Back To Austria

The USA is history again - I'm preparing to leave the country and head on to good old Europe. It has been a great time here. Many insights, adventures and a lot of good time.

The trip initially began with a road trip through New England, starting from Boston, travelling up to the north on the west side and coming down at the coast at the east side. Clemens and I had a great time driving around, getting lost and detoured but we always had a great time. I personally wouldn't want to live in New England except of Boston. It looks like Austria but is much more conservative and I have no use for the many churches and "correct" citizens.

The time in Boston was great too. A lot of insights how the academic field is organised and how start-up companies work. It's a lot hustle and bustle and at the end I think the main difference is the self confidence of the people here that make crazy ideas work. Just do it!!

Now at the end of the trip and a great time on the sun deck I'm happy to return to Austria to move-on again for the next challenges and adventures....

Innocentive

We are now at an interesting company that finds solutions for various problems.

Harvard

We are now just in class in Harvard and working on a case with prof. Karim Lakhani.

Red Sox

The last few days have been very busy. We are moving from company to company, university to university. The WU Wien has arranged a very interesting schedule keeping us busy during the day.

Luckily the evenings are free. Still the evenings are also full of action because we use our valuable time wisely to the full extent. Going out together, having fun and long discussions are great fun. Yesterday I even have been at my first baseball game: Boston Red Sox against Toronto Blue Jays. We had an interesting starting point: We had two free tickes but still we've needed two additional tickets for the four of us. Against all odds we have even got tickets at the official ticket counter for 55 Dollars. The view was quite decent for the price and we had full 3 hours of interesting action. Of course I had no clue what's going on but Hannes was so kind to explain me the game in full detail. There was a lot of action going on - most of the time from the spectators getting food and drinks. The game was rather static but still quite busy. At the end Boston won 18:06 - Poor Canadians ;)

Now we are in the final phase of the Boston experience and on Sunday I will have to go back to Europe. It's a bit sad but still I am also happy to return back for several great reasons. Tomorrow we have Harvard on the list and I need still to do some good shots of the city.

Museum Of Science

This is my first post with the new google iPhone app. I am at a demonstration at the electrical lab at the exclusive second floor. It's an average demonstration bur great fun for the guys here.

Boston: Field Trip

Again time seems to "fly". The MBA-module is already over and we had some interesting days talking about sources of innovation. Tomorrow, Monday, starts the field trip to universities and companies around the town.

I'm really enjoying the time with my colleagues. It's a very diverse and interesting group and great fun to see all the different characters. Christian, Jürgen, Hannes and Konstantin are great company and we have a lot of fun on our little house boat. Today we even have activated our BBQ and we made us some nice steaks. Boston is quite expensive when it comes to eating and drinking. I'm already glad when I'm at home to keep control on my budget ;)

Now its time for a good night rum and I have to prepare my bed. Its the sofa in the living room and I have chosen it because I'm anyway the last to get to bed and the first getting out. If its warm outside tomorrow I think about smoking again a decent cigar. To be on the water with some basics is all I need to be in perfect chill mood.

Boston: Start of the MBA program

In a few hours I have to get up and get ready for the first day of the MBA program in Boston. Surprisingly it's quite fresh now and I'm freezing a bit ;)
Today was a very turbulent day. In the morning in was raining very hard but the rain stopped around noon. That was great because I had to find out where my new home was located. I was just provided with a brief description where the houseboat should be located. Luckily I had some time to stroll around and find the place. On the search for the house boat I've ran into the the police. I was a suspect because I took pictures with a professional camera nearby a "classified" federal unit. Obviously there are enough agents around to stop innocent people like me!
Luckily I cold convince then that I wansn't dangerous and I was able to leave. I've managed to find the house boat, get some booze and do many tasks more. Now I have a few hours to relax before I have to get up and attend the next university module.

Boston: The End Of A Long Round Trip Through New England

Today We've mastered the final stretch of our journey to Boston. After a rainy wake-up and two episode of My Name Is Earl we had a relaxed start. We've chosen a ride down on Route 1 south to Boston along the coast. Even the weather was rainy and foggy all along we have seen some great laid back places.

Later on we've arrived in Boston and went shopping, had a stroll at the historic harbour and a look at MSS Constitution and finally a long visit a the museum of fine arts. On the way out of the city we've fund a wonderful Thai restaurant that really made our day.

Tomorrow we move to our new places where we stay during university and the field trip. It will be quite tricky to arrange everything an finally we have to bring our car back. Let's have a look how everything works out!

...more tk

Back On The Coast To Boston

After the relaxing days at the Acadia National Park Clemens and I had to continue our journey back to Boston. As we had plenty of time we just wanted to get as far as we can and take some for interesting sights on the road. We've discovered a scenic bridge, an old fort and a famous harbour - Boothbay harbour.

The initial plan was to spend a second day at Boothbay harbour and go on a whale watching tour. Unfortunately the weather forecast was very bad and on the next day there it really was raining the whole day. The best thing to do was to go back on the road again and head down further south on the old classic "Route 1". Portland was the big stop on the road and the harbour city was really worth a stop. A clean, scenic city full of life and plenty of dining choices. Later on we headed to Portsmouth to have another city on the list and it was a more laid back and relaxed impression as the stop before.

At the very evening we've decided to leave the city, get something for dinner and then go further south and find a motel for the night. On the way to the motel we've found a Japanese steak house and decided to have dinner there. What we didn't know is that the chef comes to the table and cook exclusively for the guests. Show time as it best! We have survived finally the entertainment and could escape to the closest motel. Tomorrow we continue to Boston and prepare for the upcoming module in Entrepreneurship & Innovation.

Acadia National Park

We have arrived now at the Acadia National Park. It's labour day weekend (labour day is an important, nationwide day off) and it's high time for tourism. The national park is a big recreation area and now full of weekender's who want to spend some valuable time with their family and friends. We are staying in a cabin because its cheaper as a motel and we don't have any camping gear.

Yesterday we have been already at the sea side and enjoyed the fresh breeze. Close to the camp ground is a light house and the island has also many hiking trails we want to discover. The area is also very famous for lobster. The cages can be seen all over in the sea by their buoys. Seems I'm getting hungry now...

From Vermont To New Hampshire

After the nice days in Stowe it was time to get on the road again. The destination in mind: Mount Washington - The highest peak in New Hampshire.

We have followed a scenery route with special historical landmarks aside - covered bridges. Vermont is well known for many preserved covered bridges. We have made some pictures of some great bridges in many different places. Hours later at the late afternoon we have arrived at the Mt. Washington national park. The entrance fee covered also a welcome package with an instruction CD how to drive a car in the mountains. It was full of advise and other stuff that sound odd if you live in a mountainous country and are used to drive a car in the mountains.
Reaching the peak was great. It's high over the surrounding valleys and other mountains and we had a great, scenic view. The road to the summit was built well over 100 years ago for tourism purposes!

After all the nature we've got hungry and we decided to go for something new: KFC, Kentucky Fried Chicken. It was a greasy and fun experience because he staff was very funny shouting with each other.

Next stop will be probably at the coast and from there down back to Boston to have a full circle through New Hampshire.

Vermont - Stowe

After all the flooded streets we wanted to reach higher and decided to hike up Mt. Greylock, the last big adventure in Massachusetts. The initial idea was to drive up the mountain and enjoy the great view. Unfortunately the park was still closed because of the hurricane and we had to hike up over 10 miles to get to the top. That was quite challenging but nice.

The next day was just driving around heading north. Sounds easy but was very difficult. We have experienced road blocks and detours all the time. We changed our destination all the time and finally arrived in Stowe - a well known ski resort. The tourist information recommended us to stay at the hotel Innsbruck - A "kind" of Austrian hotel but it has a sauna, swimming pool and other facilities.

Today on Thursday we had two exciting activities: The first one was canoeing down a river for several hours. That was great fun and the paddling wasn't too bad either. After returning back to the hotel we prepared for the next sensation - the visit of the Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory!  B&J's are originally from Vermont and the factory offers tours. It was also great to be there and have a few cups rich ice cream.

Tomorrow we have some new options in mind what to do. Depending on the weather we could do some mountain biking or head to Mt. Washington for the next stop. As we are very, very flexible we'll find out tomorrow what it will be.