Leipzig

On Wednesday the 5th, after spending some nice hours in Magdeburg (thanks to Tim and Andy for taking some time to meet me for lunch), I moved to Leipzig to start my internship. Well, moving is maybe not the right term. Since I still don’t have an apartment. I am staying at the moment in a youth hostel until I find a flat. Shouldn’t take so long, I hope. I looked at a room today in which I could move in next week. I will look at some other place tomorrow and decide but the room I looked at today is much cheaper and with the money I save I could buy a new laptop in case my old one cannot be repaired.

So I started my internship on Thursday and after 2 days I can say I like it. Everybody is super nice and although I didn’t do a lot during the first 2 days, the next weeks will be busy. Got 3 assignments 20min before my day ended on Friday. :D Perfect timing. But I will have a lot of research to do and that is something I always enjoyed.

That's more or less all I can say about my internship, at least in a blog. If anybody wants details please email me. :)

end of 2011

So it is a bit late but better than never.

I hope everybody had nice Christmas holidays and well came good into the new years.

My Christmas was really short. I had to work till 2pm on Christmas Eve and wasn’t home until 6pm. My family had then our traditional Christmas Eve diner, rice with a pork casserole. The only food on Christmas I actually like at my house. ;) Then well we had a small gift giving. It wasn’t much, although probably the first time we had something like that in about 5 years or so. I even got my favorite Finnish chocolate from my sister. Never thought she could be that nice. :P On the first Day of Christmas we had my maternal grandma and my paternal grandpa over which was really nice even though I could have skipped the food altogether. I just like Finnish Christmas food much more, or well just any other food than my mother’s duck or goose. So that was more or less Christmas. I had to be at work again on the 27th at 3pm. I worked then till the 31st. The plan was to have a shift till 6pm but nobody thought we would work in the afternoon after all. But in the end we worked from 11 to 5pm! I was at home around 8pm, so very late for New Years Eve! And I was so tired so no big party for me this time. Not that I ever went on a big New Years Eve party. I don’t consider that evening to be something special so during the past years I was pretty often alone, or just with one or very few other people.

So that was 2011. Very interesting year. The first half was so awesome, and then there were a few not so nice months, or well the rest of the year just sucked but that I got my dream internship was pretty awesome. But the year didn’t end so well. My laptop sort of broke and I might need a new one. Just good that I still have my 7 year old laptop, so at least I can get a little work done, but the monitor is partly broken, you can get any sounds, so no tv or movie watching and you can’t really do two or more things at the same time. So I need a lot of patience. And well it took me 3 days to find out why my laptop wasn’t connecting to the wifi at the hostel.

Christmas Carols – My Top 10

So the second advent is already over and although I don't have much Christmas spirit it is still one of my favorite holidays.

But since the 1st Advent I am officially listening to Christmas carols and to spread the holiday spirit a but I want to shared my top 10. Since I lived abroad for a while my favorite Christmas Carols represent a wide range of types and languages. I hope you enjoy my collection. :D

1. Do you hear what I hear (Glee version)
I didn't know that one until a few weeks ago when the new Glee Christmas album came out. And now I am really in love. The original is a few decades old and also Ok but nothing compared to the Glee version. And that although I can't stand the 2 who sang the song since I saw them on 'The Glee Project' but you can't say anything against their voices. :)

2. Jul jul strålande jul
A Swedish carol which I got to know during my first stay in Finland in 2005. Just love it. It's simple and but beautiful. Unfortunately I still haven't found ait on youtube in good quality but I keep looking.

3. Oi jouluyö/ oh holy night
No matter in what language you sing it, I just love it. For many many years already. And each time I find a new language version I rejoice. :P

4. En Etsi Valtaa Loistoa (Jean Sibelius)
Probably THE Finnish Christmas Song. Written by the one and only Jean Sibelius. And it proofs my experience that so many Finnish Christmas Carols sound very depressing. Not that I mind, it is just how I experienced it. But still I like that Song very much, like more or less everything from Sibelius.

5. Winter Wonderland/ Winterwald
Liked this song since I was a little kid. And since I liked it so much I even sang it in my primary school Christmas celebration. Completely insane since no other kid new it but well. :D My mother was a Heintje Fan and his Christmas CD was on heavy rotation each December in my house.

6. Where you there on that Christmas night
Got to know this song last year and listed to it all December and was sad when Christmas was over and I had to take it of my mp3 player. So now it's back on and I listen to it at least once a day. Oh and not many people know that song so I am happy to share it here.

7. Tulkoon joulu
Another Finnish Christmas Song. I have it in very many different versions on my pc but I like the one from Suvi Teräsniska the best. Not a sad and depressing Christmas song, but very uplifting. At least for me. :)

8. Nu Tändas Tusen Juleljus
another Swedish carol which i enjoy also very much

9. Stille Nacht/ Silent Night
The only reason why I went to Church on Christmas with my grand da

10. Tonttujen jouluyö
A very loved Christmas song for children in Finland and well not just Children love it. It is fun to sing and if I remember right there might be even a dance to it. Or something like that. Tip tip tap! :P

Work hard. Have fun. Make history.

So 3 weeks ago I started my job at Amazon as a warehouse aid for the Christmas season and well... it is as hard as I expected but worse is that we live about 45min away from the company in a tiny village without internet and even cell phone reception. Who would have thought those places still exist in Germany? But since I really need the money I try to survive till Christmas. Even though my feet hurt so badly every night after work since I walk about 20k each day. I work the evening shift from 3pm till 11:30, which means getting very late to bed, getting up late. This is nice since I can sleep long but I miss the whole evening. But I would miss it anyway since my roommates who have the morning shift go to bed at 9pm since they have to get up at 4am again. And last but not least I met some nice people who make the time bearable. I live together with 2 girls and two boys in a small holiday cottage which is actually not bad, apart from the fact that I never wanted to share a flat again. But I made a good choice with my house mates so it is ok for 6 weeks.

Better late ...

than never.

So I wish everybody a belated Happy St. Nicholas Day! I hope you guys cleaned your shoes and got a little treat. I didn't cleaned my shoes but still got a chocolate Santa and some cookies from my area manager at Amazon. I really liked the idea, especially since I completely forgot that it was December 6th already. Time really flies.

So and for all the Finns and friends of Finland a belated
Hyvää Itsenäisyyspäivää!!!
It's now 94 years ago that Finland gained independence from Russia. Usually I sit (like many Finns) in front of the telly or computer to watch the Independence Day ball in the presidential palace. And like all girls i just watch it becasue of the dresses and to check how many people i know. Still surprising that the number is usually quite high even when the members of parliament are coming in. but never ask me about German politicians. ;)

Music just makes the world a better place!

So recently I've been addicted to blogs, not just because I am very good in procrastination (which I am) but also because there are so many cool people out there sharing amazing things with the world. Mostly I love all those Do-it-yourself-things (DIY), especially since I'm moving in January I'm always looking out for cheap and creative ways to make your house more like home. So in January I will try to make some cool lamps which I discovered online but until then I like to share other things, especially since I won't be able to write much before January when I start my new job next week (and because I am not ready to share my amateur sewing projects with anybody yet ;) ).

I love music, which everybody knows and I love to share music that I like because I think music can make the world a better place, at least for 3 minutes while listening to a great song. I get a lot of new music inspiration from good tv-shows. Grey's Anatomy has often beautiful music and last week a song on Bones just hit me. I immediately lost my heart for this simple but beautiful melody and after doing some youtube research the singer truly became my new favorite female singer. And that is something special since I barely like female singers at all. Of course I adore Adele but besides that there are usually just a few songs I like from other female singers. So now I want to share my new love with you. Mindy Gledhill. Her song Anchor was featured on Bones but the whole album with the same title is just awesome. At least if you are into that kind of music. I am! Sometimes I just need some quite happy tunes.

Enjoy!



PS Thanks to the blog 'Living, Laughing and Loving' I got inspired to do this fun unique signature. Totally loving it, even though I feel totally girlie now which I am usually not but well who cares, not me! :D

Moin moin ...

Ich liebe die Schiffe, das Meer und den Hafen,
und ich liebe es, nach ´ner Party, ... am Elbstrand einzuschlafen.
Ich bin ein Hamburger Jung und ich komm voll in Schwung,
wenn ich hüpf´ und spring und von Hamburg sing.
Schon Störtebeker wusste, dass der Norden rockt
und hat mir seinem Kahn hier gleich angedockt...

So as somebody might have guessed, I was in Hamburg. For just one day but Hamburg is always worth it. It's my third favorite German city and it has been a while since my last visit. And it is so amazing how the city has changed since my first visit about 10 years ago.

After searching one hour for a parking spot, we ended up right in the Speicherstadt. Which was nice since we could walk around the harbor and the little distance to the town hall and Binnenalster. My friend Steffi went with her boyfriend to the Miniatur Wunderland while I was doing some sightseeing and shopping. I am just not that much into small trains and pregere Northern Europe and the Alps in original size. :P

For the first time I went up the famous church tower of the Michel (St. Michaelis church) which was pretty cool, literally. It was freezing and so windy but definitely worth the few Euros for the entry. I took some nice pictures of Hamburg from above. Then I went to the city center - if you can call it like that - around the town hall. I did some shopping, went back to the harbor to look at some ships and finally ended up in the newly constructed HafenCity.

Well I have to say I love architecture. Historic and modern likewise. I wanted to study it and I still think I could have been a good architect. So i was curious about the new area with the high prized office and apartment buildings. So ähm yeah well I felt like I was back in the GDR. The only difference between these new buildings and the GDR Plattenbauten (prefabricated concrete slabs) is the prize and that you have a bit more glass windows and walls. Seriously I don't get why you would pay millions to live in a concrete and glass cube just because it is right at the harbor. Weird. But I found one building in which I would actually move into. It was white and was the only building with round shapes. You can see a little bit of it in one of the pictures.

Nordisch, wohoohoo, nordisch by nature ....



So much for Hamburg. I am still trying to find a job in Leipzig and waiting for one specific call. Wish me luck!