Australia

24 February 2025

Seeing the present through the past: The Newsreader

If you’ve followed the news today, you’re probably just as depressed as me by the German election results, with actual fascists having gotten 20% of the votes, and the majority of Germans still having voted for the less fascist yet conservative party CDU. Don’t expect any progress in this country. And that’s just German politics, let’s not even mention the sheer insanity that is going on in other countries. Well, needless to say, I’m not a fan of reading the news anymore. I gave up on that years ago, because it’s just absolutely horrible for my mental health. Attention-grabbing social […]

17 February 2014

That Is Not My Name

When I went to Australia, I did something that I have wanted to do all my life, but always failed to take the chances I had: I changed my first name. Not legally or anything – I merely gave everyone I met in Australia my second name instead of my first name, thus they addressed me by my second name. Why would anyone do that, you ask? It’s simple: I have hated my first name ever since I became consciously aware of what an old-fashioned, stupid name it is. In German, it rhymes with a lot of bad things. Therefore, […]

27 January 2014

A Place In This World

I’ve been back in Germany from Australia for two weeks, or something along that line. Truth is, I have completely lost my feeling for time (hello, jetlag) and I usually can’t even tell which weekday it is. I was a bit shocked today when I realised that January is almost over. My first week here was very surreal. I had been away from this place for half a year. In this half a year, I have experienced how perfect and pleasant life can be. Suddenly, everything about this place is a shock, everything is making me feel incredibly unwelcome. People […]

31 December 2013

The Awesome Year of Twenty Thirteen

The year is over and it’s time for my annual tradition of “what I did this year” in form of a blog post. While I have already shared my TV show consumption of 2013, it’s now time for life, the universe and everything. January usually begins with a week of being far less productive than planned – I should have studied for exams, instead I probably watched some TV shows. But eventually the semester (my third) commenced after its Christmas break, and I started studying for those exams. Which I think was just one exam, and all of it was […]

12 December 2013

How to be Australian

Today I am sadly leaving Australia. During my time here, I assumed the role of observer and tried to gain as much knowledge about Australians and their culture as possible. I would like to share my observations here, even though I might risk angering my Australian friends by reinforcing some stereotypes! Oh dear… but wait, angry Australians? I don’t think such a thing exists… Please note: some observations might be exclusive to Queenslanders. Be nice and friendly! It’s true, Australians are nice and friendly (and they just can’t help it). They will always greet you with a smile and chat […]

11 June 2013

16.145 kilometers: Australia

Three weeks from now, I will be on a plane. That plane will take me to the other end of the world, 16.145 kilometers away from where I’m sitting now: Brisbane, Australia. There, I will attend The University of Queensland for one semester as a Study Abroad guest student. I have chosen this university because it’s one of the five best universities in Australia. Naturally, I have also chosen it because of its location: I wanted to go to Australia because a stay of several months is the best possible opportunity to get to know this country. Since it takes […]