Hey Du!
Ich hoffe du kannst mir verzeihen, dass ich so lange gebraucht habe, um
auf deine Nachricht zu antworten. Mittlerweile sind aus der einen Woche
schon fast 5 geworden. Morgen habe ich bereits 4 Wochen gearbeitet, die
ersten zwei davon noch ohne Projekt. In die Arbeit komme ich gut rein.
Es gibt viel neues zu lernen für mich und für sowas bin ich ja immer zu
begeistern!
Auch der Grad der Professionalität bei der Arbeit begeistert mich
vollauf, und trotzdem sind alle freundlich und es herrscht stets eine
gute Atmosphere.
Auch in der Stadt gibt es - natürlich - viel neues für mich. Im Moment
bin ich aber noch nicht so recht daran gewöhnt, dass ich jeden Tag so
lange im Büro bin, so dass ich abends immer recht platt bin und kaum
noch auf irgendwas Lust habe. So geht es auch in meiner Wohnung nur noch
recht schleppend voran. Immerhin: Die Küche ist komplett eingerichtet.
Es fehlen zwar noch ein paar kosmetische Kleinigkeiten (wie die Sockelleiste, ein
paar Griffe und das Einlegeteil für die Besteckschublade), aber es geht
immer mal wieder voran, und das tut richtig gut!
Seit letztem Freitag ist meine Freunding nun auch nach München gezogen. Ich war
dann zum Kistenschleppen da und danach für den Ikea-Einkauf und das
Aufbauen der Schränke und des Bettes - es war ein anstengendes
Wochenende, aber jetzt ist ihr Zimmer immerhin schon komplett
eingerichtet.
Seit Samstag ist hier dann ja auch noch das Oktoberfest. Ich hatte zwar
davon gehört, dass es groß ist, aber von der wahren Dimension dieser
Veranstaltung hatte ich wahrlich keine Ahnung. Es ist echt gigantisch.
Und es ist immer proppenvoll! So voll! So unglaublich voll!!! Man könnte
berechtigterweise sagen, es ist ungefähr so voll wie es teuer ist :D
Ich freue mich sehr, dass du mich gefragt hast. Ich hatte mir
vorgenommen, einen Blogeintrag über meine erste Zeit hier zu verfassen
und ich glaube, wenn ich den Auslöser zum Schreiben dieses Berichts
nicht gehabt hätte, dann hätte ich diese Idee wohl wieder gestrichen. So
werde ich jetzt einfach diesen Brief nehmen und ihn auf meinen Blog
tun, damit auch alle anderen, die es interessiert, etwas davon haben. Ich hoffe bald wieder zu schreiben, mal sehen, wie das wird...
Liebste Grüße
Donnerstag, 26. September 2013
Mittwoch, 10. Juli 2013
Letter to a Friend
Dear Liam,
it's been a while since I met you in Amsterdam in the end of May.
The festival with my brothers has been great! Very ... festival-ish. :-D
The time thereafter has been rather.. well, active. Not actually too busy, as in stressfully-lots-of-work-to-do busy, but it didn't get boring either. I've spent a lot of time with my new girlfriend. It's been 6 weeks since she moved back to my town (well, neighboring town) and we've spent time together almost every day. If we don't meet, we talk on the phone, we chat or skype and it's not getting boring with her for a single minute!
She is so very energetic and we're pushing each other to more and more action every time. For example, she took me rock climbing in a gym. As a kid, I enjoyed klimbing all the trees in our garden and I thought I was rather good at it. I didn't climb on anything for a damn long time, hence, she tought me otherwise. She's been rock climbing constantly for the past three years, which puts her so far ahead of me and enables me to learn so much from her!
She also put me back on skates. I didn't skate for -I guess- 12 or so years and there's a good reason for that! :-D But right now, I'm thinking about buying a brand new pair of skates and I developed the high goal of running at least once in this public run in my city with her (which is called "Skate by Night"). Just two months ago, I would have never thought of this!
Luckily, I'm able to return some of the favour. She discovered the piano at my parents house. I had lessons myself when I was a kid for about 2 or 3 years (I can never quite tell...), but at some point I lost interest. As a teenager, other things became more interesting and my parents were'nt pushing enough to keep it going. But I see the prediction of my teacher coming true, saying that I'd be able to get back into it quite well. My girlfriend, however, has never played the piano before. She can read music, though, and now she's picking up playing the piano really fast. It's very inspiring to watch and it -again- pushes me, too, to play again! And I enjoy it a lot!
Talking about music, I can't stop listening to this song, while I'm writing to you: http://vimeo.com/19837862
You might or might not remember, that this song was played at the Bulldog and I was totally amazed by it. It was on Saturday, the night of the football game. You sent me a picture with the title and the artist and I just now rediscovered it. It seems, I'm amazed by it, again :-D
So, how are you doing? How is life treating you? Back in England now? Did everything went alright with that? Did you re-acclimatise?
So you say, you've put a plan together for first phase of the project. That's cool! Sounds good! I'm really interested to hear about it! I still think it is a great thing and I'm happy to be a part of it. Also, I really want to start putting own projects into practice.
Yeah, we can skype, sure thing! How about this Sunday? Or is it too short term? Or is it not important anymore? Am I too late?
As far as I can tell now, I should be able to make room for this project. I still have some hours of work to do at the uni, but it's not quite worth mentioning. However, the timeframe isn't too big, either. I have to prepare my relocation to Munich slowly but surely now. Finding a room or appartment is said to be rather tough down there and I will probably have to personally go there quite a lot to successfully do so. But going down there, on the other hand, also means a couple of hours that I'd be able to work each way ;-)
I'm getting really excited about the future right now: The new job, the new city, my new girlfriend - who's hopefully joining me to the new city ^^ also this project - just like the last one I was lucky to be part of - is gonna get big, I can feel it! It's gonna be big in some extent! ;-)
Hoping to hear from you soon!
Your friend
Andre B.
it's been a while since I met you in Amsterdam in the end of May.
The festival with my brothers has been great! Very ... festival-ish. :-D
The time thereafter has been rather.. well, active. Not actually too busy, as in stressfully-lots-of-work-to-do busy, but it didn't get boring either. I've spent a lot of time with my new girlfriend. It's been 6 weeks since she moved back to my town (well, neighboring town) and we've spent time together almost every day. If we don't meet, we talk on the phone, we chat or skype and it's not getting boring with her for a single minute!
She is so very energetic and we're pushing each other to more and more action every time. For example, she took me rock climbing in a gym. As a kid, I enjoyed klimbing all the trees in our garden and I thought I was rather good at it. I didn't climb on anything for a damn long time, hence, she tought me otherwise. She's been rock climbing constantly for the past three years, which puts her so far ahead of me and enables me to learn so much from her!
She also put me back on skates. I didn't skate for -I guess- 12 or so years and there's a good reason for that! :-D But right now, I'm thinking about buying a brand new pair of skates and I developed the high goal of running at least once in this public run in my city with her (which is called "Skate by Night"). Just two months ago, I would have never thought of this!
Luckily, I'm able to return some of the favour. She discovered the piano at my parents house. I had lessons myself when I was a kid for about 2 or 3 years (I can never quite tell...), but at some point I lost interest. As a teenager, other things became more interesting and my parents were'nt pushing enough to keep it going. But I see the prediction of my teacher coming true, saying that I'd be able to get back into it quite well. My girlfriend, however, has never played the piano before. She can read music, though, and now she's picking up playing the piano really fast. It's very inspiring to watch and it -again- pushes me, too, to play again! And I enjoy it a lot!
Talking about music, I can't stop listening to this song, while I'm writing to you: http://vimeo.com/19837862
You might or might not remember, that this song was played at the Bulldog and I was totally amazed by it. It was on Saturday, the night of the football game. You sent me a picture with the title and the artist and I just now rediscovered it. It seems, I'm amazed by it, again :-D
So, how are you doing? How is life treating you? Back in England now? Did everything went alright with that? Did you re-acclimatise?
So you say, you've put a plan together for first phase of the project. That's cool! Sounds good! I'm really interested to hear about it! I still think it is a great thing and I'm happy to be a part of it. Also, I really want to start putting own projects into practice.
Yeah, we can skype, sure thing! How about this Sunday? Or is it too short term? Or is it not important anymore? Am I too late?
As far as I can tell now, I should be able to make room for this project. I still have some hours of work to do at the uni, but it's not quite worth mentioning. However, the timeframe isn't too big, either. I have to prepare my relocation to Munich slowly but surely now. Finding a room or appartment is said to be rather tough down there and I will probably have to personally go there quite a lot to successfully do so. But going down there, on the other hand, also means a couple of hours that I'd be able to work each way ;-)
I'm getting really excited about the future right now: The new job, the new city, my new girlfriend - who's hopefully joining me to the new city ^^ also this project - just like the last one I was lucky to be part of - is gonna get big, I can feel it! It's gonna be big in some extent! ;-)
Hoping to hear from you soon!
Your friend
Andre B.
Donnerstag, 21. Juni 2012
Re: Die Homöopathische Atombombe
(Dies ist eine Antwort auf diesen Blogeintrag, die ich auf Grund der Länge leider nicht direkt dort hinterlassen konnte)
Viel zu selten lese ich deinen Blog und viel zu gut schreibst du, als dass ich um eine Antwort herum käme.
Ich finde das Thema sehr interessant und habe mir auch selbst schon viele Gedanken darüber gemacht. Ich finde allerdings, dass deine Darstellung sehr Einseitig ist. Allerdings fürchte ich, dass ich die ganzen Punkte, die mir dazu einfallen, spontan nicht sinnvoll angeordnet bekomme (und am Ende wahrscheinlich noch die Hälfte vergesse) - ich bitte daher, die etwaige Unordnung in meinem Schreiben zu verzeihen.
Zunächst das meiner Meinung nach Offensichtlichste, aber sicherlich auch das Belangloseste vorweg. Zu 6.: Der Herr Schüßler, dessen Namen diese Mittel tragen, verdient daran sicherlich genauso viel, wie C. Darwin an der Evolution und A. Einstein an der Lichtgeschwindigkeit verdient. Somit trifft deine Auslegung des Listenpunktes aus dem Arneitelegramm hier so nicht zu. Möglicherweise werden die Mittel von einem monopolistischen Unternehmen vertrieben, dass sich daran dumm und dussellig verdient, mag vielleicht noch sein, war von dir aber (so wie ich das verstehe) nicht gemeint. Und wenn ich sehe, dass man im Internet 1000 Pastillen für 12 Euro bekommt (Stand 20.06.2012), scheint mir das auch nicht der Fall zu sein.
Zweitens ist auch schulmedizinisch bestimmten Mineralien eine "Wirkung" zu-/nachgewiesen - und zwar auf banal-biologischer ebene, nix mit Patiententests und auszuwertenden Statistiken! Das liegt ganz einfach daran, dass diese Ionen für Austauschprozesse durch die Zellmembran benötigt werden. Ein Mangel an bestimmten Stoffen kann zu Effekten führen, die sich symptomatisch in Form von beispielsweise Krämpfen zeigen. Allerdings gebe ich dir auch Recht, dass mit der Homöopathie-typischen Dosierung ein heilender Effekt kaum denkbar ist.
Drittens hast du von den Patientenstudien nur eine Seite beleuchtet. Klar: Wenn von den 1000 Personen, die das tatsächliche Arzneimittel bekommen haben, 999 nach beendigung der Therapie geheilt sind, nimt man an, dass das Medikament wirksam ist. Was ist aber, wenn auch die 1000 Personen, die das Placebo bekommen haben, am Ende gesund sind? (Das Wort "gesund" ist hier mit Vorsicht zu genießen! Oftmals geht es bei solchen Studien nur um eine relative Verbesserung. Zu dem Begriff selbst komme ich später nochmal.) Kann man dann immer noch sagen, dass die Verbesserung der Patientensituation eindeutig am auszutestenden Medikament lag?
In einem Vortrag über Transzendentale Meditation, den ich mir vor einigen Jahren mal aus Neugier angesehen habe (kenne deine Feinde ;) ), wurde hierzu eine sehr schöne Statistik aufgeführt, über die ich mich damals herrlich amüsieren konnte und die ich hier gerne trotz fehlender Quellenangabe als Beispiel heranziehen möchte. Es ging dabei um das mit dem Rauchen Aufhören. Transzendentale Meditation (kurz: TM) wurde dort mit einer Erfolgswahrscheinlichkeit zwischen 30 und 40% als zweit bestes "Mittel" aufgeführt. Darüber stand nur noch - oh staun, oh wunder - Placebo! Dass die Aussagekraft (gerade im Sinne der Vertreter der TM) anzuzweifeln ist, brauche ich ja hoffentlich nicht zu erwähnen. Man sieht hier, denke ich, recht deutlich, welche Schindluder man mit solchen Statistiken machen kann.
Kommen wir zum vierten und größten Punkt. Schulmedizin, "gesund" und "krank". In der Medizin soll seit geraumer Zeit (jedoch noch nicht "schon immer") genau wie in anderen Branchen Geld verdient werden. Weder ein Mediziner, noch ein Arzneimittelhersteller, kann jedoch an einem gesunden Menschen etwas verdienen. Deshalb werden seit Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts vermehrt Krankheitsbilder frei erfunden, um diese dann für den Patienten kostspielig zu behandeln (siehe hier). Warum sonst steigert eine steigende Ärztedichte nicht den Gesundheitsgrad der Bevölkerung, sondern senkt diesen sogar noch? Auch wenn es mehr und mehr Ärzte gibt, so finden sie doch erstaunlicherweise aller immernoch genug Patienten! (siehe hierzu Kommentare von Volker Pispers; ohne Verlinkung im einzelnen, aber du weißt wahrscheinlich eh, welchen ich meine [sonst frag Aitch ;) ] )
Mein Fazit: Die Pharmaindustrie will Geld machen. Wenn es ein Allheilmittel gibt, das überall zu günstigen Konditionen verfügbar ist, dann ist das hochgradig marktschädigend. Im schlimmsten Fall ist sogar das Placebo das beste Medikament. Was würde das bedeuten? Ich bräuchte nur daran zu glauben, dass ich ein wirksames Medikament einnehme, und hätte dadurch beste Aussichten auf Heilung. Ob der Scharlatan, der mir dieses Placebo am glaubwürdigsten verkauft, nun aus der Schulmedizin/Pharmaindustrie oder aus alternativen Richtungen wie der Homöopathie kommt, spielt dann doch auch keine Rolle mehr, oder? Selbst verständlich wird versucht, einem möglichst viel Unfug anzudrehen. Das geschieht aber von beiden Seiten, den vermeindlich Seriösen sowie den Quacksalbern gleichermaßen. Wer gegen die Einen gut argumentiert vorgeht, den anderen aber blindlings vertraut, läuft letztlich in genau die gleiche Falle wie beiden Parteien unbedacht zu vertrauen.
So, ich hoffe, ich konnte meine Ansicht trotz der Wirre ein wenig verdeutlichen. Für mehr auf ein Bier?
Viel zu selten lese ich deinen Blog und viel zu gut schreibst du, als dass ich um eine Antwort herum käme.
Ich finde das Thema sehr interessant und habe mir auch selbst schon viele Gedanken darüber gemacht. Ich finde allerdings, dass deine Darstellung sehr Einseitig ist. Allerdings fürchte ich, dass ich die ganzen Punkte, die mir dazu einfallen, spontan nicht sinnvoll angeordnet bekomme (und am Ende wahrscheinlich noch die Hälfte vergesse) - ich bitte daher, die etwaige Unordnung in meinem Schreiben zu verzeihen.
Zunächst das meiner Meinung nach Offensichtlichste, aber sicherlich auch das Belangloseste vorweg. Zu 6.: Der Herr Schüßler, dessen Namen diese Mittel tragen, verdient daran sicherlich genauso viel, wie C. Darwin an der Evolution und A. Einstein an der Lichtgeschwindigkeit verdient. Somit trifft deine Auslegung des Listenpunktes aus dem Arneitelegramm hier so nicht zu. Möglicherweise werden die Mittel von einem monopolistischen Unternehmen vertrieben, dass sich daran dumm und dussellig verdient, mag vielleicht noch sein, war von dir aber (so wie ich das verstehe) nicht gemeint. Und wenn ich sehe, dass man im Internet 1000 Pastillen für 12 Euro bekommt (Stand 20.06.2012), scheint mir das auch nicht der Fall zu sein.
Zweitens ist auch schulmedizinisch bestimmten Mineralien eine "Wirkung" zu-/nachgewiesen - und zwar auf banal-biologischer ebene, nix mit Patiententests und auszuwertenden Statistiken! Das liegt ganz einfach daran, dass diese Ionen für Austauschprozesse durch die Zellmembran benötigt werden. Ein Mangel an bestimmten Stoffen kann zu Effekten führen, die sich symptomatisch in Form von beispielsweise Krämpfen zeigen. Allerdings gebe ich dir auch Recht, dass mit der Homöopathie-typischen Dosierung ein heilender Effekt kaum denkbar ist.
Drittens hast du von den Patientenstudien nur eine Seite beleuchtet. Klar: Wenn von den 1000 Personen, die das tatsächliche Arzneimittel bekommen haben, 999 nach beendigung der Therapie geheilt sind, nimt man an, dass das Medikament wirksam ist. Was ist aber, wenn auch die 1000 Personen, die das Placebo bekommen haben, am Ende gesund sind? (Das Wort "gesund" ist hier mit Vorsicht zu genießen! Oftmals geht es bei solchen Studien nur um eine relative Verbesserung. Zu dem Begriff selbst komme ich später nochmal.) Kann man dann immer noch sagen, dass die Verbesserung der Patientensituation eindeutig am auszutestenden Medikament lag?
In einem Vortrag über Transzendentale Meditation, den ich mir vor einigen Jahren mal aus Neugier angesehen habe (kenne deine Feinde ;) ), wurde hierzu eine sehr schöne Statistik aufgeführt, über die ich mich damals herrlich amüsieren konnte und die ich hier gerne trotz fehlender Quellenangabe als Beispiel heranziehen möchte. Es ging dabei um das mit dem Rauchen Aufhören. Transzendentale Meditation (kurz: TM) wurde dort mit einer Erfolgswahrscheinlichkeit zwischen 30 und 40% als zweit bestes "Mittel" aufgeführt. Darüber stand nur noch - oh staun, oh wunder - Placebo! Dass die Aussagekraft (gerade im Sinne der Vertreter der TM) anzuzweifeln ist, brauche ich ja hoffentlich nicht zu erwähnen. Man sieht hier, denke ich, recht deutlich, welche Schindluder man mit solchen Statistiken machen kann.
Kommen wir zum vierten und größten Punkt. Schulmedizin, "gesund" und "krank". In der Medizin soll seit geraumer Zeit (jedoch noch nicht "schon immer") genau wie in anderen Branchen Geld verdient werden. Weder ein Mediziner, noch ein Arzneimittelhersteller, kann jedoch an einem gesunden Menschen etwas verdienen. Deshalb werden seit Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts vermehrt Krankheitsbilder frei erfunden, um diese dann für den Patienten kostspielig zu behandeln (siehe hier). Warum sonst steigert eine steigende Ärztedichte nicht den Gesundheitsgrad der Bevölkerung, sondern senkt diesen sogar noch? Auch wenn es mehr und mehr Ärzte gibt, so finden sie doch erstaunlicherweise aller immernoch genug Patienten! (siehe hierzu Kommentare von Volker Pispers; ohne Verlinkung im einzelnen, aber du weißt wahrscheinlich eh, welchen ich meine [sonst frag Aitch ;) ] )
Mein Fazit: Die Pharmaindustrie will Geld machen. Wenn es ein Allheilmittel gibt, das überall zu günstigen Konditionen verfügbar ist, dann ist das hochgradig marktschädigend. Im schlimmsten Fall ist sogar das Placebo das beste Medikament. Was würde das bedeuten? Ich bräuchte nur daran zu glauben, dass ich ein wirksames Medikament einnehme, und hätte dadurch beste Aussichten auf Heilung. Ob der Scharlatan, der mir dieses Placebo am glaubwürdigsten verkauft, nun aus der Schulmedizin/Pharmaindustrie oder aus alternativen Richtungen wie der Homöopathie kommt, spielt dann doch auch keine Rolle mehr, oder? Selbst verständlich wird versucht, einem möglichst viel Unfug anzudrehen. Das geschieht aber von beiden Seiten, den vermeindlich Seriösen sowie den Quacksalbern gleichermaßen. Wer gegen die Einen gut argumentiert vorgeht, den anderen aber blindlings vertraut, läuft letztlich in genau die gleiche Falle wie beiden Parteien unbedacht zu vertrauen.
So, ich hoffe, ich konnte meine Ansicht trotz der Wirre ein wenig verdeutlichen. Für mehr auf ein Bier?
Mittwoch, 18. April 2012
Change
Strangely, I just noticed the change that I have gone through throughout my last semester. What a feeling.
Mittwoch, 21. Dezember 2011
Trippin'
So it has started.
To give you something to read during the holidays, here's a little update on what's going on with me.
The semester has now officially ended. On Friday, 12/16, I had my presentation for my project and blasted it! Afterward, I had to clear my room and pack my suitcase for the roadtrip. Since I moved out of the dorm, I'm officially homeless now... but that's ok. I will probably sleep on random couches or in a tent for the next couple of weeks. But let's keep this in order.
So on Friday, we got the car and it took surprisingly long to get everything set up and leave Bozeman. It was 7:45 when we finally left the city in direction of the West Coast. First stop: Superior. Yep, that's the name of a town.
We stayed for a night at a friends house; a family that is probably most accurately described with the word 'hillbilly' – but very lovely and welcoming people nonetheless! The majority of us took the opportunity and stayed in a tipi for the night after having a great evening with our friends and the family.
The next day, we had a hard time to get going. Between gun shooting and horse trails there was a lot to discover and experience. We finally headed out to our next planned stop around 2.30, starting the 7 hour drive to Seattle.
I have to say, Washington truly is a beautiful state! And stereotypically enough, the moment we entered the state, we ran into a wall of fog that stayed along our way for at least two hours!
In Seattle, we stayed at another friend's house, probably as contrary to where we had stayed before as it gets. We stayed for two nights, which gave us one day to get an impression of downtown Seattle. We discovered Pike Market, went on a ferry across the bay and back, and checked the nightlife of this city of intellectuals, authors, and artists. Bottom line: Little San Francisco (as it is called because of its numerous hills) is definitely worth a second visit, although Sunday's nights don't seem to be the best time to go out.
After another delayed start, we are now on the Interstate 5 South, going towards Portland, Oregon. This will be our third stop in the forth state we pass.
That's about it for now, stay save, folks, see y'all later!
To give you something to read during the holidays, here's a little update on what's going on with me.
The semester has now officially ended. On Friday, 12/16, I had my presentation for my project and blasted it! Afterward, I had to clear my room and pack my suitcase for the roadtrip. Since I moved out of the dorm, I'm officially homeless now... but that's ok. I will probably sleep on random couches or in a tent for the next couple of weeks. But let's keep this in order.
So on Friday, we got the car and it took surprisingly long to get everything set up and leave Bozeman. It was 7:45 when we finally left the city in direction of the West Coast. First stop: Superior. Yep, that's the name of a town.
We stayed for a night at a friends house; a family that is probably most accurately described with the word 'hillbilly' – but very lovely and welcoming people nonetheless! The majority of us took the opportunity and stayed in a tipi for the night after having a great evening with our friends and the family.
The next day, we had a hard time to get going. Between gun shooting and horse trails there was a lot to discover and experience. We finally headed out to our next planned stop around 2.30, starting the 7 hour drive to Seattle.
I have to say, Washington truly is a beautiful state! And stereotypically enough, the moment we entered the state, we ran into a wall of fog that stayed along our way for at least two hours!
In Seattle, we stayed at another friend's house, probably as contrary to where we had stayed before as it gets. We stayed for two nights, which gave us one day to get an impression of downtown Seattle. We discovered Pike Market, went on a ferry across the bay and back, and checked the nightlife of this city of intellectuals, authors, and artists. Bottom line: Little San Francisco (as it is called because of its numerous hills) is definitely worth a second visit, although Sunday's nights don't seem to be the best time to go out.
After another delayed start, we are now on the Interstate 5 South, going towards Portland, Oregon. This will be our third stop in the forth state we pass.
That's about it for now, stay save, folks, see y'all later!
Dienstag, 27. September 2011
Mailing Home
I just wrote this mail to a friend back home, and although it is in German, I thought it might be nice to put it here, because ... well, you'll see. It's just something that I found worthy being posted! Somehow, I feel like I prefer personal mails over blogging... I guess it is because I never really got any response to my blog whatsoever :/ Well, here you go - and I might do this more often, if I feel like!
Hehe Freund :)
Deine Antwort lässt mich schmunzeln :)
Mir geht's im groben und ganzen recht ... super hier ! Ich weiss nicht, ob das "nur" noch so diese erste Phase ist, in der sowieso alles awesome und anders und neu und toll und überhaupt ist - immerhin bin ich schon genau 6 Wochen hier! Um die email nicht zu überladen, beschränke ich mich mal auf eine Sache: Das Leben auf dem Campus ist einfach geil! Alleine die Tatsache, dass es einen geschlossenen Campus gibt, finde ich genial! Ich lebe hier im (Ü-21) Wohnheim mit vielen anderen internationalen und einheimischen Studenten zusammen, fast - das klingt ein wenig abgedroschen, aber sei's drum - wie eine große Familie. Alle Uni-Gebäude sind fußläufig in maximal 10 Minuten erreichbar, inklusive des Football-Stadiums und der Sporthalle (das Gym).
Die Kurse die ich habe sind wirklich spannend. Da wären: Advanced Algorithms - hier kommen ein paar bekannte und auch noch mir unbekannte Algorithmen dran (atm machen wir Geometrische Algorithmen: Finde die Konvexe Hülle der Punktemenge) und werden auf ihre Effizienz untersucht.
Machine Learning: Soft Computing - hier behandeln wir so ziehmlich alle Algorithmen der Kategorie - naja... Soft Computing halt :D in den ersten vier Wochen haben wir uns mit Evolutionary Programming beschäftigt (Genetic Algorithms, Evolutionary Strategy/Programming und Genetic Programming), jetzt starten wir mit Schwarm Algorithmen, Fuzzy und Neurale Netze kommen später auch noch dran!
und nicht zu vergessen: Japanese for Beginners. Dazu brauch ich wohl nichts zu sagen, oder? :D Watashi wa Nihongo ga suki desu!
Und schließlich mein Individual Studies Project: Ich helfe einem schweizer Ph.D. Studenten mit seinem Programm zur Simulation von Fisch-Verteilungen in Flussnetzwerken :) nichts, was ich vorher schonmal gemacht hätte - naja, im moment arbeite ich "nur" an eine GUI, aber dann!
Weshalb ich auf das Buch komme: Hier in se Amiland hat man für jeden Kurs ein Buch. Man hält sich hier nicht mit läppischen Skripten auf - obwohl es die auch in machen Kursen gibt, so wie ich das sehe. Alles, Skripte wie Bücher, kann man im Campus eigenen Bookstore kaufen. Für meinen Algorithms Kurs zum beispiel hab ich einen 1.5k Seiten starken Wälzer erworben. Wir werden sicherlich nicht alles aus dem Buch machen, aber was wir machen stammt auf jeden Fall aus dem Buch und hat somit Hand und Fuß. Für weiterführendes Wissen kann man dort nachlesen, um den Stoff aufzubereiten, die Hausaufgaben zu lösen - whatever! Was aber meiner Meinung nach das beste daran ist, ist das man ein Litheratur Stück hat, auf das man sich beziehen kann. Vergleiche die folgenden Dialoge:
- "Entschuldigung, Herr ..., ich hab da mal ne Frage zu der Formel auf Folie 17 von letzter Woche."
- "Die erste oder die zweite Version die ich hochgeladen habe?"
- oder -
- "Ich hab da mal ne Frage zu Formel 17 auf Seite 423."
Ein andere Punkt ist auch, dass man dann einfach mal lern mit nem (wissenschaftlichen) Buch umzugehen (hoffentlich). Was da drin steht ist schon von vielen vielen Leuten korrektur gelesen worden und wird wohlmöglich auch an vielen anderen Universitäten als Kursbuch verwendet. Und nicht zuletzt hat man mal etwas, worauf man sich auch in seiner Hausarbeit beziehen kann. Ich finde, das fehlt daheim wirklich. Nicht nur ist es komisch, als Quelle "Vorlesungsmitschrift" anzugeben, es ist auch nicht unbedingt wissenschaftlich und man lernt das richtige zitieren dadurch nicht.
Ich glaube, ich verliere mich gerade in meiner Selbstverliebtheit für Geschwafel ... Aber vielleicht kannst du ja das ein oder andere von meinen Ansichten nachvollziehen !?!
Wünsche dann mal einen erfolgreichen Arbeitstag, schönen Gruß an alle!
Beste Grüße aus dem Westen,
ich
P.S.: Ist mir das mit dem "nicht überladen" gelungen? Oder bin ich doch wieder am Ziel vorbeigeschossen?
Hehe Freund :)
Deine Antwort lässt mich schmunzeln :)
Mir geht's im groben und ganzen recht ... super hier ! Ich weiss nicht, ob das "nur" noch so diese erste Phase ist, in der sowieso alles awesome und anders und neu und toll und überhaupt ist - immerhin bin ich schon genau 6 Wochen hier! Um die email nicht zu überladen, beschränke ich mich mal auf eine Sache: Das Leben auf dem Campus ist einfach geil! Alleine die Tatsache, dass es einen geschlossenen Campus gibt, finde ich genial! Ich lebe hier im (Ü-21) Wohnheim mit vielen anderen internationalen und einheimischen Studenten zusammen, fast - das klingt ein wenig abgedroschen, aber sei's drum - wie eine große Familie. Alle Uni-Gebäude sind fußläufig in maximal 10 Minuten erreichbar, inklusive des Football-Stadiums und der Sporthalle (das Gym).
Die Kurse die ich habe sind wirklich spannend. Da wären: Advanced Algorithms - hier kommen ein paar bekannte und auch noch mir unbekannte Algorithmen dran (atm machen wir Geometrische Algorithmen: Finde die Konvexe Hülle der Punktemenge) und werden auf ihre Effizienz untersucht.
Machine Learning: Soft Computing - hier behandeln wir so ziehmlich alle Algorithmen der Kategorie - naja... Soft Computing halt :D in den ersten vier Wochen haben wir uns mit Evolutionary Programming beschäftigt (Genetic Algorithms, Evolutionary Strategy/Programming und Genetic Programming), jetzt starten wir mit Schwarm Algorithmen, Fuzzy und Neurale Netze kommen später auch noch dran!
und nicht zu vergessen: Japanese for Beginners. Dazu brauch ich wohl nichts zu sagen, oder? :D Watashi wa Nihongo ga suki desu!
Und schließlich mein Individual Studies Project: Ich helfe einem schweizer Ph.D. Studenten mit seinem Programm zur Simulation von Fisch-Verteilungen in Flussnetzwerken :) nichts, was ich vorher schonmal gemacht hätte - naja, im moment arbeite ich "nur" an eine GUI, aber dann!
Weshalb ich auf das Buch komme: Hier in se Amiland hat man für jeden Kurs ein Buch. Man hält sich hier nicht mit läppischen Skripten auf - obwohl es die auch in machen Kursen gibt, so wie ich das sehe. Alles, Skripte wie Bücher, kann man im Campus eigenen Bookstore kaufen. Für meinen Algorithms Kurs zum beispiel hab ich einen 1.5k Seiten starken Wälzer erworben. Wir werden sicherlich nicht alles aus dem Buch machen, aber was wir machen stammt auf jeden Fall aus dem Buch und hat somit Hand und Fuß. Für weiterführendes Wissen kann man dort nachlesen, um den Stoff aufzubereiten, die Hausaufgaben zu lösen - whatever! Was aber meiner Meinung nach das beste daran ist, ist das man ein Litheratur Stück hat, auf das man sich beziehen kann. Vergleiche die folgenden Dialoge:
- "Entschuldigung, Herr ..., ich hab da mal ne Frage zu der Formel auf Folie 17 von letzter Woche."
- "Die erste oder die zweite Version die ich hochgeladen habe?"
- oder -
- "Ich hab da mal ne Frage zu Formel 17 auf Seite 423."
Ein andere Punkt ist auch, dass man dann einfach mal lern mit nem (wissenschaftlichen) Buch umzugehen (hoffentlich). Was da drin steht ist schon von vielen vielen Leuten korrektur gelesen worden und wird wohlmöglich auch an vielen anderen Universitäten als Kursbuch verwendet. Und nicht zuletzt hat man mal etwas, worauf man sich auch in seiner Hausarbeit beziehen kann. Ich finde, das fehlt daheim wirklich. Nicht nur ist es komisch, als Quelle "Vorlesungsmitschrift" anzugeben, es ist auch nicht unbedingt wissenschaftlich und man lernt das richtige zitieren dadurch nicht.
Ich glaube, ich verliere mich gerade in meiner Selbstverliebtheit für Geschwafel ... Aber vielleicht kannst du ja das ein oder andere von meinen Ansichten nachvollziehen !?!
Wünsche dann mal einen erfolgreichen Arbeitstag, schönen Gruß an alle!
Beste Grüße aus dem Westen,
ich
P.S.: Ist mir das mit dem "nicht überladen" gelungen? Oder bin ich doch wieder am Ziel vorbeigeschossen?
Montag, 29. August 2011
First Person Fluid Dynamics
This was the last weekend before the classes start and it was great once again! Friday was the last day of Catapalooza, the on-campus fair for all kinds of associations, club, etc... In the afternoon, we fought our time with Ultimate Frisbee. I had never played this before I came here, but it's a lot of fun and so I played it for three days in a row. It's a little bit like American Football; you have to get the Frisbee over to the other end of the field without the enemy team or the ground touching it. Since your not allowed to move while you have the Frisbee, you have to pass it around. So it's mainly about running, tossing, catching, and covering and since nobody counted the points, it was all about the fun! Also, I think much of the fun was due to the people I played with. It was one of the many christian fellowships, that had a booth at the Catapalooza. It was quite catch ... I haven't been in touch with my religion that much since Bremen 2009 and I'm actually thinking about attending their liturgy or maybe the Bible study ...
Saturday, I was on a trip to the Yellowstone River for some White Water Rafting action !! That was an incredible amount of fun ! The trip was organised by the MSU Outdoor Recreation and costed 40$ including transportation and equipment; lunch had to be brought individually. I didn't have any appropriate shoes, so I might have ruined my everyday shoes. Well, those were cheap and would have to be renewed soon anyway. The action was worth the sacrifice !! :D Unfortunately, I was unable to take to many pictures because my camera is not waterproof and I didn't want to risk it. I have to say though, that the valley of the Yellowstone River is really amazing and worth a visit! The river crawls through deep canyons, along vast steppes and cliffs of boulder. The riverbanks are partially covered with trees, partially it's just shrub land. We haven't seen any bears (I'm not mad about it!) or eagles, but some deer and a crane. And the greatest part of the raft was, when we all hopped out of the boat and enjoyed the wild waters in close combat - it's a natural white-water ride!
The evening was successfully topped off with a gig of one of the English exchanged students. I've got 75 minutes of HD footage of this, but I'm not sure how good the sound quality is... I have to process at least some of it for you to see ...
Sunday, yesterday, was a lazy day. The only action I had was riding downtown to open up a bank account. Besides, I did my laundry, watched some videos, cleaned my room ... in the evening we had our first floor meeting (it's the first meeting, not the first floor!). As far as I can say for now, the entire campus seems to be a strong community with many even stronger sub-communities. This is way different from what it is in Germany, although I have to admit that I never lived in a dorm in Germany...
And now, today, finally, it is the FIRST DAY OF CLASSES!!! My day starts at 11 with Japanese for Beginners. I'm quite excited. In the afternoon I'll have Advanced Algorithms at 2 and Machine Learning at 3. I can't wait for it to get started !!
Okay then, I have to gather my stuff and ready myself to go. Have a nice day!
C U
Saturday, I was on a trip to the Yellowstone River for some White Water Rafting action !! That was an incredible amount of fun ! The trip was organised by the MSU Outdoor Recreation and costed 40$ including transportation and equipment; lunch had to be brought individually. I didn't have any appropriate shoes, so I might have ruined my everyday shoes. Well, those were cheap and would have to be renewed soon anyway. The action was worth the sacrifice !! :D Unfortunately, I was unable to take to many pictures because my camera is not waterproof and I didn't want to risk it. I have to say though, that the valley of the Yellowstone River is really amazing and worth a visit! The river crawls through deep canyons, along vast steppes and cliffs of boulder. The riverbanks are partially covered with trees, partially it's just shrub land. We haven't seen any bears (I'm not mad about it!) or eagles, but some deer and a crane. And the greatest part of the raft was, when we all hopped out of the boat and enjoyed the wild waters in close combat - it's a natural white-water ride!
The evening was successfully topped off with a gig of one of the English exchanged students. I've got 75 minutes of HD footage of this, but I'm not sure how good the sound quality is... I have to process at least some of it for you to see ...
Sunday, yesterday, was a lazy day. The only action I had was riding downtown to open up a bank account. Besides, I did my laundry, watched some videos, cleaned my room ... in the evening we had our first floor meeting (it's the first meeting, not the first floor!). As far as I can say for now, the entire campus seems to be a strong community with many even stronger sub-communities. This is way different from what it is in Germany, although I have to admit that I never lived in a dorm in Germany...
And now, today, finally, it is the FIRST DAY OF CLASSES!!! My day starts at 11 with Japanese for Beginners. I'm quite excited. In the afternoon I'll have Advanced Algorithms at 2 and Machine Learning at 3. I can't wait for it to get started !!
Okay then, I have to gather my stuff and ready myself to go. Have a nice day!
C U
Mittwoch, 24. August 2011
Orientation
It's been just two days, but it feels like an eternity! I feel like so much stuff is happening every day, it would be enough to fill two or three days at home! Let's see, what happened so far, shall we ... ?
At the end of the last entry, I wrote about the car show that I was going to attend. I uploaded about a hundred and fifty photos to a facebook album about that. If you haven't noticed it, you might probably not have my contact yet. If that is the case, contact me!
On Monday, the orientation for the international students begun. From 9 to 1 we had all kinds of introductions and it was really interesting. At least most of it ^^ Some parts, like the "your away from your parents houses for the first time" didn't really appeal to me, so I just sat back, grinned and nodded. But in general, it was really interesting to get to know, what the University offers. The campus Health Care Center and the Campus Police Station are just two examples (yes, real police officers!).
After these four hours of introduction, there was a small market with like 18 booths representing different clubs or associations of the campus life. We were lured to talk to the people of the booths with a raffle. There were nice prices, but it wasn't my lucky day... never mind!
After the orientation was over for that day, I had an appointment with the head of the Computer Science Department about my individual studies. Dr. Paxton is a gracious person and he really seemed to be glad he could help. He presented to me six different possible topics for individual projects and I decided to take a closer look at four of them. He set the contacts up and soon I'm going to meet the corresponding person in charge of the projects.
The rest of the time, we had a nice chat. He told me, that he had been to Germany quite recently. He taught in Leipzig for one year (if I'm not mistaken). He also visited Hanover, because he once hosted an exchange student from Hanover. We talked a little bit about cultural differences, his and my experience (so far) and plans for the closer and the further future (ouh yeah, he said, if my individual project is really really good, it shouldn't be to hard to come back for a Ph.D. !!! :D ). He offered me to maybe join in on a tour to Yellowstone some day, to elaborate the matter (mainly the cultural difference- and experience-matter).
In the evening, I hung out with some people I literately just met a few days ago and some other people, I had never seen before. There wasn't much going on, but it was a nice calm evening anyway.
Today, Tuesday, the second part of our orientation took place. This time, it was for all of the exchange students separately - still about 50 people! After we introduced ourselves and had small enforced conversations, we heard about some more and some less important topics again. The entire orientation gave me the impression, that studying in the U.S. seems to be far more guided than it is in Germany - although I've never been to the Freshman Introduction in Hanover either ...
Everyone is really kind and helpful. Where ever you stand and walk, people come up to you and ask how you are and if they can help you. I think, slowly but surely, I'm getting used to the "thanks, fine, how are you?" whenever I see somebody. I somehow like it that way. I know, it's probably somewhat superficial, but it's still quite a nice environment, but I don't think, it could ever happen in Germany :D I mean, people had to be friendly for no reason ... tse.
Later today, I discovered the gym more thoroughly. I didn't take much time to train today, but I'm planning to do it far more regularly this semester than in Germany.
In the evening, there was a pizza party around the corner and many many of the international students came, met, ate, and talked. It was really nice; you could have a different conversation wherever you looked. I got in contact more thoroughly with some of the people I already knew and even talked to some I hadn't talked to before. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera, so no pictures of that event...
Well, I guess that's basically it for now. I'm not sure if anyone's going to read the entire article at all, but if you are one of these rare individuals, I'd like you to post a comment. ... I'm not sure, what I want you to state on specifically - maybe I'll come up with something for the next entry.
Well... me tired. Late. Needs to sleep. Bye bye!
At the end of the last entry, I wrote about the car show that I was going to attend. I uploaded about a hundred and fifty photos to a facebook album about that. If you haven't noticed it, you might probably not have my contact yet. If that is the case, contact me!
On Monday, the orientation for the international students begun. From 9 to 1 we had all kinds of introductions and it was really interesting. At least most of it ^^ Some parts, like the "your away from your parents houses for the first time" didn't really appeal to me, so I just sat back, grinned and nodded. But in general, it was really interesting to get to know, what the University offers. The campus Health Care Center and the Campus Police Station are just two examples (yes, real police officers!).
After these four hours of introduction, there was a small market with like 18 booths representing different clubs or associations of the campus life. We were lured to talk to the people of the booths with a raffle. There were nice prices, but it wasn't my lucky day... never mind!
After the orientation was over for that day, I had an appointment with the head of the Computer Science Department about my individual studies. Dr. Paxton is a gracious person and he really seemed to be glad he could help. He presented to me six different possible topics for individual projects and I decided to take a closer look at four of them. He set the contacts up and soon I'm going to meet the corresponding person in charge of the projects.
The rest of the time, we had a nice chat. He told me, that he had been to Germany quite recently. He taught in Leipzig for one year (if I'm not mistaken). He also visited Hanover, because he once hosted an exchange student from Hanover. We talked a little bit about cultural differences, his and my experience (so far) and plans for the closer and the further future (ouh yeah, he said, if my individual project is really really good, it shouldn't be to hard to come back for a Ph.D. !!! :D ). He offered me to maybe join in on a tour to Yellowstone some day, to elaborate the matter (mainly the cultural difference- and experience-matter).
In the evening, I hung out with some people I literately just met a few days ago and some other people, I had never seen before. There wasn't much going on, but it was a nice calm evening anyway.
Today, Tuesday, the second part of our orientation took place. This time, it was for all of the exchange students separately - still about 50 people! After we introduced ourselves and had small enforced conversations, we heard about some more and some less important topics again. The entire orientation gave me the impression, that studying in the U.S. seems to be far more guided than it is in Germany - although I've never been to the Freshman Introduction in Hanover either ...
Everyone is really kind and helpful. Where ever you stand and walk, people come up to you and ask how you are and if they can help you. I think, slowly but surely, I'm getting used to the "thanks, fine, how are you?" whenever I see somebody. I somehow like it that way. I know, it's probably somewhat superficial, but it's still quite a nice environment, but I don't think, it could ever happen in Germany :D I mean, people had to be friendly for no reason ... tse.
Later today, I discovered the gym more thoroughly. I didn't take much time to train today, but I'm planning to do it far more regularly this semester than in Germany.
In the evening, there was a pizza party around the corner and many many of the international students came, met, ate, and talked. It was really nice; you could have a different conversation wherever you looked. I got in contact more thoroughly with some of the people I already knew and even talked to some I hadn't talked to before. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera, so no pictures of that event...
Well, I guess that's basically it for now. I'm not sure if anyone's going to read the entire article at all, but if you are one of these rare individuals, I'd like you to post a comment. ... I'm not sure, what I want you to state on specifically - maybe I'll come up with something for the next entry.
Well... me tired. Late. Needs to sleep. Bye bye!
Sonntag, 21. August 2011
Unintentional Flash Mop
Yesterday (Saturday), I meet with a whole bunch of the international students. We must have been like 20 to 25 or so ... It was really interesting to watch. At first, everyone stood in one circle. But as the group size grew, it reached its critical mass and disintegrated into three small circles, each with its own conversations going on.
At one point, we decided to be complete and started our march to the bus stop to go down town. The buses here have like 25 seats in total and as there were some other people in as well, some of us had to remain standing. It almost felt like home :D
Now the funny thing was, that we didn't really have any chosen leader. No one knew, where we wanted to get out or where we wanted to go in general. The only thing, everyone knew was that it was about lunch time and everybody was hungry. So when we crossed Main St, the group started moving and we exited the bus to find some place to eat on Main.
We came by some bars and restaurants and the people of Bozeman don't seem to be used to such a big group of students wandering around in the city, because everyone was looking at us. Then, we came by a place, that seemed suitable for the three or four individuals walking in front of our group. So they entered and everybody followed. But when the head of our group reached the end of the location, noticing that there were by far not enough seats and table for all of us, they exited through the back door and everyone follow again.
The look on the faces of the people sitting and eating there would have been worth a photo, but unfortunately I wasn't fast enough as the entire action took only about half a minute. It was hilarious and I really had to laugh hard. I thought, this was a really nice Flash Mop, only this one was totally unintentional, which made it even better!! Maybe we can do something like that again, another day...
We finally found a place to rest and I had a really good sandwich. I think we stayed for like one and half an hour. Afterwards, the group split up because different people wanted to do different things. I joined a group with two British people and one girl from New Zealand, which screwed my accent for the rest of the day :D MAN, these folks are hard to understand! Especially, if they talk that fast and (at least in my ears kinda) slangy :-/
Nevertheless, after some second hand stores, we reached our destination: Walmart. It was the third time I was there since I arrived and I took the chance to buy a bike. I had already thought about it for some days and I had decided to buy it, because 100$ is an ok price in my eyes and the use will definitely exceed these expenses!
Today, there's going to be some kind of a car show on Main St. So I might just grab my bike and give it a look, see what's going on there. I think that's it for now. Maybe I can manage to add some pictures ... let's see ... I really have to figure out, how to layout them correctly. This looks just horrible !!
See ya later, guys
ME
Donnerstag, 18. August 2011
I has arrived!
More than 48 hours have passed already since I arrived in the United States of America. My 2.5 hour stay in Minneapolis was sweeten by the aquaintance of Charlie. I arrived at my gate, when he came to me and started a conversation. Appearently, he works at the airport and likes to get in touch with poeple from different countries all over the world.
At 1 a.m. local time, I finally got into my (temporal) room. Yesterday, Tuesday, was time for me to check the campus out, get my student ID and arrange myself. Today, it met another international student and together we traveled to downtown Bozeman. It's a nice small city and incredibly Wild Western American. Altogether, I feel like I'm in a movie. Everything looks so American here. I think, I'm getting used to it quite quickly... Everybody is so friendly and appears to be open minded. Well, we'll so what the long term investigation results in... :D
After downtown, we've been to Walmart and got ourselves new cell phones with prepaid cards. Walmart is an incredible place. It's been quite a while since I visited a Walmart in Germany, but I think this one is bigger. Except for vehicles and real estates I think you can find everything there. (Oh, I didn't see any weaponry either, but I don't mind) I found quite trustworthy bikes for around a hundred bucks. I think, I'll get myself one within the next couple of days, since it seems to be fairly nice to ride around here.
Concluding, I have to say, it was not exaggerated to say, this is the best time of my life. At least not so far.
See you around
A
At 1 a.m. local time, I finally got into my (temporal) room. Yesterday, Tuesday, was time for me to check the campus out, get my student ID and arrange myself. Today, it met another international student and together we traveled to downtown Bozeman. It's a nice small city and incredibly Wild Western American. Altogether, I feel like I'm in a movie. Everything looks so American here. I think, I'm getting used to it quite quickly... Everybody is so friendly and appears to be open minded. Well, we'll so what the long term investigation results in... :D
After downtown, we've been to Walmart and got ourselves new cell phones with prepaid cards. Walmart is an incredible place. It's been quite a while since I visited a Walmart in Germany, but I think this one is bigger. Except for vehicles and real estates I think you can find everything there. (Oh, I didn't see any weaponry either, but I don't mind) I found quite trustworthy bikes for around a hundred bucks. I think, I'll get myself one within the next couple of days, since it seems to be fairly nice to ride around here.
Concluding, I have to say, it was not exaggerated to say, this is the best time of my life. At least not so far.
See you around
A
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