Temperature at 9 o' clock in the morning.


At my uncle's in the middle of São Paulo. Yes, it's true.


Tomorrow, the beach! See you in 2009.

It was great to be in Trossingen again and feel kind of at home once more. I was very fortunate to meet several of my friends, listen to great music and see the first snow of the season. It was a great weekend, even though I am really, really tired.

Eleven days ago I went with 3 other colleagues to Niagara Falls and, later, Toronto, with even more people.
It was worthwhile. I was a bit skeptical, some people had told me that the town was horribly touristy (and it was) and I am usually not that impressed with the major tourists sites, so I was not sure if I was going to enjoy the sights or not.
Luckily, we arrived at the river close to the American Rapids, which are nice falls, but not that impressive at all. Very disappointing. But this disappointment made the view of the Horseshoe, the main attraction, that much more interesting.
I am certain that the falls at winter were more interesting for me than they would have been in the summer, and, because it is not the main season, the town is not too busy and everything is certainly easier around there. The only tourists around are odd people like us or 19 and 20 year old Americans who take advantage in the difference of the legal drinking age.
Yes, the town is extremely touristy. Take a look at the Frankenstein Burger King or any of the many "scary" or "haunted" attractions. I don't know why they have all congregated there, but it is really funny. So, in the end, the fact of it being touristy to extremes is not that bad, just adds a bit more of zest to the experience.
We didn't get to do the traditional boat excursion, for obvious reasons. Below, some pictures and videos on Picasa.

080313-14 Niagara Falls

The second day in Montreal was really cool. During the day we had a great time at the park, as you've seen. In the evening we went out to eat at a Jewish deli called Schwartz's, on Saint Laurent Street. But, at arriving there, we saw that it was a very simple place, which didn't comply with the expectations of part of the group for a 'Saturday night dinner. So we ended up in another restaurant on Duluth Street, which was a great choice. I just don't remember its name.
At this point Silvia joined us, and it was great to meet a familiar face from Brazil. We probably had the longest conversations we've ever had so far.
On Sunday we went for a walk at the port and the old city centre, which was nice. We ate at La Popesa near Notre Dame and went back to get the car. We drove to the Olympic stadium and said our goodbyes to Montreal. Just in time, because the weather changed completely and we drove back to Kingston under a very persistent rain. Rain! In January!
Oh, yes. Before coming back to Kingston we drove again to Schwartz's and half of us got smoked meat sandwiches, which are great!

080215 Montreal

080216-17 Montreal

• Never saw too much. And only in the dark. Arrived late at night and went straight to the hostel.
• Try not to get there after 11 p.m., as it seems that the 747 bus for the city centre runs only until 11:45. 6 Euro. I had €12 with me and used €1 to call England from a payphone. Got the extra Euro from an American guy, who changed it for a one dollar bill I had in my wallet.
• Cars still drive on the wrong side of the road.


• People maintain the British tradition of wasting themselves with beer during the week.
• Hostel was OK, although I was not able to make a comprehensive appraisal. They were nice enough. The name is Barnacles Guest House or something similar beside the famous Temple Bar Pub.
• Alight from the bus at the O' Connell Street by the spike and catch it back there to the airport again. Around 30 minutes travel, plus 10 minutes to/from the hostel.
• Trip which I made 3 times in the morning as I forgot my cell phone on the bed and discovered only when I was already waiting for the bus.
• Only 6 kg hand luggage on Aer Lingus flight. And my laptop alone weights 3,7 kg. But I am allowed to take the laptop under the arm.
• No problems with the US immigration, who had special departure gates in Dublin. At least 6 officers checking everybody. It is good to have the European citizenship and be able to waive the visa.

I am scary after a day of travelling, am I not?

• Getting there was easy enough. Tipp: get the bus and rail travelcard for 4,70 pounds
• Restaurants close quite early at the airport. I should not have been surprised, after the experience on campus. The typical hamburger in the New York style italian restaurant franchise was a nice preparation.
• It is always difficult to say goodbye. But we knew it would be so and there are no regrets, only hope.
• Laptop bags are no longer allowed as second piece of hand luggage, at least not at the Birmingham International airport. Extra 33 pounds. And I had already paid 55 pounds for the extra kilos I had to take with me. Next time I might take the bus and fare.
• Very detailed inspection of my hand luggage. But people were nice to me.

Today we had our first class excursion. Organized by a small group of colleagues (Elanor, Gabi, Cristiano, I guess), we all got by bus to and from Kennilworth to see the fireworks commemorating the Guy Fawkes night. Or Gay Fox night, as Chris would say.

Not really easy to shoot any pictures with the amount of light available, and I wouldn't (and haven't) try to photograph fireworks with my point and shoot digital camera. But I liked the pic above.
The fireworks were really great, I enjoyed them a lot. According to Sascha, 25 minutes long, really worth the quite short bus trip. Considering that we practically filled up a big bus, I can say that the evening was a success.

These are the two reasons I haven't been too active around here, besides the two thumb messages below.

On week 5 of the first term of the full time MBA we have the midterm exams. So it is a whole week with exams, accounting on Monday (gone!), marketing and organizational behaviour tomorrow, economics and operations management on Thursday. Lots of things to read and re-read, little time for e-mails and blog.
These exams account for only 20% of the final grades, but are a good way to measure your position in the course and, if you want distinction, every bit of the grade is important, so you do work hard.

But I tried not to get too stressed about all that and even did something which some of my colleagues considered academic suicide: I travelled during the weekend, departing on Friday to Bristol and coming back on Sunday night. Needless to say, my OB book travelled with me, but saw little use, if any.
In Bristol we had the annual convention of the National Harmonica League. I must admit that I love these harmonica gatherings and always have a good time. And this time it wasn't different. It was great to meet new and old friends and to hear great music all around.
There were a couple of things to learn from this experience:

• a scooter is quite handy, but keep your distance from drunken youngsters
• check in at your hostel early, don't leave it until 2:30 a.m.
• having good friends saves you in desperate situations like the one above
• be passionate about what you do and things will happen easily. I had a great time doing the workshops on harmonica maintenance, and got really flattering feedback
• there are good opportunities if you choose to work with the passion of people. I gotta figure out how to keep the harmonica business in my future plans

I will try to post some videos (the hotel lounge and bar full of harmonica players is hilarious!) or pictures soon, but the priority is low due to the exams. I also owe some material on the Spitz! punk blues festival, I know.

But now let's go to sleep. Tomorrow the day starts at 6:30 a.m.
And we have only 2 hours time difference between São Paulo and Coventry.