Only two weeks remaining ...

... 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?

1st glide

Heya!

just a quick supplement to the Outer Banks trip. Enjoy. ;)

-Jan

P.S.: World Cup 2010 finally started, yay!

Of Montreal in town

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

The dream of flying ...

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.

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

All kinds of stuff

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

Mother's day

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

Cheesecake! *yumyum*

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