Poscht ausm Wilden Weschtn

As some of you may already know, i moved to Innsbruck at the start of the month to enroll at  MCI   (Management Center Innsbruck) and start a Master's Programme called  "International Health & Social Mana ment" , which will extend over the course of the next 2 years. The combined working experiences i gathered at the outpatient clinic of  Dr. Malus  (5+ years, by far my longest-standing job to date) and for  Bikram Yoga Schottenring  in Vienna not only raised my interest in public health but also triggered the decision to get some further insight into healthcare and its socioeconomical implications. After overcoming initial doubts on behalf of my family and successfully navigating through the university's selection process, and with the highly valued support of my girlfriend Katrin i finally packed my bags at the beginning of the month and rode off into the Wild West (thanks Martin for providing your VW Touran - i'm so sorry you had to suffer a...

HUNGARY Key Facts: Size :  93.000 km² , Population: approx. 10.5 million Capital :  Budapest (Population 1.7 million) Public Expenditure on Health : 7.9 % of GDP (2013) !       Roughly   5 million inhabitants living outside the country’s borders, having left after several waves of     emigration (WW I, WW II, Revolution of 1956) or because the live in areas that were Hungarian       territory before the 1920 Treaty of Trianon !      Almost half of the country lives in communities of less than 20 000 inhabitants !     At the last census (2001) 3.1 % of the population considered themselves to be members of a               minority. The Roma community has the biggest share, officially 190.000 in 2009, the real number is      estimated to be 500.000 or higher! Governance: -        ...

Nun ist es also soweit: Nachdem mich seine Buchreihe "A Song of Ice and Fire" seit Sommer 2013 begleitet und fasziniert, hat "der amerikanische Tolkien", George R.R. Martin, es nun auch in meine Buchblogparade geschafft. Dabei möchte ich gleich vorausschicken, dass ich noch nie ein Buch von Tolkien gelesen habe, und mich die "Herr der Ringe"-Trilogie im Kino relativ kaltgelassen hat. Das soll aber auch nicht heissen dass mir das Fantasy-Genre ganz fremd ist - "Die unendliche Geschichte" und später "Märchenmond" gehörten zu den Lieblingsbüchern meiner Jugend. Nur dachte ich eigentlich (und die "Herr der Ringe" Verfilmungen hatten mich darin bestätigt) dass ich für Fantasy mittlerweile zu alt bin. Science-Fiction, ja gerne, aber Ritter, Drachen, übernatürliche Kräfte? Nein danke, aus dem Alter bin ich heraussen. Das dachte ich jedenfalls... bis mir George R.R. Martin's "A Game of Thrones" in die Hände fiel. N...