Over the last weekend we moved into our new apartment. Since we didn’t have everything set up yet, we had to be creative to eat our first dinner at the new place 
Btw: This is the last week of the summer semester, and then I will have two whole weeks of holidays. Jihaa! 
It is now about 10 years ago the last time I was denied to buy alcohol. Guess what… Last week I tried to buy some beer for my apartment but I had to leave the store empty handed again! 
Then I tried my luck at the wine and liqueur store. There I could buy some hard stuff without showing any ID… is that not interesting how that works over here =)
Prost Guido
Anyway I decided to apply for a StateID which will make everything easier for me…
At least for a long time…
I started this post over a week ago and added more and more stuff to it, because there is a lot to write about here around…
I will start with the bad news:
Verizon
I am trying get internet for about 7 weeks now. A tip for anyone who is looking for a internet connection in USA. Do not choose Verizon! NO-GO! STOP! I had so much trouble with them, and their service is really, really bad! Believe me, Cablecom seems to have the perfect service when compared with Verizon.
That’s it! Now all the good news:
Heads up on some more stuff David and I did last weekend.
Rib Festival & Baseball
his PGR experience
The 1st week er month is over 
If you want some more insights what is going on at the CMU, you should check the blog from David regularly.
MSE/MSIT Wins Team Championship
This is a quote of a CMU which was sent to all CS students.
On the team championship front, the MSE/MSIT team of Guido Zgraggen, Harrison Strowd and Ryan Miller finished 3, 11 and 15 respectively to make it to the winner’s circle. They also had a lot of support on the trail with almost a third of the entrants from MSE/MSIT. Congratulations to Guido, Harrison and Ryan and the rest of the MSE/MSIT team!
Business Dinner with the eBusiness Program
David was kind enough to invite me to his business dinner in return for the MSE picnic. It was a very nice evening with good food (yes, as in Switzerland). Some pictures…
Thanks to David!
Loads of Work…
I was expecting a hard time around here, but… let me put it this way: My undergrad study at the HSR was a piece of cake compared to the CMU
And I am not the only one who is working all day… the CMU campus is as busy at the weekend as during the week with the exception of less faculties walking around.
The biggest advantage of this is, I will not get homesick. I really have no time for it =)
Anyway, I like my program and I am sure that I have made the right decision! As a result to the time management I will cut down in blogging… sorry guys!
Career
CMU has its own “Career Center” which can help by finding a job, preparing for an interview, and you can even borrow a suit there for a job interview.
At the moment I receive a lot of emails about companies who will come on campus and offer a information session. Mostly it is in combination with free pizza and drinks.
I also went to an etiquette dinner to learn how to behave at an “Job Interview Dinner”. But I did not learn much… most of the things I already knew. But for the American people most of the things were new
TOC - Technical Opportunities Conference (Job fair). I took this chance to speak to several companies (Google, Microsoft, Facebook, CIA, IBM, EA, Mitre, DrwTrading, Timken, Palantir, etc.)
Yes, you read it rite… I tried my luck and spoke to the CIA! After I told the “Agent” I have only a visa. He told me that they do not employ foreign people. =)
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Extreme Energy Rush I am not sure how healthy this is… but it works Working hours |
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Record-Breaking Class
This is a quote of a MSE Mail which was sent to all MSE/MSIT students.
Students entering the MSE program in the fall broke a record even before setting foot on campus. The graduate software engineering professional programs received a record number of applications for the 08-09 academic year, and for the first time in history, a waiting list was established to accommodate the overflow of highly-qualified candidates.
CMU movie screening
Yesterday, I took some time off to see the “new” Indiana Jones - The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The screening was in a big auditorium with a good sound system.
Each weekend they show different selection of movies. Some of them are more recent like Wall-E. And this for just 1$ per movie =)
Have a nice one!
Today, David and I met our future landlord. After a negotiation marathon of 5 hours we finally got our keys to the apartment. I think we should have received 2 credit points for the arduous and long lasting negotiation with three winners at the end (the landlord and both of us). Just for information the landlord is about 84 years old and a little bit weird but in a nice way.
To calm down a little after that we took benefit of the free squash court with the free provided racquet from CMU. Thanks to David to explaining the rules to me (I was a squash-newbie). After this exhausting day we relaxed for 10 minutes in the spa pool (100° Fahrenheit) which is free as well.
Tomorrow we will rent a car to buy all the stuff we need.
Yesterday we paid the downpayment for our apartment. (David or I will write more about it as soon as we moved in…) We thought we could celebrate a little… So we planned to go to the Kennywood (Amusement Park)… But things were meant to come different then we had planned…
When I got up this morning for my morning run I noticed that it was raining (in contrary to the weather forecast). As much as I had wished it, the rain is not an excuse for not running :-). 30 minutes into the run it started to rain cats and dogs… so I relieved myself after 40min and enjoyed the shower.
| But what should we do now? The Entertainment Park is not much fun when it is raining. So David and I decided to finish some administrative work and go to the Waterfront (Theater and lots of shopping) to celebrate at least a little. We started with a movie: Wanted featuring Angelina Jolie. |
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It is quite easy to describe: Nice action movie. After 3 hours of shopping (clothes and some other small stuff) we enjoyed another movie: WALL-E. The beginning was a little bit long winded because no one was speaking but after a while it was quite amusing.
Now we are back on campus and looking forward to move in tomorrow.
Some side notes:
Movie entry (each) 5$
Large Cup of coke 1.3l
With one refill that makes 2.6l of coke
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