I wake up, but my eyes stay shut. Through the half open window I hear a quiet, nearly infrasonic, rustling of the leaves through the wind. Raindrops fall softly on the window pane. Is it raining into the room already? I do not know. Then a loud sound. It is a vehicle, gunning its engine, probably from a school bus. Because only a few seconds afterwards a “Bye, Mom” from a young girl follows. The doors of the school bus squeak open, close even louder and the wheels spin on the wet street, until the school bus finally drives on. The raindrops turn louder. Car doors slam shut and I periodically hear the clattering of high heels. And they are so fast that the people are probably running, to get out of the rain. A bit further away in the distance, I hear a long honking of a car horn. How sirens of an ambulance drown out the car horn by far and how they then get increasingly quieter and disappear in the distance again.
The rain starts to stop. The patter of rain has turned into silent drips. A car, from which hip-hop music sounds out, drives through the street. I crawl out of bed, walk to the window. What I see are many little puddles. In them, there are green, brown and some yellow leaves. I see a small boy, how he jumps through the puddles in his sneakers with a big smile. And how his mother pulls him with the words “Will you get out of there NOW!” A slight wind passes and causes me to get a shiver over my arms and back. While I close the window, I know: it is fall.
Saturday evening in New York, also known as date night. And what is one of the many things that are done? Right, going to the movies. My ”date” was my auntie and we chose the movie ”Wall Street 2: Money never sleeps”.
I do not know how it is in other countries, but here in the States there is a lot of publicity for this movie. In each commercial break on television one of the trailers is shown. Surely, it is because of the plot from the movie, which is the following:
Continue reading “Movie time: Wall Street 2″
One of the highlights this first week in the States was definitely the season premieres. Nearly every night, there was one series, which started into its new season. The problem: the previous season just started (or starts soon) in Germany. So I am actually skipping a complete season.
But luckily, there is the internet – the channels offer a free recap video, mostly around five minutes long, for each series, in which the most important plots are shown. So I was completely in the picture again and able to enjoy the season premieres. I thought it was a very good solution, because who actually remembers all the important plots from the last season?
Continue reading “Season Premieres Overkill – finally!”
During my last visits to NYC I did not need one, but now I do: an American cellphone number. Paying high fees for calls from my German cell provider? Thanks, but no thanks. But there were a few obstacles on the way…
I informed myself on the internet and chose a provider, who was recommended to me because of the coverage. According to the provider’s ads, 97% of Americans have it. Wow. For me it should be a prepaid card plan. But which one? While I was clicking through the different plans, a pop up window appeared. “A sales representative is ready to help you out with your order. Would you like assistance?”. I clicked on OK, without actually knowing, what will happen next.
Continue reading “Operation cellphone number”
The departure in Frankfurt was everything else but fast and great. Not even 12 hourse before my flight was supposed to depart to JFK, I recieved a short message from my airline, saying that my flight was resceduled from 8:30 am to 09:55 am. Later at the airport I was told that it may be even delayed more. After the goodbyes (note to myself: I still hate saying goodbye and letting go), I went through security rather quickly and waited at the gate. And waited. And waited. Boarding only started shortly after 10 am, in the end the plane took off at 11:15 am.
The flight itself was not the greatest either. Not only that there were strong headwinds, but there were also bad turbulences. So I could not really sleep and arrived at JFK rather unsettled. But I did get my suitcase fast and warm sunbeams tickled my skin. And I landed safely, after all that is the most important thing.
Continue reading “First post from New York City”
The suitcase is packed, the ticket printed and there are only a few hours left until I will be driven to the airport. At 8:30 a.m. the plane will take off with the destination New York City and my abroad experience begins. Even now, shortly before, everything seems unreal a little and I have this unknown feeling. A feeling between glee, excitement and sadness.
Continue reading “Talk to you soon; or: here I go…”
What does one do, before travelling to the States for three months? Right, one travels in ones own country for one last time. In my case, I travelled, together with a lovely travel companion, up north to Hamburg. It was my third visit to the city and so much before hand: i love this city.
After a five hour, very stretched car drive, we were finally there. In the “Schanzenviertel” in a dead end street, over a nice cafe, in a 70 square meter apartment decorated in the style of the Sixties. At the black wooden table we planned our following days and then decided to walk around the area. The Schanzenviertel reminded us a little of Frankfurt’s city part “Bornheim”, not only because of the parking situation, but also because of the buildings and the little stores in the small streets.
Continue reading “Hamburg, my treasure”
With my only 21 years of age, I have traveled alot. Once a year at least. And still the question always arises again: how do I pack, as little as possible, but as much as is necessary, in order to not stand without X or Y in another city? The check-list is written, although not in any thematic order. But how am I supposed to get all that into a small, but very fine, bag? Do I really need everything? More importantly: did I really not forget anything?
Continue reading “Final rehearsal: I’m going on a trip and pack…”
Actually I had said to myself that I would not fall into an emptiness of blogging throughout the summer days. But it happened anyway. Well, technically I did not, since the last ten days were far away from a definition of Summer. The weather was lousy, many raindrops pattered on my windows at night (and day) and I bought winter boots. Gray clouds instead of bright sunshine. But today, on the first day of September, I return together with freshness on my blog: a Diary 2.0.
Some of you may know it by the title “Visual Diary” and have one yourself. The concept is pretty easy: take one photo each day, preferably with a smartphone and then upload it right away. My device is the Nokia XpressMusic 5800 – and I will try to take all the photos with it. But since I – currently – cannot afford a mobile contract with an internet flatrate, I will upload the photos from my laptop. In a combination with a smartphone, this actually sounds almost old-school. In the best case, I still manage to upload the photo every day.
“And why?”, you may ask. Much too frequently we forget the great small things in life, which happen every day – a date with a friend, a discovery or simply a good dinner. With a photo a day, it is easier to reflect and remember those things, which were very special in one, short moment. And: having it captured on a photo, the moment will last forever.
My Diary 2.0 can be found on top in the menu. Have fun with it and discover the world with me!
