Last blog entry

Where to start..

I’m on my way back. After spending 6 months abroad and also spending a lot of money there, I’m sitting on a plane from Atlanta towards Stuttgart. What about my feelings? Of course I have mixed feelings... I have experienced so many wonderful and nice things in America but I have also seen the hard and dark sides of the US. But let me focus on the positive things of my semester abroad: I’ve made many new friends, learned many new words and sayings and I’ve also learned a lot about the American culture. I think my semester abroad has fullfilled its purpose and I have reached all the aims which I set for myself. Now it’s time to come back to Germany, see my old friends again and then work so that I can give my parents some money back. I’ll also have to find a new apartment in Tübingen because I don’t want to live in the dorms again. It’s time to take a serious look at the housing market and hopefully find something nice and comfortable for my last semesters in Tübingen before I graduate. But let’s focus on the present..This plane\flight SUCKS! They don’t have wireless internet (only available on domestic flights) and they also don’t have any screens in front of your seat so you cannot really choose to watch what you actually want to watch. They have three big screens in front of the seats, and they’ll play three movies during the flight but I’m not satisfied with that offer..I mean come on, the duration of the flight is nearly 9 hours and all you can watch is that stupid facebook movie and two other boring movies! The only good thing is that the plane is pretty much empty so I’ll have an easy time “catching some Zs”.

The last week with my parents was pretty cool; we went to Venice Beach together, I took my daddy to Hermosa Beach , we saw Beverly Hills, and we also had a few lovely dinners with various dudes like Chico and Andrea (my flatmate). I think they pretty much enjoyed themselves during our time here, and I also think that we’ve seen many interesting things together (especially in Hawaii).

What will I miss? The californian weather of course, all my american friends, my girlfriend Neera, being able to watch NBA games in the afternoon, having the opportunity to go to the beach whenever you want and finally the many fast food restaurants just around the corner!I’ll miss in&out, Burger King, subway, Carls Junior, Jack in the Box, Fatburger, Panda Express and so on... oh I nearly forgot to mention Jamba Juice.

I’ll also miss the tasty peanutbutter, cranberry juice, mexican food, great hip hop music on the radio (Kiss FM and Power 106) and in general the beautiful ethnic diversity in Los Angeles..

What won’t I miss? The expensive living costs (particularly for housing), the annoying traffic everyday in LA and finally the unbeliveably stupid public news (a shooting here, a dog died there, something about the weater and upcoming movies, maybe a little bit about war in Afghanistan..).

At this point I have to mention how friendly most of the Americans were! I didn’t really expect this but I was amazing how helpful and friendly they were. The service everywhere was always really good and people did many things for me and my friends/family members which they weren’t obliged to do. I think it is true that Germans are really “miesepetrige” people (lol cannot come up with a good translation right now) and that we should be more friendly and happy about life in general. I’ve got the impression that people in the US were a lot happier with their life than people in Germany even though they have to work a lot more. Maybe it’s the Californian sunshine which I have to blame for this fact but I’m not really sure if that’s the only reason. Anyways, when I wrote above about the dark sides of America I was referring to the financial problems and struggels I saw in the US. It starts with the housing crisis and it goes on with the expensive living costs in general. Everything costs a lot of money, especially studying, and if you don’t have a job or if you don’t earn enough to make a living then you’re pretty much screwed. Living in the US made me realize how social Germany is and how much our state cares about us in terms of financial aid and other welfare programms. I don’t know if this is gonna be like that forever but I think it definitely helps many people.

However, there is still this unanswered question left if I wanna move/immigrate to America at some point in my life. I really consider it because I liked it over there but there are still many obstacles on my way there until I can make that decision. I think my parents wouldn’t mind if I did...I guess I just have to wait and see what the future will bring for me. Maybe I will marry an American girl one day, who knows?! :-)

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[...] I hope they serve dinner soon because I’m really hungry by now. I’m thinking about watching the “social network” movie but somehow I don’t really feel like doing so. The movie just looks boring but maybe I’ll give it a try!

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[...] Dinner was really yummy and I also watched the social network movie. I have to admit that the movie was entertaining and also educational but it’s not the kind of movie I would probably watch in my free time. I think we still have to fly six hours or more until we finally reach Germany so I’ll probably try to sleep because there is nothing else to do. I dont know yet for sure if this is gonna be my last blog entry but I think it’ll definitelty be the last one about my semester abroad in America. Blogging is kind of fun to me and I hope that it is the same for the people who read my blog. This last blog entry is different from the ones I have written before because all the others have been written at a stratch. This is more like a diary entry in which I write what’s going on in mind.

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Finally back in Germany :-) Yeaaah hehe it's really nice to see who everybody welcomes me and embraces me. Thanky guys, u've made my day :-) I slept for three hours in the afternoon and I also already worked out for the first time. But boy, it is really cold here haha...I totally forgot that we are in the middle of winter here :-)

At the very end, the only thing which I can say is that I had an amazing time over there and I hope you guys also learned a little bit and enjoyed my blog entries!

Stat safe and thanks 4 reading and commenting ;)

Flow

Hawaii

Aloha!

I'm sitting in our newly rented car right now (it's a Dodge) and we're on our way to have our first breakfast on Big Island, Hawaii. It's already our fourth day here but we just arrived yesterday on Big Island (sometimes also called the island of Hawaii). Oh we just passed a street called "Kamehameha" which reminded my of my own childhood memories; e.g. Dragonball Z episodes with Dave at 7 pm at night :-)

[...] the breakfast was yummy! We went to a local shopping center and met, how surprisingly, a local there, a 62 year-old coffee farmer who will sell us some coffee later from his farm :-) I cannot describe how excited mom is! Maybe she'll be able to pick/harvest a few coffee beans on her own and I'll definitely take a picture when she does that.

Anyways, so let me jot down my first impressions about Hawaii before I forget them; when we first landed on Oahu, I noticed that there aren't any Mexican or black people here at all.. however, there are a lot of Asian people, especially Japanese people. I mean, on the one hand it makes sense that so many Asian people are on these island [because it's actually close] but on the other hand it's new to me because I'm still used to seeing Mexican people and black people everywhere from my time in LA. I think it only takes 6 or 7 hours by plane to fly to Honolulu from Japan, so it's basicially the same time than from LA to Honolulu.
Anothing thing I noticed was that the reduced speed limit in Hawaii. In Los Angeles, it's 65 miles on the highway and 40 on a normal street while here in the paradise it's 55 miles on the freeway and 30/35 on a normal street. So everything is slower...but I guess one reason for that is the tropical weather :-) We have about 75+ degrees everyday but the main difference is the air: It's so humid and warm, you feel like you're on a tropical island haha
Unfortunately, one downside of Hawaii is that everything is a lot more expensive :-/. For example, you pay more than 4 $ per gallon (LA: 3,29 or in August it was even 3,03) and everything else is about 30% more expensive. I think that's just the price you have to pay if you wanna be in the "paradise".

Today we are going to visit the only active volcano on this island which will probably take the whole day because the volcano is about 2 hours away from our hotel (one way). I'm really looking forward to it because I've never seen an active volcano before in my life! As a matter of fact, I just read in the local newspaper this morning that a house close to the volcano *went up in flames* because some of the lava of the volcano hit the house. How stupid can you be and build your own home in such a dangerous area...I mean, it's probably cheap land but you certainly will pay the price for it one day.

I made a bucket list for my time here on Hawaii and I wanna share it with you: I want to..

a) Go n see the world famous Waikiki beach on Oahu-check
b) Go n see an active volcano
c) See the black and the green beach-check
d) Work out with my father- kinda check
e) Go snorkeling in the warm ocean
f) Do a few sprints in the sand (speed training) //workout
g) Go to the rainforest on Big Island and see the impressive waterfalls
i) Don't get a sunburn haha

[...] I just came back from working out with dad and now I quickly wanna wrote down what we did today: We saw the volcano, saw real lava and we also saw a black beach! We left the resort early in the morning (9 or 930 am) and we returned home at around 7.15 to 7.30 but it was definitely worth it! Just take a look at the pictures we took!

Oh and before I finish my blog, I want to post a few new interesting sayings/words I've heard/learned:

a) conceited= eingebildet [synonym=cocky]

b) to confine= etw. einschränken, einsperren, einengen

c) Like father, like son or the apple doesnt fall far from the free

d) To sweat like a pig (not a horse, Florian Wolf! :-) )

Mahalo for reading my blog!

Flow

LA with my parents

Hey yall,

it has been 8 days since my parents arrived in LA and I can tell you that we've already experienced a lot! I remember the first night when I picked them up from the airport, LAX. They were so excited and the looked better than Martin and Dave when they came to Los Angeles. I took them to Subway, I ate a lil bit and then I brought them to my "home" where my roomie Andrea waited for them. I showed them everything and then I talked a little bit with them but they were really tired so they went to bed early. I remember, the first night they woke me up at 430 or so in the morning because they couldnt sleep anymore...stupid jetlag hehe. My mom's first question was "when can I go shopping?You don't have anything in your fridge and I wanna shopping..Are the supermarkets open"? lol...I thought I was having a bad dream but it was the reality! 430 am and she wants to go shopping...hahaha
Anyways, we talked even more, had breakfast and then we went to target in order to buy groceries so that we won't starve in the couple next days...After that I showed them the area, showed them where the Bank of America is and so on..Aaaw I already cannot remember everything we did the first few days because we've done so much already. For example, we went to San Diego for two nights and three days, I went to the Miami-Clippers game on wednesday and today I took them to Hollywood and the citadel outlet mall. My dad particularly enjoyed the Balboa Park and the Old Town in San Diego. It's interesting to note what kind of things I did with my parents and Kia compared to the things I did with Henry in SD. With Henry, I went to the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Safari, and clubbing whereas with my parents and Kia I visited museums and parks. It's the same city but from a totally different perspective but I have to say that it was also very interesting. I guess if I went another time to San Diego I would still find a few new things and do new things there.
On wednesday, I took my dad to his first NBA game in his life and I think he really enjoyed it!!The only thing which stressed him (and as a consequence me) out was the fact that we left only "one" hour before the game started, and that there was a lot of traffic on the freakin 101 North and 110 North,respectively. Nevertheless, we arrived just in time and we saw a packed Staples Center! On top of that, we saw an exciting and close game and the Clippers won against Miami :-) We saw Blake Griffin, Dywane Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh in action!! Oh and Rihanna and Jessica Alba were also at the game so we weren't the only celebrities who went there haha :-) By the way, I also bought a new camera and a cell phone for my dad so that he'll be busy all time figuring out how to operate those electronic devices haha :-). Maybe, but only maybe we'll also buy an Apple product here in the US but that's still open for discussion..Some people in this reduced familiy trip want to buy it and other don't so we'll see what happens.

Tomorrow, we'll go to Long Beach and meet friends (or associates or relatives, whatever lol) from Leo H. and then we'll also already have to pack our suitcases because we'll leave LA on sunday and fly to Hawaii! Yay yay yay I'm already looking forward it altough I know it will sometimes be a hard time with my parents..I feel like a babysitter sometimes ;) Anyways, it'll be an amazing time and I'll take many pictures, that's fo sho! Oh, speaking of Hawaii and the good weather there, we just had 80+ degrees today and it was approximately the same temperature the last few days..that equals around 24 or 25 degrees Celcius. In this sense, my parents are really lucky :-)

I will write more about the time in San Diego but for right now it's enough, and I'm tired so I hope you guys like what u can read so far. Have a good day in Germany/good night in America!

Yours,

Flow

Gang violence

I dont know why it happened but it happened at the dorms of my school.
One of my friends/associates left his girlfriend's dorm and wanted to go to another friend's dorm when he "got jumped",meaning that some guys ambushed him and beat him up.

I got involved into this because I played basketball with Leroy (his name) two days before that (it was, actually, on New Year's Eve) and I was texting with him during that day when he suddendly texted me that he got jumped. This was at around 12am at night. Six hours later, I picked him and his girlfriend up from a nearby hospital. It was only 1.1 miles away from my house so it wasn't an issue for me. When we returned at the dorms, Leroy showed me exactly where it happened and he also picked up his slippers which he lost during the fight. We also discovered some blood spots because one of the guys apparently cut him with a knife..He told me that six (I dont know if that is true or not) tried to beat him up!And they were gang members so I asked him if he had some problems with one or some of the gangs here but he denied it but I don't know if he is telling me the truth..
Anyways, the good thing about the story is that nothing really serious happened to him and that the police caught the "gangbangers" or attackers :-)
The bad thing about this story is that it happened on campus which is a little bit scary, considering that I also leave the gym late sometimes, and if he is telling me the truth and he is really innocent then it is even more scary!

Oh and by the way, this guy is a tremendous athlete...It's really amazing, he's only 5-10 tall but he can dunk and he did gymnastics back in Belize. He did a blackflip on the spot just like I do a layup and he also did a " Randwende mit dreifachem Flick-flack mit doppelter Schraube" just to impress me haha!
Get well soon boy and stay away from the trouble!

Happy New Year's Eve!!

Happy New Year!

I just realized that the new year has already begun in Germany...It's a pitty that I've missed it but I was cooking Miraculi with Henry in the kitchen :-) It's really weird to go online on facebook and see all those comments and posts about the new year while we still have daylight and sunshine here in California. Oh and by the way; no there aren't any fireworks during New Years Eve in America :-/ It's against the law so it's a little bit lame because fireworks and New Year's Eve belong together like Easter and eggs to me..

At this point, I wanna take some time and look back what I've experienced this year and also wanna take a look forward to what's gonna happen next year,2011.
In january, I didnt go to university because I've just finished my "Schulpraktikum" (teaching assistant) at the Leibniz Gymnasium in Rottweil.So basicially I just chilled at home, helped my parents and played some basketball. Then in february, I finished my job as a teacher at the Freie Waldorfschue in Frommern and I had to grade students for the first time in my life. It took me longer than I thought because I wanted to make sure that everybody gets the grade he/she deserves..but it was a really interesting experience to be "on the other side" and see how it is to be a teacher. It's more work than some of you might think ;)
At the end of february, my chemistry lab (AC-F Prakitkum) started, and I worked two weeks nearly the whole day in the lab. Then in March, I started my other chem lab (OC-F) and I spent another two weeks in the lab in order to finish it. Especially during my organic chemistry lab time, I got to know new people which, as it turned out later, are really friendly and cool: It's my homeboy Fabi and that girl Juli..I had a lot of fun during my chem lab and with them, I really enjoyed the time! Thanks guys! I hope to see them when I'm back in Germany and maybe I can have a fun night with Fabi again ;)
In april,my summer semester started and I had to run many errands for my upcoming semester abroad in America...It was a lot of work but so far it definitely paid off and I'm glad that everything worked out the way I wanted it to happen :-) Oh and I also wanna mention that I've met a few new cool people at my swimming class for my sports studies, especially the guys Stefan and Andy!!Oh my god, it was so funny with them and I really had a good time with them :-) As a matter of fact, Stefan went abroad to Mexico,Guadalajara when I was about to go to America so we both spend some time abroad together, and sometimes he was the only guy who was online on facebook while all my other German friends were sleeping in bed :-) So I've told him about the differences between Germany and America, and he told me the same, just with Mexico instead of the US. I dont know if you'll ever read this Andy but I hope that you and your family are well and that we'll be able to play some tennis or basketball next year in Nusplingen ;) And maybe we can also talk about politics ;) "Lokalpolitik"

And then I went abroad. Bye bye Germany, Hello America!
Who would have thought that one day, I'll be able to lay in the sun on December 31st and take a sunbath?! Who whould have thought that I'll meet a crip gang member at a house party one day? Who whould have thought that I'll be the only white guy on the basketball court one day?Who would have thought that I'll buy "my" first own car in America?That I'll change my first tire in America?Who would have though that I'll bake my first German cookies in American? Who would have thought that I'll do this and that in America? ;) I really experienced so many new things here but I cannot write all of them down. Some of them are just for a small circle, or just for my family :-)
Oh and then I met this asian guy here who I went to San Diego and San Francisco with! And then I met this belizean gurl who I helped to overcome her fear of water..at least a lil bit ;)..then I met this jamaican chick who invited me to celebrate Christmas with her..thank you! and then I met this (spanish) gurl who isnt really Spanish but she knows what I mean..and she thinks more than she'll let me know..and I met so many other cool people at my school!
Especially "se oser Germans" at Dominguez Hills were friendly and cool! I remember that one roadtrip to Las Vegas with that boy from Hechingen ;) I think he had s0me fun on the way to Las Vegas.....oh and there was this kid who can shoot from the other side of the basketball court and still make the 3pointers...Ok I exaggerate a little bit but everybody who plays against him knows what I'm talking about :-) He also works at the weight room so I can always go there even though I'm not a student anymore at CSUDH :-) Thanks William!

All in all, It's crazy how much I saw,leanred and experienced during this year...But it was not only me who did a lot this year. My sister, for example, came back from Mexico this year, my brother went, among other things, to China, my other brother and my sister went backpacking together in Europe. And there was this australian/english girl who finally went back to Germany but then it was time for me to leave the country..Well, I'll see you next year I think ;)

I also have a New Year's resolution for America: Try to use less plastic bags in your supermarkets!! In know that you can recycle them but I doubt that anybody does it..

2011 will hopefully also be an interesting and informative year for me again,and I really hope that I'll see some of my American friends back here in Germany...But for now, I'm looking forward to the first highlight of this year; my trip to Hawaii with my parents!!! As a matter of fact, my parents will arrive in three days and then we'll probably drive to see the Grand Canyon in Arizona before we go to Hawaii...But before that, I'll spend some time with my daddy at the Staples Center and see Lebron James and company in action!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR AGAIN FELLOWS :-)

Merry Christmas!

First of all, Merry Christmas 2 everybody! I know that it's already over but here in the US we celebrated Christmas yesterday so I'm not too late with writing my blog.

I celebrated Christmas with Alison's family and it was, just like Thanksgiving, a family feast and we also had great food for dinner :-) But before we started eating, we formed a circle and we took each other's hands and then, the oldest woman of the family started to give a speech; she said that there was one death and two murders recently in this big family so we shouldnt take things for granted...and we should be glad about every day which we could spend here on Mother Earth. It was somehow like a prayer because some of the people around me quietly said "amen" every now and then during her speech. It was an interesting experience, that's for sure.

So today, December 26th, I woke up, watched the Clippers vs Phoenix game and then I ran a few errands. One of them was to finally call Leonhard Hieber's relative in Long Beach, and as I am used to by the Hieber family, his relative turned out also to be friendly and welcoming :-) I think I'll visit her family next week and perhaps have lunch with them- I'm already excited!!

Another exciting thing is that my friend Taurius (nickname Terry) came back earlier today which means that I'll finally be able again to work out at my school because he has the keys for the gym and the weight room. Believe me guys, I'm really happy about that because I couldnt really work out the last couple of days....and besides, it also rained a lot the last week so I'm glad about the opportunity to use the gym at the school :-)

Basicially, the last couple of days were a little but boring because school is already over ( I got 6 As and one C !) and most of my friends went back home 2 their families during Christmas time.
But fortunaltely, New Years Eve isnt far away and then my parents will come soon in january! :-) I'm especially looking forward to out trip to Hawaii...I cant wait to see the sun again and lay at the beach :-)

Oh and yes, it is weird to celebrate Christmas without going 2 the church at 6/7pm on December 24th and without having snow!! Actually, we had 19-20 degrees and sunshine on Christmas Eve which doesnt feel like winter at all! Crazy!

Here are a few new words which I learned during the last couple of days:
1.) to mitigate sth =etw. abschwächen, lindern,mäßigen
2.) detrimental= nachteillig,schäflich für
3.) meekly=kleinlaut
4.) glum=mürrisch, verdireßlich
5.) curb= Bordstein
6.) dork= Depp,Idiot
7.) to pummel=auf jd. einprügeln, einschlagen
8.) to bedevil= jdn, be/verhexen, plagen,quälen
9.) to become infatuated with so/sth= sich in jmdn. vernarren

And two more words which you hear/need in everyday's conversations: dandruff=schuppen, band aid=plaster

And here is an interesting article about the differences between Germany and the US:
http://math-www.uni-paderborn.de/~axel/us-d.html

Alright, I added a few random pictures from the last days and I hope that you guys enjoyed your holidays and that you have a good time!

Peace,

Flo (with the Marines)

Thanksgiving/Trip to San Francisco

Hi folks,

I finally found the time and the motivation to write about my last trip to San Francisco with Henry :-). We went during the Thanksgiving break and we were away for 6 days, visiting 4-5 cities altogether. We also drove around 960 miles during that trip; in average, every American drive around 800 something miles during the Thanksgiving break! Crazy, what?! 800 miles= nearly 1300 kilometers, and that every year. But it was worth driving that far, I can tell you!
We spent Thanksgiving with a Japanese family which Henry knows really well. In the beginning I was a little bit afraid of going to an unknown family to join them in celebrating a family fest but my fears weren't justified; The family was so welcoming, hospitable, and warm-hearted so that it only took me a couple of minutes to get really comfortable around them. And then came the food.Hmmmm yummy in my tummy haha it was really delicious; the turkey, the mashed potatoes, the salads, the stuffing for the turkey...everything tasted really really well!
After Thanksgiving, we continued driving up north in order to reach San Francisco. It is true that it is significantly colder in SF than in LA but still we were lucky so it rained only during one day (saturday) and the rest of the days were just sunny :-)
San Francisco itself is very different from LA; the houses look differently, there are more trees and everything appears to be greener and more lush (that's probably due to the different weather conditions).
In SF, we vistited the Fisherman's Wharf, went to see the Golden Gate Bridge (yay, I finally felt like a real tourist),lombard street, and finally we saw the island Alcatraz but unfortunately we couldn't book a tour for it because it was already sold out in advance :-(
Tip: If you ever go to San Francisco, book the tour in advance! We didnt expect it to be sold out because right now is off-season but still it was very busy.
On the way to San Francisco, we took the famous scenic route 1 which was really beautiful but it takes you a long time because most of the time you cannot drive faster than 50 miles per hour. On the way back, we took the 5 which is a little bit more inland (east) and sometimes you can drive up to 70 mph (normal speed limit: 65 mph) so on the way back we were a lot faster than on the way to it. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the mountatin/hill we drove up (Henry do you?) but it was the first time when I experienced hail in California! I can only remember that we were about 4000+ feet high at around 11 o'clock pm and it suddenly started to hail...Believe me guys, during this moment, I was really glad that I've bought new tires :-)

So all in all, the trip was really good and I'm glad that we took enough time to go up north because there are so many things to see on the way to it (example: Hearst castle; the only castle I've seen so far here in America and i'm sure it's unique). We also took many cool pictures which yall can see when I'm back in Germany =)

Back to college life: This week and next week we have finals which means that you write your last exam in your subjects. Today I had my yoga exam (yes,hahaha...) and tomorrow I'll have my natural disasters exam, and next week I'll have my Spanish and History exams. In other words, I'm pretty busy with studying for my exams and playing basketball (like always =) ). Today we had again a little bit over 72 degrees, which equals 21-22 degrees celsius, and it is so weird to celebrate Christmas, listen to Christmas songs in the malls, and talk about Christmas presents when it is sunny and warm outside...It just does not seem to be right. My biological clock tells me that something is wrong =)

I just hope that you guys back in Germany, and other cold parts of the world, don't freeze to death and please drive safely on those snowy roads...I know what it feels like to slide and slip on a snow-covered road and to have an accident. Just slow down a little bit and calculate more time for if you wanna go somewhere.

That being said, I look forward to my American Christmas experience and a warm and sunny December and I hope that I'll continue getting A's in my exams...;)

Flo (picture to the right: Nusplingen, the center of the world, haha! Next to Moscow, Madrid, Detroit...)