Work, Work, Work, Work, Work and a Visit to Minneapolis

As the first half of the semester is over and some of the courses already end within the next two weeks there is quite a bit of work to do! To make sure I am not only seeing textbooks and assignments I went to downtown Minneapolis for the first time with some friends on Saturday after finishing the work.     

I can´t believe that half of my first semester at UWRF is already over! Time is definitely flying … Undergraduate students are already taking the midterm exams and there is some work for MBA students as well. As already mentioned in previous blogs the Organizational Theory and Behavior class I am enrolled in this semester is such a half semester course which makes it way harder and more packed. Assignments are due weekly and three papers must be written during the half of the semester. Besides every student must prepare a 10-minute presentation about a course-related topic of his choice. Even though it is a lot of work and everything is working way different to what I am used to in Germany it is really interesting and good fun and I knew before that I am not on vacation but a degree-seeking student. The other class is way more relaxed right now but the final assignments will be coming anyway. It is definitely feasible but it takes a while.

Believe it or not! I didn´t make it to downtown Minneapolis during my first couple of weeks in River Falls although it is just a stone´s throw. The time has come and so I made my way to Minneapolis on Saturday. It didn´t even take us 45 minutes to get to sculpture garden; a tiny little park with a lot of crazy works of art located at the edge of the central business district (CBD). After spending some time there we headed in the direction of the CBD where all the nice spots were supposed to be.

Minneapolis has an estimated population of about 415,000 people and the metropolitan area of the twin cities Minneapolis/St. Paul has a population of approximately 3.5 million people which makes it the second-largest economic center in the Midwest right after Chicago. The cities are located at the Mississippi River and there is a lot of water in the surroundings in general. Several lakes, rivers, creeks and waterfalls are pretty close to the city center. The city is considered as a green city and there is a lot of nature everywhere. You don´t really feel like you are in a big city as you do have a lot of parks as well as the Saint Anthony Falls Historic District, which was the only major waterfall on the upper Mississippi before it was replaced by a concrete overflow spillway after collapsing in 1869. In this area of Minneapolis are a lot of historical mills and a lot of museums about mills and art as well.

As it was Saturday the CBD was not crowded at all and so we made our way to the U.S Bank Stadium which is home of the Minnesota Vikings. This stadium was opened in 2016 and it looks just majestic. It is huge and it has a maximum capacity of up to 70,000 fans and visitors. On 4^th of February 2018 the world-famous Super Bowl is going to take place in this stadium but tickets are unfortunately far out of a college student´s reach. Maybe I will have to return for another game after graduation ?

By the way: I found my new favorite fast food restaurant in the U.S. I have never tried Five Guys` burgers and fries before but they are just amazing and I think I am already addicted after trying them once. Luckily the next Five Guys restaurant is not located too close to River Falls ?

To be continued!