After my trip Down Under, I had been looking forward a great deal to come back home and enjoyed the next four weeks skiing and traveling around Switzerland. However, I felt very empty, missed Down Under, and couldn't wait to get away again.
Portugal
On April 10 I catched my next flight, to Lisbon. I made some sightseeing for two days, including a visit to a training for the motogp-race in Estoril and a soccermatch between Sporting Lisboa and the Galsgow Rangers.
Then I worked for nine days as a line umpire at the Estoril Open. I got on court for the first time with Roger Federer, my famous countryman, and Maria Kirilenko, my favourite player on the tour - and both won the tournament. It was also great to meet so many people, some of which I already knew from earlier tournaments. However, I didn't pick up much of the language and was sometimes a bit lonely with lots of Spanish and Portugese surrounding me.
Working in Munich
After the tournament I had three more days to enjoy the wonderful citylife of Lisbon, before I was heading home once again. This was only for one more week though. On May 2 I started a practical course of six monthe in Munich. I worked as a sportwriter for the homepage of Eurosport, covering mainly tennis and cycling.
The working part was just awesome. On the second day I visited the finals of a tennis tournament in Munich, and afterwards published my first article about it. It went on with a lot of responsibilities in the big events of the summer: French Open, Euro 2008, Wimbledon, Tour de France, Beijing olympics and the Us Open. I was writing lots of articles and live-tickers, as well as getting to know with the whole working process of a homepage and a videotext.
The highlight was certainly the Wimbledonfinal between Federer and Nadal. I followed the whole match and was so excited about it, that I barely could sleep afterwards. Another great thing was having the morning shift on three days during the olympics, starting to work at 4am while the whole city was sleeping. I worked in a team of 9 journalists and 4 practicants and enjoyed it a great deal to work with these young, experienced, motivated and friendly people.
Living in Munich
Another awesome thing was my apartment. I found a room of 25 squaremeters with bath and kitchen in the middle of Schwabing. There were lots of bars and restaurants around it. The centre and my workingplace were nearby and the English Garden was just 10 walkingminutes away. I would often go for runs around this green oasis in what apparentely is the most beautiful city of Germany.
A problem for me was that it was very difficult to meet friends. Through the fact that I was working nine-hour-shifts between 9am and midnight as well as often being in charge at the weekend, I barely met any people in Munich. Apart from the workmates, I met only a few guys from Eching regularly to play tennis or poker with. Although enjoying my first own apartment and reading lots of interesting things, I sometimes felt a bit lonely.
During this six months I went to Switzerland every four weeks for a few days, seeing my family and my newborn sister and doing sports in the engadin valley. I also did some more umpiring in Klosters, at the Davis Cup in Lausanne and at the Zurich Open.
October 29 was my last day working for Eurosport. It was hard so say goodbye and leave Munich. Although I had a great time, I am very uncertain about working as a journalist later on in my life. First of all I want to discover more of this wonderful world. Therefore I booked a trip of six weeks to Ecuador to learn some Spanish. After eight days in Switzerland, I will fly to Auckland on December 31. And in February 2009 I will start studying biology in Christchurch.
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