End of Term

It's time! I had my last lecture for this term today (didn't it just start?). Final exams are approaching quickly, but in little more than two weeks this term is over. Until then, the library is open and crowded 24-hours. During daytime, it's hard to find a place to study there. The early - or really late - bird catches the worm, I guess.

Nice Playground

Finals are approaching, reports are due, in short: final spurt for this term. But in less then a month I will be enjoying holidays anyway.
Till then, I'll make heavy use of the area around Waterloo, featuring streets like this one. My friends in Hamburg will certainly envy this amusement park, don't you guys?
I joined the local running group this morning, meeting at an unearthly hour every Sunday, for a nice Easter run. At temperatures around zero and blue skies, people started running in shirts and shorts - it's great to meet other maniacs here!

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Together with two fellows from Braunschweig, Ole and me gave a presentation on our universities and studying in Germany in general (although apparently one of us wasn't really awake, see photo). Free coffee & donuts are the best way to attract people and thus weren't missing, so indeed quite a goup of Canadians attended. They made a good audience. I hope to see some of those guys back home!

Alternatives

Ok, what to do without a car? Is that a problem? Not if you have a bike! And if somebody borrowed your bike for an uncertain period of time?
Necessity is the mother of invention - take to your heels and run. Or walk. Let your enviroment inspire you! Why not ride a horse next time...?

German Banquet

Once a year people who are involved in all exchange programs with Germany (including our coordinator, Prof. Schuster, above, in front of us Hamburg guys) meet to socialize and enjoy a traditional Schnitzel and a glass of German wine toghether. That's a great thing and I'm impressed how many students from Germany do an exchange with us.

Farewell, dear Fellow

The message reached us all of a sudden: Our four-wheeled companion, Edwin, decided to retire early. Wednesday morning, his once strong 3.0 liter V6 motor quit its service for good.
This is the unfortunate end of a still young, but close friendship. Thank you, dear fellow!

Into Northamerican Culture

More precisely: into basketball.
Friday night, we went to TO to watch the Toronto Raptors vs. the Atlanta Hawks, together with about 18,000 other spectators. Although I'm not really into watching sports events (this is my confession), this game was exciting to the end.



Acutally, the whole event took 3 hours (while the game itself just adds up to less than 50 min). I wonder why time went by so quickly...



After a tough head-to-head race...



...the Raptors (wearing white shirts) unfortunately lost 112:116.

Student's Office - Part 3

I mentioned Yuka's photo-skills, didn' t I?
Let her take us up to Level 10 of the UW library. We will have a nice view at Waterloo and since the sky is blue today, we can expect enjoying a wonderful sunset together.

School's on Fire

Mondays are full of surprises. "Why is that door to the Engineering building locked? Why's the street full of broadcast vans? And, hey, isn't that the company that cleaned our messy basement after the great flood in our house recently?"
That's what I thought when I tried to get to my lecture yesterday morning. Turned out that one high voltage transformers inside the building blew up and started a fire. However, I'm sitting in that building again - everything smells very distinctive like barbecue.
Looks like a happy ending to me...

Farmer's Market

If you're looking for some flair, there is this little village just 5 km away, called St. Jacobs. Every saturday they have a nice Farmer's Market. From 6am on menonites (the Canadian pendant to the Amish people) and other merchants sell fresh fruits, vegetables and delicious homemade treats for reasonable prices. Since they are former German immigrants, it may happen that you have a small talk in German.

Student's Office - Part 2

...of course I missed something! May I introducy my charming fellow, Ms. Suzuki, to you?



Not only does she give a lot of mental support (currently from Germany, however), no, she's also a brilliant photographer (with the smallest & stylishist 5 megapixel-digicam ever).
Curious? You should be! Cause there's more to come...

Student's Office - Part 1

Folks, I'd rather like to show you some great pics from great travels, but sometimes a student has to do what a student has to do. So I'd like to introduce you to the two major tools that a student needs to do what he has to do:

• the famous solitary confinement cell (yes, they have these guys here too!) and
• a freshly brewed medium coffee (at home, this would be an extra-large coffee...)
  

Happy! Or...did I forget something?