getting paid to drive a mini around...

this was my little dodu ;) and it was really fun driving around germany and switzerland (all in all it was 1440 km) - but the job wasn't that easy...

we had to get up early (no pictures here ;)) ...

...wash our cars...

...then erect a booth...

...wait for the students to show up...

...and entertain them.

at least we got decent hotel rooms (augsburg, konstanz, rapperswil, luzern) and a few hours of sleep every night ;)

in augsburg we even had time to do some few minutes of sight seeing :)

yes, i did come back ;)

it's been a while since i gave you the last update.... it is partly because i was lazy when i came home, but mostly because my computer had to see a doctor. unfortunately these guys weren't very skilful, so i had to send it in twice :(

but now it's back and i'm working on answering emails, updating my blog (as you can see ;)) and of course on uploading the pictures from usa and canada. since i took about 1500 pictures (now i wish i've had an analoge camera with me ;)) it takes me a while to sort them out...

but keep checking in, it shouldn't be too long until they're online :)

april 8th is the magic day ;)

since everyone keeps asking me, when i'll be back, i thought i might also write it down here :) so if the canadians are kind and won't make more trouble, i'll be back on the 8th of april, 9.20 am :) feel free to welcome me at the airport ;D

toronto and ottawa

they say you either like toronto or vancouver. i definitely opt for toronto. maybe it was because half of vancouver was either a car park or a construction site (they're getting ready for winter olympics 2010)? i don't know, but toronto seemed so much more fun to me :)
i went up the cn tower, looked around the city and also went to the world famous niagara falls :)

now i'm stuck in ottawa, the capital with beautiful buildings but not much to do. since i'm sick, it doesn't really matter ;) i'm enjoying my stay at the jail, sleep and try to get well again ;)
oh btw. i think they know very well that there's not much to do here: ususally you pay 3 dollars for one hour of internet access, whereas here you get 24 hours for the same price! ;D

snowboarding in banff

whooohoooo - i really went snowboarding in banff! james took me to sunshine and it was just awesome! and it's true, the snow is really different over here. it's almost like wakeboarding and you pick up speed soo much faster!

unfortunately the image upload doesn't really work, but as soon as i get a chance i'll show you the picture :) (although i have to warn you: the photographer wasn't a genius at all!! ;))

entering canada

well, i thought the usa is hard to get in - but only until i had to enter canada... maybe it's because the whole flight didn't start off very well. when i checked in at san diego airport i totally forgot that my plane was to land in las vegas before heading to vancouver. then i asked for my miles to put on my swiss-milage-card (instead of us airways) and finally i wanted a window seat. this was obviously too much, because the guy at the check-in printed four fat "SSSS" on my boarding pass. when i entered the security check, they explained to me that the airline wanted me to be checked additionally. so this lady groped me all over and checked my shoes and my bag for traces of explosives (haha).

then, on the stopover in las vegas the flight attendant told me i can leave everything where it is, but when i came back, my healthy and rather expensive salad (as well as my cookies) were gone ("oh, that must have been the cleaners"). so i was starving the whole flight and when i got off in vancouver i just wanted to get through passport control and buy some food.

but it wasn't that easy. since the us immigration didn't want to see my e-ticket back home i didn't think of packing it this time in my on-board luggage. suspicious? check. then the lady saw the "SSSS" on my boarding pass. suspicious? check. and finally i really looked tired and annoyed (i was sooo hungry)... suspicious? check.
so i had to answer all these stupid questions, like "wouldn't you have to be at uni right now?" -"how can you afford to travel when you're a student?" - "so you studied and worked at the same time?" - "what kind of work did you do?" - "for how long did you work there?" - "how much cash do you have with you?" - "how do you know you will be able to get cash from the atm?" goooooooooooooossssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhh. i almost asked her what reason i would have to sneak in canada since i'm from a rich country (SWITZERLAND) and i'm well educated (yes, i really did my MASTER). but i managed to stay calm...
finally she told me she wouldn't send me to immigration this time (haha) but it was crucial that i bring my flight ticket with me whenever i wasn't travelling in switzerland (haha).

at least the bus drivers were very friendly... they didn't charge me for the ride into the city, 'cause i didn't have any coins yet and they gave me good tips what to do in vancouver :) so i guess canada deserves a second chance ;)

l.a. and san diego

l.a. is just huge and it takes you forever to cross the city - no matter whether you're travelling by bus or by car. although traveling by car gives you the advantage not having to stop every other corner, 'cause someone wants to get on or off the bus...
i think we saw quite a few parts of the city, we've been to the touristy places like hollywood boulevard (walk of fame), the kodak theatre and melrose avenue - but we've also seen the beaches of santa monica and venice beach. and we even did a tour on blades on the beach, that was really cool :)

the last two days we spent in san diego. it's much smaller than l.a. but it also seems way cozier and laid-back. we went to tijuana (we even crossed the boarder by car, although this wasn't the plan. but after "just" 45 minutes of queuing up we were allowed to go back to the usa.) the last evening we had dinner at jrdn (you have to check out the pictures!) a really awesome place and worthy of celebrating our last evening (together).