Last Month

I haven't been writing for over a month. The problem is, that I am not really in the mood to do so and I am also not really in the mood to take pictures. This all is because my life is kinda dull a.t.m., due to my thesis. Anyways, here some pix with few annotations!

Having a picnic at the Alster

 Sitting in the park of Hamburg's University Campus during the Campus Open Air Festival

 

 Having some people over at our place before going for a night-out

Sitting by the water after the night-out on Reeperbahn, or how you call it in Hamburg: Kiez

 Having a cocktail at home after A. left to Finland

 My mum leaving, as chef for a youth-group of 50 people, for a two week trip to Denmark

Chilling on a pier at Mühlenkamp in the sun after A. returned from Finland

 Sitting in front of Balzac Coffee on Mühlenkamp talking about my thesis with A.

 

Getting some more furniture for our flat - little by little we are changing the flat to a home

 Putting something green into our flat... sorry, home

 A nice mansion spotted during a hike through the Alstertal

 Opening a cask of beer

That's it, folks! I hope to find more motivation in the next month to write and to take pictures. However, there is not so much to take pictures off, since the weather is pretty bad and not summery at all. Also I am writing my thesis still and come now into the last month, so I really have to get crackin'... I will make it though!

Anyways, I will see how I feel in the next weeks and if I find the time and energy to write here!

~M~

Easter Holiday in Hamburg!

Again I did not write for a long time. However, this time a lot happened since my last post. The few days after my last post I was in Bad Honnef and there is not so much to tell about. I was in uni or working for uni most of the time. The university-week was actually quite short, I am off already since last Tuesday afternoon. The Tuesday evening I went out with some Finnish people; a girl I met in Helsinki was in Bad Honnef to meet her friends, who are on exchange. She asked me if I wanted to join and so I went!

Anyways, on Wednesday I packed all my stuff and went in the evening to Cologne from where I got a ride to Hamburg. I arrived here late in the evening and just went to bed. The next morning A. left early for work and before I got up also her flatmate left for the Easter Holidays. So I spent the Thursday by sitting in the kitchen and reading again for university. In the afternoon I picked A. up from work and we biked home.

On Friday A. and I went to a viewing not far from the flat where she is living right now. After we had gotten a flat promised on Tuesday afternoon and had it taken away two hours later from a real estate agent we are again looking for a flat here in Hamburg; Even today we have a viewing again! The flat on Friday was nice and in a good area, we are really hoping to get that flat. The Friday afternoon we spent at the Alster, sitting on the lawn having a beer and getting some tan.

In the evening of this Good Friday we had - in accordance with tradition - fish. I made fried salmon and A. cooked potatoes and vegetables. It was very good and we enjoyed the dinner. Afterwards we got a craving for ice cream and so A. ran over to the petrol station and got us two Magnum Gold!

The next day we slept long and by noon we made our way to the city. We walked around the shops and did some shopping. However, it was way too warm and crowded in the shops and so we went to the supermarket, bought some cold drinks, coke and ice tea and went down to the Alster, where we were sitting on the quay in the sun, enjoying our refreshments.

The Sunday was dedicated to enjoying live - again. We went by bike to the Alster and were lying a long long time on a blanket on the lawn by the water and were hoping not to get attacked by one of the swans that was nesting close by.

We spent the time in the park by the Alster reading and talking. A. did some homework for her German class and I was taking pictures. It was a wonderful day and when we got home we were slightly burned from the sun. This didn't stop us from cooking and then fixing ourselves to go out. We took the train to the city and met up with A's friend H. We went first to a pre-party at some guys flat and then made our way downtown to the Reeperbahn to party. It was - as last time - a lot of fun and we came home late or early, however you wanna see it.

The Monday was a perfect hangover day, although I didn't really have a hangover. Anyways, we got up late, had some breakfast and took the train to Landungsbrücken. We again met up with H. and her friend B. and took the ferry from Landungsbrücken to Övelgönne to the Elbstrand. We were sitting in the sand, eating ice cream and just enjoying the good weather; we stayed until 6 o'clock when it got cool. In the evening we had super nice hangover food: Burritos/Fajitas/Tortillas (which ever word you prefer!). From the leftovers I then made a chilli, which I took as lunch to work today.

Now I am again sitting here in the kitchen. A's flatmate just came home from uni. He was away the whole weekend, had stopped by some time ago, just to leave his stuff and to pick up his uni material. I worked the morning on some uni things and will go on now until A. comes home from work. Then we have the other viewing and hope to get an answer quickly! We really need a flat!

~M~

Summer day!

This was a super nice summer day here in Finland. Already in the morning when I got up it was warm and sunny. A. was off today and had a hairdresser appointment. When she was telling me that it would take 2-3 hours I decided to go on a cycling tour to a castle ruin about 20km from Ekenäs.So, I quickly looked up which roads to take, packed as a security a map - which stayed all the time packed - and of course some water, since it was so hot already. I left the house at 11 o'clock sharp and made my way through town, where I quickly filled up the tires of my bike and took the road southwards out of town.It was really nice, soon I was out of the town, the bike path ended and I was going over the narrow, but busy country road. When the traffic got less I was finally able to look around, before I so had to focus to go straight on the sideline, since the cars were passing so close.

I took the turn towards Snappertuna, where Raseborgs Slottsruiner, the castle ruin is. The road was even narrower, but not busy at all.However, after about 1km the paved road ended and I had to go over a gravel road. Normally this is no problem, but since I had the old bike of A's father, which could be called a "city bike", it was really hard and uncomfortable. The bike has super thin tires, which is nice on paved roads, but on gravel roads with huge stones and more potholes than road it's - literally - a pain in the a*s.Anyways, I made my way to the castle ruin without a stop. I was wandering around the ruin and was enjoying the sun. A. called me and told me that she was done at the hairdressers and was on her way to the beach.I, however, had no hurry going back. I was taking it slowly. Firstly because of the nice landscape and weather and secondly because I could already feel the 20km of the way there in my legs. For an untrained person, that I became during my studies, it is really a challenge to go with an old bike, which just has three hub gears, over a hilly country road.On the way back I also stopped to take some pictures, since I realized, that the pictures taken while biking were not the best.When I was back in Ekenäs I was so happy to finally drink something more. I had my water with me, but the 600ml were just not enough for a hot summer day like this one. I drank to hydrate myself and ate something.After this small lunch I went down to the beach to join A. The swim in the sea was so refreshing and totally needed, as I realized afterwards. I was thinking, how easy it actually is to go such a distance with the bike. I mean, I was wearing flip-flops, shorts and a normal T-shirt. Now special gear, had no high-tech bike and am untrained. 40km with the bike sounds somehow - for me at least - a lot. Today I realized, that it's not too hard. However, in the evening I was happy to get some more food. And it was extremely good food. We barbecued and A's mum made salad and other stuff and it was again just amazing.Now the summer is really here and I hope it will last. I will now go out again to enjoy the evening sun. The post is already way too long, so I will stop writing now.
~M~

Russia II - St. Petersburg

The trip to St. Petersburg started early in the morning. I was flying, so I had to go to the airport,which took despite the proximity over 1 1/2 hours. Everything went smoothly and soon I was sitting in the plane. The flight with Rossiya Airlines was unspectacular, even tho I read worst things on the internet about the airline. Yes, ok, the seat pitch was nearly zero, but for 1 1/2 hours it was of no matter.

In St Petersburg it was easy to come from the airport into the city and to my hostel. The people were nice and helped me as far as possible with directions and advises, which bus and which metro to take. I was anyways amazed by the friendliness of the people. When thinking about Russians normally the cliche of a grumpy soviet bureaucrat comes to mind. My experience however is totally different. Yes there are grumpy people, but you will find these all over the world. I was mostly treated nicely and people were helpful even tho we were not speaking the same language.I arrived at the hostel by noon and was happy to finally take a shower in the hostel I was actually staying in. It was also located centrally and furnished and decorated modernly. From the hostel it was easy to reach the main attractions by foot or metro within a couple of minutes. During the next days I was strolling around the city and visited the most important sites, such as the Hermitage, several cathedrals and churches, the Fortress and the Aurora, the cruiser, whose cannons started the October Revolution in 1917.I really enjoyed the time in the city. The weather was nice and warm. I was walking around alone, even tho the hostel was fully booked. I tried to talk and connect with people, but I wasn't successful. The mix was anyways difficult; some Russians, two families, an Asian couple and a big organized travel group, who had come from Beijing with the Trans-Siberian Railway and had the last station in St. Petersburg. I was talking to B. & T., an Australian and a Scottish guy, who seemed cool and were already on the road for over 10 months each and they admitted that they wanted to enjoy the last days without "disturbances".
For me this was no problem and I realized that this was making many things easier. I could go where I wanted, eat when and where I wanted and sit down whenever and how long I wanted. When I passed a building, for example, I saw the sign "Zoological Museum" and just went in without thinking. I was able to stroll around the Hermitage for four hours and didnt had to worry that my company might be bored or tired. Even tho I am a communicative person and consider it nicer to walk around with other people, there are also positive things about solo tripping.The last day of my trip actually came faster than I thought and although I had seen nearly everything in St. Petersburg I would have liked to stay a little bit longer. I realized, that I just ran around for six days and had nearly no possibility to just sit on a bench or in a nice cafe enjoying a cup of coffee or the Russian national drink (no, not Vodka), tea. I really missed that and have to say, that this short city trip was refreshing, but not really relaxing. Therefore it also took me some time to post here. The last two days I was just sitting around not doing anything, I had to relax a bit.Now I am back and will take care of my duties again. I will apply for more internship places and will try to help here as much as possible. Today I was mowing the lawn and hope that A's parents will have more for me to do in the next days. I feel so useless, not doing anything sometimes.

~M~