E.Scape

Back into Blogging?

2011-03-09T02:33:00.000-08:00

Since I realized my last post has been in 2009, I decided to finally continue with this Blog. A lot of things happened as you can imagine in the last year. Lets say, I am quite glad 2010 is left behind and I am pretty sure that 2011 is going to be an awesome year.

Two weeks ago I graduated from university of Pforzheim and finally I can call myself an Industrial Designer. To celebrate this event I decided to redesign my homepage and Portfolio. In just a few hours you will be able to surf through the essence of my work during the past 12 months.

As some of you might know, all my data of the past 5 years had been gone and I am not able to recover them properly. Some of the Projects are going to become a remake and some new products will follow. Therefore I want to apologize for any inconvenience.

Well I hope everyone´s excited about the opening and I will take care of this blog more often!

Second Dream: Eternal Sunshine within a Blackhole

2009-12-22T15:06:00.000-08:00

The bell is calling for the midnight hour. Empty space in front of me, floating and dreaming in an unreal world feeded by the forgetful. What is left when we lost it all? There is a personal apocalypse for everyone outside. All those dreams creating a masacre for your mind, torturing your heart and sould every single night.

Are we empty shells wandering around an empty space of our own little inane cage of redemption?

Within my dream I was riding the train. I stood within one rail car, filled with people. Lost in their own little thoughs. No Theres been a distractive noise, clear and deep. People were staring into nowhere, thinking about what they are going to do next, what someone thinks of someone else. The whole szenario didnt seemed to be very exciting, beside the way it got cold in there. Freezing, in a way of oddity. the noise got harsher, loud and uncomfortable. No one noticed, people just got this empty look in their eyes, no sparkling, just thoughs. Pure toughts and so many of those. You couldnt hear them, but you could feel, a pressure made of iciness. The pressure got stronger.

Suddenly the train just stopped. Everyone was staring at me. Cold blue eyes all over the place and the compression within that room got stronger. I couldnt breath, every breath did hurt. It was the same feeling we have, when our heart is broken. When every organ within your chest contracts into a insufferable pain. Now all those wooly thoughts where flashing my mind and heart, ripping it apart. thoughts of fear, incertitute and loss.

Then i caught myself screaming out loud, crying and whining: "The more I know of this world, as less I want to be part of it, live in it or could stand it!"

What do we really fear? Dont we fear ourselves the most of anything else? Do we fear our thoughts? Do we fear what we know of this world?

We are lost, lost within ourselves and our own thoughts and helpless to deal with them by our own. Instead of dealing with it we reflect them into others. Isnt falling in love just trying to find ourselves in somebody else? As soon as we realize we failed, our whole self conciousness is getting lost and we are floating in a blackhole again.

So our brain automaticly starts to react in selective amnesia, trying to forget the details of every moment that could hurt us. Betraying ourselves and memories. All those little gaps we got out of that are gonna be filled with ideals or blurry pictures of a vage self. The picture gets cloudy, the memory unclear. So we turn into emty shells filled with ideals, phobias and anything that results in adulthood.

Where are those little miracles, we used to notice when we were untouched with a spotless mind?

Ériu

year: 2050

condition: sedate

place: Tuatha

Ein Weg in Anmut

2009-12-12T16:58:00.000-08:00

Fodla

Nur wenige Menschen achten auf kleine Details mehr als auf das Wesentliche. Vielleicht war ich deshalb immer wieder ein Sonderling unter meinen Geschwistern. Die Details der Augenblicke die ich als schön empfinde sind meine Stärken.

Die Welt in der wir leben besteht aus Hektik, Planung und besitzt eine Komplexität die schon längst den normalen menschlichen Verstand überstiegen hat. Eigenartiger Weise sind wir dennoch in der Lage in dieser selbstgeschusterten Mentalen Hölle zu überleben. Der Mensch ist ein Anpassungswesen, wir sind in der Lage uns an die widersten Umstände des Lebens zu gewöhnen, vor allem natürlich denen die wir uns selbst geschaffen haben. Überleben tun wir entweder mit Resignation oder Zerstreuung. Wir finden sie im Glauben, in der Liebe, bei Freunden oder den Vorzügen des sozialen Lebens. Andere finden es in sich selbst oder gar in den bereits erwähnten Details des Alltags.

Schon früh habe ich mir ein Archiv an Augenblicken angesammelt auf die ich jederzeit zurückgreifen kann, wenn ich aus dieser Welt abtauchen muss. Wie auf einer einsamen Insel vor sich zu treiben kann man so neue Energien schöpfen, um die Tage zu schönen Tagen zu machen. Das Leben zu leben ohne das Gefühl zu haben es zu verpassen. Jeden Moment der eine Schönheit mit sich bringt zu nutzen, zu inhalieren und Kraft zu schöpfen. Ja wir sind wahre Atomkraftwerke, wenn es darum geht mit unseren Energien haushalten zu können.

Und es ist auch wahr, dass jeder Moment des seins eine Schönheit mit sich bringt und wir überall und immer dazu in der Lage sind glücklich zu sein.

First Dream: Plain

2009-12-12T16:19:00.000-08:00

Its another night, another sleepless night. Stars are sparkling, the wind is blowing and deep in my mind I keep the sound of the ocean. As far I can remember, the sound has always been burned deep in my soul, merged with every part of my mind.

I barely dream of it now, since they put me into this place.

Its weird, since I cant even remember how I got here, if this is a punishment or a shelter. Being left on your own, all alone with your thoughts and dreams. In this place, where everything is pure white. I am trapped in this machinery of white. Clean and Soft. There are no edges, no noise. Its a soft place I am living in, there is no distraction not even the slightest harsh object to find. Everyone who gets here, would wonder how peaceful and quiet this place is. Its the picture of heaven some people might have in their minds. Soft cotton, translucent walls floating through you. People here are just shadows to serve and no one you ever will recognize. I call them phantoms, even though they are human, at least they look human. They have the same careless look in their eyes. No sparkling, no reaction, no emotion. You might call this pure and balanced. They are completely in peace with everything. No one needs to talk. Words have no meaning.

Within all those thoughs I dont question the reason why. First I shouted at them, I cried a lot and then I just accepted to be in this place. Without knowing how I got here, who I was before, where did I lived, what did I do. Its all lost in pure white.

All thats left are those dreams, dreams of an outer world. Dreaming of pure Chaos and the deep blue of an endless Ocean.

Ériu

year: 2050

condition: concious

place: Tuatha

Ériu and Fódla

2009-12-12T16:01:00.000-08:00

Its been a while, since my last post on this blog and even though, I rather would love to write more about my trip and keep you posted on certain projects. I thought about writing some lines, I would like to share somehow.
Its supposed to be a series of several short stories I am thinking about sometimes. They are basicly dreams and pictures, broken down to a story line, that might be entertaining for some of you.

The Main Characters so far are Ériu and Fódla - names are working names taken from the irish mythology. Parts of the Journeys are going to be written in english or in german and written as independent stories.

Wie bereits beschrieben beginne ich heute Nacht eine Reihe von Kurzgeschichten, welche in englisch oder in deutsch verfasst werden. Es handelt sich hierbei um Reinskripte, Geschichten aus Fragmenten und Gedanken, die so nicht ueberarbeitet worden sind. Deshalb bitte ich dabei um Nachsicht, wenn die Qualitaet der Arbeiten nicht immer einer Endfassung entsprechen

A Soundtrack of a Journey #1

2009-11-08T06:43:00.000-08:00

10 months have passed and I finally got the chance to get my music sorted out. Most of my travels I had to take by myself and the only and best companion I had on those journeys was music. A Soundtrack I will remember for a lifetime. Basicly I post my favorite songs from January till now.

Ratatat - Wild Cat

End of Fashion - Down or Down

Handsome Furs - Im Confused

Missy Higgins - The River

Bag Raiders - Shooting Star

Miami Horror - Summerfest 86

Bag Raiders - Turbo Love

Pony Pony Run Run - Hey You!

The Hundred In The Hands - Dressed in Dresden

Seth Lakeman - The White Hare

Passion Pit - Sleepyhead

Phoenix - 1901

PNAU - Embrace

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Home

Cinematic Orchestra - Build a Home

One Eskimo - Kandi

The Black Keys - All Hands Against His own

Keith Urban - Thank You

One Eskimo - Hometime

Tonite Only - Where The Partys At

Mono in Vcf - Escape City Scrapers

The Presets - Cookie

Hot Rod Circuit - Stateside

Midnight Juggernauts - Shadows

Matt & Kim - Daylight

MGMT - Electric Feel (Justice Remix)

Ratatat - Germany to Germany

The Fashion - Like Knives

Bloc Party - Flux

The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition

Alexisonfire - to a friend

The Kritzlers - Scarlet Sometimes

Sweatshop Union - The Answer

Sketchblog: Atomics

2009-10-17T11:16:00.001-07:00

A few scribbles I made while being bored in class

Sketchblog: Hot Rods

2009-10-17T11:14:00.001-07:00

Sketchblog: Creatures

2009-10-17T11:03:00.000-07:00

Kurz und Knapp

2009-10-09T02:05:00.001-07:00

Während sich in den letzten Wochen nur wenig getan hat seit ich zurück bin, habe ich endlich mal wieder die Zeit gefunden eine kleine Zusammenfassung zu schreiben, was ich nun die letzten 10 Monate so getrieben habe.

Es fing alles bereits in Wolfsburg an, wo ich mich entschieden hatte ein Auslandssemester in Amerika zu machen anstatt zurück an die HSG zu gehen. Durch zahlreiche Umstände lief mein Auslandssemester dann auf Detroit hinaus, worüber ich anfänglich schon sehr schmunzelte und meine Freunde und Bekannte mir eigentlich sehr davon abgeraten hatten.

Binnen 5 Wochen habe ich mich schnellstmöglich auf Detroit vorbereitet, Visum, Flug und alles in einem Schub. Anfang Januar ging es dann los zum Austauschsemester am College for Creative Studies in Detroit.

Bis Anfang Mai ging das Semester dort und verflog viel zu schnell, als ich dann weiter durch die USA gereist bin. Zwischenstopps New York, San Francisco und Los Angeles, wo ich bei meiner Mitbewohnerin Clair für 2 Wochen geblieben bin. Von L.A. gings dann weiter nach Melbourne, wo ich mich auf die Suche nach einem Praktikum in Australien gemacht habe.

Mit sehr viel Glück bekam ich dann Anfang Juli eine Anstellung bei konstrukt design, wo ich unglaublich viel gelernt habe und mit die beste Zeit meines Lebens in Sydney verbringen konnte.

Auf dem Rückweg bin ich dann noch für eine Woche durch Thailand gereist, dabei durch die Karen Dörfer im Thailändischen Dschungel gewandert und Bangkok erkundet.

Nach einer fast 10 monatigen Reise bin ich jetzt wieder zurück in Pforzheim wo ich zum Endspurt meines Bachelor Studiums mache.

Bangkok

2009-10-09T02:04:00.001-07:00

Its been 2 busy days in Bangkok. Being a catalogue tourist while exploring that massive city. Bangkok is crazy and especially during rain season its almost impossible to walk around and not getting totaly exhausted by that heat. Its been hot and humid basicly all day. You barely could see the sun because the smog covered all. We went through temples and temples and even more temples. Quite impressive was the Grand Palace and in the same time it was disturbing to see so much gold and so pretty buildings, next to slums or baracks. Bangkok is full of contrasts.

I didnt really like it that much, but it was fascinating and shocking to be there. Its loud, the rules, if there are any, are just crazy compared to europe. For a western person you are going to get a culture shock for sure. Beside that the food is just awesome and its exciting to be surrounded by all those things that are so different from what we are used to.

Famous in Bangkok especially for backpackers is Kao San Road, there are tons of hostels and hotels around this area and technically its packed with tourists. I stayed at the Sam Sen Hotel, which was more further away from Kao San Rd. Its been a very quite and relaxing place. I really loved that hotel and got a lot of help over there. I didnt liked that Kao San Rd as much as the rest of the city, because backpackers can get a little bit annoying from time to time.

The Famous Grand Palace with its golden temples.

Hilltripe and Karen Villages

2009-10-09T01:20:00.001-07:00

Taking the Jeep at 9 o clock in the morning out to the hills, while its raining all the way through, we stopped first at the Mhok Fha waterfall. There we could take a quick shower and then heading towards the villages. First of all we started walking for about 3 hours to Baan Mae Jog, where we did stayed over night. Its a Bamboo hut on a little creek, which turned out to be a smashing river at night after hours of rain. Over there we did cook some dinner in Thai style, therefore green curry and local curry, which was delicious and pretty spicy.
We went to sleep very early, since we already had a rough day walking through the jungle in this weather, it must have been at least 40 degree and humid as hell. I suffered hard that night, so I got quite a fever and -diarrhea-, so I was quite weak on the following day.
Some things turned out to be very useful in the jungle, some of them I realized I forgot them because I could have needed some. Starting at the first day heading to the Karen Villages we tried to learn some Karen, which is quite different compared to thai, but equally hard to learn.
In thai you will greet with sawatt dii, ka. in Karen you will say amushawa. Thank you in thai means korp kun, ka - in Karen you will say Kambrie.

Walking through the jungle and climbing slippery paths through the hills was quite a big and impressive experience, probably i would have liked it more if i wouldn't have been sick so much at the first day. Usually I can take a lot before I get sick, in this case I withdrew facing a temperature difference of about 10 degree from australia to thailand, then a humidity, jet-lag, food and maybe even a cold i brought already from australia. Whatever it was, its been gone after that one day at all. The broken rip must have been healed at this time as well.

After walking and walking and walking to the elephant camp, we finally got a ride on those gentle animals. They are quite huge and peaceful. During the whole ride I was really worried about the stability of those paths and the basket we were sitting in. IT was really impressive and again I spend a lot of time wondering around. Honestly I didn't really knew what was going on with me. The last weeks so many things did happen, I wouldn't even dare to dream of. Just one week ago I have been swimming with sharks and now I was sitting there and riding an elephant in the jungle of thailand... it was crazy.
After that ride we walked again and arrived at Pa Khao Laam, where Karen children go to school and people live in bamboo huts as well. Again we did cook and went to bed early.

In the next morning we were about taking the bamboo raft for at least 3 to 4 hours and got pretty wet on that ride. It was pretty cool as well, beside that you are getting soaked for about 3 hours. We got lunch at Sob-Kai, which was a Shan Village, another region in the hills.
After a few days out in the jungle we finally got back to civilization with another rough jeep ride through the mountains. well deserved! But right after another short goodnight sleep and a half day in Chiang Mai we were about to head towards bangkok taking the night train. I did liked the night train a lot, because it was perfect for my size.

Chiang Mai

2009-10-09T01:16:00.000-07:00

My first day in Thailand I did spend in Chiang Mai, together with Wendy a girl from Holland, who was traveling alone through thailand as well. I did book a tour with intrepid and expected a large group, but in the end it was just us two for the next 6 days. Chiang Mai was exciting and very different from the western world. Packed with temples and in between temples markets. We took a Ritscha through the old city, which was kinda exciting, but then he took us to those random shops, where I did got my bag painted. Generally it was a nice time in Chiang Mai. It was busy, but still kinda okay and the markets were very nice.
We also met Cha our tour leader, who was from bangkok and took us around a bit. Of course I got tons of Thai food from Sticky Rice with Coconut and Mango up to Red Chilli, which is barely spicy. Mostly common is Pad Thai or fried Rice, as well as sticky rice with Taro or banana. Coconut and Pineapple are very common as well. I am a big fan of thai kitchen. Street food is of course something you should have tried, as well as going through the markets. The markets are quite stinky and chaotic.
Temples in Thailand are very amazing. There was one temple, where monks were sitting in glass cabins to meditate and pray for weeks and months. Religion is very big in Thailand you will barely see people with shoulder-less tops, which would be very unpolite to do in a temple or generally. I tried to practice a little bit thai, but I think I did failed after a while. It was interesting to see a culture that different from what we know here in germany. I also got a chance to practice my bargain abilities... I have to admit I am not talented in this as well.
However, we did stay at the Tapae Place and went to the night market as well. During that one day Chiang Mai we had time to prepare ourselves for the jungle.

Important (I did forgot a few of those):
• Poncho (very useful especially during raining season)
• comfortable Backpack (I do love my gregory jade...)
• Tiger Balm (helps against mosquito bites, headache, dizziness, muscle aim and so on)
• Torch aka flashlight (well... I did hurt myself a lot because i didn't had one...)
• Sarong (Traditional clothing, otherwise your clothes are going to get wet while showering, beside that, they dont dry anyway in this weather)
• flip-flops
• damn good shoes for trekking
• Mosquito repellant (you are going to get bitten anyway, but at least it doesn't get too bad)
• First Aid kit (you never know!)
• Toilet paper (i did run out after first day)
• medicament (against the already mentioned -durchfall-, and other stuff
• sleeping bag

In the evening I tried a Thai massage as well, because I had a broken rib since about 4 weeks and thought it might help. Apparently after that massage the pain almost disappeared. But as the doctor said it should have been gone by then, so I was relieved as the pain finally did stopped

Sydney Sandstorm

2009-10-09T01:09:00.000-07:00

I just came back from Sailing in the Whitsunday's, when the sky in Sydney turned red on the next morning. I couldn't believe it, but here are some pictures taken at this day. It was a crazy day for me. There were so many things to do and even though my last day in sydney. My college Sara let me stay over night for my last day and I am really glad I was able to say goodbye to her in person. I am going to miss her a lot, because we did had a great time and I really enjoyed my time at konstrukt.

I did packed all night and had to get to the airport at 4 o clock in the morning to get to bangkok. Another chapter of my life was about to start now.

Kiana

2009-10-09T00:59:00.000-07:00

For my last week in Australia I have been able to start an outrageous journey through a world I didn't even dared to dream of. On Thursday I cached a plane to Hamilton Island, which is located in the Whitsunday's Islands. The group of about 32 Islands is a world heritage natural reservoir and reminds its visitors on the common picture of paradise.
From there you can take the ferry up to shute harbor which is just a few bus minutes away from airlie beach, the backpacker hole in paradise. doing it like that is way cheaper than taking the plane and it can save you at least 40% of your airfare if you fly through hamilton island. Since I had to book it last minute it did save me a lot of money doing this.

First of all I did stayed at Magnus Hotel, which was 18AUD per night. Honestly, it was terrible! It was stinky and people in my room had a party in the room till 3 in the morning, when I had to get up at 6. Instead of 10 people I did face about 40 People in our tiny room and sleep was impossible. Frustrated I went for a walk around Airlie, where tons of drunken idiots were messing around and people (of course) used the beach otherwise. I kinda dislike like this place and I was happy that my sailing trip was about to start on the next day.

Sailing through the Whitsunday's was just stunning and beyond my english vocabulary to describe it properly. But to make a long story short:
The Boat was called "Kiana" and just got a new painting. Our Crew Paul, Paul and Brandon were amazing Characters with an awesome humor and they obviously love their jobs. The food was amazing and I didn't missed anything in those days. They did answer any question with heaps of patience and always had a smile for you.
First day we were heading towards Whit haven Beach. Its same as the islands a natural reservoir and heritage. The beach has the whitest sand in this world and contains the most percentage of silica in this world. You barely can see once you walk through there. They call it the most beautiful beach in this world. Getting there we had to walk through some bush and saw even some lizards and snakes.
The basic feature of the Boat "Kiana" was scuba diving, which is possible to do on board minimum twice a day depending on weather conditions. The weather and sight were just amazing and perfect, so we went out for a lot of diving. Since I never even thought I would do it, I was quite concerned about diving, getting lost or doing something wrong.
Our diving Instructor Paul was very professional and without him I probably wouldn't even put a foot into that water. I never went scuba diving before that but since this boat was sailing to the great barrier reef I thought it would be such a waste not to go diving into open water. I was afraid but I just loved diving there. We did hear whales while diving, swim with sharks and saw so many things I couldn't even imagine or dream of in my life. Unbelievable what is down there and how much life is underwater. The reef is huge and we went down 12 meters through coral. So many colors and different kinds of fish you cant even think of. Basically I did spent all those days wondering and going crazy about everything. Diving through the reef felt a lot like flying through another world on another planet. It doesn't really belong to our world. Everything in there has a purpose and everything in there is pretty busy. You didn't know were to look first, because there is so much to see. Since the tide was really high and currents were rushing you couldn't really stop somewhere to get a closer look. So you have been flying through this blue world, highlighted by all other kinds of colors, form purple up to red, pink, yellow. Even 12 meters deep underwater, the fish was so preciously decorated in colorful clothing. I never thought of diving, but once I have been down there I didn't wanted to leave this world again. I felt comfortable, safe and happy. Its always been a big surprise, when we had to go back there. On the surface you do not see much of this underwater palace, its all just blue. But down there, you are somewhere else. Its been so fascinating. I am still terribly in love with the ocean, the blue over there was just perfect, so I spent hours just watching this water and wondering what else is hidden in this blue world.
Of course one of the best parts have been also the sunrise and sunset surrounded by water as well as watching shooting stars in the middle of the ocean. Things we saw and experienced in that week were just amazing, from turtles to manta rays. I think the pictures you can see in this album will speak for themselves. Its paradise.

Just one thing that made it quite hard to do anything out there, was that I must have broken my rib in Sydney about 3 weeks ago and been in pain since then.

On the way back as a farewell gift we did saw whales as well and on the ferry back to hamilton island dolphins gave us company while getting a ride back to the airport. Leaving behind an unforgettable weekend in the Whitsunday's and one of the best vacations I ever had or ever could have been dreaming of.

Farewell Sydney

2009-10-09T00:43:00.000-07:00

Time was running quite fast during the last weeks in sydney. I got some last minute visitors from Melbourne, which turned out to be an awesome weekend between Bag Raiders concert and beach walks. I realized that I havent seen even half of that what I wanted to see in Sydney during the last four months. It took a while that I became a part of this city and lifestyle, but since this happened I feel now part of this place and consider this as my new home.
Since I have been there I was almost every day happy, enjoyed the time I had there. My internship was awesome, i did loved my colleges and work as much as I did loved the city and its lifestyle. No where else I experienced so many different cultures living next to each other peaceful, no where else I have seen a city with so much variety and complexity combining with a simple and positive lifestyle. Now that the time for a farewell came up, I just try to think of it, what i did like the most. Its the sunrise and sunset, when the sun starts a play between green, violet, blue and red to say good morning and good night! When the light is dipping skyscrapers, clouds and water into a surreal set that could compete with fictional fantastic paintings of Dali. So much perfection that you can barely find it anywhere else than in nature.
Beside that of course, people in Sydney love their beaches and lifestyle, same do I. Surry Hills as a cultural and art platform, with all those little details, that makes it just perfect to live in.

Of course I try not to praise this city or this country to much, of course they do have problems as well, like every country in this world. But living in Sydney for those few months was the best time in my life and looking back by now proofs me, that its been a reasonable adoration.

Sydney Lifestyle

2009-09-06T21:39:00.000-07:00

At this point I really should start to write a little bit about the Sydney lifestyle and the reason, why I love this city so much, even though it might be a little bit trashy at some point.

The way this city is build and the area its settled in is a very unique combination in this world. Even though San francisco, which lies in a bay as well, has similar attitudes towards living and lifestyle, such as vibes or music. Sydney is still a city, which you are not going to love on the first sight. At first its lowd, crowdy, busy. Then as a tourist or Backpacker you will never gonna see Sydney as a citizen, you can smell the lifestyle, but you wont taste it that much. Its well known as a party-city, no doubt about that, most of it comes from all those backpackers. But as soon as you settled in a bit, you wont go to those places as much, such as beach road hotel or kings cross. Which is nice to go out and have fun, no doubt. But as soon as you end up in surry hills, you will notice the lifestyle thats in here. The little cafes, which are always busy, even during a weekday. All those pubs and bars, that are packed after work, full of people. Because if there is something australians love to do, then its their afterworks drinks. Getting a drink or two right after work, between 6 and 7 or even starting at 4.
People are very relaxed compared to other major cities and still nice. Even though sydney isnt as nice as other cities in australia. For example people in melbourne are way more helpful and polite than people in Sydney. Its not as loud and confusing and dirty as it is in sydney. But still. No where in the world, you can get to the beach in 20 minutes with the bus from the middle of the city. Having those beautiful coastlines and national parks around the city. The perfect weather in a mild winter and hot summer. beaches perfect for surfing. No where in the world you have a city with those conditions and those people. People in Sydney love their sports, they are very very sporty. On a morning in Bondi beach, you will see people running, meditating or doing something else to stay healthy and fit. Same view in the park. The surfing culture here is big, so where else will you find people taking the bus with their surfboard.

Beside that, the music scene in Sydney is very unique and on a high quality level. Local bands are mostly very good and well known even over seas. So djs like the bag raiders or ajax are gonna smash the dancefloor with their tunes. Best of it all, the audience is willing to party and show it to them. Now summer is coming, events just spread out like mushrooms. Festivals, Shows, parties. You have something for everyone in this city. Its not comparable to new york, of course not. Therefore its not as busy and way safer than new york with its 10 million people ever can be. But its still quite a big city.
Of course nothing is perfect, the living standards and the conditions of most of the buildings are pretty bad. a working internet connection is farely hard to find unless you live here since years and are settled enought to get your own phone line (which is not the case for furnished proverty or just seasoned living). Then internet is expensive and the television programm is just HORRIBLE! But then, you wont watch much tv in sydney. People are coming and going, its hard to find really good friends.

Beside that, people like me, have everything they need. You have music (indie, reggae and electro, are more than the others), fashion and lifestyle, endless little cafes for an european feeling, authentic cuisine from all over the world (indian, chinese, thai and japanese are very very good) - cheap food, very expensive food or affordable good food - independent movie theatres, a farely big art scene of every art, concerts, all social minorities are able to find here peaceful living together (from gay, to conservative arabian), interesting people to meet, tons of good clubs, pubs and bars and of course SUN, good weather, beaches and nature, farely close by. Tons of running paths and trails you can do to stay fit, and of course fitness everywhere. It also offers some of the highest percentage of young beautiful single woman in this world and I totally approve that one, its amazing.
If you can affort to live in Sydney, you will love it. But the point of being able to affort living here is pretty huge.

Since I fell in love with this city a couple weeks ago, I dont want to leave it, but the day is coming closer and I wonder how much I gonna like Germany now, since I lived here, it will always stay in my heart. One of the best things I ever have done, is going to live in Sydney. Even if its been just for a few months I lost most of my attitudes I had and have been happier than I ever have been able to be in Germany so far. Because first time in my life I dont stand out and dont feel outstanding. Because everyone here is different, everyone has a long story and they are open minded enough to accept that. Even though I love germany as well, because I grew up there felt like a german always. Here I feel more like home and way more welcome than I ever did in germany. But of course I love my friends, I do miss them a lot and I will look forward of going back. Its part of my home and I am used to it, but a part of myself will always stay here and I hope that I can take those attitudes with me back there and keep it.

Bondi to Cogee Coastal Walk

2009-09-06T21:36:00.000-07:00

Well a week ago I finally did the costal walk from bondi to cogee beach, which is amazing and pretty. Since I got sick 2 weeks ago, I havent been able to do much around sydney yet, the lack of money did the job as well. But the walks are for free and beautiful to do, so i dont wanted to miss out that opportunity on a lovely sunday to walk down the coastal way, about 12km.

Back in Melbourne

2009-08-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

Since I already spend a few weeks down in Melbourne I came back to visit Robert and James, who i met back in San Francisco. It was an awesome weekend, with the result of an cold for the rest of this week. I love Sydney for its Beaches, the weather and the music scene. Therefore Melbourne has a certain vibe on it and a competeable music scenes as well. I took the plane down on Friday to see the Bag Raiders playing in the Roxane, which is a multible Floor Club/Hotel.
So I arrived about 8 on Avalon in Melbourne. I have to say, the Avalon Airport is in the middle of NOWHERE, about 1 hour away from the city. Technically the whole Airport is a container and just served by jetstar. Thats why the flight has been so cheap I guess. After a rough flight, they picked me up on the airport and we went to a really good thai place up in China town. There I got my first crocodile curry in Australia and it was delicious. Well crocodile at itself is nothing really special, it doesnt has much of its own taste and if its well made it tastes like white meat anyway. About 10 we got to the club, which is way to early for Melbourne.

At this point i should mention, that in Sydney people go out about 8-9 and leave about 2 o clock in the morning. In Melbourne its a different timezone, here you shouldnt enter the club before 12 or even two. So when we got there it was EMPTY... About 12 to 2 it filled up very quickly and the mood was just amazing. Everyone was dancing and Ajax as supporter for the Bag Raiders just rocked the dancefloor. After a few hours dancing straight we went back home and to a goodnight sleep in a waterbed. On the next day I went out with James for a Soccer game, he was playing with, but mh... yeah, soccer... eh, they lost :)
Afterwards we went for a dinner at Robs place, where he wanted to make Kangaroo as a stirfry, which was very delicious, well supported by his dad :P

It was almost time to hit the nightlife again and this time we where about to get to chapel ST, which is a street full of bars and clubs and tons of people at night. Especially light-dressed woman with skirts that barely covered their panties... paradise for men I suggest. The bar we went to was okayish, at least we hit the dancefloor a couple times and ended up in hungry jacks about 4 o clock (or five).
On the Next morning we drove to the great ocean road and had a very relaxed day with driving around, eating some chips n gravies and hanging around on the terrace. After the Great ocean road we also drove to the Dungedons and got a beautiful view over melbourne from the bourkes point, hidden to some of those cliffs.
And thats it, a whole weekend spend in Melbourne and one of the best weekends I had so far.

Thanks to those two :)

Recommendations

2009-08-28T21:56:00.000-07:00

Well, its time for some Recommendations in the Area of Movies. Since we have a pretty good movie year and some really outsanding movies available even here in Australia I'd like to recommend two movies, who are definetly worth to see.

First of All "District 9":

well its not what you are going to expect, when everyone is about to tell you that this is a good movie. When you hear that from anyone you might expect something like beautiful mind or some very well made Hollywoodbusters. Especially once you saw the trailer, you expect some outstanding action or CGI. None of that is what this movie its like. The reason why its a good movie is, because it is something new. District 9 is very different from most of the movies you have seen in the past 10 years. The way its made, the way the story works and even the general movie design is something very original. Its a very honest movie, with so many difficulties and a lot of realism. First of all, if Aliens land on Earth, you expect them to go to Manhatten or Washington or any of those typical Hollywood cities. In this case it all plays in Johannisburg, a city divided by tons of problems, such as apartheid. I dont want to spoil to much of it, but its definetly that kind of movie, that sticks in your head for a while and finally a step away from hollywood idealism.

Second Choice and also worth to see "Inglorious Basterds" by Quentin Tarantino:

Its been a bit quiet around that crazy film genius since Kill Bill and everyone was wondering which culture he is about to dive in next. This time he targeted the germans in a very... different way. I wouldnt know what to start with writing about it. That movie is packed with a few funny, few violent and epical scenes. The first part of it might remind you of Nazi movies that already been made, but after a while it gets different. The movie leads you into confusing and crazy paths somewhere between comedy, satire and something else. Its an odd mixture tarantino came up with, but in the end, this is one of those movies who end so unexpected as you think of it. Its a suprising movie, therefore the story at itself might be told quickly, but it took about 2 hours to get through it and those were one of the most entertaining hours I ever had so far. As a german I might feel a little bit insulted by it, but the way its made, you cant or shouldnt take yourself to curious about it. especially since most of the movie is spoken in german and subtitled I found it very original and loved it.

Those two are both movies that are worth every penny you gonna spend in the cinema for and the best that came out in the past 5 months.

Absolutely not to see is GI Joe, the worst movie made in this year.... but this is another story, but stay away from this one, it looks nice in the movie, but it is even worse than any other bad actionmovie thats been made so far.

Updates!

2009-08-25T00:22:00.000-07:00

Alright its been a while since i added a blog, one reason for that, is the australian internet connection, which is... well... if it does work, its annoying to anything with it.

So I finally planned out my way back, well, lets say at least I gonna be back, the planning part doesnt work yet. I will be back on the October 2nd after I spent a while in Thailand, where my last stopover is going to be. I wanted to stopover in asia on my way back, to make this a world around trip for sure and I will see how its going to be. I am looking forward to spend a while in Thailand and be closer to my roots. I got so used to sydney, that I dont want to leave here anymore. My heart fell now finally in love with this city and this country. I will miss it a lot. However... Flipping through the pictures taken in this year, it was an awesome year! I got so many good memories and met so many awesome people on my way. The world got into a larger picture right now and I changed a lot in the past 9 months, while living in 2 different countries on 2 different continents. I have to admit the Travel Bug bit me very hard, cause now I want to see so much more and will find a way to manage seeing it.

Beside that, everything is fine. Work is awesome, I love my internship and my colleges. Got 6 guys as housemates: Stephen (UK), Paul (UK), Hauhamat (Saudi Arabia), Gavin (Ireland), Robert (Ireland) and Jerry (Netherlands/Singapore). They are great, funny and i love my boys, haha :) i do have a great time in this house and enjoy every second in australia...

I just spent a weekend in Melbourne, where we were about to see the Bag Raiders supported by Ajax. It was an awesome party, a great weekend with two really awesome guys. I met James and Robert back in San Francisco and visited them after they came back from America. They took me around and showed me "their" Melbourne, as citizens and it was great. I felt very welcome and had a great time. I will write more about it later (maybe), but I uploaded some pictures on picasa, so you can check it out there.

Read u guys soon.

South Head Heritage Trail

2009-08-11T05:52:00.001-07:00

Just 20 Minutes with the ferry from circular quay you can dive into a little bit of the sydney bay heritage in Watson Bay. Sydney Bay is one of the most beautiful Bay Sides and Natural Heritage Areas in the World. Therefore you can find once you left the Ferry on Watson bay, the South Head Heritage Trail. This is a historical walk around the gate, which leads the bay to the ocean. A beautiful walk thats easily done by a half of a day and especially during the week, you are almost alone there.

So I decided (since the waves havent been that nice on that day) to take a walk and get out of the city for a while. It was worth it. Sabrina a friend I did met here joined me for that trip and it was beautiful, but you can see yourself. But I have to say those pictures dont show even half ot its beauty and that little romantical touch of standing on a cliff, sitting there and enjoing the water. The smell, the noise, the light... water...

City2Surf

2009-08-09T07:22:00.000-07:00

Today has been the day i have been looking for since I first heard of it. It’s been the day of the sun herald city2surf run in Sydney.
I never participated on a public run such as a marathon or city run so far and started out the 14km run from the city up to Bondi in Sydney. So far I didn’t prepared myself that much, since I left Germany I stopped to run daily in Detroit and during traveling. Since I got to Sydney I started it all over again and realized I got out of shape a lot. Even though I got a lot of doubts if I would embarrass myself on that or might not do it in time, I still wanted to do it. Because there might be just one time and sometimes you should just do things, you feel like doing it.

Preparation?
Well let’s say, at least I did do prepared myself. I treated myself during training fairly nice and usually didn’t have more time than 20 minutes daily to run anyway. But it wasn’t really preparing and the weekly running sessions with my colleges have been quite challenging for me. They are very good runners especially Sara. She running with me has been quite a good motivation for me I otherwise I probably wouldn’t have run through the whole course.
The day before the big run I made myself some Asian vegetables and pasta and didn’t eat after 18pm anymore, to get some carbohydrates’ in the circle. I went to bed early but then I got much exited so I couldn’t sleep before 1.
Of course it happened that I slept in a bit and woke up at 7:15 in the morning. Got so confused and exited that I just run out of the house. The walk to the office on this Sunday was different. Even though Sydney is quite a very busy city, on Sunday morning its reasonably quiet in the city, no one gets out there before 9, usually and it’s very relaxed at this time of the week. This Sunday it was busy at 7:30 in the morning. People in jogging shoes and running gear were walking all over the place already. Once I passed the Oxford Street there were already heaps of runners walking down the street towards Hyde Park. The office is right next to the startup line so I was going to meet Sara over there and get dressed and prepared over there.
We decided to wear some costumes as fairies for the run. So we got an orange tutu’s and masks. I put a Ribbon in my hair and she got some flowers of my birthday flowers in hers. Of course I forgot the face color and the ipod, but still, the time was running out and there were just minutes left until the run was about to start.
At 9 o Clock we stood right next to the start, first of all watched thousands of those who were about to make the first load of runners out of 75 000 people who were registered for this run. Apparently it’s been the world record for an organized marathon.

The run
The start was just massive, how many people were there at the beginning and running so fast. We dropped in a few minutes later than the red group and there its been. We started the run. I have been quite too much exited that I couldn’t eat and after the first 10 Minutes I felt the consequences a little bit. Once the excitement was gone I felt crashed and running got harder from that point on. People around me everywhere, passing by or getting outrun. The flow of runners never stopped, I watched forward and I watched my back, people everywhere. We kept running through the city and people where standing on the bridges and tunnels to cheer for the runners. They have been sitting on the balcony or terrace to watch the runners. It must have been very impressive watching this huge crowd of people running along the street. I have never done or seen something like that and it was intense. They have been running very fast, so you keep up running fast, after I while I got a chance to take a look around me and wonder about everything.
So we kept running, and running and running. After a while I got a little bit better into it and the landscapes have been just passing by. You look aside; you watch the streets and all those people standing there to cheer “us” up. Offering food sweets or water to the runners or just played music on the street. The music was everywhere. Somewhere after 20 minutes we passed a suburb, where a rock band has been playing on a roof, to cheer us up. There were bands every couple miles and others just played some music. Then at Rose bay we passed the City2Smurfs, a bunch of people, who covered themselves with blue color and kept cheering “us” up.
Runners that passed us made comments about our fairy outfits or kept cheering us up. The view once you have been able to look through the crowd was amazing. The route mostly leads across the water, passing the bay and the little beaches.
Meanwhile I still struggled with my condition and tried to concentrate on breathing and energy. I forgot to get a breakfast, so I felt very weak after a while. After I think about 5k, we got to the “hill”, Sara warned me about. There is a part of the route where it just goes uphill for about 2 kilometers and its torture. I had to fight with myself not to withdraw after a while and keep on running. This has been the point I thought I couldn’t finish it and won’t make it in time. It seems to be endless and got harder and harder with every step. There was this point when I lost Sara and was struggling really hard, when one of those runners was running right next to me and kept cheering me up “come on, you can do it, we can get this”. Even though I kept telling this myself since the second half of the hill, these words helped to get through it. To keep up running and running, the legs just hurt and every breath seemed to let my lungs explode. After a while I did catch up with Sara again and the second half of those 14 kilometers went very smooth. The crowd got smaller and we passed a lot of people on the hill. For the last 2 kilometers Sara kept telling me, we are still able to do a good time. Doing it less than 100 Minutes would have been quite an achievement for me, because I didn’t run since a while and I am in a pretty bad shape after all. But the optimistic goal would have been 70 minutes.
Well, 70 Minutes would have been better, but once we got the last kilometer I really wanted to do it at least with less than 80 minutes. So I kept running down that hill, with all the strength I got left. Kept telling myself, if I won’t try it with all I got I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself afterwards. I never wanted to regret something; I didn’t have made it that far to pull back in the last second. But I underestimated the last kilometer. I couldn’t keep that speed up until the last second, lost my breath and felt somewhere between struggling and unconsciousness. The feeling of time and for directions just got into another dimension during this run. Time just got stretched at the most points; it seemed that it didn’t pass at all.
For the last meters, Sara called me up, cheered, was counting down the minutes, I put myself together and almost before we got to the finishing line she grabbed my hand and helped me to get through it. Then it was over, suddenly. The whole 14 kilometers that passed so fast were just gone. All that heaviness and the pain, where suddenly gone. I felt light and relieved and totally happy. Even though it’s “just” 14 kilometers, it’s been very tough.
That never had been a problem back in the German flatlands, when we have been running it last year. Those were different. Now a couple hours and drinks have passed. My legs feel heavy, all this excitement about this run have left their marks somehow. I felt great for the whole day and so energized, that I could have run it again.

The cool down
Afterwards of course I should have done better, but it’s been a great run I loved doing it and I enjoyed this kind of experience. It was amazing, watching all those people running together. Bondi beach was packed for the rest of the day, full of runners. Costumed or professional it didn’t matter. People got some drinks or just went to the beach.

little miracles

2009-08-08T05:56:00.000-07:00

Even tough, no one seriously is reading this blog constantly I still try to keep on writing, maybe for myself, because I still want to remember this time, which I consider as the best time of my life so far.
The last weeks have been quite. Some things hit me harder than I expected them to be and I think I have been falling for a while and it took me a bit to get out of it again. I have never been so far and it’s not that I am afraid. People, who know me well, might know that I am hard to get excited and I take things quite easy. I never get homesick and I am not really afraid of things. But of course we all come to that point we get very lonely and even though I try to be not to sentimental. Its pretty far away from everything and some circumstances lead to others.

However, the last weeks that passed so fast and everything was just fading away and flowing around my mind. I start to feel better now, more aware of my surroundings and instantly started to love Australia and Sydney. It’s not just one of those beautiful places in this world and I haven’t seen that much of it yet. But there is something going on in yourself and in your mind after a while.

Someone just told me, it’s the sun, that goes deep in your heart creating hope and warmth and that kind of mentality people over here seem to have. They are laid back, enjoy life and don’t bother too much about everything. I am not sure if that’s true, but technically you feel very happy after a while. People are always nice, not too super visual, but a honest kindness that you can feel.

Maybe it’s all those little miracles that happen every day around here, coincident that turn out well, things that make life easier or complicated, but you still do enjoy it.
How’s daily life in Sydney?
Its busy, it’s not very Australian either. It’s fascinating and hard to describe, maybe I will try later at some point. But maybe it’s the “thank you” they say to the bus driver when they leave the bus, or the traffic lights that let you run across the street. The jaywalking, while cars don’t hit you, yet. The beautiful light you have at dusk and dawn. The sound of the ocean, and the water you can smell, if there are no cars around in the early morning hours. How the streets get packed within minutes during rush hour. How later in the evening people just go for an after drink or party. All those pretty little shops, which ridiculously expensive. And surry hills with its pretty little houses. When I think of Sydney, its going to be surfing, the smell of fish, a lot of sushi, a lot of culture. All those bars and clubs, all those fascinating people you do meet every day and that are about to come and go all the time. The light, the parks and the birds. Of course the beaches, the smell, all the noise… the landscape and everything…
There are tons of little things I like and dislike about it.

Well I turned 24 this week, so lets say, this has been still one of the best birthdays I ever had, even though its been tough so far, but thanks to my collegues from work, which i totally enjoy, its been a wonderful tuesday for me. We spent it on a picnic at bonti beach at tuesday morning and it was just beautiful. I think going there and doing this internship, has been the best decision I could have done, even though its been a little bit crazy after all, just to go to australia instead of going back home. I would never take it back at all. This time is the best time in my life, from the day I started to study until now, there hasnt been anything I would regret and since this time I consider myself as a very lucky and happy person. I am thankful about that and hope there will come the day I can give all those things back that have been given to me by people I met, by my friends and all those who became part of this life and this time. I think I will always keep it in my heart.

Ein Leben in Sydney

2009-08-08T05:49:00.000-07:00

Nach langer Zeit ist es mal wieder soweit einen deutschen Artikel über meine Zeit hier in Sydney zu verfassen. Ich hab es lange vermieden in deutsch zu schreiben, da mir oft die worte gefehlt haben und der Anfang immer schwer ist. Deutsch bedeutet für mich immer wieder ein Schritt zurück, aber mitlerweile auch wieder einen unvermeidbaren schritt vorwärts, da es bald wieder zurück geht. Mir bleiben nur noch 3 Wochen in Sydney, dabei wird mir zwar das Herz ein wenig schwer, aber ich versuch einfach so wenig wie möglich dran zu denken. Als ich Amerika verlassen habe, war mir klar, es würde mir fehlen und das es mir mit Australien nicht anders gehen würde.

Ich bin wohl einer der wenigen "glücklichen" Menschen die nie wirklich Heimweh erleiden und auch eigentlich nicht wissen was das ist. Dafür aber an anderen Dingen schwer zu kauen haben, die nicht wirklich viel mit Heimweh zusammenhängen aber Fernweh. Ich habe Deutschland zwar in einigen Belangen vermisst, besonders meine Freunde und die Lieben die ich zurück gelassen habe, aber es nie wirklich als verwurzelt empfunden. Es ist eher wie ein Wohnsitz, der ort in dem ich gerade lebe, der eine gewisse Rolle spielt. Wohl gefühlt habe ich mich schon, aber wirklich zu Hause nie. Vieles wird mir auch jetzt erst klar, wo ich in Sydney lebe, dass es teilweise die deutschen Attitüden und Ticks sind. Jedes Land hat es und es gibt immer vor und Nachteile, keine Frage. Deutschland hat sehr viele Vorteile, besonders wenn man es mit Amerika vergleicht. Es kommt auch immer auf die Ecke an in der Mann lebt.

Aber nun erstmal zu Sydney. An Sydney faszinierend ist wirklich die Vielfalt und die Menschlichkeit die einem hier begegnen kann. Nicht das Sydney das die Backpacker und Touristen erleben, aber das Sydney in dem man lebt. Ich hab nur einen kleinen Vorgemack davon gehabt, aber dennoch mich in diese Stadt endlos verliebt. Natürlich sag ich das jetzt, da ich noch nicht soviel von der Welt gesehen habe, aber generell ist das leben hier einmalig. Sydney bietet auch eine einmalige Kombination aus Landschaft, Wetter und Leuten. Es ist unbezweifelt eine Großstadt und ohne Zweifel voll mit Vor- und Nachteilen die Großsstäde so haben. Aber einen Bonus den keine andere Stadt hat ist, dass der Strand 20 Minuten vom STadtzentrum entfernt ist. Die Menschen einfach einmalig auf der Welt sind. Man findet hier aus Ost und West jede Gruppe der Bevölkerung. Es ist eine exotische Mischung irgendwo zwischen asiatisch und amerikanisch, trifft sich alles in einem Melting Pott. Eben dem was man sich von New York erhofft. Natürlich New York ist bombastisch und einmalig und bestimmt auch wesentlich ereignissreicher und beeindruckender um dort zu leben. Natürlich Melbourne oder Vancouver sind die Städte mit der besten und höchsten Lebensqualität. Die lebenswertesten Städte eben. Keinen zweifel daran, Sydney ist trotzdem eine einmalige Stadt mit einer einmaligen Szene.
Es ist sicher nicht die Liebe auf den ersten Blick. Als ich hier ankam war ich immer noch traurig und habe Amerika vermisst, habe meine Freunde vermisst und war auch sehr allein. Es hat fast 4 oder 5 Wochen gedauert bis es mich dann doch gepackt hat. Es war ein Freitag und die Sonne ging gerade unter. An dem Punkt an dem der Himmel alle Farben aus dem Spektrum durchgespielt hat und von violett, über rot, über grün und türkis ein Farbenspiel an den Tag gelegt hat das die Welt noch nicht gesehen hat. Das Licht ein herrliches Glitzern auf der Skyline hinterlassen hat und die menschen, wenn du sie ansiehst, auch wenn sie in Eile sind, ein Glückseeligkeit ausstrahlen. Das war der Punkt an dem ich Sydney angefangen habe zu lieben.

Das tägliche Laufen durch die Botanischen Gärten zum Sonnenuntergang entlang dem Opera house. Wenn man direkt am Wasser läuft... das Licht einfach nur faszinierend mit der Flora und den Wolkenkratzer spielt. Es gibt soviele wunderschöne Erinnerungen die ich an Sydney habe, die sich nur auf diese Stadt beziehen und die Einmaligkeit die sie an den Tag legt.
Der LifeStyle, der einmalig auf der Welt zu finden ist. Irgendwo zwischen Surfer Kultur und arbeiten. Nach einer Weile realisiert man auch, das man hier eine perfekte Balance zwischen Leben und Arbeit hat. Wo dann auch kleinigkeiten, wie das "danke" zum Busfahrer, wenn man den Bus verlässt.

Art Battle 2009

2009-07-24T07:18:00.000-07:00

Since "someone" tried to convince me for the artbattle on http://www.digitalartforum.de/, which is a german art community forum, i got a little bit more active about sketching. Lets say I did my Character last minutes, while I have been reasonable tipsy (some people might consider that as drunk, but as long as I can hold a pencil, its just tipsy!). I wanted to do something different, but this was the only sketch available today (i guess the other ones just dissappeared out of my sketchbook, and foldet themselves nicely into the bucket...).

The Pizikaki, Berserk Robot of the Planet Neuronon. It turned mad about 5 years ago, while serving tea in a customers house. Since then he is wanted by headhunters for about 250000 crystals. Thats mostly about it, beside that he doesnt leave any survivers. the only surving lifeform after he attacked a village close to the mountains, was a white cat, which is secretly following that crazy and silly robot. It might be noticed, that this robot is one of the least intelligent beings in the whole bubblemilk galaxy...

thats about it, so i keep you posted how its gonna go, i got my first victim today and start to think about a funny solution for it. The competition this year is pretty tough, there are so many talented artists out there. I wonder how far i can get, but i dont think its going to be to far :)

pizikaki 3202B - 100038283,
ehemaliger service roboter, der nach einiger zeit amok gelaufen ist und sich immer noch fleissig upgraded. dabei stehen aber auch schon 250 000 crystals auf seinem kopf... warum der berserk von huntington spider bay, wie er auch gerne von den einheimischen des planeten Neuronon bezeichnet wird, ist bis heute ein mysterium. tatsache aber der ueberproportionierte cyborg besitzt eine ueberdurchschnittlich geringe intelligenz, dafuer aber eine aussergewoehnliche toetungsmaschinerie, der bisher keiner entgehen konnten. Wer ihm begegnet wird nicht zum zeugen, bisher fand sich nur ein ueberlebender, der kater nemsis, welcher hier zwar nicht aufgezeigt wird, aber dennoch eine wichtige rolle um das geheimniss von pizikaki spielt.
Auffaellig fuer die 3202B Serie ist auch ein technischer programmierfehler der zu emotionen gefuehrt hat. ein luxus den sich selbst die bewohner von Neuronon nicht erlauben koennen. nichts desto trotz die faehigkeit sich endlos zu upgraden und in seiner masslosen bloedheit (oder versteckter intelligenz) wahllos humanoiden und andere organische formen zu masakrieren macht ihn zu einem sehr gefaehrlichen zeitgenossen.

sketchblog

2009-07-20T04:06:00.000-07:00

Here some old sketches I guess i should do more....

Aroma festival ft Aussie Slang

2009-07-20T03:40:00.000-07:00

Well, since almost 3 weeks I live in Sydney and I have to say, I love it. Sydney is an awesome city, even if its not really australien, its still a beautiful city, with awesome people all over the place. I have to admit I havent slept much yet, because the city is quite busy and you will never get bored. There is a festival there, a drink out here and this this and this. I just realized that it might need almost years to get it all done.

The nightlife is definetly a chapter for itself, but we will come to that soon. This weekend there was the Aroma festival on the rocks, which was delicious. I have to admit afterwards I have spent the rest of my time with running, to get rid of that guilty feeling after consuming so much chocolate (yummi). Even though the chocolate in Australia isnt that exiting, there were some good ones on that festival.

I really love my internship, they are all adorable and nice people, I have heeps of work, but its fun and I enjoy it. Well I learned some "aussie" slang a couple days ago, so for everyone whos gonna come down here one day, should know that. They definetly will feel entertained by your try!

Australian Slang

* G’day is hullo, pronounced Gidday which is a shortened form of Good Day, and used mostly in informal situations. More formally we would say Hullo, Good Morning, Good Afternoon, or the likes.
* Bloke is an Aussie male who generally is a hard worker and does the right thing.
* Mate is Friend, mainly for males. Everyone in Australia is mate, so we would often say "G’day mate" or "Thanks mate".
* Onya means Well Done, a shortened form of Good On You. The best "Aussieism" in my opinion.

well its also common to take the water taxi in sydney, this is one of them.

Those have been some exiting weeks, I barely can form into words or describe. My feelings are still mixed, because I miss a lot of my friends and of course, if you travel by yourself, you will feel lonely from time to time. But they make it very easy to settle in and feel comfortable. I guess I am learning here a lot about life and about myself.

Catchy tunes

2009-07-11T18:33:00.000-07:00

Its about time, to add some new catchy tunes this week. Today we dive into winterly vibes:

Decoder Ring - Somersault

Eine kleine Verschnaufpause

2009-07-09T04:30:00.001-07:00

Cars for Gentlemen

2009-07-09T04:30:00.000-07:00

Here we have an article found at yanko design. Definetly worth to take a look at this, sexy Maya Renderings of Lugnegard Design. Lovely details and an impressive shading quality are giving the impression of a real re-designed car.
I like the form language and the way the proportion works. An old styling with a fresh touch!

A new Chapter within a long story...

2009-07-09T04:19:00.000-07:00

Almost 2 weeks in Sydney have passed and I guess its time for a short update. On Monday I just started my internship at konstrukt-design. Which sounds german, but is apparently not german at all. The studio is very nice and the team is awesome. I like the work so far and I am glad to get a little bit more settled in Sydney.
As far as I can tell, I havent seen much of Sydney yet, but I am going to get around on this weekend. Since I got my accomendation in Surry Hills, which is an awesome area to live, I was able to settle in a bit and get my stuff out of the suitcase. Its a weird feeling, not living out of my backpack all the time and very nice to have something like a home. I have about 6 roommates, an irish guy and 2 irish girls, a swedish girl, a german girl and the rest I havent seen yet. They are nice too, but pretty busy, with party and work. So I barely see them.
As you can see in my webalbum, at least I made it to the opera house, which is kinda nice, but touristy (of course). Today I walked to Darling Harbour, which is pretty at night but also tourists everywhere.
Sydney as it self is a very busy city. People are rushing through the streets, crossing redlights all the time and its quite chaotic. But I kinda like that, even though it is very loud. Compared to Melbourne Sydney might have less quality, but a little bit more of an exotic touch, because of the beaches and the population. Its about the same size as Melbourne, but looks quite bigger than Melbourne. It feels bigger and more like a huge city. Therefore Melbourne is more layed back and comfortable.
You can do a lot, there are tons of restaurants and bars, that are worth to check out and I am sure 3 months wont be enough to explore it all. Even though Australia is a little bit behind in things like internet accessibility and private sanitary. Because the rent is ridiciously high everything else seems to be less important. Internet is very expensiv and slow, even if you have some hot spots, if you work, its hard to get online.

Yesterday something insanly nice happened. I just got a surfboard donated, from some french people, who are leaving the country and never surf. Its a nice board, which is slightly damaged. It will work and I am all excited about using it this weekend. Her name is "Nova" (okay printed name is Betty... but somehow I didnt liked Betty that much).

Wo sich Känguru und Koala gute Nacht sagen

2009-07-01T01:56:00.001-07:00

Jetzt erstmal eine kleine Zusammenfassung was jetzt eigentlich ansteht. Ich habe im Mai/Juni meine Tour durch Amerika angefangen und bin durch die Städte die mir am wichtigesten waren gereist. Es ging also zunächst um die Gegend in Detroit (Cranbrook, Birmingham etc.), weiter nach New York, von dort nach San Francisco über Santa Cruiz, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica nach Los Angeles. Von dort aus ging es dann auch endlich nach Australien mit der ersten Station in Melbourne. Eine atemberaubende und wundervolle Stadt, wie ich bereits vorher beschrieben hatte.
Seit gestern bin ich nun in Sydney angekommen und habe heute auch mein Vorstellungsgespräch erfolgreich gemeistert.

Ich werde also am Montag dem 6. Juli mein Praktikum bei Konstrukt-Design in Syndey anfangen und auch am Samstag schon in meine neue Bleibe nach Surry Hills ziehen. Ein wenig aufgeregt bin ich zwar schon noch, aber ich freue mich auf die kommende Zeit und vor allem die Strände von Sydney. Hier sind es wunderschöne 26° im Schatten, Sonne und natürlich die Strände von Sydney. Ich werde definitiv diese Saison massig surfen und die Zeit hier hoffentlich genießen. Vielleicht kommt die eine oder andere Freundin auch mal zu Besuch.

Catchy tunes

2009-07-01T01:56:00.000-07:00

Since I have much more time to think about myself (which is not always a good thing) I also found some time, to read books and listen to music. Of course my taste in music changed a lot in between, so to keep you guys up to date, whats going up in my head or whats getting my ears to burn out.

Es hat sich mitlerweile auch eine Menge in Musikgeschack getan. Da ich auch viel herumkomme, bekommen meine Ohren regelmäßig neue Trends und Experimente zu hören. Manche davon sind gut, manche dann doch etwas grausam zu hören. Hier einige kleine Ohrwürmer, der letzten Woche:

Passion Pit - Sleepy Head (cant stop listening to it... thanks a lot Matt :P)
Ratatat - Gettysburg (*sigh*)
Soul Position - Run
The Fashion - like Knives (if you like Bloc Party - Banket, you will love this one)
Bloc Party - Flux
Electric Six - Down at Mc Donnelzz (didnt got the text at the beginning, but yeah, i like it - not Mc Donalds)

Also live in concert and worth to listen to: Cursive, Man Man, Broken Spindals, Rough Satellite and more... I am open to get some recommendations, what to listen to. Hopefully there is a broadcast following up soon.

Whats up in Oz?

2009-07-01T01:39:00.000-07:00

Some weeks passed in Melbourne now and I enjoyed my time over there. As I wrote in my posts earlier. Its a beautiful and lovely city, with lovely people and a working society. I loved Melbourne and miss it alread, thats why I am going to visit it as often as I can.
But now a shortcut about whats been going on for the last weeks. After my Trip through the united states starting in June, I lived in Melbourne for a while and got some very interesting interviews. A lot of embarrassing stories to tell, how I got lost on my way to my first interview and how I got stuck in the Tram.
All the interviews went very well so far and I met tons of interesting people, which I am going to stay in contact with for sure! Yesterday I arrived in Sydney, for my last interview, which was today. Now it for sure, I just decided to stay in Sydney for an internship with konstrukt-design. They usually dont hire interns, but liked my work a lot and where very interesting people, I want to work with as well. The interview took about 2 hours and I think its going to be a good match. Hopefully I can learn a lot and still have a good time in Sydney.

Why did I chose Sydney? Its been a very hard decision to make, because the studio in Melbourne was interesting as well. Melbourne as it self is a wonderful city. But I liked the studio here in Sydney much more. And I wanted to have the opportunity to live in a city thats so different from Europe. You can say Melbourne is more like Europe and Sydney more like Asia. The culture in Sydney isnt as nice as the one in Melbourne, but its definetly different from what I know so far. Maybe I never gonna get the Chance to live in a city like this, so I wanted to take my chances over there. Melbourne would be a city I would love to live and work one day, but so far I am going to look for more experience.

My first interview:
It was supposed to be on 10:30 am, so I decided to be clever enough and startout on 7 am to get there. Its supposed to be about 45 Minutes to get there from Richmond. But well I took the wrong Tram about 45 Minutes in the wrong direction, so I had to go back for another 45 Minutes. But I still stayed calm, I still had enough time. But then I asked the Tram driver to announce my stop at "STATION ST", so he announced Hawlet Station, which is 30 Minutes to early. I Had to wait another 20 Minutes, to get to "Station ST", where the bus to fernington gully was about to depart. Well I waited another 30 Minutes for the Bus and asked him to announce me "Mc Mahon ST", he didnt know where it is, but after 30 Minutes he said "OOOOOOOOH here it is... get off here". So I got a little bit scared and jumped out of the bus. Walked to the Studio, and just realized I left my A2 Portfolio with original drawings and Prints in the Bus... You can imagine how I got to that interview. Almost to late (5 Minutes...) and confused... without a portfolio of my work to show. To bad. But they were very nice about it and took me to the next bus station to get it back. Very sweet and very nice, but embarrassing...

Millionär?

2009-06-25T21:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, hier hat sich doch die Frage schon wieder öfter erteilt, ob ich in der Lotterie gewonnen hab oder super reich bin und ich werd mich hier noch einmal dazu äußern.
Ich bin immer noch genauso blank, wie man mich kennt... vielleicht sogar noch etwas schlimmer im Moment, also warum Weltreise? Ein Problem das jeder kennt, entweder hat man das Geld und keine Zeit oder kein Geld und die Zeit, manchmal beides nicht. Okay gegen die Zeit kann man wenig tun, aber ich bin zu der Erkenntnis gekommen, das man eben nur einmal lebt und nur einmal so flexibel sein wird, wie ich es zur Zeit noch bin. Ich bin ungebunden und sowieso schon für Monate weg von Deutschland. Ersparnisse habe ich noch immer so gut wie keine und die einzige Sicherheit ist ein Kredit, den ich mit meinen Eltern vereinbart habe, für den Fall es kommt wirklich hart. Da ich ohnehin nie viel von Tourismus reisen gehalten habe, reise ich doch extrem Low Budget und gerade hier in Australien, mit einer Arbeitserlaubnis, helfe ich hier und da aus um mir die Unterkunft etwas günstiger zu gestalten.

Okay, wie bin ich jetzt hierher gekommen? Ich hab mir sehr günstige Flüge oder Roadtrips durch die USA organisiert, die mich kaum 500 Euro insgesamt gekostet haben (bis Australien!). Natürlich bin ich dabei noch bei einigen Leuten in Schuld, was ich aber definitiv abbezahlen kann und werde, sobald sich bei mir alles wieder gefestigt hat. Dann spar ich mir die meisten Übernachtungskosten indem ich bei Freunden oder Bekannten bleibe oder mich in extrem günstige Hostels einbuche, welche kaum mehr als 10 Euro pro Nacht kosten, je nachdem in welcher stadt ich bin. Und dann sind da natürlich noch die altbewährten Ramen Nudeln, im Cent bereich, welche zwar nicht besonders nahrhaft sind, aber satt machen. Wenn man dann noch einen Markt findet (wie hier in Melbourne), wo man nach 12 Uhr die Überbleibsel hinterhergeschmissen bekommt, ist ein niedriges Budget auch ausreichend. Zudem nehme ich auch an kaum Attraktionen Teil die Geld kosten. Viele Dinge kann man auch kostenlos unternehmen und mir reicht dies auch völlig aus. Auf dem Weg durch die Hostels trifft man natürlich auch eine Menge netter Leute, die man dann wiederum besuchen kann und als Gegenleistung bekocht oder herumführt.

Meinen Hostelpreis gestalte ich mir zum Beispiel recht günstig, dadurch dass ich die Wände anmale oder mich auch so als hilfsbereit und hilfreich erweise (craftsman skills ftw!). Dies ist jedoch nur in kleineren Hostels möglich, hier lebt der Vermieter sogar im selben Haus. Zudem sehr nützlich für den Internetbedarf sind die Bibliotheken mit kostenlosem wireless internet. Langsam, aber ONLINE !

Alles in allem ist der Urlaub natürlich noch relativ teuer, aber gerade in der Wirtschaftskrise, wenn die Flüge fast nichts mehr kosten, lohnt sich reisen wirklich. Alles ist sehr günstig, Tagesreisen, Essen, Hostels. Besonders in den USA kam mir dieser eher negative Umstand sehr zu gunsten. Für das was ich sofern erlebt habe ist es unbezahlbar. Mir ist die Erfahrung sehr wichtig und der Reisetick hat mich nun auch schon längst gepackt. Man wird sich über vieles bewusst und vor allem über sich selbst, für die Lebenserfahrung lohnte sich dieser Trip soweit allemal und ich würde es jederzeit wieder so machen. Auch wenn ich gerade mit 50 Dollar da stehe, bei meinen Eltern in der Kreide stehe und kurz vor Sydney bin. In dem Falle hab ich dies wohl zum Großteil meinen Eltern zu verdanken, was mir dann doch genug Sicherheit geboten hat, wenn ich auch davon nicht zuviel profitieren möchte.

Die Sache ist natürlich riskant, da ich noch nicht weiß wie ich wieder zurück komme und wohl für mein Rückflugticket an den Wochenenden noch mehr arbeiten werde. Aber etwas was ich für mich selbst herausgefunden habe, ich muss es einfach machen und dann klappt es auch. Wenn und Aber, Falls und Irgendwie Vielleicht, sind Dinge die einen weder im Leben noch im Reisen weiterbringen. Manchmal muss man Risiken eingehen, wenn es einem Wert erscheint und manchmal auch Dinge einfach starten, auch wenn sie verrückt klingen. Die Konsequenzen können positiv oder negativ sein, mit beiden muss man rechnen, aber sollte dies nicht bereuhen.

Melbourne

2009-06-21T22:51:00.000-07:00

Was läßt sich also über Melbourne schreiben? Melbourne gehört zu den 3 Städten in denen es sich am besten leben lässt und das nicht ohne Grund. Die Atmosphäre und der sogenannte „Vibe“ der von den Menschen kommt machen diese Stadt zu einem Juwel moderner Zivilisationen. Die Stadt ist nicht nur sehr schön, auch die Leute sind unglaublich freundlich ohne die amerikanische Oberflächlichkeit. Gerade für Menschen ohne Orientierungssinn (wie mich), ist diese Stadt perfekt. Ich habe mich eigentlich nur einmal richtig schlimm verlaufen und das war am Tag meines Vorstellungsgespräches für APS Design.
Ansonsten ist es sehr einfacher herum zu kommen, der öffentliche Verkehr ist extrem günstig und zuverlässig, man kann aber auch überall hin laufen. Für alle die Nach einer Bleibe suchen, ich kann Richmond sehr empfehlen, denn es ist kaum 20 Minuten von der Stadt entfernt, sehr hübsch und relativ günstig. Ich bin im Freeman Logde an der Hoddle Street 153 untergekommen. Der Besitzer Bob ist ein sehr liebenswerter und hilfsbereiter Mensch, welcher in allen Fragen weiterhelfen kann. An und für sich eine sehr ruhige und gemütliche Unterkunft in der man sich sehr schnell zu Hause fühlt.
Neben dem ganzen touristischen Attraktionen, die man im Touristenführer findet, lohnt sich die Brunswick street fürs Barhopping und Nightlife. Was sich für mich am meisten gelohnt hat, war das Eureka Skydeck, welches man bevorzugt in der Dämmerung besucht, so bekommt man eine wunderschöne Aussicht bei Tag und Nacht. Die 9 Dollar Studentenpreis ist es dann auch wert.
Melbourne ist bekannt als das künstlerische Herz Australien und bietet eine große Bandbreite an Kunst und Design. Zurzeit läuft eine Ausstellung von Dali in der National Gallery of Victoria. Was sich definitiv für mich gelohnt hat. Der Eintritt kostet aber stolze 16 Dollar für Studenten und 23 für Erwachsene. Dafür gibt’s den Rest der Galerie umsonst zu bewundern. Auch lohnenswert ist der Melbourne Zoo, welcher sehr schön gestaltet ist und natürlich der Luna-Park.

Die Stadt selbst bietet eine ganze Menge kostenloser Attraktionen. Angefangen mit den dutzenden Parks, welche liebevoll gestaltet und gepflegt sind. Der Botanische Garten, in dem ich morgendlich meine runden gelaufen bin, genauso wie der Albert Park mit seinem 5k Rundlauf. Dann natürlich das Denkmal neben dem Botanischen Garten, dessen Eintritt kostenlos ist und von wo aus man einen sehr schönen Blick auf die Stadt hat.

Natürlich darf man dabei auch nicht die kostenlose City Tram vergessen, die Nummer 35 geht einmal rund um die Innenstadt und bietet allerlei Informationen über die Stadt. Das Beste ist, sie ist kostenlos! Dann haben wir natürlich noch des Touristen Shuttle, welches ebenfalls kostenlos die Hauptattraktionen der Stadt anfährt und der Busfahrer noch jede Menge Informationen liefert. Dann kann man jederzeit den Goldenen Weg beschreiten, welcher durch die historische Innenstadt führt und über die Geschichte der Stadt berichtet. Der Federation Square bietet zudem zahlreiche kulturelle Events und ist ebenfalls kostenlos. Ein Trip nach St. Kilda lohnt sich natürlich auch und kann dabei auch gleich kurz beim Luna Park vorbeischauen. Der Eintritt ist kostenlos, aber die Fahrgeschäfte kosten. Dort gibt es auch jeden Sonntag einen schönen Handwerksmarkt. Dann ist natürlich auch der Victoria Market immer wieder einen Besuch wert. Das Sportmuseum am Stadium bietet dann auch kostenlose Informationen über Australische Sportgeschichte, also auch für Sportinteressierte sehr lohnenswert.

Alles in Allem, in dieser Stadt wird es nicht langweilig, ob Tag oder Nacht, es gibt eine Menge zu tun und als kleines I-Tüpfelchen die Menschen sind unglaublich freundlich und hilfsbereit. Die Atmosphäre ist friedlich und die Stadt sehr sauber und kultiviert. Ich habe bisher niemanden in Melbourne getroffen der nicht nett war und mir selbst die dümmsten Fragen freundlichst beantwortet hat.
Die Stadt selbst erscheint mir sehr jung und modern. Der gesamte Lebensstil kommt dem europäischen zwar nahe, ist aber doch sehr gediegen und locker. Kein Stress und keine Eile machen diese Stadt so lebenswert und ich hoffe sie bleiben genauso. Definitiv eine Stadt in der ich leben würde und gerne auswandern möchte. Hier leben alle Bevölkerungsgruppen friedlich miteinander und nicht nur nebeneinander. Man respektiert den nächsten und bewahrt Kultur und Umwelt mit Stolz.
Ein negativer Punkt ist, da die Wirtschaft in den letzten Monaten sehr schlecht geworden ist, wird es für Urlauber und Rucksacktouristen immer schwerer einen Job zu finden. Wer also jetzt nach Australien geht, wird es nicht einfach haben an Arbeit zu kommen. Gerade in Melbourne und Sydney wird es immer schwerer Aushilfsjobs zu bekommen.

Alles in allem eine bewundernswerte Stadt, in der ich auch schon sehr viele Freunde gefunden habe, die ich auch definitiv wieder besuchen werde, so lange ich in Australien bin!

Most livable cities

2009-06-21T22:27:00.000-07:00

Is been almost a week now and I finally got settled here in Melbourne. There is a reason, why people keep saying, it’s one of the best cities to live in. Beside Vienna and Vancouver, Melbourne’s strength is the modern lifestyle, the beautiful area it’s based in and also the people who live in here.
So what is so special about Melbourne? Well, it’s hard to tell, but basically it is the whole lifestyle, which passed the border between tradition and modernism up to a new social culture, which is able to work without much crime or violence. Even though the city has about 4 Million people living in there, and its growing quickly, and although almost 90% have an immigrant background, it works. People are welcoming, open to tourists or starter, they might even draw you the way on your map, to find the right direction. Also it offers as much as every major city in the world, but its still very safe and has more the character of a town. Best of it all, you can walk almost everywhere in the inner city and they are still improving the entertainment and events. Beside that you still have all the advantages of Australia and its people, who are nice and welcoming.
In my opinion Melbourne even if it looks young and modern, its society is one of the best evolved cultures I ever had seen so far. People from all over the world work together or even walk around hand in hand. Connections no one ever could have thought of.
Today I met a couple, she is from Bulgaria, he is from India and both live in New Zealand and after a while they invited me to stay at their house in New Zealand, once they go back there.

Eine Heimat in der Fremde...

2009-06-20T05:30:00.000-07:00

Ich hatte nun schon einige Wochen Zeit mich an das neue Land und die Stadt zu gewöhnen. Mittlerweile wird mir klar wie schön dieses Land ist und wie beeindruckend die Leute auf mich wirken. Nicht nur, das die Freundlichkeit hier sehr ehrlich ist, auch die Landschaft ist von atemberaubender Schönheit.
Besonders die größeren Städte, Sydney und Melbourne sind am Meer gelegen, meist in wunderschönen Buchten, umgeben von viel unberührter Natur. Man trifft hier meist auf mehr Reisende als auf Einheimische Menschen. Bereits in meiner ersten Woche habe ich mich fast nicht mehr alleine fühlen müssen, es findet sich immer jemand interessantes und nettes mit dem man sich unterhalten kann. Natürlich hat es seine Nachteile alleine durch die Welt zu reisen. Die Gefühle bleiben gemischt mit ein wenig Einsamkeit und Resignation. Man hat viel Zeit nachzudenken und sich über sich selbst Gedanken zu machen. Gerade hier in Australien, wo doch alles sehr ruhig und gelassen ist, kommt man nicht umher sich selbst besser zu verstehen. Man wird am meisten mit sich konfrontiert und wie man mit anderen Menschen umgeht. Beeindruckende und interessante Persönlichkeiten lassen unsere eigene Persönlichkeit immer wieder wachsen.
Jeden Tag sieht man neues. Man fühlt sich fremd und zu Hause im selben Moment. Seit ich nun auch in Sydney bin, wo alles laut, hektisch und gigantisch ist, wird mir selbst klar, das wonach ich gesucht habe war mich selbst zu verstehen. Je mehr man von der Welt sieht umso klarer wird auch das Bild, was man von ihr bekommt. Okay Sydney ist nur eine weitere große Stadt, Melbourne hingegen hatte Charakter und Stil. Für mich war es eine Bereicherung eine Stadt wie Melbourne funktionieren zu sehen. Es ist wie ein Ideal, das man immer verfolgt und kaum glaubt dass es noch existiert.
In den letzten Monaten, seit ich Deutschland verlassen habe, habe ich mich natürlich sehr verändert. In Detroit bin ich wesentlich erwachsener geworden und habe realisiert, dass ich viele Ideale verloren habe. Den Glauben an Dinge wie Loyalität, Aufrichtigkeit und Ehrlichkeit. Ideale die ich in Detroit wiedergefunden habe und für mich selbst als beachtenswert sehe. Ideale der Menschlichkeit die ich nicht aufgeben möchte und dennoch bezweifelte zu finden. Doch gerade in Melbourne werden sie gelebt. All diese „altmodischen“ ideale, die unsere moderne Zivilisation gerne ignorieren und verachten möchte. All dies führt und lebt in dieser Stadt und vielleicht auch in diesem Land. Auch wenn es Ausnahmen gibt, ein Großteil der Bevölkerung hier bewahrt diese Ideale. Wenn man natürlich von den Dauerhaft betrunkenen Touristen absieht!
Dies ist die andere Seite, viele Touristen kommen hierher, haben Ferien und eine gute Zeit, sind dabei dauerhaft betrunken und überschreiten diese Grenzen auch gerne mal. Ein Teil der dazu gehört und worüber der Australier lächelnd hinweg sieht. Darum geht es wohl im leben.

Melbourne

2009-06-19T03:56:00.000-07:00

Two days ago, I entered a new part of the world, one that’s now almost on the other side of the planet. I started my way to Melbourne with mixed emotions about leaving US. I got so used to it the last few months, that I still felt upset about leaving it, suddenly.
But now on my second day, I am still impressed. Melbourne is that what we would think of metropolis. A modern evolving city, full of culture, arts and recreation. Beside the fact that Oz is in any matters very relaxed and layed back at itself, Melbourne is still very special. Its most influence came from Europe and it’s a city full of immigrants all over the world. Everyone who lives here, love their city, they are reasonably proud of it. And they are right. This city is one of the most beautiful cities I have been so far and its just getting better.
I stay in a small nice hostel nearby the city center in Richmond. The owner is a very nice person, who tries his best to satisfy his guests. You really feel home here and comfortable. It’s a little isle, you would never expect to find in a place like this. There are books everywhere, every information you need for backpacking or jobs. The kitchen is small, but everything is personel and feels more about a nice home. Also Keith, the cat is a very nice addon for this hostel. He likes to cuddle, and right now he is sitting next to me, waiting for the next hug. My roommates are awesome and people all over the world stay here. I think I will have a nice time around here, especially because the hostel is very close to everything you might need.
How to Explore Melbourne?

First of all, you should use the free Tram 35, which goes in a circle all around the city centre and gives you some information about the core of the city. That’s how you can get a good impression of the city and the lifestyle. The first day I just walked around the city centre, the Collins Street, which is full of expensive boutiques and banks. Most of the people on the street work there and life in the parts all around the centre, so they are all dressed like penguins.

There is also a free tourist shuttle, which brings you on 13 destinations to the major attractions of the city. You just hop on the shuttle and hop off anywhere you want on the route. You can keep yourself busy at least a whole day, just to see everything.
So what are the major attractions? Depending on what you are interested, it’s almost everything about culture. You have Art Museums, Outlets, Sports, and Parks and so on. It’s hard to decide what to do first, but the Art Centre is worth it, If you have some money. Otherwise the parks in Melbourne are beautiful and full of sculptures and things you can enter for free. Also some sky decks would be worth to see.
Another nice place are the Docklands, where you have restaurants and recreational establishments. Its for festivals and sports such as wakeboarding. Close to that you have Waterfront City, which is a shopping area, with a huge wheel in the middle (this doesn’t work right now). There you have tons of outlets and shops all over the place. I had a hard time not to buy anything there.
Then of course, for a cheap lunch or dinner, Chinatown is always a nice place to eat (RAHMEN!), but you can find Indian food and other cuisines as well. I tried an Indian curry place (Funky Curry) and ordered something; I had no idea what it was. Its called Dhabi so-and-so… something. Well it was something with rice balls yogurt and lots of spicy curry powder…
Another stop with the shuttle brings you to the Victoria Market, which is a nice place to go if you want to save some money or just take a look around. It’s a huge market, where you can technically find everything you might need (or not).
Those are just a few things I explored today and I liked it a lot. The Aquarium in Melbourne is also worth to see, same as the Zoo.
If you have more time to take a look around the area of Victoria, you might want to check out the beaches and Ocean Road. For surfers, especially during the winter season the waves are worth to catch. If you like snowboarding, two hours from Melbourne you are able to ski and snowboard in the mountains.
So much about Melbourne, but in general, this city is awesome. The people are very nice if you ask them, it’s clean, cultured and just perfect in the way it is. If you are in Australia, this city is something you have to see.

One Way Ticket

2009-06-19T03:55:00.000-07:00

It’s always a good thing to travel without expectations. We all have pictures in our heads about the perfect journey, the perfect vacation, the perfect partner. Most of the time, its not even quite what it should be in our imagination. It’s nether better or worse, its just the way it is. When I came to Los Angeles, I pictured it as a shiny, glamorous city full of celebrities and rich people: The Hollywood Boulevard as beautiful as in the movies and full of tourists. But when I got there, I got disappointed. The City of the movies doesn’t exist at all. It’s dirty, shady and stinky. You have bumps on every corner, the celebrities are hidden in their houses, somewhere in Beverly Hills, which actually looks like you would imagine it, but still very superficial.
Even though, some parts of it are very beautiful and worth to see, such as Pasadena, where my friend lives, which is very pretty and sophisticated, but also expensive. You have tons of Art Museums to visit there and also worth is the Getty Center, beautiful and without admissions. Beside that the time in L.A. passed way to quickly. I enjoyed my time over there, to spend with my roomie Claire, which I already miss a lot. But now it was time to go for the next destination on that journey, which seems to be endless and without any final destination yet. I have no Idea what’s coming up soon, but I am sure every step is going to be worth it. After a while I got very depressed, about all that moving and leaving I had to go through the last weeks. I hate farewells and this time it’s a farewell for a whole country. And the thinking about the fact I am not going to see the most of them anymore made me feel just more depressed. The last few months I got very attached to everyone in Detroit, all the people and friends I met there. All the people I left behind and maybe never going to see again. It’s a weird feeling, traveling with just a one way ticket from one place to another one. Its going up and down, I am free to plan everything on high risks, because technically there is no plan. I didn’t expected to go to Detroit, therefore I had to interrupt my internship. I didn’t even expected to end up in California for a couple weeks, I just went there. Also I never expected or dreamt of going to Australia one day and being that far away from everything I knew before.
I still can’t believe it, but… here I am- in Australia. It’s a dream and still tangible, beautiful and exiting, even though I can’t be that much excited. Somehow I never been excited about anything I just bump into everything and once I realized it happened, its already to late for being excited.
One of my strongest believes is still, you can always be happy, no matter where you are. Even in Detroit, the worst place you can be at this time, I found something that’s very precious to me. Its hope, that hope I have been searching for myself all the time. That morals, loyalty and trust are precious and should be kept by people. That unconditional love can still exist. I also experienced how the world on the dark side can be. Violent, unpredictable and without any morals. Maybe those extremes made me aware of things that everything is precious, what we have.
But still, I left those times everything just passed by and now its time for the next step. Even though there are so many similarities, it’s still not the same. The world around me is changing constantly, the people are always different, and you never know what’s going to happen next. So there is something I never had to worry about in the last months, my curiosity.
So whenever the next change is going to come up, its going to be a one way ticket, because that’s what life is is about. You might look back, but you are never able to go back. The way life is created, it’s not meant to be written out of stone. Every way we go is going to be different and if we try to always take a roundtrip we might fail, because our environment is changing as fast as we can change. It’s just a matter of time, which can change faster and assimilated the changes of the other.

Einbahnstraße

2009-06-18T01:51:00.000-07:00

Am Donnerstag um 6 Uhr morgens Ortszeit habe ich das erste mal in meinem Leben australischen Boden betreten. Bis dahin war ich alles andere als aufgeregt, mehr besorgt und traurig, als zuversichtlich und vorfreudig. Natürlich ist Australien eine große Chance und ich bin überglücklich das es möglich war, dennoch begegnete ich dem ganzen mit sehr gemischten Gefühlen. Zumal der ganze Trip ja eigentlich gar nicht geplant war und ich irgendwie in alles mehr oder weniger hineingestolpert bin, genauso wie ich in Detroit hineingestolpert bin.

Im Nachhinein habe ich mich dann doch sehr an Detroit und die Menschen gewöhnt, so dass mich am Flughafen nach stundenlangem Telefonat mit Matt dann doch der Kummer gepackt hat. Die Zeit war einfach sehr schön, die Leute großartig, die Erfahrungen einzigartig und prägend. Jetzt wo ich wieder daran zurück denke, fehlen sie mir dann doch alle und ich hoffe dies war nicht das letzte mal das ich Ihnen begegnet bin. Vielleicht hat den einen oder anderen dann doch die Reiselust gepackt und die Motivation mich ab und an mal zu besuchen oder umgekehrt. Ich freue mich schon jetzt auf das Wiedersehen, irgendwo auf der Welt und sicher mit ordentlich Bier (nicht den amerikanischen Schwefel). So Wehmut hin oder her, zurück geht es dann nicht mehr, dass ist eben die Sache mit kurzfristigem „Heimweh“, wenn einen das Fernweh dann doch schon früher gepackt hat. Mir blieben 14 Std Nachtflug um darüber zu grübeln und zu resignieren was in den letzten 6 Monaten vorgefallen ist, bevor der nächste Schwall an Eindrücken über mich hinein bricht. Wie es auch mein Freund schon immer so schön bezeichnet hat, alles kommt in „Clustern“, genauso ist es auch mit Eindrücken und Erfahrungen. Detroit war eine extreme intensive Zeit, ich hab viel gearbeitet, viel durchgemacht, viel erlebt und enorm viele Lebenserfahrungen gesammelt die mich um so vieles erwachsener und stärker hervorkommen haben lassen als zuvor. Auch habe ich durch Matt wieder mehr Zuversicht und Hoffnung gewonnen, da unsere Beziehung doch so einzigartig und liebevoll war. Die Offenheit hat es uns wohl beiden etwas leichter gemacht den mittlerweile mehr als 10 000 Meilen zwischen uns gegenüber zu stehen. Die Reise durch Amerika, teilweise mit ihm, am Ende ohne ihn, haben den Prozess noch weiter vorangetrieben und die Flut von Informationen war kaum zu ertragen. So ging es einmal im Schnelldurchgang durch die USA, zwischen Sehenswürdigkeiten, Bars und Freunden zum Lifestyle und Touristeneindruck, der natürlich ein verzerrtes Bild hinterlässt. Welches aber alle mal besser ist als das Bild was Detroit hinterlassen hat.

Der gesamte Juni, war vollgestopft mit den schönsten Erinnerungen, die sich einander jeden Tag erneut überbieten wollen. Auch wenn ich selbst noch nicht glaube, dass ich je so etwas verdient habe, bin ich doch im tiefsten Herzen sehr glücklich, über dieses Jahr, auch wenn es zunächst deprimierend begonnen hat. Der Lichtblick kam dann doch in Detroit in der Stadt, die zutiefst deprimierend, bösartig und gefährlich ist. Die vollgestopft mit schlechten Erfahrungen war, hat mich darüber bewusst gemacht, wie wertvoll Dinge wie Sicherheit und Vertrauen seien können. Wie wertvoll ein Freund ist der versteht und zu dir steht, wie wertvoll Leben sein kann und wie dankbar wir sein können für das was wir haben.

Nach Detroit wurde alles nur noch besser, der Winter ist vorbei, der Himmel klarer, Licht, Sonne, Wasser… New York, als eine der Beeindrucktesten Städte die ich bisher gesehen habe und San Francisco, als eine der schönsten. Amerika hat viele Seiten, gute, genauso wie schlechte.#

Stück für Stück verblassen dann doch die Erinnerungen an die Zeit, den amerikanischen Lebensstil, genauso wie Europa Stück für Stück den amerikanischen Wegen gewichen ist. Vielleicht ist in meinem Gehirn auch nur Platz für eines, aber für mich ist dies wieder ein Neubeginn, in einer neuen Welt, die anders tickt, als die vorherigen. Es ist wie der Wechsel ins neue Jahr, es gibt keinen Weg zurück, man kann die Zeit nicht umdrehen und noch weiter im alten Jahr verweilen. (Man kann schon, nur halten einen dann alle anderen für verrückt, was mir persönlich ja egal wäre, aber ich sehe gar nicht ein, warum alle anderen mir voraus sein sollten!)

Im Grunde genommen ist das ganze Leben eine Kette von Einbahnstraßen, wir verlassen die eine und kommen auf die nächste und hoffen wir finden den Weg zurück auch wieder, ohne uns darin zu verlaufen. Manchmal verfahren wir uns und fahren dieselbe Straße noch einmal, wiederholen also den alten Fehler und landen im kleinen Teufelskreis, voller ähnlich perfider Einbahnstraßen. Manchmal sind wir nur verwirrt, weil wir nicht wissen wo eine Straße endet und die nächste Beginnt. Die Wege die wir gehen sind alles andere als Einfach oder nachvollziehbar, manchmal wählen wir sie auch nur aus purer Dummheit und finden etwas Großartiges. Es ist wie mit Timo durch die Stadt zu irren und dabei anstatt dem Hafen, einen coolen Comicladen zu finden. Überraschungen und Unvorhersehbarkeit.

Technisch gesehen, lebe ich genau das mit meiner Reise. Ich buche eine Kette von Einwegtickets und hoffe dass alles gut geht. Wo ich am Ende herauskomme oder lande weiß ich selber nicht mal wirklich, geschweige denn ich plane etwas. Bis heute wusste ich nichts von Melbourne. Jetzt weiß ich, es ist mit Abstand einer der schönsten Städte außerhalb Europas und kommt dem gleich was ich mir immer unter eine Metropolis vorgestellt hab. Kultiviert, Entspannt, Friedlich, Sicher, Sauber und „Sophisticated“ (es gibt einfach kein deutsches Wort, was dem nahekommt…).

Und was kommt danach? Wann kommt das danach? Gehe ich in 2 Wochen oder in 4 Monaten? Geht es dann nach Singapur oder direkt zurück, wer weiß… es wird sich so ergeben. Ich glaube ja selbst noch daran es endet in einem Desaster und mit meiner immer noch vorhandenen (trotz enormer Weiterentwicklung, besonders in meinem Orientierungssinn) Tollpatschigkeit… ich will es nicht heraufbeschwören.

Die ganze Sache hat nur einen Nachteil, was wenn man da bleiben möchte wo man ist oder merkt dass es nicht besser wird? Wie ich es in einem schönen Beispiel auch schon meinem Freund verdeutlicht habe. Gerade mit Detroit fühle ich mich wie in einer Float Sushi Bar. All diese delikaten und teilweise widerlichen Schiffchen ziehen an mir vorbei und dann sehe ich ein ganz besonders schönes Set Sushi, zöger aber und es zieht weiter, so dass im nächsten Moment mein Nachbar danach greift und das leckere Set einfach weg ist. Deprimiert verlasse ich dann die Bar hungrig, weil ich es einfach vorbeiziehen ließ.

Alles was wir tun und was uns widerfährt reflektiert unsere Entscheidungen wieder. Wir entscheiden uns für einen Weg oder einen Menschen und je nachdem wie wir uns entscheiden und wie bewusst wir uns darüber sind, können wir damit leben und glücklich sein.

Los Angeles

2009-06-11T21:10:00.000-07:00

Since a couple days I stay in Pasadena, nearby Los Angeles, somewhere in the Hills. The apartment my friend lives in is awesome and very very pretty. But therefore she lives with her family over here and I dont want to take to much advantage of their hostitality. They are awesome parents and very nice, I really enjoy it to be there and we are having a great time over here.
The first day we saw the Hollywood Boulevard, Venice Beach and some Parts of Pasadena. Today we went to little Tokyo, yesterday they went to Chinatown and tomorrow, we are going to visit Art Center, to check out how it is going there. I also want to go to the beach on Saturday, to surf finally, because I didnt surf since about a year and I really miss it a lot.

We still look for something to do at night, because both of them are 20, which is kinda weird, because they are not allowed to go anywhere. So we cannot go to a bar or club, if you are under 21. Its really hard to find something to do with them, just to go out, its not even about the alcohol, its just to know what to do in the evening to get out a bit. But I think we are going to find something nice in the upcoming days. Pasadena is a nice place.
Honestly I am a bit disappointed by L.A. and Hollywood, it looked better in the Ads and TV, so it turned out to be kinda shitty, with a lot of fetish shops around the tourist area, which is at least 2 blocks which are kinda nice, the rest is... okay...
But beside that I like it around here a lot and enjoy my last week in the united states, after that I have to find a new apartment in Melbourne, because they just canceled that I was going into.

I dont have much fotos of this week, because my camera broke, I gonna get it back in about 2 days (and looking forward to it).

Route 1

2009-06-10T13:42:00.000-07:00

On June 7th, we finally started our Roadtrip on Route 1, which is one of those Journeys, every american should have done in his live and I have a hard time to find the right words to describe it. But this Route has been the main purpose of my California trip, for some reason I always wanted to do it and this trip is one of the best experiences in my life.

The beauty of the landscape you are going to pass is not able to catch on a picture or photo. Those mighty cliffs, the blue sky and therefore the endless ocean on your right side. It takes your breath and words, that you just have to wonder, how beautiful it is. We got lucky and were able to rent a convertible New Beetle, which was perfect. Not just the convertible, but the whole feeling of oldschool traveling made it to an unforgetable trip. Its not a fast car, but its perfect for this road. The Route 1 continues on the coast, about 700 miles from San Francisco, down to Los Angeles.

It took us almost 14 hours to get to Los Angeles/Pasadena taking that road, but it is worth it, if you are not in a hurry. We also stopped in Santa Cruiz, which is a little town on Route 1 and has a small amusement Park direct on the beach. We took one of the Rollercoaster called Giant dipper, a 85 years old Scenic Rollercoaster and this trip was awesome. Its about 6x75 cent of a ticket, so not too expensive for a short break.

Route 1 (deutsch)

2009-06-10T13:35:00.000-07:00

Am 7. Juni 2009 ging es auf eine atemberaubende Tour entlang der Pazifikküste von Californien, die für mich unvergesslich bleiben wird und neben New York, eine der schönsten Erfahrungen meines Lebens ist.
Die Route 1 ist weltbekannt und eine der Strecken die jeder Amerikaner mindestens einmal in seinem Leben gefahren sein muss. Es ist auch eine der schönsten Strecken die man fahren kann und für mich eines der schönsten Dinge die ich je gesehen habe. Ich habe mit 23 das erste mal in meinem Leben den Ozean gesehen und nun, einige Monate später sehe ich den zweiten großen Ozean auf einer Strecke von etwa 700 Meilen entlang der kalifornischen Berge, durch die schönsten Naturschutzgebiete.

Mit unglaublich viel Glück und durch zufall bekamen wir sogar ein Cabriolet, okay es ist ein Käfer, aber immerhin. Die ganze Route wäre nur halb so schön gewesen ohne und da das Wetter einfach unglaublich schön war, hat sich dies auch völlig gelohnt. Neben dem Sonnenbrand den Timo am nächsten Tag erlag. Es ging also von San Francisco entlang der Route 1 nach Los Angeles. Dabei gibt es definitiv kürzere und schnellere Strecken, aber wir entschlossen auf der Route 1 zu bleiben bis kurz vor Los Angeles, womit die Fahrt etwa 14 Std dauerte, anstatt 6.

Für mich persönlich hat sich dieser Umweg völlig gelohnt, die Straße geht direkt entlang der Küste, so das man das Gefühl hat man fällt fast hinein. Auch der Verkehr war nicht annähernd so touristisch und überfüllt, wie man das denken mag und somit war die ganze Fahrt eigentlich recht entspannend, mit durchschnittlich 40 Meilen pro Stunde, entlang der Berge, durch diese wunderschönen Küstenbereiche. Mir selbst fehlen die Worte diese Landschaft zu beschreiben, welche alle paar Meilen ihr Gesicht wechselt. Von felsig-rauh hin zu sanften kleinen Küsten und wunderschönen Buchten.

Ich wünschte ich könnte nur annähernd wiedergeben wie schön diese Landschaft geformt ist und wie atemberaubend es ist, diese weite zu sehen, aber selbst heute noch fehlen mir die Worte dies zu beschreiben. Es ist einfach wunderschön.

Den ganzen Trip haben wir geplant hin und wieder mal irgendwo anzuhalten und die Landschaft oder die Küstenstädte zu bewundern. Da aber zwischen Santa Cruiz bis hin zu Santa Barbara nicht mehr viel passiert, kann man etwa 9 Std pure Natur genießen und an den zahlreichen Haltepunkten für einen kleinen Augenblick weilen.

Santa Cruiz lohnt sich auf jeden Fall für einen kleinen Zwischenstop, denn dort gibt es den Beachwalk, einen kleinen Vergnügungsparkt direkt am Strand. Man kauft sich Tickets für 75 cent und tauscht diese dann für die einzelnen Attraktionen, wenn man dann genug Achterbahn gefahren ist gehts dann noch zum relaxen an den Strand. Auf jeden Fall empfehlenswert und richtig klasse für eine größere Pause! Es liegt nicht direkt an der Route 1, daher sollte man auf die Schilder am Ortseingang achten.
Dort kam es dann auch dazu das mir meine Camera aus der Tasche gefallen ist und kaputt gegangen ist. Worauf in den folgenden Blogs kaum noch Bilder zu finden sind, da ich leider keine mehr machen konnte...

San Francisco (deutsch)

2009-06-10T13:03:00.000-07:00

Ich beginne jetzt erst einmal wieder mit dem deutschen Artikel über meine Reise durch California beginnend in San Francisco. Was wir sonst noch so gemacht haben und alle restlichen Bilder gibts auch in meiner Picasa Bildergalerie, welche hier auch verlinkt ist.

Erst einmal zu San Francisco. Am 2. Juni nach einem 6 Std Flug kam ich gegen Mittag in San Fran aus New York an, noch ziemlich platt vom ganzen Flug hab ich mich erstmal gute 2 Std abgemüht um von der Bahnhofsstation mit meinem Gepäck bis zum Hostel zu kommen. Da ich ja quasi umziehe und mein ganzes Hab und gut auch aus Detroit noch mit mir hatte, war es doch schon... sagen wir eine ganze Menge Gepäck. Genau genommen ein großer Rucksack mit etwa 50 kg, dann nochmal 2 Koffer insgesamt auch nochmal 50 kg...
Ich dachte auch nicht daran das San Francisco SOOOOOOOOOOO bergig ist und es hat mich etwa 2 std für vier Blöcke gedauert um den kram nach oben zu kriegen. Dann gings eigentlich nur noch an den Computer und auf Timo warten, welcher um 18 Uhr aus Deutschland ankommen sollte. Natürlich gab es Komplikationen mit dem Flieger und er kam wesentlich später an als erwartet.
Das Hostel selber nannte sich USA-Hostels und ist eine Kette die man in California und Canada verhäuft findet. Sie sind relativ preiswert, super Service und bieten viele Touren an die auch lohnenswert sind (vor allem die Bar Tour... jaja armer Timo...). Ich kann das Hostel eigentlich nur wärmstens weiterempfehlen, auch wenn es ein absolutes Jugendhostel ist, viele Junge Leute (und erst recht viele Australier) und genauso kunterbunt wie die Leute die ein und aus gehen. Ich fand es super und hab die Zeit dort sehr genossen.
Der Abend war für mich ja eigentlich schon ziemlich gelaufen also gings auch früh ins Bett (langweilig?!?), besonders nach New York war ich dann doch schon sehr erschöpft. Am nächsten Tag gings dann auf Entdeckungstour durch die Stadt und ich muss sagen es ist wunderschön. San Francisco gilt als eine der schönsten Städte auf der Welt und ja das stimmt.

Die Menschen sind unglaublich nett und hilfsbereit und auch das Stadtbild ist sehr angenehm. Es ist wesentlich kleiner als Los Angeles hat dafür aber einen unglaublichen Charme, der nicht zu übertreffen ist.
Das einzige was ich extrem störend fand, waren die vielen Obdachlosen und "Penner" welche teilweise sehr verschlagen zu Geld kommen. Man wird, selbst wenn man nicht will, in Gespräche verwickelt oder geholfen, selbst wenn man keine Hilfe will und dann erwarten sie geld dafür. Ich find das persönlich sehr unangebracht und einfach unglaublich penetrant. So sind wir insgesamt um etliche Dollar leichter geworden, also scheint dies wohl eine gute Einnahme Quelle zu sein und ich selbst fang an zu zweifeln ob es denen wirklich so schlecht geht und bin mir sicher sie verbraten es dann auch nur für Alkohol. Gerade als Student mit kleinem Budget fühl ich mich zwar schlecht nicht zu helfen, aber irgendwann (nach 20 Dollar) geht mir dann auch das Kleingeld aus... und ich mag auch nich 20 min zugelabert werden wo der nächste bessere Coffee Shop ist, wenn ich direkt vorm StarBucks stehe und mich da nur kurz gemütlich reinsetzen will. WAH?!

Okay, wie man hier bereits sieht gings dann am zweiten Tag aufs Tandem für eine Tour zur Golden Gate Bridge und den kleineren Städten nahe dazu rund um die Bucht (naja nicht ganz so weit... jaja... Timo...). Eine Radtour kann ich nur wärmstens Empfehlen vor allem wenn das Wetter so gut war wie bei uns, die Aussicht ist klasse und die Landschaft wird von minute zu Minute atemberaubender. Eine gewisse Grundkondition ist dabei hilfreich, vor allem auf dem Tandem, denn der der vorne ist strampelt mehr. Nur zu meiner Eigenen Verteidigung, wenn meine beine nich zu kurz gewesen wären, hätte ich ja vorne gesessen... armer Timo.
Die Tour war aber auf jeden Fall ein heidenspass, vor allem für mich, ich hatte ja kaum Arbeit da hinten...

Okay neben dem üblichen Standard der Golden Gate Bridge und dem Hafen - Fishermans Wharf, wo man sich definitiv zu Tode shoppen kann. Okay die ganze Stadt ist dafür prädestiniert sich zu Tode zu kaufen... War dann auch dieser nette Hut mit drin. Au ja, nun hat mich der Hut Tick, neben dem bereits ausgeprägtem Schuh Tick erwischt. Timo ist SCHULD ! und San Francisco hat auch nicht gerade geholfen.

Wo waren wir, ach ja andere schöne Dinge zu sehen: Der Golden Gate Park ist wirklich sehr schön und man kann den ganzen Tag damit verbringen ihn zu erkunden und herum zu laufen. Man findet dort auch einen richtig schönen Japanischen Garten, das California Institute of Science, was ich nur wärmstens empfehlen möchte, es schließt aber um vier Uhr! Dann ist dort auch ein weiteres Museum und wenn man noch ein stück weiter mit der Bus linie 5 fährt endet man auch direkt am Ozean, wo ein schöner Strand ist, der nur zum Surfen geeignet ist.

Ansonsten auch zu Empfehlen ist Twins Peak, das homosexuellen Viertel der Stadt, wo es einen richtig tollen Comic Laden gab, der uns erstmal für gute 2 Std gefesselt hat "Whatever" genannt und dessen Besitzer ist ein unglaublich liebenswerter Mann und ich endete mit einigen neuen Comics, die alle sehr lesenswert waren! (verdammt !)
Donnerstags gabs mit dem Hostel eine Kneipentour, die extrem witzig war und wir haben dort auch etliche andere Reisende kennengelernt und nun ja, der Tag danach war dann um einiges kürzer als erwartet. - 3 Bier und ein Mochito... tsss....
Alcatraz ist sicherlich auch sehenswert, aber wir hatten kurzfristig beschlossen unseren San Francisco Aufenthalt zu verkürzen und spontan die Route 1 mit einem Cabrio nach Los Angeles zu fahren um meine Freundin Clair in Pasadena zu besuchen und einfach mal... "Sophisticated" zu sein.
Klingt etwas hochtrabend, war aber äußerst lohnenswert und kommt im nächsten Artikel!

San Francisco

2009-06-05T21:56:00.000-07:00

compared to New York it was quite a schock. Both cities are different, very different. New York is big, loud and busy. Meanwhile San Francisco is chilli, quiet and layed back. The people here seem to be more happy than other and everything goes its way slowly and lazy. Its a beautiful city, with all those hills and people, very unique. The Bay offers an awesome landscape all over it and if the weather is nice, the city shines like the sun across the ocean.

Its a very expensive city to be in, but you can go shopping everywhere and I have to admit, I could not stand it as well. I bought a couple things and I felt forced to it.
The hostel we stayed in is one of the USA-Hostels, which I can definetly recommend for this. It offers a lot and for its price its very clean and comfortable. Also the people in this hostel are just awesome. I found some very interesting people over there. A lot australians are housing there too, so you will definetly have some fun over there.
Every thursday the offer a bar tour, around the area, which i can highly recommend, its fun!

So what to see in San Francisco? You have to see for sure the Fishermans Wharf, because its still a fishers city and also you can rent a bike there. Because biking in San Francisco is part of the sightseeing culture. Its the best way to get around and see things like the Golden Gate Bridge, the Harbor or whatever you might want to see around the city. We rented a Tandom, which was tons of fun to have, so If you have a partner, you should try that!
The Golden Gate Park is pretty as well, there you have a japanese garden, where they offer tea, which is overrated, but good for a break, the california institute of science and another museum right next to it. Its a very pretty place, just to wander around as well. You just take the bus 5 down to the Ocean and exit it between 8th or 10th street. If you drive it until the last station, you will end up at the ocean, which is very pretty, but a surfers only beach. For surfing in San Francisco you need to be very advanced.

If you have more time in San Francisco you should also check out the other sighs they have, such as Alcatraz, Twin Peak etc.
Out trip got shortened, because we decided to take the route 1 to Los Angeles earlier, because we got a convertible car to rent.

New York City 2009 (deutsch)

2009-06-02T18:07:00.000-07:00

Dieser Artikel wird nun nicht mehr ganz so ausführlich und innig wie der Eintrag in meinem kleinem Reisebuch, was mir Johanna und Jenny zum Geburtstag geschenkt haben. Mitlerweile traue ich mich auch hineinzuschreiben, da ich soviel sehe und erlebe, was ich nicht vergessen möchte und verewigt werden muss. Die kleine Größe und eleganz des Tagebuches machen es um so wertvoller für mich, natürlich auch die liebevollen Zeilen zu Beginn verfasst von Johanna und Jenny. Ich vermisse beide sehr, aber das Heimweh hat mich noch nie wirklich fest beeinflusst.

Wie war also mein erstes Mal in New York? Es war atemberaubend. Ein Besuch in New York gehört zu den Dingen die jeder Mensch der ein offenes Weltverständnis in seinem Leben getan haben sollte. Mir fällt es schwer alles zusammenzubehalten was ich in den paar Tagen dort erlebt und gelernt habe, da es einfach eine Überflutung von Information und Erleben war. Ich denke aber es sind die schönsten paar Tage in meinem Leben an die ich gerne zurückdenken möchte. Denn in New York hat mich mein Freund begleitet und ich glaube, dies war wirklich der einzige Mensch mit dem ich je hätte glücklich werden können und je so glücklich war. Vom ersten Tag lief alles genau wie es sein sollte, ich weiß einfach es war so bestimmt und es war auch nicht für ewig bestimmt, was wir hatten. Zwei Ozeane stehen zwischen uns und Welten zwischen Religion und Kultur. Dennoch hat es immer gut funktioniert und alle Erinnerungen an ihn versüßen zugleich die Erinnerung an die Stadt. Auch wenn sich New York selbst für diese Tage in den Vordergrund gedrängt hat, weil es ein lautes Kind ist, das Aufmerksamkeit braucht aber keine zurück gibt.
Die Stadt strahlt eine unglaubliche Faszination und Vielfalt aus, bietet soviel unterschiedliche Kulturen und ist doch ignorant. Du läufst durch die Straße und weißt genau du wirst keinen dieser Leute wieder treffen, es sind Milliarden Menschen, Massen die durch die Straßen eilen in einem Takt der zwischen Sekunden und Augenblicken schlägt. Der Rythmus ist stark, aber wenn man nicht im Takt läuft beobachtet man das Schauspiel vom Drängen, Eilen, zwischen dem Telefonieren, wie ein Kind das Aquarium bewundert. In der hektik so blind und doch in allem Anspruchsvoll sind die New Yorker eine Welt für sich und leben in ihrer Welt. New York ist ein Organismus der sich selbst reguliert und keine Außenwelt braucht, diese auch nur gedämpft wahrnimmt. Man ist wie in einer Schneekugel, alles ist dumpf und irreal, aber es ist da und wahr. Mal davon abgesehen, dass diese Stadt ihren eigenen faszinierenden Charakter hat, bietet sie viel fürs Auge und für den Geist. Die Kultur ist atemberaubend und anspruchsvoll, die Städter geschmackvoll und musikalisch. Alles was man vom Leben begehrt und benötigt findet man in New York. Anonymität und Popularität im selben Moment, Abwechslung und Eintönigkeit.

Tag 1, 31. Juni 2009, NY

Ich habe mir vorgenommen zumindestens die Touristischen Sachen am ersten Tag zu bewundern, womit der erste Tag enorm voll war. Wir verbrachten die meiste Zeit mit Laufen, da der Tag einfach wunderbar war und er einfach laufen liebt. So ging es zum Ground Zero über die Wallstreet, entlang der ganzen Attraktionen auf dem Weg, solche als Exchange Building, der Wallstreet Bull etc.
Von dort aus hinunter zur Staten Island Ferry, natürlich mit Sushi im Gepäck, da ich definitiv ein Sushi-addict bin. Die Ferry ist kostenlos und bietet einen sehr guten Blick auf die Freiheitsstatue, zudem kommt man auch in den Genuß Staten Island zu sehen und auf dem Weg leckeres Sushi in der Sonne auf dem Außendeck zu naschen. Von der Ferry ging es dann auch schon durch den Battery Park, welcher entlang der Manhatten"küste" west-nord verläuft. Dort ging es dann über den Wintergarten östlich durch Downtown zum South Street Peer, wo wir uns dann das erste New Yorker Street Food (2 stück Pizza) gönnten. Die Pizza ist wärmstens zu empfehlen, Pizza im New York Style ist unschlagbar gut, selbst im Vergleich mit italienischer Pizza. Von den Segelschiffen ging es dann hoch zur Brooklin Bridge und natürlich gingen wir auf dem Weg zur Brücke verloren und fanden einen schönen Spot unter der Brücke, die Gegend dort war sehr verarmt, bot aber eine interessante Bildlandschaft.
Die Brücke erobert ging es dann weiter in den Museumstrikt an der Upper East side, wo das Guggenheim ab 17:30 Uhr Samstags "pay what you want" anbietet. Für ganze 3§ (anstatt 15 beide) kamen wir also in die Lyod Wright Ausstellung, dem Designer des Guggenheim Museums. Die Ausstellungen sind wärmstens zu Empfehlen. Wer auch am Moma sparen möchte kommt Freitags Abends kostenlos ins Moma, ansonsten liegt der Preis bei 12$ für Studenten. Vom Guggenheim ging es dann durch den Central Park, wo wir noch einen gemütlichen Mittagschlaf hielten (okay 6 Uhr abends...). Chinatown und Little Italy bei Nacht war im Anschluss geplant, also fuhren wir mit dem Subway zur Spring St, was direkt zwischen Noho und Little Italy liegt und landeten in einem italienischen Straßenfest, was an und für sich ein wundervolles Erlebnis war. Auch ChinaTown war überwältigend, beim bummeln zwischen die vielen kleinen Lädchen gab es dann noch Bubble oder Pearl Tea, was ich nur wärmstens empfehlen kann, ich liebe es ! Als Abschluss fanden wir am Ende der Mott Street den Ajiun Rahmen, ein authentisches und Preiswertes Restaurant, welches japanische Suppenspezialitäten anbietet. Das war mit Abstand das beste was ich je an Rahmen gegessen habe, noch dazu die Atmosphäre und der Service waren super.

Auf dem Rückweg ging es dann noch schnell auf den Timessquare, wo zufällig Obahma zu einer Broadwayshow erschien und der ganze Bereich richtig wahnsinnig wurde. Der TimesSquare ist definitiv ein Must-See in New York und kaum zu beschreiben. Es ist ein Lichtermeer!
Völlig erschöpft ging es dann endlich in die wohl verdienten Hostelbetten und ich hatte ganze 6 Stunden tiefsten Schlaf, seit langem nicht mehr solch einen Luxus gehabt.

Tag 2, 01. Juni 2009

Der zweite Tag war dann nun doch schon etwas aufgewühlt, der Vortag hatte dann doch Spuren hinterlassen und so waren wir beide ziemlich angeschlagen und sind erstmal schmollend zum Empire State Building gezogen. Nach nem Bagel auf dem Square (ich hab ehrlich gesagt vergessen wie der hieß), ging es dann auch ohne jegliche Wartezeit rauf auf die Spitze zu einem atemberaubenden Ausblick auf Manhatten und Umgebung. Wiedereinmal fasziniert von der Größe und Schönheit dieser Stadt blieben wir dort auch gute 2 Stunden und bewunderten den Ausblick. Allein der Gedanke das jedes kleine Fenster mindestens 1 Person behaust ist schon erschreckend. New York ist einfach riesig und das Empire State Building ist wärmstens zu Empfehlen, auch wenn ich wenig davon halte auf irgendwelche Häuser zur kraxeln und rumzugucken. Ich denke auch Nachts ist das ganze ein interessantes Spektakel.
Auch das Chrysler Building lohnt sich für einen Besuch, aber zur Zeit ist es nicht geöffnet, was ein wenig schade war.
Daraufhin sind wir durch MidTown und Uptown gelaufen, hoch zum Rockafeller Center, der Central Station, Library und zum Museumsviertel, wo wir dann auch nach einem kleinem Nickerchen auf der Museumscouch auch reingegangen sind. Das MoMa war extrem beeindruckend und kann ich nur wärmstens Empfehlen, auch für Nicht-Kunstliebhaber einfach ein Muss! Direkt neben dem MoMa ist auch der Design Shop... ich konnte natürlich nicht rausgehen ohne etwas zu kaufen, auch wenn es nur kleine clevere Designlösungen waren. Einfach genialer Laden !

Vom MoMa gings dann quängelnd mit schmerzenden Füßen zum Kodama Sushi, nähe Broadway, was definitv eines der besten und günstigsten Sushi Restaurants ist. Über den Times Square ging es dann nochmal zum Madison Square wo wir dann noch auf nen Drink mit einem Studienkollegen den Abend abrundeten.

Tag 3, 02. Juni 2009

Der letzte Tag, war nun auch der kürzeste, eben weil es der letzte Tag war. Wir sind ein wenig durch Brookly geschlendert, dann nach Soho, über Chinatown hinauf zum Broadway, wo wir uns kurzfristig Tickets für das Phantom der Oper besorgt haben. Die Show war der absolute Hammer und mit Abstand das Beste in New York, vor allem natürlich ein Stück Theaterkultur im Broadway Clamour.
Der Abend war einfach wunderschön und je mehr ich daran zurück denke um so mehr vermisse ich die Stadt, die Zeit und ihn...
Im Anschluss an die Show haben wir uns dann noch mit einem Bekannten aus Köln getroffen und sind eine Bar gegangen die Bier aus jedem Land der Welt importiert hat. Entsprechend wurde da dann doch viel getestet und um 4 Uhr morgens ging es dann auch schon ans packen, 10 Stunden später stand ich dann schon am Union Square in San Francisco. Ein kurzer Besuch in der Stadt die nie ruht und Ruhe hat man tatsächlich nicht bekommen. Dieses Wochenende war mit Abstand eines der schönsten die ich hatte und bleibt eine wunderschöne Erinnerung. Auch wenn ich jetzt nach San Francisco noch zurück denke fehlt es mir unglaublich und ich wünschte das hätte nie ein Ende gehabt. Es macht mich traurig und liegt mir noch immer im Herzen und ich hoffe das wird nicht mein letztes Mal New York sein, denn es ist definitiv eine Stadt in der ich leben möchte.

New York City 2009

2009-06-02T17:02:00.000-07:00

After leaving this post unfinished for so long, i finally got some time to write down something about New York. Its been already a Week, since I left it and I have to say, it is still in my head. New York got its own rythm, thats partially fast and slow at the same time. Its like a heartbeat taking over everyone and once you dont go with the flow, you just see time passing, slowly. New York is its own Universe, with its own time, beyond everything that exists around it. Its a fascinating organism, with structures that work perfectly and going on and on and on. Its a living breathing city and the experience to see it once is something everyone should have done in his live. Beyond all those attractions the city has to offer, take a look around, wonder about skyscrapers, the rush and the way this city just works. Everything you need is around you, it doesnt miss anything and there for I fell in love with this whole city.

Day 1

We barely got up at 7, I didnt slept at all, because I've been so exited about the trip. Our first step was Ground Zero, which wasnt that impressive at all, its a huge construction side and visitors mostly ignore its there. I think just tourist are taking photos of it, as we did. The plans for Ground Zero look interesting, but are somehow a little bit weird. We've been discussing abouth the World Trade Center and 9/11 for a while, to come to the conclusion that we agree.
The day was awesome, it was warm, but still a little bit windy without being too warm. So We've been walking everywhere in New York. From Ground Zero we had a nice walk through the Wall street, saw the Bull, which isnt that special, honestly the crowd around it was more ridiculous than anything else tourist related sight around.
Flashed and impressed by all those skyscrapers we wandered around the city to the staten Island Ferry, which is for free and offers a nice view to the statue of liberty, which was interesting and on the ferry we enjoyed sushi to be more sophisticated. From there we took a break in the Battery park and wandered around the park, which is awesome. Of course there are more runners than in the marathon, but beside that you have everything I like, city, water, trees and people. We went East Manhatten at the Wintergarden, where they prepared a classical concert and enjoyed 4$ Ice Cream (ouch). From there we walked over ground Zero again to the South Street Peer, where you have some pretty sailing boats to explore and a dozen souvenir shops. Another shortcut my boyfriend came up with, lead us through some abandoned parts under the Brooklin Bridge thats how we got some nice pictures under the Bridge. Therefore it took us about one hour to find the entrance to cross the Brooklin Bridge. Its a realy pretty Bridge and quite impressive.

Of course something you have to do in New York is eating Street Food, thats what it is famous for, so we got some huge pieces of Pizza, which was delicious, defenetly worth it. From there we took the Subway to the Guggenheim Museum. A lot of museums offer a discount on a special day, on Friday you can get in for free in the MoMa, Saturdays between 5 and 7 you can get in for Free in the Guggenheim Museum and so on. They had an exhibition about Lyod Wright, who designed the museum and is a famous architect. It was quite interesting, how he puts shape into buildings and creates awesome interiors through this.

After anonther chillout break in the Central Park we took the next subway down to Spring St. wich is between Noho and Little Italy. Little italy is highly reccommended for its restaurants and delicatesses and it also had a little street fairy for more "entertaining". We ended up in China Town, where we got the pleasure of an authentic Ramen shop, which had to offer cheap and delicious ramen. You can find Ajiun Ramen in the end of Mott Street, almost at the edge of China town.

But New York has also a lot of good street food to offer, from Pizza to Hot Dogs, you should try either one of them. After We got new strenght with Ramen power, we've been heading for the last attraction to visit, the Times Square at night. Its fascinating and disturbing at the same time, how many lights are flashing around you.

Time has no meaning at a place like this, but still, everyone is in a huge rush. The lights are bright enought, to keep you in an illustion of day and tons of people are passing through it within seconds. Those who just stand there and wonder, are mostly tourists, who are stunned by all those little wonders around the broadway.

Day 2

After a restful night, which wasnt even enough to catch up with the last days, we headed over to the Empire State Building, which is incredible and woth to see for sure. We spent the first day, with sightseeing, so I dont wanted to do too much on this day, but the schedule has been quite hard enough. But the Empire State Building offers an incredible view through Manhatten and is even if i am not a fan of climbing up sighs, impressive and worth it.
From there we walked to the Rockafella Center, up to Central Station, the Library and down to the Museums district. I think during this walking, I started to hate my shoes and I suffered a lot with walking, and walking and walking. We ended up in the MoMa, what I highly recommend to everyone, even those who are not into art. Its the best Art Museum in America I've seen so far and has to show a lot, from classic to modern art, everything you might have to see. Direct next to it you can find the MoMA design shop, which is awesome. I think we spent quite a while in that, because it offers clever designs and products to play with.

After that, we just walked around in Soho and met up with a friend on Madison Square, to drink a beer or two. To finally get some rest back in the hostel.

Day 3

We didnt had much on our schedule for this day, so we wandered around Brooklyn, up to chinatown again and got some more sushi on the way. On our last day we wanted to see a Broadway show, so we got some cheap tickets after about an hour of searching for it, to see the "Phantom of the Opera". At night the Show started and I loved it. Broadway shows are awesome they are every penny worth to see and I enjoyed it a lot. Its defenetly one of the best musical shows I have seen so far, so if you get the chance to get a ticket you should do it. They sell on the they the show starts tickets with at least 50 percent off, right on Timessquare in a ticket centere, where you find all those red steps. So you should try to get them there, because usually they cost about 200 dollar, or you get some rush tickets for about 30 dollar, but they are hard to get and not every show offers them.

After the show we met up with another friend, got to a bar near washington square, which offers beer from all around the world. My flight should go on 7, so we headed up to the airport about 4 o'clock, without any sleep I got into the plane to San Francisco.

So a weekend in New York has passed quickly and afterwards, I feel so sad that I didnt had more time to spent there, but I am also glad about it, because those days where intense and affortable. I think New York is still one of the best cities I visited on my trip, and maybe its because of the circumstances, that the weather was nice and I got the chance to see it, with someone whos still in my heart. Those memories are precious to me and I want to keep them forever, so hopefuly good ones will follow, but I am so happy I did this and got the Chance to see it the way I saw it.

http://picasaweb.google.com/chjaranina/NewYork#

New York Roadtrip Startout and Planning

2009-06-02T16:43:00.000-07:00

What happened in the last days? Didnt I wanted to be in New York already? Well our Trip got delayed by the Detroit Electronic Music Festival and our Farewell BBQ in Pleasant Ridge. Beside that my boyfriend managed to loose his car keys the day before we wanted to leave. Thats why we started our roadtrip on friday at noon, after the second pair arrived with fedEx (praise the overnight express service).
The Roadtrip as itself was kinda fun and a nervous breakdown at the same time. Once we finally got started, without planning anything and a rough route from Detroit to New York, we got cursed by the Lost-Monster. In our case it wasnt the mysterious fog, but the construction side on 75 south, which was impossible to find. After about 2 hours driving out and through Detroit about 5 times, we finally managed to get on it, after that we made it well until we accidently got the wrong exit. I've been driving the half of the trip, through Pennsilvania, which is a incredibly nice part of the US and it reminds me a lot on Germany. Those forest valleys and hills are similar to NRW or Baden Württemberg.
Even though we didnt planned anything, we got a guide book in a bookstore. The guide proofed its quality very well, I enjoyed working with it and its one of those tourist guides, who dont spam you with information and are still usefull. Its called the "Black Book of New York" and I can highly recommend this, even if one of the restaurants they recommended doesnt exist anymore... :(

On 3 in the morning we finally arrived in New York and found our Hostel, the L-Hostel in Harlem right the way. Harlem is very busy at this time on a friday and it scared me a lot, but the area got nice in the last 10 years, so it is safe (safer than Detroit for sure !).
The Hostel is reasonable highly recommended, its very clean, the service is good, the rooms are awesome and the next subway station is just 1 block away. Its just 20 dollars per night, including breakfast on weekdays.
We used the little book, to check what we want to do on our first day in New York and the list was pretty long. I didnt slept this night at all...

Video impressions of Detroit

2009-05-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some videos I took on the way down woodward in the middle of Detroit through Highlandpark and Wayne. The most of the green parts you can see in the video used to be filled by houses, which burned down.

There are still a lot of buildings burning down in Detroit, the reasons for that you can look up on wikipedia. Parts of those gras areas used to be buildings, which were burned down in the devils night.

More than 2/3 of the buildings are abandoned in Detroit, there are worst places in Detroit, but I could not take A video of those, because I forgot the camera on that day.

Woodward is one of the Main streets which leads from Royal Oak to Detroit Downtown and is considered as a relatively "safe" and crowded street. There are some programms to revive the area through burning down old buildings and building new houses.

As you can see there are some really nice areas, next to really bad areas, thats the tricky thing about Detroit. There is one block nice and "safe" and the next block is dangerous and shitty.

So if you walk down woodward its not always bad, but if you pass some bad areas like highland park, which is a really poor and dangerous area, then you might have a problem, while walking.

Journeys

2009-05-26T22:01:00.000-07:00

Detroit Electronic Music Festival 2009

2009-05-26T12:35:00.000-07:00

In May 2009 Detroit went electro, the annual electronic music festival in Detroit opened its gates last weekend on may 23rd with the cremè de la cremé of electronic artists, local and international. Beside the awesome location in the middle of Detroit next to the tunnel to canada, the whole festival was just great. The most established Djs where playing and creating an unique mood between techno, trance, electronic experimental music and international music

DJ's like: RJD2, Benny Benassi, DJ Tiga (he was awesome!), Derrick May, Minx, Carl Cox, Afrika Bambaataa, Adam Beyer, Octave One, Tiefschwarz, Nic Fanciulli etc...

It was an awesome festival, with awesome people around. I am glad I stayed that long in Detroit to gain this totally different festival experience. You will never see that much peacefull and colorful people crowded at a place like this again, framed with a unique soundtrack in the city, where electronic music was founded... here in Detroit.

as you can see in the linked picasa album, it was fun !

Auf große Reise

2009-05-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

Natürlich auch für die Deutschen Leser noch einmal eine kleine Zusammenfassung meiner Reisepläne für die kommenden Wochen, da ich noch immer in Detroit bin und endlich mal Zeit gefunden habe zu bloggen.
Was ist also in den letzten Wochen alles passiert? Einen Großteil kann man im picasa online album verfolgen und den Rest verfasse ich einfach mal hier ganz kurz. Seit einigen Wochen bin ich nun schon mit dem Semester fertig, habe alle nötigen Unterlagen erledigt und auch endlich mal etwas schlaf gefunden. Ich bin vor 2 Wochen aus dem Wohnhaus ausgezogen, worüber ich auch extrem erleichtert bin ! Mitlerweile wohne ich in einer kleinen Vorstadt Pleasant Ridge, was ein sehr hübsches und sicheres Fleckchen etwa 20 Minuten von Detroit ist. Hier komm ich auch endlich mal wieder zum joggen im Grünen, auch wenn ich beim letzten mal in der 8Mile rausgekommen bin... was definitiv nicht zu empfehlen ist.
Die Werkschau im CCS hat vor gut einer Woche begonnen und die Resultate gibts ebenfalls auf picasa zu bewundern. Natürlich habe ich die meiste Zeit mit feiern und ausgehen verbracht und hatte bisher 2 richtig großartige Wochen mit großartigen Leuten und Freunden. Was steht also noch an? Ich lag nun gut eine Woche mit ner Grippe im Bett und bin jetzt wieder halbwegs erholt, dass ich auch schon alle meine Sachen packen konnte und meine Reiseplanung vollendet habe. Was mich genau erwarten wird weiß ich noch nicht, aber der Trip wird in jedem Fall sehr aufregend. Außerdem klingt der Plan ein wenig verrückt aber funktioniert in meiner Logik bisher ganz gut. Am Montag mach ich mich mit meinem Freund auf den Weg zur Ostküste Amerikas über New York und Bosten, wo wir Freunde besuchen und etwas herumreisen. Anfang Juni nehme ich dann das Flugzeug nach San Fransisco wo ich etwa für eine Woche unterkomme und ein bisschen die Umgebung erkunden werde. Daraufhin schnappe ich mir ein paar Freunde, miete mir ein Auto an und fahr die Route 1 entlang der Küste hinunter nach L.A. von wo aus wir kurz San Diego besuchen wollen und dann noch eine Weile in der Stadt der Engel verbringen. Mitte Juni geht dann auch schon mein Flieger von L.A. nach Melbourne, wo ich dann noch einmal 2 Wochen mit Backpacking verbringe bevor mein Praktikum dort beginnt. Ob das alles so klappt wie ich es will weiß ich noch nicht, aber hoffentlich geht es dennoch gut. Hoffentlich begleiten mich auch noch ein paar Freunde aus Europa auf dem Trip durch die Westküste, da die Flüge zur Zeit super günstig sind und man im Leben nicht zweimal so eine Chance bekommt. Ich bin gespannt was noch alles kommt und werde euch in jedem Fall auf dem Laufenden halten.
Für alle die wohl denken ich hätte zuviel Geld, die ganze Fliegerei und Reiserei wird mich total weniger als 500 EUR kosten.

Soviel vom Weltenbummler für heute !!!

Still alive?

2009-05-22T13:21:00.000-07:00

Some of you might have figured that out yet, some might just wonder, what the hell I am still doing in Detroit. So here a little update what was going on for the last weeks. I finished my semester some weeks ago, so as you would expect I spend the most of my time with going out and "party". We went to the student show opening, the cursive ft man man concert, the graduation ceremony and a baseball game. Its been wonderful and exiting weeks with awesome individuals. Beside that I moved out of the ACB and live in Pleasant Ridge about 20 minutes from Detroit. Its a very nice and safe suburb near to royal oak and birmingham. About a week ago I got really sick and decided to delay my trip until I feel a little bit better. I think I got a flu or at least a pretty bad cold, but since a couple days its getting better now and I started to plan my trip through america. Now we come to the most interesting part, what is going to happen?

I am still not sure what I am expecting, but I finally planned a rough route. We are going to start next week and heading up to New York and Boston in a little Roadtrip, propably my boyfriend and some other friends. I am going to stay for about a week up north on the east coast and take the plane in early june to San Fransisco. I already booked the flight and the hostel I am going to stay in for about a week in San Fransisco, visiting some friends and traveling around the area. After that I am going to rent a car and go south to a roadtrip from San Fransisco to Los Angeles, where I am going to stay with some other friends. On the Roadtrip are going to join me some friends from Europe and San Fransisco. In the middle of June I am going to take my plane from L.A. to Melbourne through a little stopover in Sydney. From there I will move into my new flat for the next 3 months I am going to live in Melbourne. Until July I will backpack across Australia and discover the country.

This must be an expensive trip someone might think... But in fact, the flight costs total are 450 EUR on the route NY-SF and L.A.-MEL. Also the car and the hostel are not going to cost more than about 200 EUR and the rest, we will see.
I am really looking forward for this trip and hope everything is going to be alright so far. I dont think it will work out at 100% but it will still be an awesome trip!

Student Show at CCS Summer 2009

2009-05-22T13:09:00.000-07:00

Finally I uploaded the pictures of the student show 2009 at College for Creative Studies in Detroit. Enjoy it!

Transportation Design

Illustration

Industrial Design

Fine Arts

Entertainment Design

Jan Fabre

2009-05-12T23:14:00.000-07:00

Interesting, but also disturbingly Jan Fabre presented his new series on the venice art biennale 09 called "from the cellar to the attic - from the feet to the brain". five exhibition levels with metaphoric titles from different zones of the body - starting with the feet in the basement and ending with the brain on the upper level.

"with the installation ‘from the feet to the brain,’ fabre ponders the artistic rules of his work
and the bounds of his previous artistic practice. his basic principles can be broken down as
follows: 1. the awareness of the power of the images of the real that was discovered in the
flemish primitives, further developed through the visual force of performances and theater,
and finally emerged in the form of sculptural tableaus; 2. the extreme concentration on the
body as the crystallization point between life and death, agony and fulfillment; 3. the fascination for the insect as a symbol of metamorphosis, as the subject of intense investigations, and as an important material for rawings, objects, and wall and room-filling installations; 4. the constant application of the mechanical, self-driven principle in all artistic activities, a principle that originates from the discovery of the body and the behavior of insects; 5. the fascination for mirroring and doubling, which is the point of departure for many works."

Milano Design Week Highlights

2009-05-09T20:12:00.001-07:00

This time of the year I could not attend the milano design week, but here some highlights I found online about it.

Folding Bicycle

2009-05-09T20:01:00.000-07:00

More little Feeds out of the Design world:Who said the area of folding bikes is over? Since the summer comes back and everything is about modularity, mobility etc. Design firms try hard to get the folding bike back on the streets. For example the "mode" designed by iF.

Process Map

2009-05-09T19:59:00.001-07:00

Vending Machines

2009-05-09T19:47:00.000-07:00

This week designboom came up with a nice article about health criminal no.1 the "vending machine". Best friend of hard working students, 24/7 available, no social responsibilities, quick and easy...

From the worlds largest to luxury vending machines, this article provides a lot of useless but still good-to-know information.

Trans-Feed: Concept Bikes

2009-05-09T19:31:00.001-07:00

Sporty and economical, impossible?

It looks like a gas-guzzling sport bike, but it still is an electric vehicle. the benefits of this sweet bike are enviromental and power. the lightweight frame and its proprietary z/force power pack uses li-ion batteries for fast and clean performance.

Mobility on Demand - New Generation Bikes?

"Mobility-on-Demand systems utilize fleets of shared-use lightweight electric vehicles placed at automatic charging racks throughout a city. The CityCar and RoboScooter, both folding vehicles, along with the Green-Wheel Bicycle, minimize parking space and can be picked-up and dropped-off at any rack. Mobility-on-Demand systems maximize mobility and dramatically reduce congestion and pollution through energy and land-use efficiency."

posted on core 77

Concept bikes are always about passion

concepts of the London-based designer Reno Wideson blogged on core77

Mmmmound !

2009-05-09T19:27:00.000-07:00

Who cares about Fffffound the new trend goes now... with mound...

http://mmmmound.blogspot.com/

Whats Next?

2009-05-05T00:08:00.001-07:00

Well, thats a good question. I´ve been asked a lot these days. So I try my best to answer it in a way that doesnt sound misplanned as it is. Honesty I didnt planned anything yet. The process for my internship in Melbourne already started out. I sent in my portfolio and already got an interview two weeks ago. I have no idea if it is going to workout but I hope it will and tomorrow I will figure out another plan just in case Melbourne is not going to work out. I plan to go to Vancouver otherwise and travel until June 15 around US. I will stay in Detroit until May 15/16, because of student show. I wont be able to stay on Campus, so I have to move out on Friday this week and stay with my boyfriend until May 15. What ever is coming up after that I havent figured out yet. Which scares me a little bit, but I will start to plan a roadtrip across the US this week. I hope it works out somehow, because I dont want to go back to germany yet. I havent heard from Australia, yet, so I will plan soon about an alternative.

Nachdem ich jetzt schon mehrfach gefragt worden bin was ich als nächstes tun werde. Ehrlich gesagt ich hab noch keinen wirklichen Plan. Die Vorbereitungen für ein Praktikum in Australien laufen bereits und ich hoffe sehr das es klappt. Andernfalls sehe ich mich die Tage noch nach Alternativen um. Also Praktika in Vancouver oder gar in den USA. Matt wird mir damit auch noch ein wenig helfen. Andernfalls werde ich aus dem Wohnhaus Ende der Woche rausgekickt, da dieses renoviert wird. Bis zur Student Show am 15ten Mai werde ich also bei meinem Freund bleiben und daraufhin eventuell durch die Staaten reisen, sollte sich eine Begleitung finden. Wir werden sehen wie es weiter geht und ich hoffe sehr alles klappt soweit wie ich mir das erhofft habe. Ich plane generell sehr wenig, da alles sowieso anders kommt als gedacht.

Links and more

2009-05-05T00:07:00.001-07:00

For all student Travelers out there I have a couple tipps how to save money and what to do, when you are around. First of all some useful links and sources I used to plan and book my trips and flights.

http://www.isic.org/home.aspx
For students in general you can buy an international student card, which is accepted in every country and offers you many cheap flights and other discounts. It is always for one year starting in October. It is also accepted as an ID in the most Countries. I can highly recommend this card, its useful and not too expensive !

How to get there?

http://www.studentuniverse.com
For american students an awesome page for booking your flights, cars and whatever you need.

https://webstore2.travelcuts.com/ibe-us/default.aspx
If you own a ISIC Card this could be a good choice to book some cheap flights and get some interesting trip offers.

Where to stay?

http://www.couchsurfing.org/home.html
If you need a place to stay anywhere in the world, this might be the biggest couchsurfing community world wide. As far as I heard it from friends its very reliable and a good way to find interesting people and a cheap place to sleep.

http://www.hostelworld.com/
you can book in a lot of hostel pages and there are a bunch of hostel networks out there, but this is just one I would recommend, I booked a couple stays in there and as far as I know its reliable.

Language Issues?
If you want to expand your vocabulary, this could be a useful Link: http://www.verbalearn.com/

What to do?
Thats a big question, what to do once you are there? I am horrible at planing, so thats what I do: I go there, get a Map and start to walk around, check out the most popular places and try to talk to several people, who are just kinda interesting to me. If you are to shy, you should check out couchsurfing and maybe you can meet with some people (you dont have to stay with them!). Some can show you around or are just interesting to meet. Especially when you are traveling alone, it is always helpful to meet people, because you want to see and learn from the area. Every city I visited so far had some interesting personalities and talks to discover, so dont be to afraid, but still be carefull. That means no wandering around like a lost kid, stay aware of your surroundings and enjoy your stay.
I would also recommend to buy a tourist guide, if you want to do a sightseeing tour and get some more tips.

What to pack?
I have to admit, my packing is very femine. I alway carry too much, so something I keep telling myself, I have to kickout the extra pair of high heels and whatever I think I could need. You need some basic clothes at least for a week (if they get dirty, there should be some washing stores around or you wash it by hand) depending where you go, soap, an extra pair of shoes, maybe a good book and a notebook, sleeping bag, swiss knife, your camera, maybe a cellphone (just for emergencies), some cash and some checks, and a credit card. I usually pack an extra blanket, and bottled water.

Zwischen Schatten und Licht

2009-05-05T00:06:00.000-07:00

Diesen Post möchte ich nun meinen Erfahrungen in Detroit widmen und wie die Stadt und die Menschen auf mich wirken. Die letzten 3 Monate waren für mich enorm prägend und wie bereits im englischen Post erwähnt habe ich mich in diesen 3 Monaten doch sehr verändert und bin wesentlich erwachsener und wacher geworden. Der Kontrast zwischen guten und schlechten Erfahrungen ist sehr extrem, ohne viel Schwarz und Weiß malen zu müssen. Die Stadt selbst ist sehr polarisierend. Es ist abstoßend und unverständlich und strahlt dennoch eine Faszination aus. In den letzten Monaten habe ich viel über die Probleme, Ursachen und Komplexe der Stadt gelernt. Zum einen ist es schockierend, wie eine einst so strahlende Metropole derart verfallen konnte, zum anderen ist es erstaunlich das es dennoch einige kleine Oasen gibt. Fakt ist jedoch niemand geht freiwillig nach Detroit, die Abwanderung steigt stetig und die Stadt stirbt langsam und unaufhaltsam. Zahlreiche Rettungsmaßnahmen der letzten Jahre haben es zwar um einiges besser gemacht, aber können die Destruktion jedoch nicht aufhalten. Ich habe das Gefühl das mit der Wirtschaftskrise der Gnadenstoß für Detroit gelegt worden ist. Nun da die amerikanische Automobilindustrie bankrott läuft und eine neue Entlassungswelle die Kriminalität noch weiter steigen lässt ist es beinah um die Stadt geschehen. Ganze Viertel stehen leer, selbst an den Hauptstraßen und Dichtbewohnten Stadtteilen finden sich leerstehende Gebäude. Die Kriminalitätsrate ist weit größer als Statistiken annehmen, vieles geht unter oder ist einfach nur nichtig. Ich möchte nicht auf viele Details eingehen, aber es verging kaum eine Woche ohne einschneidende Erlebnisse. Die einfach nur schockierend sind, aber mehr als selbstverständlich für Detroit verhältnisse sind. Man lernt mit solchen Dingen umzugehen und ist extrem vorsichtig, auch wenn klar ist das selbst Vorsicht nicht hilft. Es ist unberechenbar und selbst wenn man vorsichtig ist, kann man gewisse Situationen nicht vermeiden. Wenn ich also an Detroit als Stadt zurückdenke, dann denke ich an die Feuer, Schusswechsel, Sirenen die nicht aufhören, zwielichtige Menschen, Heimatlose und Penner, Krüppel und Menschen ohne Zukunft die auf der Straße ins Leere starren. Ich kann und möchte nicht alles in Worte fassen, die für jemanden der nicht selbst hier war auch nur glaubhaft wären. Die Dinge sind so schwer fassbar, selbst für meine Auffassung einfach unverständlich, warum. Gerade das warum stellt sich mir immer wieder und mit jedem Tag bekomme ich ein größeres Bild von der Antwort, die ich wohl nie begreifen werde. Armut und Kriminalität prägen das Bild der Innenstadt , so dass jedes Stück Normalität wie eine Oase erscheint. Sobald man auch nur 30min vom Zentrum hinaus fährt befindet man sich in einer völlig anderen Welt. Die Vorstädte sind harmonisch, hübsch, gepflegt und sicher. Alles Geld fließt in die Vorstädte, während die Innenstadt Stück für Stück verwahrlost. Es ist ein trauriges Bild das Detroit hinterlässt und gibt viel Stoff zu denken.

Zurück in der Geschichte von Detroit zeigt sich sehr schnell warum diese Stadt so ist wie sie ist. Vieles ist geprägt von Rassismus, Korruption, und nicht Nachhaltiger Organisation. Fixiert auf die Automobilindustrie ist die Stadt jeder kleinen Fluktuation in der Industrie ausgesetzt. Ich würde gerne sagen, dass Detroit nicht so schlimm ist wie man sich sagt, aber es ist eben genauso wie man es aus Filmen wie 4 Brüder oder 8 Mile kennt, gewaltätig, unberechenbar und hoffnungslos. Als ich hier her kam wusste ich genau worauf ich mich eingelassen habe, weshalb ich mich in keinem Fall beschweren möchte. Ich bereuhe meine Entscheidung dennoch nicht, auch wenn ich auf viele Erfahrungen hätte verzichten können, bin ich doch deutlich reifer und realistischer geworden. Auch die kleinen Lichtblicke sind von unschätzbarem Wert für mich. So habe ich hier im College sehr viele gute Freunde gefunden, eine sehr schöne Zeit gehabt, viel erlebt und gelernt.
Die meiste Zeit habe ich am College verbracht, wo ich mich eigentlich fast immer sicher gefühlt habe, so lange ich auf dem Campusgelände bin. Ich bin nicht im goldenen Käfig geblieben und habe auch die anderen Seiten von Detroit gesehen und erlebt. Rückblickend hat es mich menschlich deutlich weiter gebracht und meine Gedanken werden bei dieser Stadt bleiben, die für mich ein Rätsel bleiben wird und dennoch meine Hoffnungen für eine Zukunft birgt.

Portfolio Showdown April 2009

2009-05-05T00:05:00.002-07:00

I finally was able to update my portfolio with some new stuff of the last weeks I´ve been here in Detroit.

Fotography and Alias Renderings of my studio project. I did evcrything in almost 2 days, so it should be fine. The concept is based on a narrative museums guide, which creates new experinces and motivation to go into an art museum. It creates contexts and projects information in a narrative package.

The device for this storytelling concept is designed as a low tech device, only audio with no buttons on it. It is turnable to switch it on or of and the keys are providing the information you will need to take the tour. They use an optical code (sema-code) to deliver the information to the device. The whole concept is using those sema codes to communicate with the device and deliver information on demand by using the scanner on these codes. You scan the code of an object you want to know more about and you get the information in a narrative frame (non-narrative is also possible).

Interiors I did in class. Very short projects, but I enjoyed it a lot !

Free Art sketches and Stuff.

A little Eco Racer, as a city car study.

Some Aircrafts, of course :)

Finals in CCS

2009-05-05T00:05:00.001-07:00

"Our Time is running out" true words based in the lyrics of Muse. The last 2 weeks I found myself in a state somewhere between being alive, but still asleep. In general I dont want to complain about what I got into, because now at this point I am really happy what I got done in those weeks. Since I got my sense of balance back and got some days of sleep, I feel great and first time since I am here I feel comfortable and awake.
If you never sleep more than 3 hours a day or stay up for at least 4 days straight, the state your mind and your body is into isnt realy awake. Your surroundings and everything thats happening is just absorbed by another state of tiredness. Its very productive, but still frightening. Usually I would probably freak out or get very cranky, but this time it was fine. Maybe going to Detroit made me a lot stronger than I´ve been before. I also feel much more like an adult since I am here. All those experiences of the last 3 months were very formative for my charakter. I will get into this a little bit more in my upcoming posts.
But first about finals. This sounds like something important and feels like twice much more work than you had before. To be honest it wasnt even close that bad like it was in Pforzheim, because I already got a lot of work done during the semester. I had to put a lot of all-nighters to get my studio class done, which was a huge mess. But I dont want to get to much into it, I am glad I did it and it came out kind of okay.
Everybody get stressed out at this point of the semester, similar to midterms you have to catch up with your deadlines and keep on working, working und working harder. I was totaly out of it, once I got sleep for about an hour I started to frighten my roommates with talking in english. Even though I lost my sense of balance and hit my head a couple times on some random walls because I was wobbling so badly. It sounds bad, but it wasnt that bad. I learned so much and got way better than I´ve been before. I dont remember that much about the finals to talk about, because the long term memory get messed up a little bit. But I know that I enjoy this week, having nothing important to do beside helping out those who havent finished yet and hanging around, filling my blog and sketchbook, just randomly and avoiding doing my business plan.
I still have to write a 20 page paper for my business plan, but I think i gonna start it tomorrow... or thursday.. or friday...

So far about the finals, here some pictures of other peoples finals (not mine, thank god, I looked terrible those days).

Sophomore Automotive Finals

After so much work, people wanna expand their horizont.

Work is so much fun ! Enjoy!

Free Food at the last day of the finals on the roof of the parking structure. Yummie!

almost professionell... time to get serious ;)

Blizzard Contest and Upcoming Beta

2009-05-05T00:04:00.002-07:00

Almost 3 weeks ago I participated the Blizzard amusement park contest and won 2 Beta keys for Starcraft two (wonder how I did that with this crap I produced in 6 hours). Now I am waiting for the Beta coming out hopefully this Summer about August (maybe at my birthday? would be nice, hum?). But here a litte shortcut through the Starcraft II Newsfeed of the last weeks:
Some abilities are configured and defined by Karune last week. The Mothership for example has a cloaking ability by now and the vortex incapacitates units. Also the Wromhole allows instantly travel to protoss buildings.
It also appears that the Swarm Guardian is going to be replaced with the Brood Lord. Even if there is no fixed due for the Beta Version yet, I think it will be there soon ! You can find more Information and News at www.mystarcraft.de

Vor etwa 3 Wochen hab ich am Blizzard Themenpark Kontest teilgenommen und lustigerweise 2 Beta Keys gewonnen. Nun hoffe ich natürlich das SCII bald rauskommt und ich diese auch ausführlich nutzen kann. Aber nur nochmal eine kleine Kurzzusammenfassung aus dem Starcraft 2 Bereich von MyStarcraft.de: Es ist von zahlreichen Änderungen der Units berichtet worden, was darauf schließen lässt das das Fine Tuning gerade besonders heiß läuft, so heißt es für das Mothership gibt es das Cloaking Field, zudem gibt es anstatt des schwarzen Loches den Schwerkraftsstrudel (Vortex) und das Wurmloch. Ein Termin für die Beta steht noch immer nicht fest, aber ich persönlich rechne im Sommer damit. Mehr aktuelle Infos findet ihr unter www.mystarcraft.de.

2 Days Germany and Back....

2009-05-05T00:04:00.001-07:00

I know its almost to late to write something about my german trip and honestly there is not much to write about. I didnt slept for a while, enjoyed the airport atmosphere a lot and went to a funeral. Which wasnt that exciting at all and not really something I want to write about. Beside those little differences between Amsterdam, Berlin, Boston and Detroit Airport. Maybe I should also mention the fact, that I got lost in all of them... Wonder how I made it still in time.

Es ist nun auch schon ein wenig Zeit vergangen seit ich meine Reise nach Wittenberg angetreten habe und viel zu schreiben gibt es eigentlich nicht, da ich ohnehin nur 2 Tage in Deutschland verbracht habe. Es waren vielleicht auch 3. Die Kurzfassung ist, ich hab so gut wie gar nicht geschlafen, kam in den Genuss unzähliger Flughafenstunden und bin zu einer Beerdigung gegangen. Alles nicht besonders viel worüber man schreiben könnte. Vielleicht über die kleinen Unterschiede und den Fakt das ich in fast allen 4 Flughäfen verloren gegangen bin. Und das Wunder das ich trotzdem mein Ziel erreicht habe!

The Lovely view of Detroit on April 7th, in the middle of michigan winter. Depressing and cold as hell, to join the warm spring in Germany just a few hours later.

Hier haben wir den herrlichen Blick auf Detroit im Michigan-Winter.... die europäische Antwort folgte einige Stunden später mit blühenden Bäumen, zwitschernden Vögeln, Blumen und sonnigen 26° im Schatten.

Family comes together: My Sis (you can tell it for sure, she has... the same eyebrow..) and my Grand²Ma living in Wittenberg.

Familientreffen. Meine Schwester, was man natürlich auf den ersten Blick erkennen kann und meine UrUrGroßmutter.

During my stopover in Amsterdam I met a girl from Malaysia, which was really nice and we spent a great day in Amsterdam. I am still fascinated of this city and its people. I really enjoyed the weather and the atmosphere around there.

Dann war da noch der kleine Zwischenstopp in Amsterdam, wo ich diese junge Dame aus Maleisia getroffen habe. Wir hatten eine sehr faszinierende Zeit. Ich bin noch immer sehr fasziniert von den Menschen und der Stadt. Auch wenn es nur sehr klein ist hat diese Stadt extrem viel Atmosphäre.

But I almost missed my flight, because I didnt slept for about 3 days because of the timeshift and all the homework I needed to do. So I thought the flight would go about 12, but it started out at 8. Thanks to my sleeping habits I woke up at 6 and realised it almost in time (got to the gate 5 minutes before departure. Yes, you guys can blame me for that, I hate it when people do that, too!).

Ich hab auch beinah meinen Flug verpasst, weil ich für einige Tage nicht geschlafen hatte bin ich schon ziemlich früh eingeschlafen und habe die Zeiten auf dem Ticket verwechselt. Der Flug ging also knapp 4 Std früher als ich dachte und in einer ziemlichen Hetzaktion habe ich es dann doch noch 5 Minuten vor Abflug zum Gate geschafft.

One more Stopover in Boston and a nice talk to a sailor later I arrived in Detroit spending 4 Days Traveling and had jetlag for almost a week after my trip to germany. My Suitcase was packed with tons of sweets and about 9 bottles of beer. It all disappeared within a week (where did it go? :) ). Lets say just 8 bottles arrived, thanks to the airport staff, which thought it could be funny to smash around my stuff, even though this bottle was packed in a 2x2m blanket, to break it.

Einen zwischenstop in Bosten und ein anregendes Gespräch mit einem Segler später kam ich dann endlich in Detroit an. Nachdem ich 4 Tage mit "reisen" verbracht habe, war ich entsprechend erschöpft und hatte die folgende Woche noch Jetlag. Mein Gepäck war gefüllt mit süßigkeiten und Bier, aber alles verschwand nach etwa einer Woche. Die Kindereier waren besonders beliebt und hielten nicht lange vor. Dann waren da noch die 9 flaschen bier, wovon eine auf wundersame weise, trotz einer 2x2m Decke zerbrochen ist. Wahrscheinlich hielten die Mitarbeiter der Airline es für lustig die Sachen so lange herumzuwerfen bis sie zerbersten....

Time Out... ?!?

2009-05-04T23:27:00.000-07:00

Dont worry... I am still alive and doing well, kinda ^.^
Just need a break!

Sick and crazy Toys

2009-04-04T09:17:00.000-07:00

Well, earlier we´ve been able to adore the fabulous design skills of american toy designers by Mike Mozart of JeepersMedia on youtube.
Now we will see some more design examples presented in the last two weeks.

'tin can robot kit' by griffin technology
What you can do with a tin can inspired griffin technology, whit the tin can robot kit. Recycling a can has never been so much fun! So you can build little robots, mit motors legs etc. to play with. A good thought of creating enviromental friendly toys by recycling trash.

G-dog by G-robots

cam-baby robot

cute little baby robots are created by "cube" works. They respond to claps and cry when they fall. Sounds useless, but could provide hours of entertainment...

shocking sick puppy

"shocking sick puppy' game is created by japanese toy company bandai. the toy puppy oozes slime, choc-a-block filled with little germs and bits that players must extract. players must first load the dog's head,
then pull out the stopper to watch the slimy stuff slide down from its mouth. the winner grabs the most bits,
using the tweezers without letting the metal part touch the slime, an act which produces a buzzing shock."

my comment: WTF?

Material Innovations

2009-04-04T09:01:00.000-07:00

Once you got hit by a car while biking in the night, because they didn´t saw you on the road, you will apprechiate these two material innovations of Vanessa Marie and Mike Mandiberg, both are using Retroreflective Vinyl, which looks grey or black at daylight and reflects every kind of flashlight in the Dark.

The material--Scotchlite 680, an be ordered from New Jersey's Beacon Graphics

There might be different ways to use it as a product or transportation designer in the future, so it´ll be a material thats worth it to watch!

Odé an den BiC Pen

2009-03-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

Okay ihr dürft mich nun alle offiziell für verrückt erklären, aber dieser Post sei dem herrlichen BiC Pen gewidmet. Dem Zeichners besten Freund und Helfer, einem treuen Begleiter für die nächsten 10 Quadratmeter Tinte.

Okay wie sehen wir den BiC pen, ja ich nutze hier ganz besonders die Marke BiC, weil sie überall zu finden sind, im selben klassischen Design, sowohl in Deutschland als auch in Amerika gern gesehen bei Designern, Illustratoren, Zeichnern, Hobbyscribblern und Schülern. In vielen Varationen und dennoch ein absoluter Klassiker unter den Stiften in Sachen Design und Handhabung.

Wir kennen und lieben ihn, wie er ab und an mal wieder etwas mehr Tinte ablässt als er sollte und sich auf unserem Handrücken verewigt, wie er leicht violett ausblutet, wenn man ihn sanft mit dem Copic überzieht und wie man langsam aber sicher dem schreitendem Fortschritt zum Zeugen wird, dank des transparentem Designs, wie sich langsam die Tinte verliert bis nur noch ein kleiner winziger Rest übrig bleibt. Jawohl das ist unser allseits geliebter BiC Ballpen. Es ist eine Hassliebe zwischen Nutzer und Stift, deren Eigensinn oft zu waghalsigen Konfrontationen auf dem Papier führen. Nicht desto trotz, macht man ihn sich zum Freund, wird der Bleistift zum überfluss und man trägt ihn immer bei sich. Ob es der selbe ist den man gekauft hat oder nicht, spielt dabei keine Rolle. Die Nutzer neigen des öfteren dazu ihn zu verlieren oder zu vertauschen, was aber nicht an der Personifizierung und Individualität jedes einzelnen Pen verliert. Auch die Nutzung des BiC pens variert von Zeit zu Zeit zwischen Flaschenöffner, Teelöffel oder Chopsticks. Es ist also ein universeller Begleiter, gleich neben dem Schweizer Taschenmesser ein Muss in jeder Handtasche und jedem Haushalt!

Shortcut: 5 weeks left till finals

2009-03-22T22:24:00.000-07:00

Okay, its been a while since a wrote in my blog and I guess it is about time to write a german one soon, but at first a shortcut through the last two weeks in my favourite language, english.

Sweet sweet english, yeah I learned a couple of nice words such as "wife beaters" (aka shirts) or dushebags, I am not going to use them, but at least I learned the meaning. But somehow I start to understand ghetto-slang a little bit better now and its not that bad, at least it sounds pretty cool to me. Beside that a lot of things happened. Such as my grandfather died 1 week ago, which is the reason for my "fast" and short return to germany for a couple days its going to be a little bit strange to go back so soon and return. Somehow I enjoy my time here so much and I really start to like america in an awkward way, even if Detroit is such a shi... city and the place I am living is kind of creepy too, but I have a good time and I can learn a lot. I like the people and it took me a while to get used to them and find friends, but finally I got kind of settled, which makes me really sad if I have to think about leaving.

Well beside the fact that I worked whole springbreak and I got trouble in almost every way you gonna think of, so I dont want to complain about this, but there wasnt a single day when nothing bad happened. So I guess you get used to it and go on with your life. I never want to feel sorry for myself or feel weak, I guess I am way to stubern for this and kind of proud, which isnt always a good way. I was not really able to mourn about my grandfathers passing, even if we´ve been very close in the past. Its disturbing me a lot, but on the other side I guess its an inner strenght that helps me to go on with my work and keep those thinks in the backyard of my head to get it up later, if there is the time and the place for this. Who knows...

This week was really tough, all the work of springbreak wasnt that good, I am not happy with it and I need and want to work harder now and hope I can find resources to catch up with all this work. I am still way behind my work and there is a test tomorrow about finance, which I have to take totally unprepared because somehow I couldnt study for this.
So what I did, I went out on St. Patricks day, because I needed to get out of the dorms, do something fun and enjoy life. Sometimes I have those days when i really want to motivate my self and need to relax. After that I was working and had a couple All-Nighters until friday, which was kind of good, because I should start to get used to that, staying up all night, because finals are coming soon, so there will be no sleep at all...

Well on Saturday I guarded my roommates Clair and Cate to a Concert of Broken Spindals, which was really good, because I liked the music and I am going to record a broadcast for those bands I guess. They are highly recommended and its a good music taste, beside that third band, it was just creepy at all... Anyways you´ll find the pictures on picasa.

We also went rock climbing with student life, which was awesome, fun and I needed to climb again so much. I took a couple mid routes, which was really bad because I am in such a bad shape, I need to do it more often again.

I am already back from the second concert I went with Matt on the Ratatat Concert in Pontiac, which is about 30 minutes from Detroit. Beside the fact we got so totaly lost on the way to the concert and back. Which was kind of fun, because it actually reminded me on almost every situation I went out back in germany. Just to quote some things of those sweet times wandering around without any sense of direction "Where the hell are we?" "I dont know, it made sense to me a couple minutes ago, but I guess its blue...", "Did we got lost?" "Oh no! Of course not, we took this loop just twice"... Best Losts ever I had with Sebastian, because his sense of direction is more horrible than mine, or at least similar to that. The result of this combination is, we both got lost badly and needed to be picked up by some friends pretty often. I should feel embarrassed about this !
So far the concert was just great, I really liked the music, dancing and almost everything. I almost forgot how it is to went out and do social things, like talking to people, dancing, all this stuff. These studies can nerdy your life in a desocializing way (does this word exist?... should ask .leo.dict. about this). Whatever, I´ll rock in an awesome way, somehow, someday, somewhere, in the next life or next universe. So far I am motivated for my studies now and try to work harder, and be still a good handsome person... if this is possible :P

Thats my shortcut, but actually its not really short, but still, have fun and my next post is gonna be german, no worry, I still know how to write in Deutsch !

Springbreak!

2009-03-11T06:51:00.000-07:00

These golden letters appeared a couple days ago in my mind. I always imagined springbreak as a huge fantastic event of celebrating drunken college students with tons of alcohol on a sunny beach and mass of Drugs, Sex and Rockn´Roll. That might be true, somewhere in the world, but not in Detroit. After our "Camping" trip was spontaneously cancelled, I am trapped in this pretty, peacefull and exciting area of Detroit. Well, you can make the best out of everything I guess. You can go on with dreaming of warm beaches, with turquoise blue water, hot chicks and sexy surferboys waving you, while you´re digging your toes into the sand.
Maybe the great lakes across the streets, because of the last 2 days nonstop raining, could help your imagination for a nice huge ocean. But yeah beside the fact I am missing the best part of being an US College student, I dont feel that bad for myself.
At least, even if the Spring break started out horrible and is until now boring, I finally could catchup with my work. Maybe I´ll be so totally bored until tomorrow, that I will decide a spontaneously trip to toronto, what would be nice, but at first I have to ask my wallet... (no answer yet, I think its mad with me, because of buying the gouache...).

So what else to write yet, I miss travelling around, but at least I finally got settled in Detroit. I start to feel more comfortable, but its still not a good place to be. Meanwhile there´ve been some more incidents around our area, what is frightening, but I guess this city is sometimes just insane. I knew what I have to expect over here, but its still worst than I thought and maybe its getting worst, because these days the economy is getting one more hit after another. You can see a whole city of 3 Million citizens a couple years ago, just dying. This city is getting abandoned slowly, but for sure. At least more than 3/4 of the facilities here in Detroit are abandoned, at least just the suburbs look more like little villages. Safety is a big topic around here and after all people are thinking of leaving this city. I heard about a lot of ghost cities in US and it appears as normal behavior leaving the "bad" memories behind and startover again. Somehow I can understand this kind of thinking, but I am not sure if this is always the best solution to do.

These days, I realy start to miss Europe and especially my friends. It would´nt be that boring or awkward If they would be here. I like the people over here, too, they are good people and friends. But its still not the same kind of trust you build up over years and I guess I am a person, who needs a lot of times for that. Beside all those problems appearing the last days. I am glad to have some time of, just to chill, sleep, watching stupid movies and TV shows and making some sports.
Oh just mentioned the TV shows, I started to watch "Wipe Out" this is such a hilarious show. The comments of John&John are just gorgeous! I highly recommend this show, even if its ment as a filler. I know its kinda evil, laughing about others people stupidy or clumsiness, but man this is just hilarious. Beside this I started watching Heores Season 4 again.
At least the second half of this season was good until episode 17, now it starts to be awkward again. I am really disappointed about Season 4, its supposed to be such a good series, but in the end they screwed up the new season. I guess they just wanted to keep the favourite characters of the seasons, by using an ridiculous story.

Well, this should be all for today and no photos yet, but I keep my deviantart gallery updated, so you can checkout this.

Have a nice Springbreak and startup for a new nicer season after winter !

Afterworlds #1

2009-03-08T14:10:00.000-07:00

My new picasa album contains a series of pictures, wich are taken in a postapocalyptic scenery. Its a picture of a world after life... abandoned, destroyed and forgotten places in a world of crisis and chaos.

Squirrels are still alive!

2009-02-27T16:19:00.001-08:00

They have red wings and bunny ears, yeah... squirrels are still alive!

Midterm

2009-02-26T06:18:00.001-08:00

Time is running fast... This and the next week are midterms, which is the english word for "pain in the butt" and "sleepless nights". My downtime was on tuesday, but now I recovered from the frustration to motivation, after the half of my midterm projects are sucessfully released. Now its time to prepare for the finals, which is going to be awesome, because our midterm projects are the best! I´ll write about these later, as soon as I have some sketches.

I decided to start with the Blizzard Theme contest in springbreak and got a lot of ideas, I hope I can realize them as good as I have them in my head, but I like the project. If you have any ideas what you would like to have in a Blizzard "Disneyland" just write it down, I would appreciate any ideas.

Ice, ice, baby ! Gotta, Getta board?!?

Beside midterms we made a snowboard trip on sunday. It was awesome! Okay, I am a total noob and I guess I spend the most time on my butt than on the snowboard. But after a while I figured it out and its so much fun. Usually I like summer activities, because I am a water rat
and need a lot of sun. But snowboardning kinda similar to surfing. You still have sun and light and fun for sure.

I never did wintersports before, but even if its so damn cold here, its still sport and I am glad I had this break for that one day. So I could recover my motivation for the upcoming midterms.

Sophisticate?

On Sunday night, we watched the Oscars and I accidently forced my roommates to get dressed up. And they look so cute, even if its a little bit sophisticated ;)

And here one of my works for midterm. Its nothing special, but rendered on Canson paper, with pastells, copic markers and pencil. Working without photoshop is hard, but I like it somehow.
You can find more of my works on deviantart.com or my deviant.art account, you´ll find the link next to this article on the sidebar.

This was a small shortcut of the last 2 weeks. I hope I´ll find the time to write more in the next weeks.
In Springbreak, starting in about 2 weeks, I´ll go on a camping trip to Kentucky. I am realy excited about this and glad its so cheap and going to be relaxing, without computer or anything else.

pictures

2009-02-26T06:18:00.000-08:00

photo galleries

Hill Tripe Thailand - September 2009 |||||| Bangkok - October 2009

Bondi to Cogee - August 2009 |||||| Whitsunday Sailing - September 2009

South Head Heritage Trail - July 2009 |||||| Daily Life - July 2009

Melbourne Travel - June 2009 |||||| Sydney - June 2009

Los Angeles Beaches - June 2009 |||||| Route 1 - June 2009

San Francisco - June 200 9|||||| New York City - June 2009

Detroit Electronic Music Festival 09 |||||| CCS Student Show 2009

Detroit Grafiti Arts|||||| Graduation 2009

Cranbrook - May 2009|||||| Amsterdam - April 2009

Detroit Autoshow Int 2009 |||||| Detroit Institute of Art 2009

Detroit Mainstation "Afterworlds" 09|||||| Detroit City - January 2009

Pforzheim New Years - 2009 |||||| College for Creative Studies Detroit

Dresden - December 2008|||||| Meißen - December 2008

Munich Sighs? - December 2008|||||| Wolfsburg - September 2008

Pforzheim College Time 2008|||||| Summer 2008

Sant Giron Surfing - August 2008|||||| Milano - April 2008 (I Salone de mobile)

Vienna - September 2007

Syd Mead

2009-02-16T19:43:00.000-08:00

Romy Martin, Jose, Syd Mead, Sarah Ross and Kunihisa Ito

Today Syd Mead a genius and master of futuristic paintings and art visited CCS and lectured about his life and work as an artist. Some short facts about him. He went to the "other school" (Art Centre in California), started in automotive and the he produced some realy gorgeous airplane interiors and products for phillips. After that he worked on some films, such as Tron, Bladerunner, Alien and even more. He designed the vehicles of these films and parts of the scenery. His artworks are just amazing, you have to think about these techniques, because he always used gouache paintings and traditional techniques. So he already designed and developed the designs for the future. Maybe thats why I realy like his artwork, because its like Sci-Fi concept art in a realistic way and with a lot of thinking behind.
I am realy glad to meet him today, even if it wasn´t planed. He is an interesting charakter, with a lot of ideas and creativity.
For everyone who want to see more of his artwork:

http://ww.sydmead.com

Mission accompblished: Day of Singledepressions successful completed

2009-02-14T23:27:00.000-08:00

Yeah its been a while since my last post and its getting realy late today. I don´t wanna look forward until monday, when I have to write an exam and until then I also have to finish my homework. The stress level its getting worst, but today I just took the day of to focus a little bit on myself and relax. Actually it wasn´t that relaxing, I woke up on 7, made some sketches decided to broadcast (failed on that), then I tried the korean sweets I´ve got for valentines day - d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s ! -, after that I had a pretty nice chat with some of my friends. But german is still confusing my mind.
So besides that Matt and me went to the shopping mall in the afternoon to get some shoes for me. I´ve been realy successfull on that, got 3 pairs of shoes (sorry... I could not hold myself) and a sweet shirt. I am still a woman and I love going shopping, looking around... it´s kinda boring for anybody else, but I love it ! Yeah besides that I am still broke, so no more shopping for me.

Valentines Day is a realy odd event. Couples suddenly remember, their good times their love and giving presents. Its like a couple pray day, like christmas for tougetherness. Its so obscene and scurrilous, that everyone, who isn´t captured in that "love-trap", would like to make fun of it. But yeah if you start to make fun of it, you will be miserable and everyone will think "yeah jealousy is a bad thing". Of course I am jealous of all this faked attention of your belovin... Does love realy needs this? We have christmas, eastern, birthday, new year, anniversarys and so many opportunities to say "hey, I love you". To give a rose to your belovin, even if there is no valentines day.
Here in US, it seems to be some kind of a big day, for everyone, singles and couples in the same way. If you are single, you´re fine too, because there are others out there searching just for you. Or you can do something else. It wasn´t that bad as i expected it in the first place. I think its sweet to nurse your friendships on this way. Afterall the idea of this day is awkward and feckless, but its all about, what you are going to make of it.

The CCS organized for Single people like me, who dont have anything else to do on Valentines day, a DDR "Party". I never played it before. - yeah... it was kinda... interesting... I guess -
During playing DDR somebody got beaten up on the other side of the street by some people on the "café" next to our building. Agitated resident of our bulding entered, calling the police and the security, that somebody is in trouble across the street. You can see them out of the window and hear them screaming and yelling. The security couldn´t do anything about it and after some minutes the Police and Wayne State University Police arrived with an ambulance. I guess it had been about 5 police cars plus the ambulance. I have still no idea what exactly happened and I dont wanted to be staring at this like staring at an attraction. All I know this person got badly hurt and a puddle of blood is still there. It unsettles me that something like this happening next door even on valentines day. I still cannot understand this violence. So this is Detroit and I am not sure, but sometimes it seems to get worst, maybe its just normal over here? Sometimes I realy miss Europe or Pforzheim for the safety we still have over there. Its not just staying out of trouble, being careful and aware. People are getting randomly attacked and thats always something scary, its not right and not fair. What became of this world to be like that. We havent learned from our mistakes in the past, we are still terrorizing ourselves. Maybe I am a little bit to naive for that, but it should´nt be like that.
Yeah, but thats the way it is, thats what life is about. People keep thinking forward. Maybe its ignorance or maybe its optimism, but its something thats fascinating about these people and about humanity. Its paradox and serious in the same way... this world is strange...

So far, have a good night

(damnit, why its always getting this late T_T)

A Video taken of this on facebook...

In the hell of ellipse and perspective construction

2009-02-08T22:14:00.000-08:00

Charcoral sketches sideview of a sportcar

Charcoral sketches sideview of a sportcar

Okay, I finally digitalized some of my automotive works, I rather would´nt show them to someone, because I dont like them, but yeah... I promissed to keep this blog up to date ;)

I think some of them will be finished in Photoshop later, if there is the time. I still like these concepts and designs, but yeah, the sketches are not satifying yet :(

sketching / create a design

third: outline

renderings/material choice

final rendering as a traditional drawing

photoshop finish... ???? coming soon.

pre-sketch anatomy study

colors and shape

Auch die andere Seite glänzt nicht wirklich...

2009-02-03T20:49:00.000-08:00

Okay, ich schreib jetzt hier mal wieder weil ich nicht wirklich schlafen kann. Vielleicht bin ich etwas zu zart besaited, aber die momentane Situation verstört mich dann doch ein wenig. Ich hab darüber schon in einem vorherigen Post geschrieben, seit Beginn hab ich das Gefühl ich werd permanent verfolgt und beobachtet. Am Anfang dachte ich wirklich der Typ mag mich einfach nur etwas zu sehr und wenn ich distanzierter bin wird er das schon verstehen. Er tuts nicht und die Sache wird immer eigenartiger.
Mal davon abgesehen das diese Person leicht psychotisch ist und einen wirren Blick hat, was nicht unbedingt schlecht ist, ist er seit Wochen hinter mir her. Er stellt mir nicht nur nach, ich fühle mich förmlich verfolgt.
Er kommt fast jeden Tag vorbei, mitlerweile mehrmals oder schickt Freunde die fragen ob ich da bin. Es wird irgendwie immer schlimmer, von eigenartig beängstigenden Kommentaren, bis hin zu den ständigen "checks", wie Kontrollen ob er mich abgreifen kann. Die Mädchen wissen bescheid und wimmeln ihn ab das ich nicht da bin. Ich will diese Person nicht um mich haben, es ist beängstigend, bzw. ich fühle mich extrem unwohl und immer wenn er irgendwo auftaucht verstört mich das, als ob alle meine Instinkte Alarm schlagen. Es ist ein sehr sehr ungutes beunruhigendes Gefühl, was mich Nachts kaum schlafen lässt und in letzter Zeit zahlreiche Alpträume verursacht. Ich bin eigentlich nicht die Art Mensch den so was mit nimmt und ich kann so einiges aushalten, aber das hier ist einfach anders. Es verursacht ein allgemeines Unwohlsein und die ständige Angst dem über den Weg zu laufen und dessen starrem und wahnsinnigem Blick ausgesetzt zu sein. Die Taktiken die er aufgreift um mich abzugreifen werden immer perfider und schwieriger zu umgehen. Ich trau mich kaum in das andere Gebäude, bin meistens im SSC, wo andere Menschen um mich sind. Ich hoffe einfach nur ich übertreibe, aber so wie er sich verhält macht mir das einfach nur Angst.

Das schlimmste ist, man weiß nicht wozu diese in der Lage sind, man will einfach nur das es Weg geht. Mir wird ganz unwohl morgen im Unterricht wieder den Blicken ausgesetzt zu sein. Klar es sind nur Blicke, aber das reicht schon um mir Angst zu machen. Klingt komisch... ich weiß und vielleicht übertreib ich nur, ich weiß nicht wie ich damit umgehen soll und werde wohl morgen mit einem Berater sprechen. Immerhin hat er aufgehört mich anzutätscheln, nachdem ich ihn dazu ermahnt hab, woraufhin er wutentbrannt davon gestapft ist.
Kann mich nur schwer auf die Arbeit konzentrieren, weil ich ständig Angst hab er kommt vorbei wenn ich alleine bin, weshalb ich die Tür immer abschließe.
Vielleicht ist es weil das neu für mich ist und ich bisher immer dachte, eindeutigre Signale abzugeben würde reichen. Ich bin mir nicht sicher ob er diesen Blog hier kennt und hoffe mal nicht das er das übersetzt...
Vielleicht ist es auch nur der Kulturschock, aber ich fühl mich extrem unwohl und will ihn immer weniger um mich herum haben, die Gegenwart meiden und die ständige Angst das er vorbeischneit und eine Szene macht. Die Art wie er spricht und denkt ist einfach nur eigenartig, selbst wenns nur freundschaftlich gemeint sein soll...

Wie schon gesagt, ich weiß einfach nicht wie ich damit umgehen soll, das ist genau das was ich so gerne vermeiden möchte, ich möchte niemanden vor den Kopf stoßen oder unnötig verletzten, vielleicht ist es das was mich in die misere gebracht hat, obwohl ich die Grenzen klar und eindeutig gesetzt hab. Ich hab keine Ahnung was ich tun soll, würde nicht sagen ich bin überfordert, nur ein wenig verstört...

Das ist alles...

Material Studies

2009-02-03T07:54:00.001-08:00

I am Glad that I already finished this... boring job :( Which material should this present?

NAWLZ for Illustration Geeks.

2009-02-02T10:34:00.000-08:00

An experiment in interactive story telling created by Sutu and programmed by Wayne Harris called NAWLZ, is my favourite Homepage Design and Developement for this week.

Gorgeous illustrated graphics and the synergistic interface unifies this kind of homepage. Every visit is like an adventure investigating the attention to detail of the creators. It could be an artwork of the next generation using all kinds of modern Media, such as Flash, transluzent interactive layers, interactivity et cetera.

http://nawlz.com/

How to use? It should be really easy, but the first thing I thought was, wtf... ? The grafiks are overwhelming and the basic interface is discrete. To forward the story you have to find the flashing arrows anywhere in the pictures. They are integrated into the whole artwork and sometimes it is a little bit confusing. The story is based on issues, each about 10 artworks or pictures. The current one is the 10th issue called "ELIXIR".
Even if the artworks are gorgeous the story is hard to follow and the interface doesn´t seem to be user friendly. It´s main purpose is to serve the artworks and tell the story without bugging the pictures.

Fantastic are the animations and the kind of story telling. Stepping forward, step back, step forward, back, new chapter, a phrase here, sound there, poping out something over there... its impressive to surf on this page, even if you are just looking at the pictures its still great !

The story is just sick, but fastinating... somehow :)

Time for Timemanagement...

2009-02-01T20:07:00.000-08:00

The last weeks have been a little bit confusing and its getting realy hard to catch up with my classmates. Now I decided to start a strict time schedule for homework and time management. That doesnt mean I will have more time, but I might be able to finish all my homework on time.

Some Assignments take longer than the others, but this should balance my weaknesses in sketching with more practice exspecially in Automotive... Tomorrow I´ll startup and try to keep my schedule in time. There is not much free time left, but I hope I am able to spend more time on the weekends without doing homework. We´ll see if its going to workout :)

Settled in!

2009-02-01T05:10:00.000-08:00

We finally settled in, all of us and there here are the pictures of my new old home :) Now we are ready for the monthly roomcheck tomorrow. Fighta !

This is the working area... somehow nobody else has space on the table besides me... tooo sad :)

This is my new roomie Clair, doing her homework... yeah homework what a pleasure to spend you´re whole weekend with that...

This is my room, I dont need that much space, but I love it ! So you can find Zergs in it, where are they hiding?

This is the fan Claire borrowed me, it calms you down and the noise is fading out gunfire and sirens, so you can rest.

Final Fantasy XIII

2009-01-31T05:51:00.000-08:00

Hey there, Finally its there. We keep all our PS3 hopes on this game for the year 2009. Its a good start for Final Fantasy Victims. In the second quartal of this year we can also enjoy another outgrow of the alternate Final Fantasy VII Squad, called Before the Crisis. So this is going to make the time until that much more easier, I wish I had a PS3...

Whatever check the HD Trailer out and feel your jaw dropping down on the Floor. Have fun with this !

HD TRAILER

Youtube Trailer