What happend so far - Part 1, Down Under

June 30 2007 was the day I graduated - with very average grades - at the Buendner Kantonsschule Chur. It was the day that nine years of governmental oppression finally came to an end and I could start living my life the way I wanted. Freedom, at last.

First of all I did lots of those things I had too little time before, or a too bad concience about because I actually was supposed to learn for school: Reading interesting books and newspapers; doing heaps of sports; watching documentations, movies, political discussions, news and sports on TV.

Later on I did fundraising for two weeks for Terre des Hommes, organised by the Corris AG. It was a tough job talking to strangers all day and begging them for money, however, it was an invaluable experience. To live with dealers, depressed smokers and sex-obsessed girls in an appartment in Olten, talking about all sorts of things, certainly opened my horizon.

Surprising bloodtest

After another week of working as an umpire at a tennis tournament in Klosters, I went for two days to Mels for the military-service-recruitment. I was motviated to do the most out of a cumpulsory I considered and still consider most unnecessary for a country like Switzerland. As a huge surprise, however, a voluntary test indicated a too low number of thrombozhytes in my blood. Shortly after being told to have excellent leadership qualities, the doctor considered me incapable of doing military service.

Therefore I had a whole lot of time in front of me, not having a clue what to do with it. I didn't yet know what to study at university, so I just continued enjoying my time. I went on competing with sports, reached a good 12th place at the Nationalpark Bike Marathon, completed my third half-marathon and won the tennis-club-championships in singles and doubles in Scuol, as well as crafting at my journalists career with writing for different newspapers about local sports.

In October 2007 I went for one day to Stuttgart to visit a tennis tournament - my first lone trip abroad - and added then a week of cycling holidays in the Gargano Region in Italy with my father and my brother. After that, I worked as a line umpire at the Zurich Open, my first major event.

Australia

The summer was definitely gone by now, it was getting chilly and foggy in Switzerland - in short, time to get away. Within one week I organised my first overseas trip. On November 2, in the early morning, I boarded a flight at Zurich Airport which would bring me over Frankfurt, Hongkong and Melbourne to Hobart, Tasmania.

Altogether, I spent ten weeks in Tassie, a truly wonderful island in the south of Australia. The first four weeks I went to a language school in the morning, the afternoons were free to enjoy the city and do lots of sports. I lived in a homestay on a hill with an outstanding view over the Dervent River and the city. Only five minutes away were Bellerive- and Howrahbeach. I would visit them often to read, go jogging or sometimes I would get up at 5am to enjoy the sunrise. During that time I played lots of tennis - and better than ever before - as well as participating at the Point to Pinnacle Race, a halfmarathon from sealevel up to Mount Wellington (1290 meters), which I finished in 1:51 hours in the 29th place.

Then I lived and worked for one week on a small farm in Woodbridge, a little lost village in the south of Hobart. I had a wonderful three day boat trip with a group of hobby sailors on Bruny Island, before I returned to the capital of Tasmania. From there, I explored the island on various trips with a rented bike for the next ten days. One of the reasons why Tasmania is one of the most bountiful places in the world is its wildlife. I saw birds, eagles, kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, echidnas, possums and more during my walks and rides through the dry Eucalypthusforests.

The highlight were eight days over christmas/new year that I spent on a small paradise called Maria Island on the east coast of Tassie. The island offers no cars, shops, electricity or drinkable water, but therfore the most wonderful piece of nature in this world. I would walk the two mountains, visit the beaches, enjoy the moonrise and stars lying on a clip and sleep in an old convict settlement near the lone port where pinguins and dolphins say goodnight to eachother.

Coming back to Hobart it was time for tennis: First I was working at the Moorilla Hobart International as a line umpire, then I flew to Melbourne to visit my favorite tournament, the Australian Open. I stayed for eight days, enjoying the spectacular skyline along Yarra River and watching more than 60 hours of live-tennis at the Oz open.

New Zealand

On January 20, I left Australia and flew to Christchurch, New Zealand, to continue my English studies. I attended a course of seven weeks, studying a lot and hard to eventually get an A grade in a Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English.

My time in NZ was somewhat less of a holiday, I only really had the weekends to explore the country and did this mostly by bike, climbing the Dyerspass and enjoying the wonderful views everybody knows from The Lord of the Rings movies. The highlight was a bustrip to Akaroa, where I climbed a mountain and received one of the best views over the Banks Peninsula. I also seized the opportunity to get to know and get excited about the typical sports in NZ, like rugby and cricket.

On March 10 2008 I started my return flight with a one day stop in Melbourne, where I visited the most beautiful zoo ever, and two dazs in Hongkong, the craziest city I've ever been in. In the past four months I had seen so many unforgetable things, met great people and made lifelastinf experiences - this trip Down Under was the time of life.