More than half a year based in northern Germany. What does one do? I…
lived in a shared apartment for the first time in my life in a room with 4 metres to the ceiling, passed an awful exam in statistics despite the fact that I’m a math idiot, passed all my finals with great grades, got stuck with my tiny Corsa several times in the snowed-in streets of Lüneburg, met some really incredible people that turned into great friends, saw one of my favourite rock bands live for the second time, lost my favourite umbrella that had been all over Europe with me at the airport security at Stansted, stayed in a hostel room in eastern Berlin with people from all over the world, went to a gay club for the first time in my life, spent countless nights drinking German fine wine and socializing with friends, went to a Halloween party dressed as a grand mother, went on a fantastic roadtrip to Zürich via Berlin, Heidelberg and Munich, realised I had fallen in love, showed someone a whole new world, held hands in cobble-stone streets, later experienced a bittersweet and unexpected breakup with the same person, thought life was unfair, was talked into going with a few friends for a long weekend to Prague in a first attempt to get over the same, drove a Mercedes G-Wagen for the first time in my life, met up with my brothers in Berlin and showed them around as the chosen “tour guide”, lost a very dear ex-collegue and friend (may you rest in peace forever, Colonel Rene Holtel), went to Amsterdam for the funeral and cried side by side with family and military representatives, came up with the brilliant topic for my bachelor thesis in the same city after quite a few beers and moments of grief, later decided I would dedicate the thesis to Rene, went to Sweden for Christmas and baked ginger bread cookies with my Dad and brother, decided it was time to shape up and make the most out of life, went to Prague and participated in a foreign correspondence course, went to a sex club for the first time in my life in order to write a story on a new important law on human trafficking in the Czech Republic, met The Economist’s Brussels correspondent, was offered my own column in an English-language newspaper (!), had Czech food with people from all over the world, got lost by myself in the Czech mountains late on a snowy January night, started up a personal website again, saw people falling in love over the cultural boundaries more than twice, experienced someone getting stalked, spontaneously went to London and attended a seminar at the London School of Economics, stayed with a poet and writer in Westminster, met The Economist’s Balkan correspondent, exchanged business cards with a BBC Eastern Europe correspondent and possible source for the future thesis, had lunch with an acquaintance at the Royal College of Defence Studies at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom and almost died of excitement when invited to their private library, couldn’t stop myself from walking into London’s best book store “Foyle’s” on Charing Cross Road and ended up stuck there for three hours, spent way too much money on Regent Street shopping, listened to Madonna and strolled in Hyde Park, stood in the middle of Piccadilly Circus at night and realised that life was really great, met someone on the flight back to Germany that I’m still in contact with (gotta love airplane neighbour small talk!), spontaneously applied for a job in Brussels and actually went there to really show my interest, gave away 25 business cards and realised I had brought too few, attended a workshop, got lost between EU institution buildings, met some locals and spontaneously stayed out until 7am, drove back and realised going in the first place was an incredibly smart move, invited some friends to my goodbye party and didn’t think anyone would show up, was surprised and happy when everybody showed up…
6 months of a young, European life
More than half a year based in northern Germany. What does one do? I…
lived in a shared apartment for the first time in my life in a room with 4 metres to the ceiling, passed an awful exam in statistics despite the fact that I’m a math idiot, passed all my finals with great grades, got stuck with my tiny Corsa several times in the snowed-in streets of Lüneburg, met some really incredible people that turned into great friends, saw one of my favourite rock bands live for the second time, lost my favourite umbrella that had been all over Europe with me at the airport security at Stansted, stayed in a hostel room in eastern Berlin with people from all over the world, went to a gay club for the first time in my life, spent countless nights drinking German fine wine and socializing with friends, went to a Halloween party dressed as a grand mother, went on a fantastic roadtrip to Zürich via Berlin, Heidelberg and Munich, realised I had fallen in love, showed someone a whole new world, held hands in cobble-stone streets, later experienced a bittersweet and unexpected breakup with the same person, thought life was unfair, was talked into going with a few friends for a long weekend to Prague in a first attempt to get over the same, drove a Mercedes G-Wagen for the first time in my life, met up with my brothers in Berlin and showed them around as the chosen “tour guide”, lost a very dear ex-collegue and friend (may you rest in peace forever, Colonel Rene Holtel), went to Amsterdam for the funeral and cried side by side with family and military representatives, came up with the brilliant topic for my bachelor thesis in the same city after quite a few beers and moments of grief, later decided I would dedicate the thesis to Rene, went to Sweden for Christmas and baked ginger bread cookies with my Dad and brother, decided it was time to shape up and make the most out of life, went to Prague and participated in a foreign correspondence course, went to a sex club for the first time in my life in order to write a story on a new important law on human trafficking in the Czech Republic, met The Economist’s Brussels correspondent, was offered my own column in an English-language newspaper (!), had Czech food with people from all over the world, got lost by myself in the Czech mountains late on a snowy January night, started up a personal website again, saw people falling in love over the cultural boundaries more than twice, experienced someone getting stalked, spontaneously went to London and attended a seminar at the London School of Economics, stayed with a poet and writer in Westminster, met The Economist’s Balkan correspondent, exchanged business cards with a BBC Eastern Europe correspondent and possible source for the future thesis, had lunch with an acquaintance at the Royal College of Defence Studies at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom and almost died of excitement when invited to their private library, couldn’t stop myself from walking into London’s best book store “Foyle’s” on Charing Cross Road and ended up stuck there for three hours, spent way too much money on Regent Street shopping, listened to Madonna and strolled in Hyde Park, stood in the middle of Piccadilly Circus at night and realised that life was really great, met someone on the flight back to Germany that I’m still in contact with (gotta love airplane neighbour small talk!), spontaneously applied for a job in Brussels and actually went there to really show my interest, gave away 25 business cards and realised I had brought too few, attended a workshop, got lost between EU institution buildings, met some locals and spontaneously stayed out until 7am, drove back and realised going in the first place was an incredibly smart move, invited some friends to my goodbye party and didn’t think anyone would show up, was surprised and happy when everybody showed up…
Not bad. Not bad at all.