Star Gazing

Back from Stockholm.. Settling back in, AGAIN! All this traveling, wwwhheww! In 2 weeks I will visit Germany once again, then make my way to Dublin for a short visit, and head over to Newcastle England!! YEAYEAH!

Stockholm was… cold! I think a bit colder than Detroit actually.. but it wasn’t too bad. Matthias and I had a wonderful time! We kept ourselves busy with plenty of museums, local customs, and of course eating… my favorite activity was the Nobel museum! It gave me a wonderful feeling and motivated me to do something profound with my life! Let’s see if that pans out :p It was nice to learn so many interesting things about what some of the world’s most intelligent, motivated and unique people have accomplished.

We also went to the national museum of Stockholm to learn about the history and culture of the city and its people. We saw how people lived in the olden days in really small rooms and with simple possessions. Wow, kind of like how I live now!! We even went to a music museum and played some crazy instruments. I played heart and soul for Matthias on the keyboard and he freakin jammed out on the guitar :/… couldn’t really keep up with him! We went to the local food market where you can buy fresh meat and veggies and local cuisine. Mmm.. those Swedish meatballs were GOOD!!!

I even had a moose burger! In Europe moose and elk are the same thing.. So Matthias didn’t understand when I was trying to tell him that the Swedish word älg and German word Elch are, in English -moose. And the English word elk- is a completely different animal. Are you still with me.. ? Either way, the moose was a bit strange tasting,, very gamy and I couldn’t help but think about the mama and baby moose we saw in Maine.. I might have been eating their long lost cousin!!

At night we went to the ‘Absolut Icebar’. A bar completely made of ice except for the liquor in ur glass—Yes, even the glasses were made of ice!! The entrance fee and drinks were very expensive, perhaps that is why the bar was virtually empty by the time we left! But it was still worth it and very fun! Our drinks were glowing bright green because of a black light and we took some awesome photos :p

We also went to a local jazz bar and watched a performance by the ‘Uncool Hillbillies’ … Cool name, huh? They were like a tribute to a 60’s pop/rock group. They were greasers. The lead singer was ALWAYS in character.. he had these eyes like,, with that look.. hard to explain but as Matthias exclaimed, and I quote, “If I were a girl, I would go after him.” HAHHA, .. made me laugh so hard!


Ok so… Guess what I was just doing,…?? Looking at flights home!! Yes I know, shocking, but true. I’m not sure if I can manage staying here while not taking any classes… I may die of boredom. Believe it or not, flights home in about 2.5 weeks are manageable pocket wise. Perhaps my work here is done.. must be a reason this whole crazy school catastrophe occurred.. Was it is in the starts??

Its true Blog Lovers...

The anonymous blog commenter is back for more ladies and gentleman!! *Que creepy music* -- DUhn duhn duuuuhhhnnnn -- I love it when I get anonymous blog comments!! WOOHOO!!

I have to get up at ... like 5am tomorrow morning to catch a train to Bremen, and then plane to Stockholm!! Its 12am right now... And its freezing there!! 14 degrees Fahrenheit!


On another note... Did u see that lovely email from Michelle Henry at EMU? SHes so pleasant and helpful! NNOOOTT!! Jeeze lady... anyway.. Its true folks.. Let me try to explain..

I guess I was the first Masters student to come to Groningen.. go figure.. They screwed up and made a mistake.. Apparently I can only take one semester here!! And the rest of my classes wont count towards my degree!! I even filled out a form before I came here.. for which classes I wanted to take during SEMSTER 1 AND SEMSTER 2, and even had it signed by EMU... GREAT! What do i do now!? I have options.. I know.. let me briefly describe a few:

A) Attempt to quickly transfer myself directly to the RUG (uni) and become an international student in hopes that I can register for class in time (Feb 8th) Then I will be receiving my degree directly from the RUG.

B) Pay outrageous EMU fees to continue taking classes at the RUG that wont count towards my degree...

C) Keep myself busy with some self study and traveling for a couple months while intensively looking for an internship to start ASAP (the suggestion is to start looking 6 months in advance!)

D) Return home and register for NEXT semesters courses at EMU.. which probably start in a few months *sigh*

E) Save myself the trouble and END IT ALL NOW!!!!!!!! (joke!)


Any input, ideas, comments, suggestions, direction, sympathetic words, uplifting sayings, motivational poems.. etc etc etc are appreciated!!

P.S. If there were an award for... 'THE MOST AMAZINGLY AWESOME DAD THAT EVER EXISTED AND EVER WILL EXIST IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE' ... AND.. if I had the power to give it to whoever I wanted... Then I would give it to my dad :D

WAIT A SECOND!!! I CAN!!!

Congratulations..

Jack G!nosa .. You are...

THE MOST AMAZINGLY AWESOME DAD THAT EVER EXISTED AND EVER WILL EXIST IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE!!

Signing off...

G!Nosa

AAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

> > To: jmeilgaar@emich.edu, mhenry1@emich.edu
> > Sent: Tuesday, January 5, 2010 1:29:11 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> > Subject: RE: Registering for classes
> >
> > Hi Justin and Michelle,
> >
I hope you both enjoyed your holidays and feel well rested and ready to get back to work! I had a great time and did some extensive travels through Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and even Slovakia! I'm still really enjoying myself, but the truth is its time to get back to my studies!

It has been quite a while now and I still haven't heard the status of my Business Development Management course. Will it transfer over? Can you please tell me as soon as possible?

In addition, it’s time to register for next semester. As you know, the learning agreement that I previously had approved no longer applies to my studies. Therefore, I have included a link to the classes which are open to me, as an exchange student. You should be familiar with this link as I have sent it over previously. At the bottom of the page are the classes for semester II. I dont mind which classes I take, I just want them to be approved. Can you kindly approve three classes or 25 credits which will transfer to EMU? I need to register quite soon so I appreciate your fast response.

Thank you for your help!

Sincerely,


Netherjen
___________________________________________________________

Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2010 13:48:37 -0500
> From: mhenry1@emich.edu
> To: netherjen
> CC: jmeilgaar@emich.edu
> Subject: Re: Registering for classes
>
> Hi Jennifer,
>
> I apologize that I neglected to inform you that yes, the Business Development Management course will serve as a suitable substitute for our MGMT 600 which is an "innovation" course on your MBA program of study.

However, I thought we had discussed before that you have already taken enough courses to meet the 25 ECTS (12 credit hours) limit for transfer back to EMU? Please scroll down to see Justin's confirmation below. If you did indeed take the three courses indicated, then any courses that you take in the next semester would be completely up to you and will not count towards your MBA requirements.

Please let me know if we've misunderstood. Thanks,

Michelle

K. Michelle Henry
> Interim Director of Academic Services
> College of Business Graduate Programs
> Eastern Michigan University
> Room 404, Gary M. Owen Building
> Ypsilanti, MI 48197
> 734.487.4444 (voice)
> 734.483.1316 (fax)
> mhenry1@emich.edu
_____________________________________________________________________
RE: Registering for classes‏
From: netherjen
Sent: Tue 1/05/10 2:27 PM
To: mhenry1@emich.edu
Cc: jmeilgaar@emich.edu
Hm,

Well I thought that the program that I signed up for was called ' A Year in Groningen' and included 2 semesters. If not then I guess I better buy a plane ticket back home!! :*0

Thank you for your fast response Michelle!

Jennifer
_______________________________________________-



> From: netherjen
> To: mhenry1@emich.edu
> Sent: Monday, January 11, 2010 12:15:02 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: RE: Registering for classes
>
> Hi Michelle,

> Have you heard anything about my second semester? I'm sure that my program includes another one.. I need to register for my classes pretty soon and I was wondering if you could take some time to approve my classes from the short list I sent. Perhaps Justin can confirm that my program does include this second semester.


Thanks again for your time!


Talk soon,



Re: Registering for classes‏
From: Michelle Henry (mhenry1@emich.edu)
Sent: Mon 1/11/10 12:22 PM)
Cc: Justin Meilgaard (jmeilgaar@emich.edu)

Jennifer,

I'm not sure where the confusion lies, but we have confirmed twice that you do not have any more requirements that you can take their to apply towards your EMU MBA. Any more courses that you take are on your own and will not apply towards your MBA, so you do not need to check in with me. You have already met your 12.5 credit hour (25 ECTS) transfer limit.

Michelle
K. Michelle Henry
Interim Director of Academic Services
College of Business Graduate Programs
Eastern Michigan University
Room 404, Gary M. Owen Building
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
734.487.4444 (voice)
734.483.1316 (fax)
mhenry1@emich.edu

Europtrip Pix

WWWOooooooo!! I feel like a NEW WOMAN! Done with my case study with PAT!! As soon as I gave him the OK to send it to teach Friday night.., I started screaming and jumping up and down!! We had a mini skype celebration with beer and martinis :D

SSOOOO!! The entire last week, I think I left my house, ONCE. I sat in my bed workin on the case study and distracting myself with facebook… my neck is killing me!! Today I’m finally cleaning up my MESSY room.. its disgusting really… Doing laundry, dishes, tidying up and yes, unpacking from my trip to Germany (hehe)…. BUT! On Thursday I leave for STOCKHOLM! SSSSOOOO… I will need to pack myself RIGHT BACK UP shortly.

Matthias and I will be staying on a HOTEL SHIP!! I think its on the water…?? There are lots of boats on canals in Holland that they fix to the earth somehow, so they are stable and don’t really move much. And people live on them. So maybe its guna be like that?? I dunno but I’m really excited for the trip! In fact, Sweden is the world’s 6th cleanest city! BIG CITY BRIGHT LIGHTS! WHHEEWW! I’m guna eat some Swedish meatballs and shop at Ikea!!!!

Check it~ I sent an email to my contact at EMU.. asking them to approve my classes for next semester.. this lady sent me an email back saying that I had already taken all the classes I can here at the RUG (University of Groningen)… She said if I take anymore classes here… they won’t count towards my degree!!!! WWWWTTTFFF!? SSSOooo.. I sent her an email back saying that perhaps I should buy my plane ticket back home!! But I also said that I thought I signed up for ‘A year in Groningen”… and that I was supposed to stay here for 2 semesters… She pretty much sucks because she hasn’t answered my email *sigh*… Come home, NOW!? I can’t imagine it.. I mean, I am so totally not mentally prepared to come back to the D. So guys… I mean.. I’ll let you know what happens as soon as I hear something :p

Its been really snowy here,. . much more than normal.. the locals are all really surprised by it. Mostly grey and cloudy.. I’m sure it looks a lot like home right now. Thursday was sunny but I was stuck in my room working on my paper. Believe it or not, I haven’t been to the city.. in… I dunno like 3 weeks!! I forgot what Dutch sounds like, and forgot that there are BIKES everywhere! So it will be nice to see my city again :*)

This week I will be studying for the final that I failed (HEHE)… oh.. didn’t I tell you yet? Yeah, I failed one of my finals.. **sigh**… WELL!! I had 2 FINALS IN ONE DAY!! Back to back! So,… I neglected to study for one of them in fear that I may fail both. Apparently I was one of the lucky few who didn’t fail the other. But good thing is that it shouldn’t be too hard.. cuz its mildly interesting stuff to me. Its about innovation and business development! So I don’t think I’ll mind too much -reading these articles.

I will also be checking out some internships.. I’m not going to be picky about the location.. If I can get one in the States than that’s cool.. I just want the BEST internship at a large company.. so wherever it may be is cool with me.
Hmm.. what else what else… I’m uploading some pictures right now! So, by the time u are reading this.. they will be up.. wait! Here they are ;)—ENJOY



Click Here.

(Please tell me if u have problems viewing the pix.. I wanna how it works out with Photobucket)

BTW- I LOVE ANONYMOUS BLOG COMMENTS!! “Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up! “ -Thanks Unknown Blog Lover!
!

~~*Realizing It*~~

Ok Ok, BLOG ENTRY WOOOO!!

Has it really been that long!? I must be busy! Actually yes…. After doing my Eurotrip to Berlin (Germany), Prague (Czech Republic), Vienna (Austria) and Bratislava (Slovakia) I came home for about 1.5 days and then headed off to celebrate SILVERSTER IN DEUTSCHLAND! Aka new years in Germany :p More on that later. But a bit about Vienna and Bratislava. Vienna was very gorgeous. Most of the old city got bombed from what I saw. Unfortunately our favorite tour company Sandemans doesn’t do tours in the city. So with our handy-dandy ‘euro-travel’ books we made ourselves our own self-guided tour of the city. We saw the palace which was HUGE, and some old churches; and ate some delicious Schnitzel and sachertorte. YUM YUM! I drank some Austrian beer and got a feeling for Gov. Schwarzenegger’s home country! Hehe

Bratislava was interesting.. a bit smaller of a town, and on the outskirts not lookin to pretty. It’s not as big of a tourist destination, but our flight home was out of that city. So we decided to spend a few hours there. So I had a Slovakian beer and tasted some of the local dishes. YUMMM. We saw another castle there.. and walked around the city. We met some locals who could also speak German and had QUITE A SIMPLE and unfortunately SAD conversation.. hehe.. sad because it was difficult to communicate due to our extremely limited German vocabulary. BUT it was still fun to attempt to speak with someone who also only knew a bit of German. We TRIED to sleep in the airport to save money (uuggghh) .. it sucked! By the time I got home I was really low on sleep!

Ok so about my trip to Southern Germany- wait just so you know.. the reason I haven’t posted is b/c I had a really busy schedule and not much free time to write in my blog. I got back last night and needed some readjustment time :p

Ok so-
I went with D and had a really great time! I saw the REAL Germany- I stayed in a small German town, and experienced real German life! I ate delicious home cooked food and saw the castle in Heidelberg! I went to a couple crazy German clubs and met some awesome local students!! It was great and I had a wonderful time! I met his parents again, they are very sweet people. His mother was so sweet and really tried to make me feel at home. Even though they don’t speak English that well, they still tried to make conversation and his mother kept her German to English dictionary by her side.

Although there were plenty of times when I didn’t understand conversation, it was still very enjoyable. New Years Eve was really fun. We were in a town in Southern Germany near Mannheim. It was me, Matthias, and about 8 or so of his closest high school buddies. We had dinner together first and did some pre-gaming. Then we went to a big club where everyone had their fair share of drinks :p We danced and talked and by the end of the night I realized that at one point, I didn’t even notice that I was the only one who couldn’t understand German.. I mean.. everyone was speaking to me in English, even when we were in groups, they spoke English if I was present.

After that night we relaxed at Matthias’ house and he took very good care of me. Ensuring that at all times I was comfortable and had everything I desired. His parents took us to the Heidelberg castle and we all did the ENGLISH TOUR. His poor dad didn’t understand very much. But I appreciate the fact they did it just for me! I learned some amazing history (like all of the other city and castle tours I’ve done).. but actually it makes me realize how little I know about European or even world history. Us poor Americans, our education system is deplorable!
So now I’m home again.. doing some work on my case study which is due in a few days. After that I have a break and will be making a trip to Stockholm. I also have a final exam due and have to register for classes. So as always I’m pretty busy : ) Working hard but OF COURSE playing harder.

I miss my family, especially my nephews as I can see how quickly they’re growing, and sadly I’m so far away and can’t be there to watch them grow up : ( I’m still considering an internship here and will be doing some research to make a decision by this month.

I plan to post some pictures of my trip within the next couple of days! I will upload them to a site which has pretty good quality.. it takes a bit longer but is
very worth it.

Guten Abend,


Jen