Another Mannheim scene

The weather has been great here in Mannheim for the past several weeks, and Mannheim has been a great place to be around and take a stroll to a park from time to time. This is the square at the Wasserturm, which I had seen only from the other side until today.

Some extra pictures from Mannheim

I went out today to do some more shopping, this time food and cleaning utensils. I also wanted to take advantage of the weather, which was very nice, sunny at around 15°C. So I walked around the city center and across the bridge to a flea market, 5 km away. It was time well spent.

080412 Markt und Flohmarkt

2nd part of the pre-farewell activities

Tonight we meet for dinner at 8 p.m. at the Keg, in Kingston. A tabvle for 15 has been reserved, and we hope to see many of our colleagues there.
it has been a great term here at Queen's and we have been in a farewell mood for some days now. Many of the students here have already left for their own exchange courses in Europe, China, India or, even, Japan. The weather continues to be cold, but signs of spring have shown up slowly.
The last course, Managing Innovation, is getting to an end, and it has been an excellent course. our professor, Lib, has great corporate experience as CEO and as innovation champion, and she brigns her experiences effectively to class.
Life at co-op is also coming to an end. The last inspection before returning the keys is scheduled, the last kitchen duties are coming and the last party, this time at our direct neighbours, was yesterday. it was also a great experience, living with this nice bunch of diverse people.
And this is the mood today. One last presentation to practice, one last class to attend, one last exam to write. And then pack our books, clothes and hope that all will fit in the suitcases, even the pair of ice skates, my main Canadian souvenir.

A couple of Queen's Business School pictures

I should be posting more pictures here on the blog, as I believe that the show a bit more of the day-to-day life than my texts by themselves.
So we start with another view of the main classroom, during the first day of the Investments course. Most of the MBA class was present, and I decided to capture the moment. Differently from Warwick, we haven't had classes with the whole class together, as people choose different electives.

The tema work yesterday and today for this same course went very well. Yesterday we learned quite a lot discussing the case and today the report was written in a few hours. I am happy with this team, and it is fun.

But the big subject today was, again, the weather. Really miserable weather mostly due to the strong winds. Coming back home I found out that the extreme temperatures during the day had been -11 and +5, quite remarkable.
Anyway, two pictures, a bit of what's going on around here, now it is bed time. I will wake up at 5:30 for the second day in a row, this time for a telephone interview with a head hunter from Germany. Seems interesting.

A quick impression on the weather around here

I don't know if this has been being a normal winter here in Kingston so far, but something tells me that it hasn't. I arrived here on a very cold day, below -12 degrees. There was ice on the bays of the Lake Ontario and a beautiful snow blanket over the city.
The first week was unusually warm, and all the snow melted. Last week we had snow and cold again, the Victoria Park ice rink was opened and we even went cross country skiing on Sunday, with temperatures around zero.
Yesterday we had positive temperatures around five degrees and, again, most of the snow disappeared. And today I stepped out of the house at 7:15 to the worst weather I've seen here, a mix of snow and rain (but mostly snow) and a very heavy and agitated wind.
On days like today, you just wish to stay in your room.

The sleepless goat cafe

It has been a while since I last wrote. I got top know the town (pics online), met Viktoria, Marc and even Sujay who is still here due to visa problems. Sujay introduced us to the school and night life in Kingston (K), although we have not been the best party goers around.

I messed my sleeping hours last week, mainly to time difference with the Middle East and to the season 1 of Heroes, a cool show Cristiano got me for Christmas. Thankfully it is over and I will now be able to concentrate on K. There is the schedule to be checked, both at the business school and at the co-op I'm living in. There also some pre-reading to finish for classes on Monday and a cell phone number to be bought.

The weather has changed quite a lot. From the perfect powder snow and -13 degrees Celsius temps on Thursday to mildly negative temps on Friday to mildly positive today. All the snow is melting and everything is wet and slippery. Gonna stay at home today, after buying some hair gel.
This cafe seems to be nice. Very well visited (and, therefore, probably liked) it is another co-op, the third one I've ran accross here in CA. The portions are big, the prices reasonable and they take pride in using bio food for "homemade" dishes. The attendance is quiet varied, with the obvious presence of the students, who started to pour into town yesterday. But you also see older couples and even one or two families here. It is almost 12 and it continues to be full, with a very healthy turnover. A nice place, I will probably visit it more often, the music is good, though th potatos were too salty.

Now most of the shops will be soon open, and it is time for me to move.

Ice cold organizational behaviour

Yesterday was the last exam I was really worried about. Organizational behaviour. But it turned out that I wasn't too badly prepared, thanks to some own work and to some great help and a efficient summary on motivation by Marwa.
Now I have marketing and operations management to go. But I liked those classes, am confident about the subjects and the exams are only 40% of the final grade, having already gotten a good grade in the marketing group assignment and expecting a positive result for the OM project as well.

From 071211-12 Ice...

Much more interesting, I believe, is the development of the weather around here. The lst 3 days have been very cold, finally. We had had a cold wave in November, but, after that, the weather had become pleasantly mild and unpleasantly wet. Now we can say that it is really cold: for the first time, the lake has frozen closed. The ice layer is not really thick at about 5 mm, but it is a beginning. Let's see how it develops. Maybe we'll celebrate our farewell party *on* the lake?
Some pictures in the following album:

071211-12 Ice in Warwick

What awaits me in Kingston, Ontario, Canada

winter marina
Originally uploaded by 416style

So these are the high and low temperatures I am bound to experience in Kingston. Not extremely low as feared, but certainly more than two long months with short days and negative temperatures all through. I just hope I will be able to do something fun with all the snow around. But I've heard that kite snowboarding won't be an option.

Monthly Averages
	January	February	March
High Temperature ( C )	-4	-2	3
Low Temperature ( C )	-13	-12	-6
Precipitation ( mm )	69.5	63.2	76.5

Weather jealousy

This is how the weather looked like today beofre class from my window. Pretty nice, don't you think? Yeah, that's what I think too, I can't complain. Dry, nice sun, a bit cold but not too much. Really, really fine weather.

But then I heard that it was snowing in Trossingen and I can't help but feeling jealous. I just love it when it snows! Well, I enjoy it at least for some time.