Greetings everyone,
the time of departure has arrived, and I am very sad to say that on my last day in New York I lost my cellphone including ALL the pictures from my east-coast trip and the goodbye-pictures taken at Chapel Hill. :/
Well, it's not the end of the world, I will treasure the memories but unfortunately can't share them with you.
See you in Jena!
-Jan
Hi guys,
guess what, the internship is DONE! Report is condluded, work is done, so I packed my stuff and on the 30th of June Herbert and I started our epic road trip to Washington D.C. Unfortunately I don't have pictures transferred on my computer yet, (please be lenient with me) so I'll just add some random internet images.
We arrived late afternoon to be greeted by one of my old indian friends, Akshay, who was so kind as to let us stay at his place for two nights. Next day we pretty much did the tourist-tour rushing through all the marvellous sights DC has to offer, as we would leave already the next day. So we visited the Obama's residence (White House), the capitol, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial (picture), and several museums of the Smithsonian institution. I strongly recommend checking them out if you get the chance, especially the one for natural history!
On Thursday we headed out to Philadelphia and were greeted by very narrow streets and insanely expensive parking costs ($7.5 for 30 minutes!). The Indipendence Hall and the Independence Bell are the main attractions within the old city, the rest we spared ourselfes.
On Friday it was time to say good bye to my roommate to continue on to Boston, Massachusets, where I am right now. It's independence day and i reckon a lot will be happing today in this city. So I'll end here and might leave a post once I get to New York.
-Jan
... and I will be leaving Chapel Hill. Can't believe I already stayed here for three months already, unbelievable how time flies! I finally handed in my first draft for the scientific report, and will be doing some more lab work while waiting for the editing remarks.
So World Cup started and most people follow the games, although not showing as much enthusiasm as compared to Germany (guess that's to be expected).
Anyway, hope both teams (GER & USA) do well in tomorrow's games. Go German 11!
-Jan
P.S.: What you are seeing on the upper right corner is a cathode luminescence image of a zircon grain from one of the samples I work on. Ain't it nice zonation?
Heya!
just a quick supplement to the Outer Banks trip. Enjoy. ;)
-Jan
P.S.: World Cup 2010 finally started, yay!
Hello people,
This week I went to an alternative band concert in a club called Cat's Craddle, which is famous in North Carolina for hosting indipendent rock concerts (only alternative would be in Raleigh, capital city of NC). So that day it was Of Montreal who were performing, and man they did perform! It wasn't just music, they had some stage acts as well while playing music! For those of you who are not afraid of new styles of music this is definately something to look into, although I must admit hearing them life is about 1 thousand times better than on youtube or likewise. ;)
Anyway Of Montreal is kind of an dadaistic Indie-Popband form Athens (Georgia). They've been performing since 1997 and perform in this area almost once every year. After the show we even got the chance to talk to a few band members (and some fans, who like to dress up just like the band does).
Alright, I'll see you guys later!
-Jan
Imagine ...
you are tugged into a triangular shaped piece of nylon and aluminum, you grab two handles attached to the sides of your co-pilot and lift off from the earth's surface, dragged by a small airplane. You shoot up 2000 feet (about 700m) into the blue sky, and then ... the string between you and the airplane is cut and you start to drift gently in the air ... it's an overwhelming feeling of joy. But let me start this story a day before.
Last weekend it was finally time for Herbert and me to go to the Outer Banks, which is a group of small islands in front of North Carolina's Atlantic coast. We got there and were greeted by sunshine. First we went to the Wright Brothers National Memorial, the birthplace of human's flight history. It was this very area in 1902 and 1903 were Wilbur and Orville Wright successfully tested their air vehicle, managing to both lift off and to land a motorized aircraft for the first time.
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We stayed at a campground overnight, enjoying the beach, playing some basketball (i got my ass kicked big time!) and watched the stars at night. The next day it was finally time for us to raise inthe the air just like the Wright Brothers 100 years ago, only slighty different: HANG GLIDING! So we went up the coastline to catch the tandem flights (see intro).
It was most enjoyable. Definately someting that you should try out when you get the chance to. Next, we headed south to arrive on time for the beginners lessons at the sand dunes, just like the Wright Brothers did (one of the reasons they chose the Outer Banks was because falling on soft sand does not hurt much ;D). Time flew and before we knew we it we were back on the road towards Chapel Hill.
What an amazing weekend. But now a lot of writing needs to be done as the deadline is drawing frightingly close.
Anyways that's it and I hope to hear form you guys soon! (Enjoy the weekend, seems Jena's finally fortunate to experience some decent days of mild temperatures.)
-Jan
Hello people,
how are you guys doing? It's been a while since my last entry. I apologize for getting a little bit sloppy in keeping you updated. Mainly it's because Iam really busy writing report and doing lab stuff right now, as well as runnning samples on the mass spec (really takes a lot of time just for some data, i'm telling you!) So what exiting things happened over the last few days?
Well, lectures are over now and there was a HUGE graduation celebration at Drew's place (my advisor) with lots of food, beer and interesting conversations. On the photo photo on the right you can see the charming baby blue gradutations costumes people were to match UNC colors when they graduate (freshly baked geology bachelors!).
So Mitchell Hall (geology department) has been quite empty, which is quite nice for working. However there is summer school going on (this spanish teacher who has lectures right next the office I work in has kind of an annoying voice).
Besides work, my roommate Herbert and I were hanging out on Franklin Street a couple of times. Once we went to a comedy night in one of the bars called Jack Sprat Café which was a lot of fun. They also have an Irish pub there which is really awesome.
Last sunday we went for a some hiking to Eno River State Park, which is only a couple of miles away from Chapel Hill.
Long time ago Indians of the Eno, Shakori, and Occoneechee tribes, lived along the river when the first European explorers passed through. And somewhere around Durham there is a village where you can still find Native American people!
Alright, that is it for now I gotta do some more writing (it's a pain, but it must be done).
Love ya!
-Jan
Happy Mother's day,
to all the moms out there and particulary to my mom back at home! Hope you all have a great day as this second sunday in May belongs all to you. Unfortunately there is still rain but hopefully that does not spoil the mood too much.
-Jan
Heya!
Ever since watching The Big Bang Theory (American TV show) I wanted to check out an actual Cheesecake factory, which are very popular throughout The States. So finally yesterday the moment had come to checkout the highly praised dessert of this branch. Since temperatures already indicate summer I went with a mango-lime cheesecake and guys, I have never ever tasted anything like this before! It was the most amazing cheesecake of my life! Two if not three thumps up! ;)
I don't know if any of you were watching the series but apparently they don't wear those costumes here which they do in the show (see picture), which was a minor drawback (just plain white and every person regardless of gender wore a tie!). Nevertheless the stylistic inconsistency did by no means spoil the experience. 
I really recommend the show, it's fabulous but you should definately watch it in English, as the German synchro clearly does not have the same vibe to it.
Also I hear that the weather in Jena returned to being miserable again, hope that changes soon!
-Jan
Hi Folks,
this Friday Herbert and I invited some people over to our place for the Combined German Food and Movie Night (fancy title, huh?). We had some potatoe salad (my first time trying to make one) and I was pleased to see that our guests liked it. :D Due to lack of Vienna sausages we had use hotdog-imposters and of course (!) mustard (an absolute must for a German potatoe salad *g*).
To complete the evening we watched a movie somewhat relating to my home country: Inglorious Basterds. It's a film by Quentin Tarentino, who is well known for his unique film plots and screenplay arrangements. His films tend to polarize people into one group loving his creation and another one that can absolutely get nothing out of his works. Since the German Nazi's were being protrayed as evil villians who would get what was coming to them at the end of the movie the audience felt quite pleased. Interestingly enough the actors were actually speaking German (with an American accent), which I think was interesting to watch.
At the weekend nothing too much exciting happend, except that I went out with Herbert and a couple of his friends saturday night to watch a box fight in Raleigh. Always fun to meet new people during these occasions. Unfortunately I thereby missed the opportunity for a pool party but I guess there will be plenty more occasions for this!
That's it for the time being, I should really return to work now, only six weeks left!
-Jan
Heya!
Yesterday Herbert and I went to check out one of the most American sport you'll find, just because it's hardly played anywhere else (besides China I guess). ;) I'm talking about baseball! It was a novelty for both of us. The UNC Taar Heels faced the team from High Point University (somewhere westcoastish I believe). And of course we had some hotdogs and cotton candy to get into the baseball mood! ;D Our seats were really nice as well, very focal. The game lasted more than 3 hours, but it was fun!
For those of you who have absolutely no clue about the game (like me before watching it): Basically 10 turns, called Innings are played, in which each team gets to throw (pitcher) and to bat (batter). The aim is to hit the baseball deep into the enemies field, ensuring they don't catch it right away so the batter can start running towards one of the 4 base points. As soon as he passes all four of them he completed a run, scoring one point for the team.
It was a really close match, not decided until the very last inning. The Tar Heels managed to secure the 2:2 tie, and it was their turn to try scoring. These are the final moments:
Always nice when the team you are cheering for wins, especially when victory was not achieved so easily. ;)
So that's that. Hope I could carry at least some of the baseball spirit to you guys back there in good ol' Germany. Have a good one!
-Jan
Bazinga!
It took me more than six weeks to finally get one, the mills of American burocracy truely run just as slow as German ones, but now I can call myself the proud owner of a UNC student identity card (Thoska equivalent). With the help of this neat little piece of plastic I am now able to borrow books from library, borrow films for free, go to the gym and many many things more. It's super, it's awesome, it's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! ;D
-Jan
Hey folks,
once again the time has come for brave souls of the UNC geological science department to gather around and compete in a devastating tournament of struggle, emotions, fun, and a hell lot of beer! Yes, the annual Beer Olympics have come! The event started Saturday 3 pm and only god knows when it finally ended. ;)
According to tradition teams of two persons each, dressed up as representative figures of a certain country would battle against each other in American standard drinking games such as Beer Pong, Beer Ball, and Can fliping. Besides a long table, the key instrument for the first two sports is a table tennis ball which is thrown by hand to hit an object on the opponents side and if successful, trying to drink as much as possible in order to win the game. I was astouned how serious the players were about this: "It's not a game Jan, this is war!"
The following nations competed in the drinking contest: Australia, Iceland, France, Scotland, New Jersey and Africa, although technically speaking not all of them are actual countries! There were two more teams to compete for the dress award, namely Pangaea and Greece. A jury composed of 3 non participating individuals were deciding the winners for the dress contest, while the drinking pretty much was decided by the capabilites of the competing teams. The video enlosed shows you 2 teams fighting in the final game for a medal (medals turned out to be small liquor bottles).
Everyone was really into it and there was also a non drinking game where you tried to hit the opponents wooden board with little sacks. Very enjoyable! After the games we met in one of the organizors apartment nearby for some dinner and to relax a bit. ;)
So far about my weekend, have a good start into the upcoming workweek!
-Jan
Hi there!
A very famous American author named Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was obsessed with nature once wrote in one of his epic bulky novels: "In the woods we return to reason and faith." Why am I writing this you may ask?
Yepp, you guessed right it's earth day! A time where eco-warriors raise their voice to draw more attention on nature issues, and people go outdoors among with family and friends so as to appreciate the woods, mountains or wherever it moves them.
For my part I'm busy starting to write down the internship report, as you cannot possibly start early enough in order to finish this undertaking in time.
So anyways, have a wonderful Earth Day and seize it!
-Jan
