blog.zgraggen.name  All-day insanity or I have a blog too!

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.

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

Today we got up a little later then usually. The reason for this was a party we attended.
Darpan a MSE student, who already finished the first year, invited us to his place to celebrate goodbye for students of the MSE and MSE-IT Program which will finish their program next week.
We arrived at 9 o’clock and had a warm welcome even though we knew only a few people by now. I met people from all over the world (Chile, China, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, India, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan). Some of them even brought their own food. Many people from the program were there and I had some informative chats about the program and they gave me also tips for finding a suitable apartment. So now I look back at a nice party which was absolutely worth to give away some hours of sleep…

Thanks for the invitation Darpan!

Für einmal auf Deutsch… aber gewöhnt euch nicht daran!

Nachdem ich nachfolgenden Text an alle meine Mailkontakte und auch div. Facebook-Freunde verschickt habe poste ich das schreiben hier trotzdem nochmals. Eventuell ist mir ja doch noch jemand entgangen

Betref: Neuer Lebensabschnitt
Nun ist es schon bald soweit, am nächsten Donnerstag (31. Juli) nehme ich den Flieger in die USA, um dort mein Master Studium an der Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh zu beginnen. Was bis jetzt noch in ferner Zukunft lag und zuvor nur ein (Wunsch)Traum war, wird nun Realität. Die Vorfreude ist nun wieder etwas gedämpft wegen den vielen Sachen die noch zu organisieren sind und ich mir zudem auch bewusst werde, das ich die Schweiz (mit all meinen Kollegen, der schönen Natur und der Vertrautheit) zurücklasse, um einen neuen Lebensabschnitt zu beginnen. Falls Ihr interessiert seid, wie es mir in den nächsten 1.5 Jahren so geht, schaut doch mal auf meinem Blog (http://blog.zgraggen.name) rein. Neben all den technischen Berichten und den Bücher-Reviews gibt es sicher ab und zu mal einen persönlichen Bericht. Wer mehr an Fakten in Form von Fotos interessiert ist, hat die Möglichkeit den Wissensdurst auf meinem Webalbum (http://picasaweb.google.com/zgraggen) zu stillen.
Falls ihr zukünftig mit mir Kontakt aufnehmen wollt, geht das am besten per Mail. guido@zgraggen.name

Ich wünsche euch alles Gute!
Tschüss, ciao en schöne…Guido =)

Today I went to the US embassy in Bern to apply for visa.
My appointment was scheduled for 09:00 and I arrived as in good Swiss manner a little early at 0830.
After waiting for 1.5 outside of the embassy I finally was allowed to enter the (security-check) building. First they did a detailed security check. Whereas I had to walk three times through the metal detector (without a beep) and then the woman scanned me additionally with the hand detector. After this check I took my documents and a book to read (thanks to David for the tip) and left the first building to walk to the second building. Even this pathway is behind fences they did another security check when I entered the main building.
Then I went to the allotted desk (#7) and deposed my documents and took place in the waiting area. After only one minute they called me to desk #6. There I had to make finger prints off all my fingers (electronically… nothing with ink and dirty fingers :-D). It took about 1 minute. Then I had to wait for a few more minutes till a voice announced that I should go to the desk #8.
There a very friendly man asked me (after finger print check) how long I would stay in America. I answered for about one and a half year. Then he told me a few things about Pittsburgh with all the Universities and that it is a great city. He told me that my visa will arrive at the beginning of the next week and wished me good luck and fun for my study.

After waiting for 1.5h hour which I assume is normal I had a brief, friendly, and pleasant visit at the US Embassy to get my visa. So now I really looking forward to meet more Americans.

What I did not mention till now was that I certainly was well prepared and had filled out every document clean and truthful including all the confirmation they needed.

These two words were written on the UPS envelop which I received last Friday. Hmm, it must be kind of important, because I have never seen this note on an envelop before. No wonder I got a little exited and nervous. What else could it be than a letter from a University I applied for? Then I discovered that the sender is the Carnegie Mellon University.

The letter says that I have been accepted for the Master of Software Engineering (MSE) program at Carnegie Mellon University.

Yes that is definitely an extremely urgent message!

Yiiihaaa, USA I am coming…