-1) and now I'm listening web-radio, to follow the Swiss final between Davos and Zürich. It is not over yet, the game is in the over-time, but I think Davos will win the game and hence also the title.

We'll see soon

Våren untan Björnlök

Spring is comming also here in Umeå, or lets say at least winter has gone. The days get longer again, temperatures are rising and the snow is melting away. Yesterday I went to town and bought me a new spring jacket, because my winter jacket is just to warm now. But it still doesn't look like spring here, the lakes and rivers are still frozen, there is still a lot of snow, the streets are covered with gravel and nothing is already green again. There are surely nicer places at this time of the year.
I just thought in Switzerland this would be the time for bear's garlic now. I cannot explain why, but a walk through the prospering forest with a scent of bear's garlic in the air, that's what I associate with spring. And of course, bear's garlic is also something really tasty to cook with.
I have no idea if bear's garlic also grows in Sweden or not, at least I didn't find a Swedish word for it (ok, my dictionary is not so large) .

Jag har en fråga till alla svenskar som läser min blog; finns det någon växt som "björnlök" i Sverige och hur kallas den? Stämmer björnlök? Jag hoppas att jag får ett svar, tack!

St. Petersburg, finally uploaded

So, I uploaded finally my St-Petersburg impressions. I hope you like it and it was worth waiting. It's surly a subjective selection but I can also recommend the pictures of Nils, the report and the gallery of Ralf, and also the pages of Mario and Fabio.

Today, I started my new courses, Applied Coaching (in English) and Interaktion och Medier (på Svenska). Both seem to be quite interesting, at least until now. In the evening I've been to cinema (for the third time since I'm in Umeå), I've seen Masjävlar, a Swedish film, it was ok, but I won't write a critic about it. But I just thought, I should have watched more Swedish movies here. But I've two months left and I bought a card today, which allows me to see three movies for half price. So, now I have to go three times more.

Vi ses

various stuff

Today, I have some additions to my last posts. On thursday I brought Amy to the airport (she also left Umeå) and I became a bit melancholic when I was standing on the airport. I'm here for 7 months now and stay only 2 more before I have to leave as well. Sad, but that's how it is.

I'm still working on my St. Petersburg galleries, but I can promise that I'll finish them soon. But yesterday I found another page of an international student here. Fabio from Brazil has a foto gallery in the net.

Tonight, I'll watch the last game of Björklöven here. They play against Latvia and it is a farewell game for Sasja Beliavski, who played most his career here in Umeå. It will probably be the last game I'll see here in Sweden. Actually I wanted to fly down to Göteborg to see the play-off final between Frölunda and Färjestad, but it is allmost impossible to get tickets anymore. But I promise to publish a season end ice hockey special soon.

By the way, Switzerland played in the qualification to the football world cup against Cyprus on wednesday. I listened the game over internet radio, it seemed to be quite bad, but in the end Switzerland won 1-0 after a goal by Alex Frei in the 88th minute. There is only one thing to say about this game: ALEX FREI, FUESSBALL GOTT!