Confused

Just got home from work - for the last time! In the last two months I really wished today to arrive. Now, the day has come and it feels weird. There was so much to do, I was stressed sometime, I worked a lot - therefore I thought it´s gonna be nice when I finished my traineeship.
But the work I had to do was really interesting, I got used to these workdays and there were so many nice people at my work place which I will leave behind. I made a lot of friends and I don´t know how many of them I will ever see again... At least there´s gonna be a huge goodbye party in a week here in my flat. I really look foward to it. I hope it doesn´t feel too weird afterwards or when I´m sitting in my room back "home" in Switzerland.

Actually, I´m wondering at the moment what/where "home" really is. Is it the place where your parents are? Is it the place where you were born? Is it the place where your friends are? If you have friends in two places - which place would you prefer (maybe one group of your friends is not better than the other but different...)?

Berlin

Last weekend I had another opportunity to travel. I went to Banane. Noo, unfortunately I couldn´t go to jungle for a short trip. Ban.ane is Berlin Adventure weekeNd. Action Never Ends. That´s an AIESEC and IAESTE reception event. I really like to meet the person who came up with this name...

Anyway, after a short trip of only 6 hours we arrived on friday evening in Berlin. And who do we meet there: some iaeste ppl from stuttgart, we just got to know the day before. Germany is like a town sometimes. After dinner started a party which wasn´t that exciting - at least the drinks were for free and i got to know the true history of Buffalo, if you know what i mean ;-)

On saturday was first a bus tour on the "menu" and after we were stopped at Alex because of a Nazi - Anti-Nazi Demonstration we had to wait sometime until we could start our city walk "east berlin". Unfortunately it didn´t turn out that well - just the east side gallery was ok. And finally at 5pm we could visit Reichstag which was great as we could go up on the roof. Afterwards the five of us who were really stuck together the whole weekend as we knew eachother from Tanzschiff, went to have dinner and to strandbar instead of going to aiesec dinner. As the weather was amazing and we were walking around with shorts and flip-flops it was much better than going to university for dinner. In the end of the evening we ended at AIESEC party of course...


On sunday we went to jewish museum but unfortunately we didn´t have soo much time for everything (there would have been a special freud exhibition as well). After saying goodbye to everyone I ended up in another boring train until I got home again to Stuttgart...

In the end

After a week of holiday, last week continued like before I went home. Except that my boss was still on holiday. Reduction of extra hours? I wished... Anyway I survived it and on friday was another goodbye - the one of the British empire ;-). The time has come now, where many of us are leaving the company after half a year or even a bit more. Actually in 1 month almost everyone in our department will have experience of max. 1 month or even less. It´s really strange - I get to know now people who are successors of people who started later than me (I even know their predecessor).

But "those others" are not the only one leaving. My time here is running out as well. My successor arrived today and one of my last tasks is to give him a good introduction (unfortunately it´s not the only task I still have :(

At the moment it´s like in sport competition for me: I already see the finishing line - it´s 7 work days from where I am right now - but I think I have to fight until I cross the line on 25.8....

Think about it...

A song I like a lot:

Don't tell me that you are ready to change.
Don't tell me that from now it won't be the same.
It doesn't matter, 'cause at the end of the day,
it isn't what you say, it's what you do!

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!

What you say will be forgotten someday.
What you do will be remembered.
Empty promises all fade away.
What you keep will last forever.

Don't tell me you'll make things better for us.
Don't tell me that you're some one I can trust.
It doesn't mean a thing to me because,
it isn't what you say, it's what you do!

Your actions will speak louder than you!

What you say will be forgotten someday.
What you do will be remembered.
Empty promises all fade away.
What you keep will last forever.

So show me that you really figured it out.
And show me everything that you are about.
But if you can't then just shut your mouth!..

'cause I don't care what you say or what you do,
You can't take back what you've put me through.
Your actions will speak louder than you!..

What you say will be forgotten someday.
What you do will be remembered.
Empty promises all fade away.
What you keep will last forever.

What you say will be forgotten someday.
What you do will be remembered.
Empty promises all fade away.
What you keep will last forever.

What you keep will last forever.

What you keep will last forever.

Forever...

"Don´t tell me" by Hoobastank

Finally a break

After 5 months without real holiday I finally had a week off last week. I went back to Bern because my sister returned form USA lately, to celebrate my dads birthday, to meet some friends. And of course I went to Bern to watch the aare-fireworks for 1. august. Afterwards on thursday I went to St. Gallen to look for a room in a flat. I visited 5 different flats and hope I´ll find something soon.

On friday I left home already as I went to Tanzschiff on Bodensee. Originally we planned just to go as party delegates but then we decided to take part in IPS workshop. I´m really glad of this decision because I actually for the first time liked the workshop (and especially the participants) more than the party itself. The simple reason is that we were all trainees and the workshop was more like discussions, connecting with people and of course having a lot of fun in different environments (Weinfest, coffee bar in Konstanz or workshop room).
But during this workshop was a really strange situation: we had a session together with XPS - the ones who want to be trainees and go abroad. When they were asked what they´re proud of about Germany everyone was silent. It was strange because the WS was more for XPS people but the ones who were talking were facis and trainees from IPS workshop. After some time we found out, that some of them just can be proud of things they achieved on their own and not of things others achieved centuries ago. So we asked them what they like about Germany, what they would present abroad or what they would tell someone abroad who might be interested in going to Germany for a traineeship. Someones answer: That´s in central europe and your really fast abroad... Someone who was asked how she would explain where her hometown is located replied: It´s close to Netherlands...
Is that really what you want to hear if your interested in Germany? Why do Germans come up mostly with negative points if they´re asked "What are typical german characteristics"? Did those guys just not think about such stuff before or are typical german characteristics really just negative and they can´t be proud of them/like them?

Anyway, Nicole and Heidi thanks for being great Facis. And Ludmila, Keiko, Gonca, Shadi and Mikhail it was really nice to meet you guys and have fun together! You really made my weekend!