Yesterday I received a note to pick up a package at the neighborhood post station. It turned out that is was a huge Easter gift parcel from my parents in Germany. Thank you so much!

This posting is a good opportunity to wish you some nice holidays. Relax, calm down and chill out. Once again, I will be off for about a week – I’m going to celebrate Easter in Norway. We will travel to the picturesque Lofoten Islands and spend 3 nights in Stamsund. Then, we go on up north to Swedish Abisko, staying another two nights. Start is tomorrow morning at a quarter to five. That’s gonna be great!

So far, Happy Easter…

Every now and then I check Google for Umea-related search queries to find new web pages of international students (and of course to monitor my own position *g*). Et voila! This time I found the brand new blog of Frenchman Etienne. La vie et les gens ou pas is a very personal site with some handsome and funky pics. Due to my bad French skills I don’t understand the whole gossip, but hey – it’s an Umea international, so it must be good!

Welcome to blogosphere, Ufo-Tinou!
(Damn, these animations in your yesterday’s post are impertinently huge. I hope your deux potes have a fast internet connection…)

Wow, three Baltic metropolises within 24 hours, that’s really awesome! Stockholm – Helsinki – St. Petersburg and vice versa was our itinerary which included a lot of premiers: My first stay on Finnish soil, my first travel to St. Petersburg and three different time zones on one single trip.

The geographical proximity between Umea and St. Petersburg (compared to the distance from Central Europe) has both advantages and drawbacks: It offers the possibility to travel quite cheap, without using a plane. On the other hand, it is still an immense distance for bus travels. A total of about 30 hours coach tour (excluding breaks) causes some aches and exhaustion, especially when you are as tall as me (yeah, feel free to feel sorry).

Unfortunately, the journey itself was longer than our actual stay in Petersburg. But of course you can also experience a lot of things on the way, especially on the ferry. After publishing my first review last week I can now proudly present the travelogue:

Wednesday
We started at about 6am in order to reach the ferry in Stockholm at 5pm. This time, nobody had to be awoke or picked up individually, everybody was more or less in time. After the familiar stops at the High Coast Bridge and the overpriced roadhouse we could enter gigantic Silja Symphony. This ship is much bigger then the one we took to Tallinn. First highlight was the encounter with a baby which was really interested in our inventory of Norrlands Guld. The pictures taken throw a completely new light on Swedish alhohol policy… Another feature was of course the frozen Baltic Sea: The cruiser really had to “work through” the top ice layer. Spectacular views and alarming sounds were generated.

Thursday
Clock change and local times appear to be really complicated for some participants. Of course we didn’t manage to leave Helsinki port in time; we had to wait more than one hour for the last passengers. My first impressions of Helsinki + Finland were pretty good, but on the road it actually looked like Sweden.
The procedure at the Russian border was not as breath-taking as some would have expected. I think it’s more complicated to enter the States than Russia. After the border, the state of the roads decreased visibly. It was really interesting to pass through Vyborg. I guess that there hasn’t changed a lot in this small city in the last 20 years apart from some displayed commercials.
Finally we arrived at St. Petersburg. Wow! It’s so huge and it took maybe one hour before we reached the hotel. After dinner we strayed around for a first Russian beer. It’s a little bit odd that it’s complicated to place an order in English, especially when you are used to English-loving Sweden. But finally everything worked out and no one had to go to bed thirstily.

Friday
After breakfast we started the extensive sight seeing tour by bus: Nevsky Prospekt, Art Square, Palace Square, Rostrul Columns, Peter and Paul Fortress, Battleship Aurora, Resurrection Cathedral, St. Isaacs Cathedral. We were dropped off in the city center and lurched our way through the endless streets. Together with Mathias I climbed on St. Isaacs Cathedral. Despite the bad weather it was absolutely worth it: Have you ever had the chance to listen to powerful classical music while discovering a city with a bird’s eye? That’s awesome!
After our first experience with the metro system (Don’t get lost!) and dinner at the hotel we prepared for another cultural highlight: The Barber of Venice in Russian. We visited that charming baroque opera house and I was really pleased to see a nice and classical production. Another beer afterwards.

Saturday
Before the official group meeting at Palace Square we used the time to have a closer look into Peter and Paul Fortress and the Resurrection Cathedral. While we observed a cat hanging around just inside kitschy Peter and Paul Cathedral, we were not even allowed to enter Resurrection Cathedral without covering our wet and dirty shoes in a kind of oversized condom. The latter church is completely covered with mosaics. It’s just unbelievable how much effort was put into producing these masterpieces.
But today’s highlight was definitely the visit of the world-famous Hermitage. The amount and variety of collected works of art and the beauty of the magnificent rooms of Winter Palace build up a unique place in the world. While the others returned to the hotel soon after the guided tour in order to prepare for the Russian Evening, I stayed 5 hours to explore the exhibition. It was really interesting to observe the difference between the crowded showcases and the almost empty parts about prehistoric arts and craft.
Subsequently I crossed the city and did some shopping, before I went back to the hotel. I expected to dine alone, but our Italian friends missed the bus to the Russian Evening and therefore kept company with me. We had another nice evening (including a visit in a somehow strange and expensive club), spend the last roubles and had some serious discussion.

Sunday
After two days it was already time to leave Petersburg again. We took the same route via Vyborg up to the border, again passing an uncomplicated procedure. Sometimes you have to go out of the bus in order to show your visa, sometimes the officers come into the bus, count the people and want to see a smile. Nothing dramatic.
We picked the ferry in Helsinki and had a beautiful sunset. This night’s highlight was definitely the unscripted concert of a Scotsman, who played the guitar for us internationals. We all tried to recall the lyrics to enhance the “celebration”. Of course we were stopped by an officer (disturbances), who finally recommended an alternative place. But somehow the party fizzled out and everything became a bit strange. Hmm.

Monday
The night was one hour longer this time and I was facing a relaxed journey back to Umea. Relaxed? Well, as long as you can denote a bus to be comfortable. And unfortunately we had to watch two parts of The Lord of the Rings. Extended versions, as a matter of course. At least the bus driver brought us directly to Mariehem…

Wow, already nine days passed by after our arrival back in Umea, and I’m still the first one publishing a longer report. Mario explains the delay with his role as a Russian crime victim, and also Rolf is still collecting pictures. Hope to see your stuff soon!

The only statistics you can trust are those you falsified yourself.
Traue keiner Statistik, die du nicht selbst gefälscht hast.

Yesterday I wrote the final exam in Analysis of Financial Data. The course confirmed my uncertainty about statistics. Some topics seemed really obvious and straightforward, while others failed to enlighten my mind. Anyway, the course offered a good opportunity to refresh and extend my statistical knowledge in general and my SPSS skills in particular. Who knows, maybe I need that stuff later on. Did you know that log returns have better statistical properties than normal close prices?

But actually I wanted to write about the exams here in Umea in general. I just realised that I have never been pressed for time here. In Germany it is quite normal that you have to work extremely fast to meet the deadline. This can of course affect the quality of your answers, but on the other hand you are forced to fulfil tasks in a given time – the way you have to work in the real world… Sweden’s attitude towards time seems to be a bit different (no, I won’t write about permanent Fikas here). I still don’t know if I should call it equal opportunities or rather naivety…

• Yesterday’s exam: 5 hours – I went home after 2.
• Swedish language exams: 3 hours, you normally don’t even need half of them.
• Some last term’s exams: Work as long as you want!

Something really cool about exams in Umea is Östra Paviljongen: A whole building just for the exams! Separate toilets for each room, a “glassy box” for smokers, single tables for every student. Der Kommissar published an excellent photo story about that topic last semester. Still worth reading!

BTW: There are some rumours about the introducing quotation of this post. Wanna read about Winston Churchill and the Nazis?

Blogs are paid more and more attention. Germany’s most popular news site Spiegel Online compliments in their daily + English (!) category Spiegel Surfs the Net:

When you get bored reading regular media like us, these are great places to waste time without wasting your brain.

Indeed, this is exactly what I have experienced in the last few months. I can spend hours/days/… with reading really interesting stuff. I eventually have to realize that it’s simply impossible to absorb every seemingly juicy blog source. It appears really hard to implement an efficient information filter in my head. Am I a slave of distraction?
But this is actually not a new problem, caused by blogs in particular. Blogs are just the new fashion of publishing information. Attributes: Beyond the scope of mass media, versatile and often straightforward language styles, independent and free in thoughts.

Just one example: I would have never expected that the daily episodes of a German sole trader can be so much of interest to me. His readers get a perfect insight into his profession and the variety of tasks and topics he has to deal with. My respect for this guy has grown dramatically! Still, retailer or even cashier is not the career of my choice, but Der Shopblogger! is a thousand times better than every damn reality show ever.

Also established journals want to use the hype and start blogging: German business paper Handelsblatt launched its blog network Handelsblatt global reporting, where its foreign correspondents write about more personal impressions, encounters and stories. I would really like to know if the reporters required such a platform or if they were forced (or lured by money) to contribute to this fancy medium.
Anyway, the platform also includes the experiences of Swedish correspondent Helmut Steuer. Up to now, he has only published two articles, but I’m looking forward to comparing his point of view to my adventures in northern Sweden.

That’s all I have to say. I hope you don’t mind the German links…

I still can’t believe it: For the first time since my arrival in Umea seven month ago my corridor was arranging a corridor party – and I went to bed one hour before midnight! What happened?

Well, I still don’t know if I have caught these mean bacteria in Russia, Finland or Sweden. Anyway, I was rather peaky and didn’t manage to kill the virus with alcohol (which normally works out pretty well). I could only participate in the fabulous Indian dinner, prepared by (almost) the whole corridor and managed by chef de cuisine Kattis. I’m unable to name the dishes, but they tasted delicious! Find below some of the few pictures I was able to shoot before I fell asleep…

I’ve heard that some people have been in my corridor and couldn’t find me. Now you know why. Fortunately you found some other international parties to go. At least only one or two times somebody knocked on my door, thus hampering my attempts to sleep…

I’m still pretty sad that I missed the whole mess; I hope you guys had a nice time!

Just a short announcement: We will have a corridor party tomorrow, March 19th, in our corridor Mariehemsvägen 19B (second floor). Feel free to drop by from – let’s say – 8pm on.

Saturday’s alternatives: Mariehemsvägen 19C + 15E, Pedagoggränd 9A …

Did you visit Umeå universitetet web page during the last days? Maybe you recognized some well-known people: On behalf of the university, a photo shooting with some international students was carried out last semester. And right now you can gaze at a nice eye-catcher for today’s information day on the university’s home page. I didn’t expect that Kees, Matthieu, Nils and co. become famous so fast…

More pictures of the shooting are used in the current utbildningskatalogen (education catalogue) which can be ordered online. It’s for free and maybe it’s a nice souvenir for you.

(Partly) via: Nils (who did – as always – this nice picture of the catalogue above)

Well, what a remarkable trip! As I announced in my previous post, I had the chance to visit St. Petersburg in Russia. Last night we finally returned to Umea and now it’s time for a first review:

While it was the first trip to Russia for most of the international students, I can already look back on an impressive week in Moscow in 2001. My family has a kind of connection to the country. First of all, my father studied in Petersburg (former Leningrad) and my parents both worked a couple of years in Moscow. Even my sister stayed her first months in the Russian capital, before my family moved back to Germany in 1980.

I have never learned Russian in school, and I felt like a first grader trying to learn to read the Cyrillic letters in Moscow. My parents and my sister (who read 8 years Russian in school) were good teachers and I was always glad when I figured out the meaning of a word. Anyway, I forgot most of the stuff in the last 3 years and this time it was Mathias who played the teacher. At least I managed to read words like beer, vodka, chocolate and theatre.

While I was traveling to Moscow by plane, we went by bus this time, which gives much more impressions about the countryside beyond the big cities. St. Petersburg and Moscow are definitely the cities which obtain most of the Russian subsidies. Their very centers are to a certain extent in a good shape, although they suffer from huge pollution problems (due to the vast number of ancient cars without catalytic converters). But on the whole they are fascinating cities comparable to any other western metropolis. On the other hand, we could observe shabby and dull neighborhoods and miserable streets between “Northern Venice” and the Finnish border. Especially in Vyborg I was wondering if my beloved home town Weimar in Eastern Germany was really as grey as this place 15 years ago.

I was overwhelmed by the size of St. Petersburg. With its about 5 million inhabitants it’s definitely impossible to discover the “Russian gate to Europe” within just a little bit more than 2 days. It was enough to get a first impression and the strong wish to come back – the next time probably in the summer (to experience the white nights and more convenient temperatures) and with a longer stay. It is incredible to see the amount of historical buildings and sights, even though not all of them are in perfect shape. Many places have been neglected in Soviet times; churches were used as storages or even skating rinks! Of course it’s impossible to renovate these enormous built volumes with very limited national funds. But private investments show that it’s worth putting money into the city. Petersburg will definitely look brighter and even more extraordinary when we come back in maybe 10 years.

We stayed at Hotel Moskva at the very end of famous Nevsky Prospekt. The buffet was both excellent and extensive. The rooms were satisfactory, even though the color and taste of the water is not really according to Central European standards… Right next to the hotel we had a metro station. Metro in St. Petersburg is pretty exiting. The system is so far underneath the ground that you sometimes spend more time on the escalator than in the train itself. BTW: A metro coin costs 10 roubles, which is about 27 cents…

Not only public transport is cheap for western standards, also shopping in general. As long as you buy domestic products, you feel like being in cockaigne (never heard that word before, not even Word’s spell check knows it), especially compared to expensive Sweden. Consequently, we used the chance to refill our booze stocks, primarily with vodka. Many people also bought (also non-domestic) cigarettes, which are really cheap as well.

Crime report: At least three cameras, one wallet, one mobile and a pack of chewing gum were robbed. I don’t really know if this is an extreme rate, we have been about 100 people. Big cities attract thieves, and you are immediately recognized as a tourist. That you have to handle your valuables with adequate care should be obvious. From my point of view, this is definitely not a reason to refrain from traveling to Russia.

So, that should be enough for a first review, I think I will publish a travelogue later on. And of course you will find a gallery in some days, please give me some time to collect and manage some nice pics.

My plan was to write a little bit more about that extraordinary event, but unfortunately I’m running out of time. However, last evening I was invited by Bernie “Rolf” Ecclestone himself (Umea Beach Tour mogul) and the German National Team interim leader Jakob (water drinker) to take part in a memorable game:

Switzerland – Germany

Rolf did a perfect job as organiser, spokesman, motivator, and of course player and team captain. He played together with Finnish import Rikka and the two professionals Marc and Daniel. My team consisted of “The Rock” Stefan, our team captain Jakob, Belgium import Stein and myself:

In the second set, Germany got better and German high-flyer Ralf confused the Swiss players with his unconventional way to play. Ralf himself interpreted it like this “well, I learned to play on the streets, that explains probably my unusual style". [Rolf Leu, official reporter]

Unfortunately, that was not enough. My German team lost 0 - 3 (15-21, 16-21, 19-21), but we are proud and honest losers:

the setting was satisfactory, our team motivated, maybe not fully prepared, but there was no chance to beat the swiss precision. 0-3 does indeed not reflect the work, our beloved friends from the south had to accomplish. we resisted as long as we could, because we love the game! and we love the challenge! [me, commenting on Rolf’s blog]

All official statements including unofficial comments can be found at Rolf’s blog:

• Short announcement and lively German speculations
• Official press release
• Detailed game report
  

So, fellows, I will be off for about a week. I’m going to travel to St. Petersburg tomorrow. I’m really glad to have the possibility to visit this wonderful town; it’s the second time for me in Russia after a trip to Moscow in 2001. Of course you will find a travelogue and lots of photos at this place. Have a nice weekend!

In the picture above you can see how to use a Swedish dryer (torktumlare). In the pictures below you can see how manuals can be misunderstood. Finnish laundry specialist Kirsi shows that Boris Becker is not the only one having fun in the broom closet. Imitations are strictly prohibited!

These pictures were made at Emmy’s costume/ugly/animal party on Saturday. Rolf put a lot of effort into producing his costume, but as you can see, it was totally worth it… Thank you guys for that nice evening!

Merci beaucoup à Sandra et le Nils pour les images spectaculaires! Sorry narrowband internet users for this picturesque post.

I was definitely not the only one who was quite surprised when I cycled from Mariehem down to university on Thursday. I was used to enjoy the nice wood right and left of our beloved cycle path. And now I could see a scene of destruction. The trees were cut; trunks and scrubs were seaming the way. What happened?

In yesterday’s Västerbottens Kuriren I found the answer. And because it’s weekend and I have time to improve my Swedish, I translated the article just for you! Anyway, it’s is a good example for the insignificance of the local newspapers here. Their style is matchless! Thank you for this masterpiece of journalism, Anders Broden!

Deforestation for small apartments
Umeå

The first stage has started. The forest is stubbed. Bostaden will build 276 small apartments at Strömbergs väg close to university, what makes them interesting for students.

The construction itself starts in April and after about one year it’s time to move in.
- We started logging on Tuesday and have almost finished. The scrub will be cleared, and on Friday we pack up and go ahead, explains Leif Strinnholm.
He comes from Näsland in Örträsk and drives the forestry machine - normally in the loneliness of the woods.
- It’s indeed really nice to see people and traffic sometimes, says Leif Strinnholm and laughs.
The last trunks are lifted with both speed and precision.
- That must go quite easy, he says.
Bostaden’s management will decide next year if they go on building stage 2 in that area.
- If this happens, we will probably come back, laughs Leif Strinnholm.

It’s Thursday afternoon and I’m currently performing my second presentation in Academic Presentations. As I did in the first presentation, I decided to give a deeper insight into blogs. This time I focus on software selection and article publishing using WordPress.

To demonstrate this process, I publish this post during my presentation! Hopefully everything works…

Finally, the cold reached Umea. Last night my thermometer displayed the coldest temperature of this winter so far: -21.8°C. (I like these recordings of absolute min/max-values to “track” the cold.) But the temperatures here in Umea still can’t compete with good old Germany. My sister reported on -24°C in Augsburg on Monday morning. Brrrrrrrrrr. But I won’t give up the challenge – I think we are facing a couple of cold nights and days…

Btw: Yes, Ralf, 2005 is no leap year! So you can write your name as often as you want into the laundry room registration list, but you won’t be able to use it on February 29th! You can’t! You just can’t! Got it? Arrrrgh!