up up and away

Chinese food and nice weather

2011-04-24T02:16:00.000-07:00

I attended lab animal course at Karolinska Institute for 3 weeks to get a FELASA C certificate. This allows me to do animal experimentation including injections, surgeries and sacrifizes all over Europe.
At first I was a bit excited cause I never studied abroad before, but the course was not that hard and I met some nice people there.

After the final exam (which I hopefully passed) me and some of my group members prepared Hot Pot together. This was really great cause I hadn't had Hot Pot since my time in Taiwan... soooo good! And not to forget that the evening was quite nice also! :)

Now the weather here is finally getting warmer. Not as nice as at home in Heidelberg, but also quite warm. So yesterday Jing and me decided to go out for a picnic and we prepared some sushi. It was the first time for me to make it myself and the roles look really nice and also tasted great:

My parents visiting Stockholm

2011-04-24T01:52:00.000-07:00

The next April weekend my parents came to visit me here in Stockholm.

On Saturday, we just went on a general tour around the city and we didn't visit something in particular. It was still quite cold and windy and I think I should have worn the winter coat instead of a light jacket. :)

On Sunday we went to visit the district Djurgarden, which is mainly a big green park and used to be the royal hunting ground.
First, we payed a visit to the Vasamuseum. There you can see an intact ship which sunk after only 1500m journey in the harbour of Stockholm sometime during 1600. It was recovered some 300 years later and preserved for everybody to visit. I think it's quite amazing and I really enjoyed this museum!

Afterwards we visited a zoo on Djurgarden which showed Skandinavian animals. I was really interested in the wolf, but they seemed a bit exhausted:

The bears however gave quite a show:

There were also Elks and Reindeers but I didn't get that nice pictures.

Anyway, I really enjoyed my parent's visit and we already planed to go to a Jazzclub for my Dads birthday when they visit me the next time! :)

Castle Gripsholm

2011-04-24T01:34:00.000-07:00

The next day we went on a one hour drive to visit castle Gripsholm. Unfortunately, the castle was still closed for visitors but it was a nice trip anyway.
The castle looks quite nice but it is definitely a bit patchworky. Expecially the windows seem to be distributed randomly...

Here is Dominik trying to look magical:

No swimming, huh?

Tyresta NP

2011-04-24T01:27:00.000-07:00

In the beginning of April, Dominik was here for a visit and we rented a car to go out for some hiking. Unfortunately, the whole weekend was kind of gray, but we still had lots of fun.

We went to Tyresta National Park which is located just 20km outside of Stockholm. Kind of surprising that it was still covered in lots of snow even though the snow in and around the city was nearly gone.

Anyway, we went on a 3 hours hike to a frozen lake and had to walk through knee high snow sometimes.

Campus and Stockholm

2011-03-06T00:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went to Stockholm just to explore a bit. On my way to tunnelbana I took pictures of my everyday walk to the lab and the lab building. The first picture shows Campus Lappis where I live.

This is the building where I am working. Covered by the tree are balconies which are part of the kitchens. I'm on the second floor but currently I'm not sure which of the windows is the one to my office...

This shows just some part of the campus:

So now about Stockholm: I didn't do that much, walked around Gamla Stan and found a great science fiction bookstore which has loooooots of English books. And I also found some places where the water was still covered in ice or ice blocks. Looks pretty impressive.
When my parents come to visit there will be more pictures about sightseeing and the royal palace, so I am saving that up.

Arrival in Sweden

2011-02-28T11:28:00.000-08:00

As some of you might know I decided to go to Sweden for my masterthesis and on Saturday I arrived at Stockholm. At first there were some internet connection problems but I'm very glad that everything works now and that I am back online. Being in another country again is a good reason to revive this blog, so now I have some pictures of my apartment for you as a starter. It's a single room apartment with kitchen and bathroom and I have to say that I was positively surprised when I first came in because it is really really nice. I am especially happy that I have a decent kitchen and there is a well equipped supermarket only 2 minutes walk away.

This is the view out of the window. Everything is still very white but it's only around 0°C right now. Still, I wouldn't mind some more snow followed by a nice spring start... There is also a lake here and you can see that there are some trees around. I took a short walk along the lake shore and it is still completely frozen (forgot to bring the camera).

I hope at the weekend I get some time to go to Stockholm city and do some sightseeing or maybe visit some pubs! ;)

Music

2010-10-17T08:52:00.000-07:00

http://www.myspace.com/gravityfailuretrip

Muddy Hot Spring

2010-02-06T20:53:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday I met my very good friends Yuki and Kevin (Sang Ju) to say goodbye. They're in Japan right now, getting married! They are such a nice couple, I'll miss them so much when I get back home. But luckily they'll spend part of there honeymoon in Germany.

First, we tested Yuki's brand new oven to make pizza and several cakes. Kevin's classmate Babu assisted us while Kevin was at work and we had a lot of fun.

Yuki, Babu and me:

Yuki, Kevin and me:

After eating dinner we drove to a special hot spring where you can bath in mud hot water and cover your whole body in mud. That was soooo cool, I had a lot of fun and we also made some great mud monster pictures:

During our drive back home Kevin's car had a flat tire. Funny thing that nobody but me knew how to change the tire. Glad that my Dad always made me change the tires myself... it's already the second flat tire I had to change on the highway. But in the end all went fine and we got home safely. Here's our last group picture at my home:

Dumpling Farewell Party at Michael's

2010-02-06T20:25:00.000-08:00

Wow, the time here went past so fast and now it's already time for me to go back home. My plane leaves on Thursday 11.02. and I will arrive in Frankfurt on Friday 12.02. On the one hand I can't wait to get back home to see my parents and Dominik and my friends again, but on the other hand I met some good friends here in Taiwan and I know there will be several other things I'll miss as well. Anyway, I enjoyed my time here very much and it was a great experience for me! Thanks already to all my friends here, I'll miss you and hope you can come to Heidelberg for a visit!

Last Tuesday my boss Michael had a farewell party at his house for me. We made dumplings, because everybody noticed that I love to eat dumplings (sometimes several times a week!)

All my labmates were there and my friend Tery.

This is Michael and me. I enjoyed the time in his lab very much; I found he was a great boss and a cool guy to have around as well. ;)

All the lab people:

This is Alex and me: I had a least one or two questions ever day and he never got tired or annoyed to answer them... thanks again! He's a really cool guy! ;)

Hm, how to spell his name right: Maybe Xiau Guei? He'y a very funny guy and I always enjoyed talking to him!

These are all the girls from the lab: Jill, Lina, Me, Annie and In.

And all the boys: Xiau Guei, Justin, Gary, Martin, Jim, Amin and Alex.

These are Michaels wife Michelle and his two children Samual and Jessica. They all speak very good English, especially the kids, but sometimes they were a bit shy. Anyway, I want to thank them again for giving me such a great time here!

18th Symposium on recent advances in cellular and molecular biology

2010-01-23T20:51:00.000-08:00

Last week we went to Kenting to a Symposium for students. We stayed in a really nice hotel at the beach and had some great weather.
I also co-presented a poster which featured some of my experiment results and I got this nice name tag to go around my neck, I felt very important and cool.
Here I am in front of the poster with my boss Michael and my colleague Alex.

I spent lots of time at the beach walking around on the stones and watching for little sea animals.

I saw lots of sea cucumbers, they look funny and feel very soft. Although I remember they are not quite as soft when you eat them...

There were also lots of small sea stars, they were hiding in little holes and only three arms would stay outsite, maybe to catch some small fish.

The whole hotel area and beach had this kind of paradise feeling, there where even hammocks hanging between palm trees where you could relax and watch the ocean.

We also played some volleyball and I realized again: I suck at ball sports... *smile* But still I had fun!

Lab Dinner

2010-01-23T20:48:00.001-08:00

Shortly after Christmas Holiday we had a big dinner with all lab people at a mongolian barbeque restaurant, really delicious!!! The kind of restaurant where you mix whatever you like to eat and then the cook prepares it for you on a big hot stone.
Here you can see all my lab mates:

Christmas Holiday

2010-01-23T20:23:00.001-08:00

My parents came to visit Taiwan during the Christmas holidays. We spent Christmas in Kaoshiung and I had absolutely no Christmas feeling but lots of fun anyway. Just to warm here to feel like Christmas!
We also went on a little trip to the east coast. Unfortunately we didn't have much time to linger and spent lots of time in the car, but still the scenery was very beautiful and I enjoyed this trip very much. It was like a foretaste for a longer holiday that is certainly to come in the future.

We drove all the way from Kaohsiung to Hualien und stopped at Sansiantai, there is a chinese bridge on the coast to a little island.

In the evening we made our way through Taroko Gorge to our hotel in the dark and had to wait till the next morning to see the beauty of this canyon. I would have loved to go on a long nice hike there... hopefully next time!

This is the temple of eternal spring, looks really nice, doesn't it? We couldn't go to visit it inside because the way to the temple was closed.

After Taroko Gorge we made our way back and spent the next night at a hotel in the mountain. They also had a hot spring, where bathtub hot water came directly out of the mountain and we took a long and gorgeous bath there.

There was also a rope bridge at the hotel, and I walked over it half way for a picture. (No need to take the risk if you don't continue at the other side...)

Lab

2009-12-19T09:16:00.000-08:00

I finally managed to take some pictures of the lab. This is Linda and the main two benches for molecular biology experiments. There're others for microbiology and EtBr gels and for lots of PCR machines...

This is where the computers are and Pan Ding:

The cell culture room: change your shoes before you enter! :)

The laminar flow looks just like the ones in Germany...

My desk:

Taichung

2009-12-19T08:57:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I went to Taichung to visit Julia and An Chi. (They visited me in Heidelberg in September and Julia is the daughter of one of my parents friends - Julius. I think I've known here for a long time but when we were children we never could talk...)

During the evening we visited the night market, it was really big and so crowded that we got stuck for several minutes. But still I had lots of fun, I just love night market. I tasted the Taiwan speciality "stinky tofu". It really stinks but the taste is actually not that bad. But I think I would never buy it for myself... let's say it's interesting. :)

I also met Julias boyfriend Martin and Julias grandmother. She's a really cool lady, she's very active and likes to learn new things, so she even knows a few English words!
So here you see Julia, Martin, An Chi and Julias Granny.

The next day we visited the National Galery of Art, I really enjoyed this, the museum was very big and there was modern art of whole Asia. It reminded me of the Tate Museum in London, because there were many video rooms and big walk through art. And I found Asian artists are just as crazy and brilliant as European ones...

I came across another strange food. I don't know how to discribe the taste but it doesn't taste like it looks. It's actually quite good, not too sweet. Sometimes I find drinks here are just awfully sweet, I don't know how people can drink this...
So here's the picture of the strange dessert:

Tainan

2009-12-19T08:33:00.000-08:00

I said earlier I visited some cities, so this entry is about Tainan. This city has many old buildings and lot's of temples. There is even some Dutch castle (because acutally Dutch people colonised Taiwan). I went there with my friends Yukiko and Kevin. Yukiko is from Japan but she probably will stay in Taiwan because Kevin is Taiwanese and she like's it here better anyway.

We visited an old German company house:

I spend Saturday with Yukiko and Kevin together and we visited the part where the dutch castle is, called Anping. In the evening Kevin had to leave but Yukiko and me stayed over night. She showed me all her favorite places in Tainan, so I think we actually circled around the whole city and saw mostly all attractions:

On Sunday evening some of Yukikos and Kevins friend got married and I could join them for the wedding party. It was really big and the food tasted great. I also got a chance to wear my fancy clothes. :)

at home

2009-12-19T08:11:00.000-08:00

Some weeks ago we had a big Thanksgiving Party at our house and I cooked lots of spaghetti to feed everybody. Allthough most people already went home around 10pm, some friends of Tery and me stayed up till 3am.

These two are classmates of Tery, the left one's called Funny (I gave her the name because she's funny) and Ingrid.

We also drank some Taiwan beer which comes in big bottles:

And I introduced the German custom of "Brüderschaft trinken", which means to drink to a close friendship. By the way, that evening I got a chinese name:
Chan Kung Yi (speak Chan Kang I). Chan is the last name and it's the same last name as Tery's; I think it means old *smile*. Kung Yi means health and happiness. I didn't chose it because of the meaning, but because it sounds cool and I think it somehow fits.

Last Thursday Tery, Viola and me went to some barbeque / hot pot restaurant; all you can eat for only 300NT$ (about 6€). I think that would be really cool to have in Germany, especially some of Dominiks friends would enjoy this. Don't waste precious space by eating carbonhydrates, it's just meat, fish and vegetable (if you like).

Long time no see

2009-12-19T07:48:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's already a month since my last entry... oops. :) Didn't have so much time to write, because I either spend my free time visiting some cities in Taiwan or writing the BTP report. But good news, at least for me: the report is finally finished and I feel like a free person again!!!

So, what have I been up to during the last few weeks?
First, I've been to Kaoshiung, the city where my parents used to live some 30 years ago.
There was a big temple opening festival one evening, everybody had tables outside to eat dinner together and afterwards there was a huge parade.
The next picture shows Monika, her Mum and me.

The next day we went to Zoying lake (no idea if that's the right spelling), a place I still remember from my childhood visits to Taiwan. There're big tunnels in the shape of tiger and dragon and you can walk through them and there's a zigzag bridge across some part of the lake.

Afterwards we also visited the Confucius Temple in Kaoshiung, it's a very beautiful place but actually nobody really uses the facilities, it's just for showing and maybe celebrating Confucius birthday once a year.

Updates

2009-11-14T19:34:00.000-08:00

Today is Sunday and I really planned to spend the day working on Super Pro Designer to finish my economy report any time soon. (Those of you out there who know Super Pro Designer: We suffer together! *smile*) But of course I got stuck and I don't know how to go on... So now I have time to write another blog entry.

I have some more pictures of the house I'm living in:

Last week I met Julius and his wife Pan Pei. They are friends of my parents and both lived for some time in Germany, so they speak pretty good German. They are also both working at CCU, so we're living pretty close. They took me to a restaurant in Minshong to eat Hot Pot. That's a much better version of the fondue we have in Germany. You get a bowl of soup on a small hotplate and a big plate of raw vegetable and meats. Then you just put whatever you like into your soup and boil it. It's absolutely delicious and also fun to eat because you have something to do except putting food in your mouth.

Just yesterday I met Pan Pei again and we cooked dinner together. It was really fun and I can proudly say that I learned how to cook sweet and sour rips and some delicious fish dish (which I still remembered to be gorgeous from my previous visits to Taiwan). We also made some chinese salad containing cucumbers and bean sprouts with a delicious soya - sesame dressing and some dish of steamed eggs with chinese mushrooms. So many thanks to Pan Pei for introducing me to Chinese cooking. It's actually not that difficult but I think that I couldn't figure out the steps on my own.

Last week on Wednesday Tery (my housemate) took me to a place nearby where you can have coffee and sit outside. (it's only opened in the evening) It's a lovely place, the atmosphere there is just great. She introduced me to some of her friends and we had a great time this evening. I'm meeting so many people here, it's really cool.
So in the next picture from left to right you can see: me, Tery, Catherine, Emma, Tina, Sophia and Michelle.

And finally a short work update: I now harvested my cells and can start the preparation for the micro array tomorrow. I hope nothing goes wrong!

First week over

2009-11-05T06:47:00.001-08:00

I've been here for about a week now and I don't miss Germany at all, only the people I left there. I still feel the same about Taiwan as I did as a child: I love it here.

I startet my work on Monday and already got my cells. The first time I have my "own" cells, it's really cool. They are growing slowly but steadily.
I went out with some of my labmates to a pub. Sometimes it's a little hard for me because they always speak Chinese, but I think they are getting used to English a bit, they are not so shy anymore. I actually have a lot of fun talking to everybody at the lab!
So, here you see a few of my labmates: And guess who drank the big bottle of beer. ;) By the way, it tastes similar to some American brands...

Tonight I went to the Night Market in ChiaYi with 2 of my housemates. We had so much fun, I already know I will miss Night Markets when I'm back home...
First we went to eat Sushi (ah so delicious and much cheaper than at home) and then we took a stroll through the market tasting some different kinds of food. I even came across a very small kind of snail, about 1cm long. I stopped to look at them and the guy who sold them offered one to me. So I tried it and it tasted quite good. But I have to say I only found out that it was a snail later on. I also tried a piece of chicken kidney. The sauce was really good, but it was a bit hard to chew.

So here you can see my housemates, on the left Tery and on the right Viola. Thanks again for taking me out tonight, I loved it so much. (When can we go again???) :D
In the back you can see Mongolian Barbeque, similar to the one we have in Germany, but with more choices. Next time I come to the Night Market, I have to try this!

Oh, and not to forget the bad things: We had two earthquakes today. I "missed" one of it, that means I probably was on the bike that moment and didn't notice it, but the second was during our sushi dinner. It was not very strong, but still it's strange and you never know if it's getting stronger or if it stops.

Taiwan

2009-10-31T08:08:00.000-07:00

As some of you know I came to Taiwan to write my Bachelor's Thesis at the National Chung Cheng University.
I've been here for 3 days now and I already enjoy my time here. The weather is great, 30°C, sunshine and not too humid anymore.
I'm living in a two story house very close to college with three Chinese girls. They are all so nice to me, I hope we have a good time together. Maybe I can learn some Chinese. It's a hard language to learn because all the sounds are totally unfamiliar and sometimes I'm not sure if I understood the words the right way in the first place.

People in Taiwan are generally very friendly and hospitably, so it makes the start here much easier. I already agreed to make some Christmas decoration with some school kids here, that should be fun because I like to do such stuff myself. *smile* And maybe even some Christmas cookies. I like that even more. ;)

What's really different here from Germany is that people often eat outside. The food is really cheap, you get a very decent portion of delicious food for about 2€, so I think it's even cheaper to eat out than to cook yourself. Also, the food here is absolutely great, but different from the Chinese food we know in Germany. I'm lucky because just 2 streets away are lots of small restaurants which sell all kinds of foods. The only problem is the menu is only in Chinese signs, so I startet to take menus home and try to translate them or maybe get to know the important food signs, like what kind of meat, soup, rice, noodle and so on. Next time I buy something, I take a picture.

Talking of pictures, I took some of my room:

I went to the 20th anniversary of CCU today, it was mainly some kind of sports event, but I got to see the president of Taiwan:

So on Monday I start my work at CCU, I'm really excited. I've already been to the lab once, but I didn't do anything yet because it was my first day here and I was very tired. I wonder if people here work differently than we do. I already saw that they have a special room for cell culture and you have to get out of your shoes and put on some other slippers before getting in. I was so surprised when I realized it. (of course I walked into the room with my normal shoes on, totally oblivious to my surroundings *smile*) And I think they don't wear lab coats, but if you think about it, it might even be cleaner, because you wear the same lab coat for ages but you put on fresh normal clothes every day.

Updates

2009-07-21T01:02:00.000-07:00

I've been back in Germany for a while now, in fact I already completed my last theoretical semester. That means after 6 weeks of extensive studies the last exams are finally over.

So now it's holiday time. And guess where I'm going... right, USA again. ;) Just can't get enough. This time we start in San Francisco and make our way through various National Parks to Las Vegas for some last minute gambling before we fly back. It is definitely going to be great!

Flight leaves tomorrow and I will be back in 3 weeks. (That means pictures are coming up again!)

Visiting Lena in London

2008-12-06T02:38:00.000-08:00

At the end of November we flew over to London for a long weekend. I've never been there before, but I have to say: really nice city, I'm quite a bit jealous of Lena, because Limerick seems like a sleepy village compared to London.
But anyway, we had a great time there, thanks again Lena!

Westminster Abbey: We didn't go inside, too expensive...

Big Ben. When I first saw the building I was somehow disappointed because it was not that big. But of course, the title refers to the bell and not the tower height...

We visited Buckingham Palace, but couldn't get close to the funny dressed guards there, so we walked through the nearby park. There lived lots of different birds and it was fun watching them:

After that we visited the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. The Tower was pretty cool, we even could try on some helmets, which were actually pretty heavy. I just don't want to know how the weight of the plate armour felt... Probably it would have just crushed me.

Tower Bridge:

Way along the Thames:

Very cool picture:

Last evening, in the train:

Killarney National Park

2008-12-05T11:05:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of November my parents came over for a visit. The two weeks before they came over and the week after they went back were really nice, but of course, the weekend they were here was miserable, it rained nearly the whole time.
Anyway, we decided to go to Killarney National Park, and there we went despite the bad conditions.

We got some pretty nasty showers, but we also managed to be at the right place at the right time to enjoy some spectacular views.

We first went to Mucrose House and walked a while through the beautiful gardens there. Even though it rained the green was nearly glowing.

Then we went to see the Torc Waterfall which was quite strong because of the heavy rain.

Afterwards we just drove through the National Park and enjoyed the beautiful landscape.

USA 15: New York

2008-10-12T03:30:00.000-07:00

As the last part of my journey through USA I spent a few days in New York together with my parents before flying back to good old Germany.
We took it easy and just walked through city, we've all been there before, so we didn't need to hurry through all attractions there.

The following picture was taken at the UNO headquaters:

The next picture shows my Dad Andy in front of Brooklyn Bridge Waterfall. That waterfall is supposed to be art, and there are more all around Manhattan, but we thought they were pretty lame. Not enough water to be impressiv but to much steel so it seemed like a construction site.

Of course we walked over the Brooklyn Bridge:

That's my Mum Doris while we were taking a rest at Central Park:

One day we booked a boat tour around Manhattan. There we got closer to the Statue of Liberty than with the Staten Island Ferry:

You also had a really nice view of Manhattan Downtown from the water:

We also went to the Broadway Musical Mamma Mia one night. Because we didn't want to spent an awful lot of money we bought cheap standing tickets for about 20$ each. It was really fun, and if you don't mind standing for about 2 hours it's a cheap solution.

Well, that was the last post about my journey through USA. I hope you enjoyed reading it and got a nice impression of the beauty and variety of USA. It was absolutely the most fabulous journey I've ever been on. We just booked our flights and did not plan much more, we just hit the road and decided what to do next. There are definitely more journeys like that to come!

USA 14: Florida: Familiy Party

2008-10-11T09:38:00.001-07:00

After visiting the Everglades National Park we drove up to Jacksonville to visit some relatives there. I haven't met them before, we only had email and phone contact, so I was kind of excited to get there.

We had a late Birthday Party for my Cousin Debbie: (By the way, the cake was delicious)

There you can see the reunited brother and sisters. They really look alike, although they only have the same father. So from left to right: Uncle John, Mum Doris, Aunt Nancy:

Same picture together with my Dad and Dominik:

Did I mention that we had a fabulous room during our stay in Jacksonville? It was huge (to our standards) and came with the possibility of several acrobatic stunts. Here is only one of them:

USA 13: Florida: Keys and Everglades National Park

2008-10-11T09:15:00.000-07:00

After three weeks of touring the West of USA we flew to Florida to spend a few days travelling around the state. First we made our way to the Keys and found ourselves a very expensive campground. At least the view was brilliant, but the mosquitoes were a real menace. Also, it was so hot during the night that we had troubles to sleep. On the next morning we decided: No more camping in Florida!

We went for a snorkeling trip at the coral reef, it was amazing. The water was comfortable warm and the reef was fantastic. The sea was only two or three meters deep at the spot were we went in. We swam through swarms of coloured fish and watched them glide through the water. At first I was a bit afraid of sharks, because Florida is a famous spot for all kinds of dangerous sharks, but as soon as I got into the water I really loved it and forgot about the sharks. It was a wonderful experience and I absolutely want to get a diver's licence!

After spending a few relaxing day's at the Keys and bathing at one of the most beautiful beaches of USA we drove back to Miami to visit the Everglades National Park. We walked through mangrove woods and watched out for aligators and turtles. We couldn't go on a real hike there and it was too late for canoeing, so we decided to visit an aligator farm.

We even got our hands on a baby aligator:

We were looking on these aligators for several minutes and they didn't move at all. At one point we were considering them to be merely dummies.

But when feeding time came all the gators gathered at one spot:

Funny that those lazy animals can get pretty acrobatic when it comes to a fight. So remember, never go near an aligator, they are faster than you think.

USA 12: Arches National Park

2008-10-11T08:29:00.001-07:00

Back in Utah our last stop was Arches National Park. Most of the attractions in the park are accessible by car, as the Balanced Rock:

On the next picture you can see the Double Arch. That one was really big and we climbed under the second arch and rested there for a few minutes.

We decided to go on a hike through the Devil's Garden, were several Arches are, among those the famous and very thin Landscape Arch:

The trail should have taken us on a round trip through Devil's Garden, but just some days before our visit to the park one arch collapsed and therefore a part of the trail was closed. We tried to take the other way around which was merely walking over stones and through bushes to get a glimps of the Double O Arch, but eventually we lost the trail and turned back because there was a thunder storm coming near. That was a good decision because it started raining very hard on the way back and we were soaked by the time we came back to our car. Also, as we drove back to our motel we could see several lightnings hitting somewhere in the area where we just had been.

You might wonder why there is no picture of the most famous arch and state symbol of Utah, the Delicate Arch. That is because we were really exhausted and decided to skip that hike. We just drove to a view point but from there the arch didn't look as pretty as on most pictures. At least we've got some attractions left if we should return to Southern Utah.

USA 11: Horseshoe Bend and Monument Valley

2008-10-11T05:43:00.000-07:00

The following picture shows a place that is often photographed. I really would have needed a wide ankle objective for that one...

Monument Valley is one of the places that look fabulous on pictures and in reality you think "isn't it supposed to be bigger?". We were kind of disappointed when we arrived there, but the pictures look really cool.
We planed to drive through the valley, but we couldn't use our car because the contract didn't allow dirt roads and we wouldn't risk loosing our insucrance because of that. So we tried to hitchhike the trail and stood about 15 minutes at the entrance. Didn't work though and we lost our patience, so we eventually took some pictures and drove away.

Monument Valley is nice to visit if you drive by, but don't make a huge detour because of it!

USA 10: Antelope Canyons

2008-10-11T05:22:00.000-07:00

The Antelope Canyons are part of Navajo property and therefore extremely expensive compared to the rest of USA's National Parks. There are two canyons, the Upper Canyon and the Lower Canyon. We visited both, but if you don't have much time or money (100$ for two people and both canyons) you can just visit one. I recommend the Lower Canyon because you can go in there on your own and take your time. On the other hand, the Upper Canyon is darker and more narrow, but you need a guide and it could be that you have to wait some time before it's your turn.

On the following picture Dominik wanted to show off and just balance himself on his arms. Accidentely I cut off his feet while taking the picture, so now you can't see if he's really balancing himself on his arms or if he's standing somewhere... he was kind of pissed when he saw the picture. But I say it's cool anyway!

USA 9: Grand Canyon National Park

2008-10-11T04:41:00.000-07:00

We drove all the way down to Arizona to see the North Rim of Grand Canyon, one of the most popular National Parks in USA. The Canyon is really huge, even if you know that it's nearly 2km deep you just can't imagine it's size until you stand right on the rim.
Unfortunately we couldn't hike the canyon because of several issues - first, it was absolutely too hot to hike down 2000m and up again, then we didn't have the time and probably we also didn't have the stamina for such a strenuous hike. But that hike's definitely on my to do list! Perhaps even next year? We'll see.

Funny thing that there are a lot of thunder storms at the rims of the canyon. We heard thunder and saw lightning all the time and there were lot's of warning signs because if you're standing directly at the rim the lightning would just hit you.
On the next picture you can see a few dark clouds over the canyon. The whole day was a bit misty so you couln't see far.

USA 8: Bryce Canyon National Park

2008-10-11T04:14:00.000-07:00

After the hike to Angel's Landing at Zion National Park we drove over to Bryce Canyon National Park and entered the park in the evening to get a first impression of the landscape there. It looked totally different from Zion NP although it's not far away. Basically the "Canyon" is a huge Amphitheater of stone pillars which are called hoodoos.

On the next day we went on a hike through the Canyon which lead us past numerous strange shaped hoodoos. I felt like being in another world, it looked very unreal but still very beautiful. The hike was very short, only 4 hours, but we were still a little bit exhausted from the hike the day before, but nevertheless it was really fun and as always: the view was fantastic!

Funny to see that my skin kind of matched the red stone...

USA 7: Zion National Park: Angel's Landing

2008-10-04T03:49:00.001-07:00

On the second day we went on a hike up to Angel's Landing, which meant an ascent of about 500m. Not too hard, but the hot weather didn't make it easier. Nevertheless, we were lucky because it was a little bit cloudy and therefore not 40°C.

We made our way up a nice trail until we reached the point were the last half mile of the hike began. The park paper described that as strenuous and nothing for people afraid of hights. In spite of that description we expected it to be less dangerous and I had to think about stopping for about a minute. But eventually I made my way up the very steep way were you could look down on every side for several 100 meters, only secured by a single chain that lead the way to the top.

The view from the top was absolutely incredible and the descend was surprisingly much easier than the ascent.

USA 6: Zion National Park: The Narrows

2008-10-04T02:24:00.000-07:00

After we spent a long time in North Wyoming we drove all the way down to South Utah, which took us about two days. At the end of the second day we could at least enter a part of Zion National Park and get a first impression of the beautiful landscape there.

On the next day we decided to hike the Narrows, a trail that leads through a Canyon of the Virgin River. At the beginning we thought it might be handy to put the shoes off while walking through the river...

...but after a while we decided that the surface would not get any better and that the river does not stop eventually, so we put on the shoes again. It got a lot easier to walk on the slippery stones in the river and we could start to enjoy the hike.

The river was pretty deep sometimes. We thought it would be nice to take a picture of both of us standing in the river. But the outcome was a little bit different:

The hike was absolutely fantastic, incredible view and so much fun to walk through the river on a hot day. If you ever come to South Utah that hike is absolutely worth the effort (and the effort is not too high...).

USA 5: Yellowstone National Park: Geyser Basins

2008-09-14T05:00:00.000-07:00

It took us 2 days to walk around all the geyser basins in Yellowstone NP. It was pretty hot because there were nearly no shadows but it was worth it anyway.

This geyser is called Fountain Geyser and we were really lucky as we came on time for the erruption. It was really beautiful as the water flowed down the steps after the first erruption and then continued so in little waves.

For the next geyser we waited probably half an hour but then the erruption was so long that we had time to take several pictures.

As mentioned before there are several hot pools in Yellowstone NP and they even feature a natural temperature indicator - bacteria and algae. Yellow and orange microorganisms live in the 'coldest' areas, followed by the green ones. The hottest areas are occupied by blue or colourless microorganisms. There the water is nearly boiling. (But then not exactly 100°C because of the elevation - over 2000m)
For those interested in biology: Thermus aquaticus, the thermophile bacteria which features the first thermostabile Polymerase (Taq Polymerase) was first discovered at Yellowstone NP.

I don't know exactly what this is, but it looks cool anyway so I had to take a picture. Could be some kind of bacteria covered algae...

This is the highest predictable geyser in the world. We waited about 45 minutes in the hot noon sun to see the erruption but then the water fountain was really huge, much higher than the surrounding trees.

Yellowstone NP is not only a place that contains magnificent views and the rarely seen geothermal areas but it is also a good place to see some wildlife very close. Unfortunately or fortunately, I'm still not sure about it, we didn't see a bear during our stay in Yellowstone NP.

If you are familiar with the Yellowstone NP you might wonder why I didn't post a picture of the Old Faithful Geyser, the most famous one in the park. It is because it is also the most unspectacular one...

USA 4: Yellowstone National Park: Mammoth Hot Springs

2008-09-14T04:45:00.000-07:00

The Mammoth Hot Springs contain huge terraces that were built while the hot spring water cooled down and deposited calcium carbonate. Regrettably the water stopped to flow down the terraces but it's still a marvellous view.

The Mammoth Hot Springs also featured hot pools that contain nearly boiling water. Even though the sulphur smell is very strong near the pools and the air really hot it was amazing.

The different colours in the hot pool result from different bacteria and algae living in the hot water.

USA 3: Yellowstone National Park: Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

2008-09-14T04:23:00.000-07:00

On our first day in Yellowstone NP we decided to go on a day long hike that took us along the river flowing through Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. We passed several parking lots and the viewing places next to those were packed but in the middle between two parking lots there were nearly no people.

When we first arrived at the Grand Teton National Park (see previous entry) we made sure to buy bear spray (50$, really expensive) which contains 2% Capsaicin (the stuff that makes chilies so hot). We carried it along the whole time and of course we took it into the tent at night.

As we made our way along the canyon we enjoyed an awesome view.

One of the most pictured views is the following one facing the canyon with one of it's falls.

The next picture was taken the day after the canyon hike. We were really exhausted so we just explored the park like most Americans do: Park, get out, take picture, drive along to the next attraction.
Anyway we made it down some stairs to a river were this picture was taken.

USA 2: Grand Teton National Park

2008-09-09T12:14:00.000-07:00

In Wyoming we entered the Grand Teton National Park featuring the Teton mountain range. I would have loved to climb up there, but a 2 day tour was about 1000$ and we unfortunately are no experienced rock climbers, so we could not go on our own either.

But still, just wonderful to look at and we did at least a little adventurous hike through the woods because we watched out for bears. One part of me was eager to see one and the other part was desperatly hoping that we wouldn't run into one...

USA 1: Mount Evans

2008-09-09T11:24:00.000-07:00

As I already told you several times I toured the USA together with Dominik during the summer. Finally I'll show you some pictures of our trip, but I'll probably handle it as Dominik does (for those who watch his blog as well) and post several entries to tell you about the whole trip.

On our first real day in USA (after two days of travelling) we started in Denver and drove straight up a very high mountain, in fact the highest mountain I've ever been to (4350m).

The view was literally breathtaking. Because of the thin air up there I felt dizzy when I first got out of the car, but still managed to get some nice pictures taken.
After that we made our way up to Wyoming with our ugly rented car:

New apartment

2008-08-31T10:48:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Ireland yesterday and we moved into our new apartment. It's really huge, because it's not designed for a couple but as a apartment-sharing community. So now we have two bedrooms and two bathrooms, it's really luxurious.

This is our ensuite bedroom and my computer room.

This is the guest bedroom and Dominiks guitar and computer room. Unfortunately we have only one internet connection in every room, so we cannot use the computers in the same room.

This is the living room. We use the balcony also as our main entrance because we can park our car just in front of it.

This is the kitchen, it's a part of the living room and there is lots of working space.

Back again

2008-08-25T12:05:00.000-07:00

Finally the holiday is over and I am back in Germany for a few days. The holiday was just great, we saw so much beautiful things, it was really amazing. After I sorted out the mass of pictures, I will write a more detailed report about the journey (but don't worry, not too detailed...) and show you all the best pictures.

It's good to be back again, the food is really great in Germany. I think I won't eat a burger for very a long time...

On Saturday I am going to fly to Ireland and start to work there on Monday, I am really excited about it. Dominik and me already found an appartment, so that's settled.

Now I have to fight the jet lag and do the laundry. Great...

Exams are over

2008-07-12T01:01:00.000-07:00

Finally I'm free again, that is, nearly free, because I have to attend one week of genetic engineering lab. You know, everytime the exams come up, I feel a little bit more relaxed. This time I only once felt like I don't know anything, that's really a great advance, isn't it?

This afternoon, my parents come to Heidelberg and we're going into town to do some shopping. I haven't seen them for a month now, because I had so much to do with my studies, so I'm glad that they're coming over.

I still have so much to prepare for the States and after that for my half year in Ireland. It's an amazing feeling that I'm only in Heidelberg for two more weeks (even if the first week is starting now and the second will begin after I return from the States).

For all of you who are interested in my work: I'm going to spend the half year in Ireland working at Stokes Bio, a company linked to the Stokes Institute of the University of Limerick. Dominik works there too, but fortunately we are not in the same building, so we won't be stressed out by seeing each other every minute of the day.
I don't know yet what kind of project I will get, but I went to the company once for a little chat and I met some of the people there. It was really nice and I think it's gonna be great working there.
http://www.stokesbio.ie

5 days until the first exam...

2008-06-25T08:02:00.000-07:00

This is my first post for this blog. I created this blog to give you a little update on my life, because I will go to Ireland in two month to complete a six month internship. (I can't wait to leave!)

At the moment I don't have much to say, I'm studying (extremely hard ;) ) for my exams next week.

After the exams I will go on a trip to the States with Dominik. We will drive around the Wild West and then we'll fly over to Florida. After that Dominik will take part at a conference and I will fly to New York with my parents. So, you see, there's a great trip coming up.

Shortly after I'll come back from this trip, I'm going to leave again for Ireland.

So you'll have to wait a while until you get the first interesting posts about my adventures in USA and Ireland and perhaps about the little difficulties that hopefully won't come up if I move in together with Dominik. ;)