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?

These thoughts crossed my mind this afternoon, while I started to pack for my short trip. And then I realized that I will be packing again in two weeks – but then for three months, instead of for four days. How is that supposed to work, if I cannot even pack for four days? That is why today was some what a final rehearsal.

My check-list was followed, outfits were re-thought, chosen new; some things were not packed, others on the other hand were. The bag is not going to explode, the zipper closed without a problem. How is that possible? I do not really care. The final rehearsal was a success. But does not one say that when the final rehearsal goes well, the premiere does not… Nah. Not thinking about that now. Just hope that it will work with the packing in it’s extended version in two weeks. And now the best part of the evening before departure begins: excitement and impatience concerning the next day!

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!

In about one month from now, I will be sitting in a plane heading towards New York. Yes, The Big Apple. But this time it will not be the mandatory annual visit to my family and friends. For three months, until shortly before my 22nd birthday, I will be a research assistant for a professor at a New York University. What my exact duties will be, I will find out once I get there. Plus, I will be attending a course on New York history. All this will be my “abroad experience” for my resume but primarily also for myself. Live in the city I call my home for longer than a few weeks, experience the American University and discover.

It all sounds pretty exciting, doesn’t it? Well, it definitely is! But then I think about everything I will not have across the big pond. You, you, you and especially you. Calling my best friend: “Want to grab a coffee, like now?” Parties. Moves. Birthdays. Many little things that may happen within the next months. Then again, if one only thinks about that, why would anyone ever leave to go somewhere else? Right, never. So my plan is: enjoy the following month to its fullest, spend lots of time with family and friends and be completely truly excited to be in one of the greatest cities in the world, but not holding back a small tear.

What would Bryan Adams possibly say to this ad? Thank you to my personal blog helper and best friend Simon for sharing this discovery.

Christine is confident and ready to show her strengths to others. She is loose and generous. - My confidence has improved in the last years. Still, I do not put me and my strengths out into the world every day. Unless I am in a job interview. And I only show generosity to those, who I think deserved to get it from me.

Christine is self-controlled / disciplined and has a destinctive conception of tidiness. - My room may not be the tidiest in this world, but it certainly is not the messiest. And if I have a goal in my head, I do try to reach it. Yes, I am one of those to-do list people. I love checking off chores. <3

She is sensual, affectionate, comfortable and imaginative. - Yes, yes, yes and yes!

All in all she appears to be calm up to dismissive, but when she is convinced about something, she surprises her surroundings with her exuberant and enthusiastic appearance. - Hm. I am NOT dismissive. If I am really fond of an idea, then I can be very enthusiastic.

Christine is a very emotional person. Often decisions are made by her feeling, although a different decision would be the right one going by pure rationality. - True. I do not hold back tears, anger or other emotions. Then again I can be very rational about certain things.

She goes by her intuition, even then when the mind says something different. – Frequently. My intuition has never let me down so far (knock on wood). I have always judged people and situations correctly by listening to my intuition. So why should I stop?

Christine puts weight on a general distance to her fellow human beings. Even good colleagues do not have to know everything. – I do not lock myself away from (new) people. I do approach people and talk to them. But only my closest friends and family members really know the whole me.

She strives to help other people as far as possible. - For my family and friends, definitely, yes.

Christine is very anxious concerning justice. She continuously tries to come through for somebody. - See previous comment.

Christine acts with much joie de vivre and thrist for action. This vitality is transformed into great creativity on artistic grounds. – Possibly. Not all the time though. Everyone has a bad day sometime. My artistic grounds would be writing and photography all the way.

She is a bullethead. The surroundings are regularly surprised with sudden appearing opposition. – Unfortunately, I can be a bullethead from time to time. But complete, out of the blue opposition does not happen.

Christine is in so far modest and less pushy, as she does not need to call attention to her own strengths at every given moment. – True. I know my strengths and people who get to know me better, will notice them after a while. Unless I am in a job interview – then I press the fact. But that everyone does.

All in all a lot of the results were accurate. Scary!

Since yesterday’s production will only be broadcasted in October, I am not allowed to say anything about it yet. But: my report on last night is already written and saved as a draft here on WordPress. It will be published directly after the broadcast. Cross my heart! But I can say this much: it was definitely an interesting experience and a fun evening. So stay tuned…

Some wake up early on their own, make coffee, have breakfast and make a list, what one has to do throughout the day. Those things are then done one by one, lunch is eaten and then the to-do-list is worked off further until the early evening. Then there is time for anything, whatever one wants to do. A stirdy, eight to nine hour sleep ends the day.

Others however also get up relatively early. Breakfast and coffee also are made. But there is no list. At least not a specific one. Things are done, many thousand other little things are done in between, which are not that important, the important ones are shuffled off. Latter pester one in the head until the pressure is just too huge. They then need to be done (often it has something to do with studying/work or something boring) and it does not happen seldom that it will be a long night. With a little less sleep.

And again there are others, who sleep long. Really long. Breakfast turns into lunch or it is not eaten at all. The morning, no the afternoon, begins with coffee. Lots of coffee. Because it is a different take of the day when one’s day begins in the afternoon. A lot should be done. Should. But still half asleep things are done, which should only be done, once everything what is important is done. Therefore everything is delayed into the night; prior to 4 or 5 a.m. one does not lay into bed. And in the end, not much has been done. Or sometimes maybe even nothing at all. The rest was somehow more interesting.

Which of these types I am – there are definitely also mixed forms – I am, can be guessed. But with what I will be spending my next days, one can define once one saw my purchase from yesterday:

Now that is a name of a station one wants to have at the hospital. Seen around Wetzlar, Hesse, Germany.

After an hour driver a friend and I arrived at the rented apartment, which was a little outside the main part of the city. The place was pretty nice for the low price; the old interior design invited to poke around. We discovered many crazy things and partly could not stop laughing about them. Old dishes and a radio, which only seemed to find classical radio stations were the least funky items.

We then explored the proximity and tested the ice-cream parlor around the corner, which sold really large waffles. Later the other 3/5 of the group had arrived and after some grocery shopping for the next days we walked to into the main part of the city to have dinner.

We ate in a traditional German restaurant near the cathedral and ordered a Wetzlar speciality: potato stir-fry with meat, onion and egg. It was really yummy – and easy to make at home. Afterwards we headed back toward the apartment again, since the distance was further than we thought. The evening ended with a compfy get-together and a few drinks.

Saturday started out with fresh rolls from the bakery around the corner and homemade jam from the apartment’s owner. After that we all jumped into a car and drove to the shopping mall, since it was the last summer sale weekend, which definitely had to be checked out. An advantage to do this in Wetzlar: in the mall there were primarily people of the older generation, so it was quite and not busy.

After a few hours and a packed trunk we headed towards the old part of the city, strolled around and looked at all the old buildings. There are many little streets and trees. But Wetzlar is not for people who do not like to walk, because all over the place there are gradients up to 12 per cent.

In the evening we cooked all together in the apartment, ate, laughed and talked about all the world and his wife, as you always say.

On Sunday a sad surprise was awaiting us: rain, rain, rain! We actually intended to go to the nearby lake and bath a little. An alternative had to be found. Luckily we found out about a wellness bath in Asslar, about 20 minutes north of Wetzlar. We packed our bags, handed in the key and headed up there in two cars. At this point I want to note that the car with the two women in it arrived first at the destination.

The wellness was great, especially the saltwater spa, for which we only had to pay one Euro more. One was able to get into a more relaxed area, a bit off from the main pool area. And one was able to swim to the outside pool. A slide with a timekeeping was also there and one of us actually held the day’s record until around 5 p.m. Even if he was lucky, because the timekeeping board somehow accidently got reset before he went on the slide. Tired and exhausted we headed home in the late afternoon.

The car drive was quite. Fatigue was clearly there. Traffic and a massive rain shower did not really help there either. After I had brought all my passengers home, I looked back at the weekend. It was a lovely weekend getaway, we laughed a lot, talked and were just together. Many moments in which I again realized, how important my friends are to me. When I turned into our driveway, the radio station I was listening to played our song from the weekend, which completed my thoughts and made me smile:

Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP – We No Speak Americano