söndag 11 april 2010
måndag 22 februari 2010
Cambridge-London-Birmingham-Cambridge in 36 hours
Heyho there!
The last week in Cambridge has started. No idea, if I can finish my work and do everything that I wanted to by end of the week. Probably not, but I don’t care anymore since it’s going to be busy anyway. My Saturday started at 7:30 when I got up and made myself ready for going to the lab. It wasn’t too bad as it was just little work to do (there was a reaction going on that I had to finish) but I still had to be there at 9 o’ clock. T
wo hours later I was on the train to London. After my last trip to London, I got the feeling that I didn’t see the “real” London. In fact, my first impression was not too good. London is a big and busy city with loads of tourists, very crowded and stressful which make it a very tough place to relax. Obviously, I couldn’t be too wrong with my description, but still I knew that I probably missed out the exciting part of London which everybody loves and refers to. And I didn’t want to leave the UK without having seen it! So mission London, chapter II, came directly after the lab work. I still didn’t have to much insider information to know where what is going on in London, but at least I had a couple of names this time. Brick Lane, Camden Town and Carnaby Street in Soho were the places that I went to. And yeah, I enjoyed it. Especially, Camden Town is a great place! I saw a H&M store with a proper DJ playing some electro tunes. I found new shoes. And I saw many crazy shops and markets. The markets reminded me partly of the flea market at Mauerpark in Berlin. There were several markets, selling all kind of unnecessary stuff, always with some DJ’s trying to advertise their music and to sell a CD. Good place, indeed. My emergency plan was to spend the day at the British Museum if I hadn’t enjoyed the places I went to, but there was no need for that. I started to like London, in fact, I would love to spend some more time there. But there won’t be more time now. At 6 pm I started moving towards Euston Station (which was rather complicated as the tube station turned out to be closed…, traffic in London can be very annoying!). I was supposed to take a train to Birmingham from Euston Station. Yes, Birmingham where my uncle lives. I talked to him last week and we agreed on that I should see him, and since my time in the UK is very limited, I decided to do it at once. So I went there for a night and a day. And what can I say, I didn’t know what to expect, but eventually I enjoyed the meeting very much. They were very lovely people, i.e. my uncle, his wife, and their 3 children. I got good food and very nice talks in Arabic and English and had a very good time there!
So finally, I’m back in Cambs, and just one week left. A week with a lot of work and many good-byes. Nothing really to look forward to. But on Saturday, I’ll be leaving for Manchester and I hope that I eventually can relax there. I’ll keep you updated. See you!
onsdag 10 februari 2010
This is England as well
I complain too much, just want to give you an idea of how England can be. The pictures are from my trip to Brighton...
söndag 7 februari 2010
The blue parrot
Another week over leaving just 3 weeks of lab work. Time seems to run away and I am afraid that I won't make it to carry out all experiments that I wanted to. So I spent my Sunday in the lab today.
But yesterday was spent more appropiate to a Saturday. First of all, I got a bike. A Belgian friend from the CouchSurfing community was so kind to borrow me his racing bike. A very nice blue racing bike, the blue parrot. It's my first racing bike and I really enjoy riding it. When I got that bike, it had a puncture in the front tire, so the first thing that I did was to get that fixed. Well, I spent another day of shopping in Cambridge city, there is anyway not much more to do here. Primark this time. I didn't think that I could find anything there, but obviously I was wrong. And the best thing, everything costs like nothing. No clue, how they can do it.
Afterwards, I went to the service at King's Chapel. King's Chapel is the Chapel belonging to King's College, probably Cambridge's main tourist attraction. Now it was my first service, I think, but that place is incredible. A very beautiful building, great architecture, brilliant acoustics, an amazing choir, simply a great atmosphere. Then I went with some friends to a pub and had dinner and attended a party at King's College and ended up at another place, the Hidden Room. Life is getting better and better here and I enjoyed riding a bike home instead of walikng more than 30 minutes, but every adventure will come to an end.
Here we are, 3 weeks left for lab work and I made some plans for the time afterwards. In 3 weeks I'll leave for Manchester where I am planning to spend almost a week, then I'll continue to Liverpool and use Liverpool as a starting point for some hiking in the Lake District. On 10 March, I'll be pleased to take the flight from Liverpool to Berlin. I am looking forward to seeing you all again!
But yesterday was spent more appropiate to a Saturday. First of all, I got a bike. A Belgian friend from the CouchSurfing community was so kind to borrow me his racing bike. A very nice blue racing bike, the blue parrot. It's my first racing bike and I really enjoy riding it. When I got that bike, it had a puncture in the front tire, so the first thing that I did was to get that fixed. Well, I spent another day of shopping in Cambridge city, there is anyway not much more to do here. Primark this time. I didn't think that I could find anything there, but obviously I was wrong. And the best thing, everything costs like nothing. No clue, how they can do it.
Afterwards, I went to the service at King's Chapel. King's Chapel is the Chapel belonging to King's College, probably Cambridge's main tourist attraction. Now it was my first service, I think, but that place is incredible. A very beautiful building, great architecture, brilliant acoustics, an amazing choir, simply a great atmosphere. Then I went with some friends to a pub and had dinner and attended a party at King's College and ended up at another place, the Hidden Room. Life is getting better and better here and I enjoyed riding a bike home instead of walikng more than 30 minutes, but every adventure will come to an end.
Here we are, 3 weeks left for lab work and I made some plans for the time afterwards. In 3 weeks I'll leave for Manchester where I am planning to spend almost a week, then I'll continue to Liverpool and use Liverpool as a starting point for some hiking in the Lake District. On 10 March, I'll be pleased to take the flight from Liverpool to Berlin. I am looking forward to seeing you all again!
fredag 29 januari 2010
A little update
Hi folks!
I know, I haven't been very active by means of blogging, but I think I owe you a little update about my life. Well, what happened in the last month? I was in Berlin for celebrating NYE and had a great time seeing my friends and it became just obvious for me why I prefer being in Berlin to Cambridge. But well, happy days are over anow nd I returned to Cambridge 6 January and I directly noticed that, since the white landscapes were suddenly replaced by the grey and rainy English version of winter (and possibly summer as well). While people in other places experienced a rather bitter winter, temperatures here have always been something between -2 and +8°C degrees. This is just nice though when the sky is blue which hardly happens.
Life here in Cambridge started to become more friendly. I have been quite active with a bunch of very nice people of the CouchSurfing community and actually enjoyed some very good times in Cambridge. This includes among others my first time to an English night club. It was called "the place" and if "the place" doesn't promise enough, you'll better have to gain this experience by yourselves. Or maybe better not. I can be modest, especially if I don't expect too much and after the experiences from Sweden, I thought I was prepared for everything - well, I was wrong. I don't exaggerate when I say that I have never been to such a scrubby place. I was very relieved when "the place" closed at 2:30 am and we could continue at someone's place.
What happened else? I have been to a college pub which wasn't the special experience that I hoped it would be. I went to Dublin for a weekend which was definetely fun. Just refreshing to be back in a real city. Dublin was prettier than I thought it would be. Its nightlife has quite a lot to offer, especially the area around Temple Bar. I participated in a guided city tour and in a pub crawl which was definetly a highlight of the trip. Only bad thing with Dublin is that it's expensive as hell and not the best place for having a budget trip. Back to Cambridge, all my focus was committed to a talk that I had to give about my project and my progress. So I spent a rather long time to prepare this thoroughly and Wednesday it was. Approx. 90 minutes including many questions and lots of discussion, but I survived. In the beginning of the week, my bike decided to break. While I was driving, the back wheel fell on the street. Nothing else to do than carry the bike and the wheel back home and to walk.
So here I am now, approx. 4 weeks of lab work left (which are gonna be quite tough) and without bike. Even though, I never really loved Cambridge, I start getting melancholic especially when listening to Keane and walking down the rainy streets here. Another chapter is closing soon. On the other hand, I am really looking forward to going back to Berlin and particularly to end up lab work. I mean, I did like my project but I am realizing more and more that I get tired by working in the lab, always this pressure and the sweaty hands when working with radioactivity and rather long lab days don't contribute to a relaxed atmosphere. Indeed, it's getting time to finish all this and relax and maybe start something new.
For today, I decided to have a last relaxed day since I want to leave early. The reason is Brighton. Yes, after work I'll be on the way to the very South of England to spend a fun weekend at the seaside exploring the supposed to be lively city of Brighton. I hope that I'll enjoy it and that you enjoy the weekend as well! See you!
Life here in Cambridge started to become more friendly. I have been quite active with a bunch of very nice people of the CouchSurfing community and actually enjoyed some very good times in Cambridge. This includes among others my first time to an English night club. It was called "the place" and if "the place" doesn't promise enough, you'll better have to gain this experience by yourselves. Or maybe better not. I can be modest, especially if I don't expect too much and after the experiences from Sweden, I thought I was prepared for everything - well, I was wrong. I don't exaggerate when I say that I have never been to such a scrubby place. I was very relieved when "the place" closed at 2:30 am and we could continue at someone's place.
What happened else? I have been to a college pub which wasn't the special experience that I hoped it would be. I went to Dublin for a weekend which was definetely fun. Just refreshing to be back in a real city. Dublin was prettier than I thought it would be. Its nightlife has quite a lot to offer, especially the area around Temple Bar. I participated in a guided city tour and in a pub crawl which was definetly a highlight of the trip. Only bad thing with Dublin is that it's expensive as hell and not the best place for having a budget trip. Back to Cambridge, all my focus was committed to a talk that I had to give about my project and my progress. So I spent a rather long time to prepare this thoroughly and Wednesday it was. Approx. 90 minutes including many questions and lots of discussion, but I survived. In the beginning of the week, my bike decided to break. While I was driving, the back wheel fell on the street. Nothing else to do than carry the bike and the wheel back home and to walk.
So here I am now, approx. 4 weeks of lab work left (which are gonna be quite tough) and without bike. Even though, I never really loved Cambridge, I start getting melancholic especially when listening to Keane and walking down the rainy streets here. Another chapter is closing soon. On the other hand, I am really looking forward to going back to Berlin and particularly to end up lab work. I mean, I did like my project but I am realizing more and more that I get tired by working in the lab, always this pressure and the sweaty hands when working with radioactivity and rather long lab days don't contribute to a relaxed atmosphere. Indeed, it's getting time to finish all this and relax and maybe start something new.
For today, I decided to have a last relaxed day since I want to leave early. The reason is Brighton. Yes, after work I'll be on the way to the very South of England to spend a fun weekend at the seaside exploring the supposed to be lively city of Brighton. I hope that I'll enjoy it and that you enjoy the weekend as well! See you!
tisdag 26 januari 2010
Customized spam
Random spam message which I received today in my skype window:
[25.01.2010 23:43:35] diplomas_here: Degree in any field.
GET YOUR DIPLOMA TODAY!If you are looking for a fast and effective way to get a diploma,(non accredited) this is the best way out for you. Provide us with degree you are interested in. Call us right now on: +13122607939 "Just leave your NAME & PHONE NO. (with CountryCode)" in the voicemail.
Our staff will get back to you in next few days!<<<
Unbelievable, isn't it?
[25.01.2010 23:43:35] diplomas_here: Degree in any field.
GET YOUR DIPLOMA TODAY!If you are looking for a fast and effective way to get a diploma,(non accredited) this is the best way out for you. Provide us with degree you are interested in. Call us right now on: +13122607939 "Just leave your NAME & PHONE NO. (with CountryCode)" in the voicemail.
Our staff will get back to you in next few days!<<<
Unbelievable, isn't it?
lördag 5 december 2009
The world of Tesco & co
To go shopping in England is so exciting, at least I think that there are so many things to discover everytime you do it. Even more than in Germany, I feel the urgent need to buy much more senseless things once I am in a supermarket.
Cambridge has approx. 100,000 inhabitants which makes it to a rather small town. The first day I was here I heared that the best store for a bigger shopping is Tesco which is located at the outskirts of the city in Cherry Hinton Village. And the first impressing point are the "normal" opening times:
And of course, you can find everything in that superstore. Computer, clothes, home appliances and even food. The biggest problem is just that you can't stop buying stuff. "Buy one, get one for free", "3 for 2 pounds" a.s.o. My bitter statistics after my first shopping round was 75 pounds. (more than 80 €) whereof 90% of this amount was spent for food! And actually, things are not necessarily more expensive here. When it comes to clothing, people from euro countries get even a big advantage as prices often are calculated for an exchange rate of 1 pound = 1.5 euro which is no more the case. Practically, something that in Germany would cost 30 euro is available for 20 pounds in the UK which is not more than 22 euro. And best of all, is the range of stuff that you get in the shops. It is everytime a pleasure to get there and everytime I have to realise painfully that I spend more than an hour in the supermarket. But no light without shadow and the bitter part of english shops is the bread section. Thousands of different kinds of bread and one worse than the other. However, my biggest discovery in Tesco superstore was "German Rye Bread". In a country with no bread culture - isn't this reason enough to admire Tesco?!
Yesterday, I was unfaithful - I went to another supermarket, Budgens. Not as big, not as nice and not as cheap, but it is the closest one. And actually, I made another big discovery. Innocent superfruit smoothie with pomegranates, blueberries & acai. It was horribly expensive but caughtmy eyes. I haven't tried it yet - probably it sounds much better than it will taste. This liter contains 76 pressed grapes, 2 1/2 mashed bananas, 1 1/2 pressed pomegranates, 2 squeezed oranges, 160 crushed blueberries, 100 peeled acai berries, some freshly squeezed lemon and 0 bungalows (or any stairs whatsoever) - no idea what they mean with that last fact. Sounds good, right?!
And of course, you can find everything in that superstore. Computer, clothes, home appliances and even food. The biggest problem is just that you can't stop buying stuff. "Buy one, get one for free", "3 for 2 pounds" a.s.o. My bitter statistics after my first shopping round was 75 pounds. (more than 80 €) whereof 90% of this amount was spent for food! And actually, things are not necessarily more expensive here. When it comes to clothing, people from euro countries get even a big advantage as prices often are calculated for an exchange rate of 1 pound = 1.5 euro which is no more the case. Practically, something that in Germany would cost 30 euro is available for 20 pounds in the UK which is not more than 22 euro. And best of all, is the range of stuff that you get in the shops. It is everytime a pleasure to get there and everytime I have to realise painfully that I spend more than an hour in the supermarket. But no light without shadow and the bitter part of english shops is the bread section. Thousands of different kinds of bread and one worse than the other. However, my biggest discovery in Tesco superstore was "German Rye Bread". In a country with no bread culture - isn't this reason enough to admire Tesco?!
Yesterday, I was unfaithful - I went to another supermarket, Budgens. Not as big, not as nice and not as cheap, but it is the closest one. And actually, I made another big discovery. Innocent superfruit smoothie with pomegranates, blueberries & acai. It was horribly expensive but caughtmy eyes. I haven't tried it yet - probably it sounds much better than it will taste. This liter contains 76 pressed grapes, 2 1/2 mashed bananas, 1 1/2 pressed pomegranates, 2 squeezed oranges, 160 crushed blueberries, 100 peeled acai berries, some freshly squeezed lemon and 0 bungalows (or any stairs whatsoever) - no idea what they mean with that last fact. Sounds good, right?!
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