It´s Time for a Fresh Start

Break is over, and it is time for my second semester at UWRF to start. It has been a break of about four weeks and I really enjoyed the time as it was exactly what I needed.

I went back home to Germany for Christmas and New Year`s Eve and I had a blast celebrating those days with my family and friends. A lot of stories had to be told and it was great to see everybody again after a long time. You start appreciating this valuable time much more the less you have. After spending about three weeks back home I left Germany again heading to Miami, Florida. The temperatures up north in Wisconsin were way to cold for me and so I decided to spend some time at Florida´s beaches. As I have already been down in Florida a couple of years ago I didn´t have any particular sightseeing goals and so I decided to just spend some time at the beaches, pools, and other good spots living the good live. I flew into Miami and spent three nights in Miami Beach. It´s a great place to hang out at the beaches, bars and fancy restaurants but it´s kind of pricy just as whole Florida is. All the so-called snow birds are coming down there to spend their retirement or at least the winter break at this fantastic place and they are all willing to spend a lot of money. Miami Beach is popular for its Art Deco buildings, its laid-back lifestyle and of course the beaches.

After three days and nights in Miami Beach I left the city and went to the Florida Keys, a group of islands that is located right at Florida´s south coast. I went straight to Key West, the southernmost point of the island group, because the rest of the Keys was still pretty demolished by hurricane Irma which hit the region in early September 2017. The city of Key West was hardly hit by the storm and so I had a great time in this lovely little city which is famous for Ernest Hemingway´s House in which he wrote about 70% of his work, Duval Street, a great place to grab some food and drinks, as well as the reef which is located along the group of islands and many other attractions. I really enjoyed the time down there especially as the temperatures were quite nice and it was sunny for ten days straight but after those days it was time to head back to Minneapolis as the second semester was about to start.

The second part of this awesome experience and adventure was just about to start when a massive snowstorm caused a cancellation of all classes on our first day back at school. It snowed for 16 hours straight and we got a solid 30cm of snow and negative degrees, too. The campus looks beautiful and I actually enjoy the cold as well.

A new semester of course means new classes and a new schedule as well. For the first part of the semester I do have classes from Monday to Wednesday evening and so far, I liked the classes I had even though it was just two classes. I got five remaining classes before graduation. I am really looking forward to those classes as they are kind of different to what I am used to in Germany apart from the class setup itself. I chose Innovation & Design, Strategic Marketing Management as well as Financial Management for the first part of the semester and Leading Change as well as Strategy & Organizational Performance for the second half of it. I hope for some great new experiences especially because it seems to be an even more hands on oriented approach in those experimental Innovation & Design as well as Leading Change classes. On of the most remarkable facts about the Innovation and Design class is that we are only eight students in this class. This causes a really personal and relaxed learning atmosphere. Let´s see how all this develops. I will keep you updated!

To be continued!