too much to say too little space/time/sense to write it all down

my summer was....a list of impressions

Albania, aldo, corona, white pebble beaches, blue sea, blue sky

Cuba, pina colada, music, cars, beaches, people, spanish

Heidelberg, Jürgen, Essay, coffee, home

Stuttgart

Its too crude but at least there is a record :)

loving the cheap flights

Im back from a crazy euro trip. Barcelona, Poland, Bonn, Menorca, Barcelona, Stuttgart, Bavarian part of Danube, Stuttgart, Heidelberg. there is so much to tell, digest and sort through: Barcelona is now on my list of favorite cities. I had an absolutely amazing time in Poland - going to a music festival with possibly my two favorite people from imperial, chilled in a beautiful villa in Menorca, schlepped my luggage around Barcelona for yet another day, cycled along the Danube, and now I am here, Heidelberg, home 3. I wonder what the rest of summer will bring?
find Midnight city by M83, skinny love by Bon Iver for the accompanying soundtrack :)

Tingling of summer

I am restless
I have an urge to be on the road
passing landscape, dreaming in a moving vehicle - traveling is end and means in one.
new friends, new faces, new things to see
the world is so big and i have so little time
it seems as though its running through my fingers - like the sand i pick up from the beach.
I want to see so much, I want to do so much, I want to know so much
but when? when?
I am in london, yes and even in this town there is so much i haven't seen and done yet.
It gets lost in the everyday, in the routine and laziness. the conscience about what I should be doing, and the fatigue after long day of lectures.
I need to find something to do - i have another month, not enough for anything formal - sewing, languages or just kicking myself out the door more often?
all the time
i am dreaming of foreign places

road trip: switzerland, italy, france and back

And I almost forgot - I have a road trip to write about! last weekend I arranged for my mums car (I have 5 days off), arranged for 3 days with Jürgen and we drove down through switzerland to lago maggiore where we stayed the night, then down to the mediterranean sea coast, over to france - monaco and nice, stayed over near antibes and then through the haute provence along the route napoleon via grenoble, geneva etc back to stuttgart. A long trip in a short time, crazy but very much worth it. as I need to study now, Ill let pictures speak: (to be uploaded later)

Newly discovered cooking almanac : Food blogs!

Yes, I should be studying at this moment (as I have an exam in 3 weeks, and haven't really looked at any lectures for it yet) so this will be short:
I take quite a bit of free time nowadays - my dance partner is not around which means little dancing and philosophy is over as well. that leaves time to procrastinate, watch movies on bbc iplayer and do some proper cooking - more than just the usual steamed vegetables and bread with topping.

I have discovered the vast landscape of foodblogs. I am only scratching at the surface of what promises to be endless masses of favorite, flavorsome, original (and classic), easy and super difficult recipes from all over the place. It all started when i wanted to describe a type of semolina cake to my flatmates and googled it. Whatever I was after did not come up, but a similar version made with ricotta cheese (italian, similar to cream cheese but less fat and mainly used in cooking and baking). That led me on to a chicken and vegetable oven baked dish which i tried yesterday and was amazing.
The blog i landed on was based around austrian cuisine but with some deviations around it as well.  I do agree with the fellow blogger that despite the italian, french, asian, moroccan and fusion trends going on, traditional "regional" cooking is also worth looking into. Usually adjusted sugar and fat to the lowered calorific usage nowadays does the trick to turn recipes my grandparent's grandparents have cooked into modern delicacies.

On the website of my favorite magazine (which, coincidentally, is about food as well) i have found the link to loads more of such blogs: great for the inner foodie, terrible for the upcoming exams. That brings me back to lectures i need to start...

Want to come for dinner? - needless to say ill cook (pure) veg for you :)

Wim Wenders

I tried out the independent cinema "around the corner" today. Its called riverside studios; hosts a gallery, theatre and cinema and shows independent movies with the occasional blockbuster strewn in between. My course mate Pawel had texted me friday night that we need to go check it out, so i looked up the website and found out that today they showed two wim wenders movies in a double feature.

Wim Wenders, a german director. One of the few who makes me believe that movies are not only the high polished crowd appealing and softly wallowing (not to exercise the brain at all) pictures that can be seen in any big movie palace on this planet. One that makes me believe that movies still can be pieces of art: angles and lighting thought about, music not only fitting but interesting, pictures speaking for themselves and dialogues meaningful, thought provoking, if not too intellectual for the viewer to grasp.

Wim Wenders is the same director of the film "pina" i wrote about a year ago. His former movies "alice in the cities" and "wings of desire" which i saw today were just as touching. the former was about a little girl that in the help of a journalist, a solo male guy who seemed to have lost his identity and his meaning in the world tries to look for her mother. It was a road movie, set in the US, amsterdam, germany. It was a glimpse of life in the 70s, if nothing else.

The latter story was a bit more complicated - the plot being later used for a hollywood remake. It was set in Berlin. Angels exist and walk unseen amongst the people. One of them wants to become human, falls in love. Half the dialogue was in poetry based on Rilke (german poet). And again, beautiful pictures, great music. Sometimes both movies seemed slow, especially after being used to blockbuster full speed action, but anything else wouldn't have fit.
They seemed to be showing life - scenes other movies don't show, like the view out of the front window of a car in heavy rain. Peoples fears, how people think, feel and reflect: not on the surface but the things that go on inside if you are worried or are in pondersome philosophical mood.
It was wonderful - a good sunday, and hopefully a favorite place of the future.

ROH - La Bohème

its not breakfast at tiffanies which gives the world its shine, its a night out at the royal opera house. and today i discovered my favorite show there: la boheme. the best opera i have seen yet. beautiful music, an unusual (but romantic and fantasized of) setting in the poorer artist circles of fin de siecle paris, and a beautiful, touching, heart wrenching love story. halfway through act 1 i admitted for the first time: this is why i love opera. if nothing else had me converted, this production did the trick. today was a special night, the bbc was filming for a documentary. this meant i git ti see act 2 twice! lucky that! i had 9 pounds standing tickets, but after the first interval, gabriel (my good friend and opera/culture company) quickly converted those into 4th row seats. I need to attach some youtube for you to get an inclination of what it was that blew me away:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2Y353fyL0w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5IJ_p6WHi8