Chapel Hill - The place to be

Dear readers,

for starters, I'd like to give you a small round tour of the place that I am currently staying at: Chapel Hill.
About 55.000 people live in this town, at least half of them associated with the university. The settlement basically consists of a farreaching combined campus + hospital area at the centre and residential areas spread around it. The cultural and social centre (comparable to Jena's Wagner Gasse) is Franklin Street. The broad majority of the people around here is very friendly, liberal and open minded (prjudices about southern states at least here are at absolutely arbitrary). Also there is a lot of cultural diversity, as there are many international students enrolled at the University of Carolina (UNC). The two main attractions on campus are the Bell Tower (picture to the right) and the Old Well.
Of course there are fastfood restaurants and grocery stores all over the place, and many of the american residences (my apartment included) look just like in a storybook. One thing that's kind of annoying is that busses are the only means of public transport but won't drive as frequently as compared to Jena. In return the shops here are open almost all the time, even on sundays, which is very convenient! Another ting I really like about this place is the weather! I practically left winter behind me when departing from Germany to be greeted by heart-warming sunbeams when arriving in Chapel Hill.

People around here are absolutely crazy about basketball! Currently the national championship called NCAA (college league) is being broadcasted in nearly every public building in this area. North Carolina is well known for it's top-notch basketball teams, especially the Tar Heels which is the basketball team of the UNC. Last year's team even won the national tournament, but unfortunately this year the entire season was one major fiasco.


The picture to the right shows a building where I'll certainly spend most of the time during my stay in the US doing geochronology research. It's the geological department on campus called Mitchel Hall. It's a decent mixture of laboratories, work spaces and classrooms, although I still wonder why the latter is open during lessons. More bits of information on this topic are sure to come!

That's it for now. I'll catch you later.

-Jan