Monday, December 8, 2008

Exkursionen

"Endlich wieder mal in Deutsch" sagt die älteste Leserin meines Blogs wahrscheinlich in diesem Moment - mit 90 Jahren schwebt meine Grosi auf der Web2.0 Cloud: surfin USA.

Mir geht's nach wie vor wundertüten-gut in Seattle. Nächsten Donnerstag ist bei mir das erste Quarter vorbei. Warum Donnerstag? Warum nicht? Noch verbleiben jedoch vier intensive Tage hinter den Büchern und dem Laptop.
Trotz des intensiven Studiums konnte ich einige Exkursionen unternehmen, es gibt ja schliesslich einen ganzen Kontinent zu entdecken...

  • Seattle Underground Tour
    Auf Exursion im Untergrund von Seattle; auf dieser Tour steigt man unter die Strassen um die Strassen im 18. Jahrhundert zu begutachten. Weil die Städtebauer von Seattle den ewigen Schlamm satt hatten haben Sie beschlossen alle Strassen mit Dreck aufzufüllen und das Strassenniveau um ein Stockwerk zu erhöhen. Wenn man also untertags schreitet besteigt man die ursprünglichen Strassen in Seattle (mehr Infos).

  • Rollerskating
    Jeden Freitag hat man die Möglichkeit auf "the original Rollerskates" durch die Turnhallen unseres Sportkomplexes zu düsen. Eine ganz spezielle Art von Tanz. Ich als alter Eishockeyaner dachte das Ganze sei überhaupt kein Klaks, aber mit vier Rädern fühlt sichs schon ein bisschen anders als auf dem Eis an.

  • Bainbridge Island
    An Line's Geburtstag haben wir mit der Fähre einen Ausflug auf die Hausinsel von Seattle gemacht: Bainbridge Island. Wunderschöner Trip, Wind im Haar, heisser Tee in den Händen, Sonne im Gesicht - hat gut getan.

  • Houseparty
    Wir hatten gleich zwei Geburtstage in Folge zu feiern, darum haben wir eine kleine Fete in unserem Haus geschmissen. Die Fotos dazu sind selbsterklärend und nicht vollständig.

  • Ballard & Discovery Park - the Scandinavian neighborhood
    Mit meinem schwedischen Büro-Kumpadre hab ich einen kleinen Nachmittagsausflug ins skandinavische Quartier in Seattle gemacht. Schlussendlich haben wir einen wahrhaften Marsch hingelegt, aber Martin's Skandinavien-Heimweh konnten wir garantiert stillen. Er hat überteuerte Import Waren gekauft :)

  • Vancouver B.C.
    Unter lautem Truthahn-Gekreische und ums Leben rennen habe ich für das Thanksgiving Wochenende die USA verlassen. Thanksgiving, weil die Amerikaner sich für die grosszügige Ernte bedanken: Erntedankfest mit religiösen Wurzeln, heute gehts aber nur ums Truthahnschlachten (Sarah Palin gibt ein Interview während ein Truthahn im Hintergrund geköpft wird) und fein schlemmen. Meine Destination war Vancouver B.C., wo mich meine Tante an der Busstation herzlich in Empfang nahm. Der Nissan Altima hat uns zu ihrem wunderschönen Haus gebrach, wo ich dann einige Tage entspannen konnte. Ben hat uns ein himmlisches Thanksgiving Meal hingezaubert, Grappa gabs dann auch noch.
    Am nächsten Tag sind dann auch noch ein paar Mitstudenten von Seattle in Vancouver dazugestossen und wir haben die Stadt unsicher gemacht.


Wie gesagt, am Donnerstag ist Schluss für mich und ich werde die ersten Ferientage wohl erstmal mit Auspannen - von morgens bis abends - verbringen. Dann gehts schon bald in die Skiferien nach Whistler, Weihnachten in Vancouver, San Diego, mit dem Auto nach Las Vegas entlang der mexikanischen Grenze und dann per Auto von Las Vegas zurück nach Seattle. Ich werde Utah mit seinem Mormonenhauptquartier, Idaho und Washington durchfahren. Ich werde diese Fahrt mit einem amerikanischen Freund namens Christian unternehmen.
So, jetzt wünsche Euch allen eine gute Advents- und Weihnachtszeit. Viel Glück bei den Prüfungen. Man hört sich bestimmt noch einmal vor Weihnachten. Mal im Skype nach meinen Prüfungen.

So jetzt ab an die Fotos. Hier die Links:

Monday, November 10, 2008

Halloween, Elections & more

Yes, we can! Obama was elected as the new president of the United States of America the last week. Not a lot changed since then but Flavio can still tell a lot of new stories. The past weeks were the perfect opportunity to make real American experiences. Let me start with it.

Rain: Rubber boots can be fashionable
Seattle is probably the only place on planet earth where rubber boots are really fashionable. The rain season started here and you may wish to type "weather seattle" in google to find out what the weather is here right now. The weather forecast hasn't much to do because they can just copy the forecast of the previous day and use it for the next day. The variety of rain boots is incredible! You might want to look at this link. Aren't the colors incredible :) ?

Man on fire
No, this isn't the perfect Halloween costume: A tragic incident happened on the Campuson the day of Halloween. A man set himself on fire on the red square, which is the main square of the university (something like the Polyterasse). The brave reader can read the story here and look at pictures: Students rush to save a man who set himself on fire.

Halloween
Halloween was another American key experience! Already a month before October 31st you can start buying costumes and other Halloween utilities. Halloween is one of the biggest festivals here: For the children it is a paradise because of the trick-or-treating, where they proceed from house to house to ask for candy (treats). If they don't get any they will play tricks on the house owners. For all the older people it is the perfect opportunity to act like a child. My costume was Kellog's Tony the Tiger. I already owned a t-shirt with Tony on it so the only things I needed were a mask and Frosted Flakes ;) Plus some random golden chains which made me the hip hop version of Tony the Tiger. Look at the pictures to find out more about my dress and see how my friends dressed up.
There is one comment I want to make about the costumes of the US girls: for most of them Halloween is a great opportunity to dress up in a really slutty way. Most of them are wearing skirts that barely cover anything... it is up to you to judge if that is good or bad.
This is actually not the last comment I will make because I could be part of another really American experience: a fraternity party. A fraternity is a brotherhood with a Greek name (Pi-Kappa-Alpha or Alpha-Beta-Gamma). Membership is limited to men and the own big houses close to campus and people say that they are crazy, drink a lot and have huge house parties. So on the day before Halloween we could get into one house and I have to confirm; it is like in the movies. They have a huge house with a huge party basement. Loads of drunk people doing dirty dancing, that's probably the best description and that's were I stop.

Election Night
Wow, election night was a blast! The atmosphere was incredible - basically it felt like French revolution back in 1789. US citizens and even all the international people felt absolutely happy that Obama got elected. The alternative was simply ridiculous (Muhahahaha). After watching the election ralley at a friends place we went to Capitol Hill to a bar to watch Obama's great speech and after that every single soul started marching downtown for the manifestetion of Obama! Absolutely insane! Ten thousands of people were marching in downtown Seattle, the streets were packed and everybody huged and high-fived the next person. Great atmosphere.
What was a bit astonishing is that everybody was still so sceptic until the last minute whether Obama will win or not. Now he is there and he will move into the White House soon.

Seattle neighborhoods
Seattle has many many beautiful neighborhoods. Most of them though have a really small core. I checked out Seattle Center. This is were the world fair in 1962 took place. They built the Space Needle, a monorail and other very futuristic things. On another day I discovered to the international district to see the small Chinatown they have here. Please have a look at the pictures.

Look at the pictures

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Road trip to Portland

The recipe is easy to remember:
1 car (max $30)
1 Portland
2 pumpkin
1 Frida
1 Petter
1 Ras
1 Moritz
1 Flavio
1 beautiful day

If you mix all those ingredients together you will get one of the funniest days I had so far in Seattle. Part of my house mates and me made a road trip to Portland Oregon. Portland lies South of Seattle and it is about a three hour car drive. Have a look at Google Maps

If you want to be part of it you need to look at the pictures and videos in my photo album: Portland
The pictures pretty much explain all the fun we had on our trip. In the end of October the Americans celebrate Halloween - so we went spontaneously to pick a pumpkin on the way to Portland. Portland itself is a really beautiful and relaxed city. If you ever have the chance, go there. But now let me write about an other thing.

Going to the gym in the US
If you were wondering why students pay a hell lot of tuition here in the US, I have the answer: To build amazing sport complexes (like this one). You have pretty much everything in there: Swimming pool, many basketball courts, many indoor tennis courts, many indoor squash courts, indoor climbing... you won't believe that you can fit all of this in one building - somehow they manage. The nice thing is that every student can get a locker for free in the locker rooms. Towels & soap to shower are for free too: so no need to carry around your towel all the time! I signed up for Squash classes and go regularly to the gym to do some weightlifting. The weight lifting room is a world for itself. Huge guys and a lot of equipment: Hammer Strength, the real stuff. Most of the guys that are serious about weight lifting drink their protein shakes after the training to build up their muscles (So the stereotype has been proofed correctly). There is actually a place right by the exit of the gym where you can get smoothies and shakes. All in all: it is a lot of moaning and a huge show off. I actually go and show off too with my new purple Husky outfit :)

I am looking forward to write more stories!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Purple and Gold - colors of a Husky

I am safe and sound in Seattle! I am actually already since about twenty days here: I got settled and I started my studies at the Computer Science & Engineering department of the University of Washington in Seattle. So it is about time to please your minds with some new stories!

7th heaven
I am living in a house with six other international students in Capitol Hill (Click here for map). The location is great because the house is nicely situated between Downtown Seattle and the University District. Our neighbors have huge houses, and nice cars - it seems to be a pretty safe area.
I was totally frustrated when I arrived in Seattle and found out that I got a spot in the university residence hall in a triple room! That means three people in one tiny room! I had a look at it and decided to find another place to live in. The dorm just looked awful and all the other people living there are freshmen (18 years old)!
By happy coincidence I ran into other international students having the same problem and I joined them to look together for a house to share... and a few days later we found this amazing house I am living in now with the coolest people. That's why I want to shortly introduce each and everyone of them: Click here for picture.

  • Frida (Denmark)
    Tall, blond and good-looking Frida is studying architecture. She has a great style, dresses really cool and likes to fool around. She talks about houses as if they were living creatures that interact: it sounds terrific and you can see her passion about it burning in her eyes! What I really liked was how she climbed on a dumping side digging for useful stuff for our house: a rocking chair for our porch! She is a great entertainer, "maker" and seems super independent. It is great to look at her when she is excited about something.

  • Line (Denmark)
    Line is the Danish princess - because she has such nice skin (that's what an Asian guy thought ;D). She married the man of her life shortly before she came here to Seattle. She likes as well to fool around, to dance and sing. She has great skills when it comes to second hand shopping and when she smiles she looks really cute!

  • Katy (England)
    Katy is a little bit more shy than the other ladies and moved in just lately. The first thing she brought was this awesome hat stand. So we can actually throw our hats on it as soon as we enter the house. She is a great actress with the greatest British accent and she should show us some more of it :).

  • Ras (Denmark)
    Ras is an incredibly nice guy. You can feel that he is happy and that he somehow understood what is important in life. He is tall and slim, just like me (and has the same problems when buying clothes). Other great characteristics: generous, helpful, great mediator and absolutely funny! He built a tennis court with his dad and thinks about marrying! That's mature.

  • Petter (Sweden)
    Petter is another Scandinavian. He is the chef of our house - he pleasures our senses with great food! He is a real gourmet. Looks good all the time and is a little bit vain. He's style is very cool and he sometimes looks like he owns IKEA - I though never figured that out. And finally: he is my tennis teacher!

  • Moritz (Germany)
    The German! He is football player and beer trinker. He actually just made it in the university soccer team! We actually manage to not talk German - which is quite magnificent. A very funny guy - he especially likes to joke about Scandinavians. He is here to party and meet girls :P... and he likes the attention.


University Life
People at University of Washington (UW) are really welcoming. I am now a grad student in the Computer Science and Engineering department. I have a desk and a computer in an office that I share with three other people! Infrastructure is pretty good here, actually just as good as back at ETH. The main reason is Microsoft which provides my department with pretty descent funding!
The campus in general is absolutely beautiful. There is a gorgeous fountain and buildings that remind you of Harry Potters school. It feels absolutely awesome to go to school here.

Purple and Gold
The colors of the University of Washington (UW) are gold and purple -the mascot is a husky. So everybody is supposed to dress in those colors and act like a husky! Go Huskies go! For me it is really impressive to feel the school spirit they have here at UW - there is nothing like that at ETH Zurich. Everybody is proud to go to school here, walks around with UW t-shirts and cheers for the college football team! I bought tickets for the whole season to watch all the games! Every game is a big festival with more than 50'000 fans that go crazy! It is insane! So check out my pictures from the football game to get an idea!

Photos
Click here to browse all the new pictures!
Seattle
Baseball
Football

Monday, September 22, 2008

Beautiful San Francisco!

San Francisco - I guess the prettiest big city in California (go there!). The whole bay area has actually a lot of charming things to offer. Honking while driving over the Golden Gate Bridge or the Bay Bridge is a fantastical experience! It definitely feels like being in a movie. San Francisco has other characteristics that make the place really special: It is hilly, it has cable cars, it is multicultural, you will find a beautiful Chinatown and many things more.

In San Francisco I met four Swiss girls that flew with me from Zurich to New York in the very beginning of my road trip. They seemed to be okay so we decided to see each other in S.F. - actually we already had a really fun time in the airplane. First of all because they were planning out their entire trip whereas I didn't have a plan at all: The first time I read my lonlyplanet traveller guides was on the airplane. They already knew at which hotel they will spend each and every night... So I contrasted the girls pretty well.
In San Francisco we then met on Union Square and that's where the whole story started off. We went shopping together, we rented bikes together and went out together. It was an awesome time!

Have a look at the pictures! 

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Sick of stones, rocks and trees

It was in Moab (Utah) where I had a sudden change of heart: I am sick of all the stones, rocks and trees: Back to civilisation! I mean I have really seen every shape of a stone by now, it is about time to see human beings again. I am sick of little boys showing me their hats with pins from all the national park they have been to :) It's high time to head to San Francisco and meet Fabienne, Laurence, Adrienne and Nadja that I met on the airplane to New York. We decided to meet in San Francisco. But now let me tell you some stories that happened on the way to S.F.

Riverrafting  on the Colorado
In Moab I went riverrafting with the Germans I met in Grand Canyon. I didn't raft in a red river before - the water was all red from the stones and the sand! We expected a really dangerous time on the river but oh my god the river was not even moving. The most dramatic thing was that we got blocked by a stone because the water was so low :) 10 minutes of pure panic and drama!

I almost froze to death aka. 33° F in Yosemite National Park
Arriving at Yosemite National Park I was stunned by its beauty: So I decided to spend a night there in my car. That was a really spontaneous action. I had no clue how cold it would get, I didn't even have a blanket, sleeping bag or any equipment that was needed. At sunset I hiked up to Elizabeth Lake to lie in the sun and that's where I met a family from the Bay Area. We got into a conversation and I told them about my adeventurous plan to spend the night in the car - I was still laughing when I told them the story - well... they were not! They invited me for dinner on their campground. I enjoyed a really nice evening at their fireplace and, hey, thank you for saving my life! They gave me a blanket and even with that I almost froze to death. It was so freaking cold - Zero degrees Celsius. At 4 o'clock in the morning I felt so cold that I simply started the car and moved on to warmer places :)

Click here to see the pictures!

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Wild Wild West

There is much more in Arizona than the Grand Canyon: Let me share all the other nice places with you. There are actually not too many of them! And you don't go to Arizona for experiences with human beings, you come here for the nature. If you go to Arizona you will find a lot of really small places: Population 100, Population 3000, maybe... well Phoenix is big but it is by far the ugliest thing I have ever seen so far (It even outperformed Calgary in ugliness). The funniest thing on the way to Phoenix was a girl in a car flirting with a train driver: They were honking at each other for the longest time; the train driver had this ear smashing huge horn!

The city I liked the most in Arizona was Flagstaff. I only spent one night there and arrived late but this place was crowded; people just came back to school at Northern Arizona University. So I kept asking people about a concert that will be in town but none of them could really help me because they have just arrived like me. It was very easy to get together with other people (..."I am a cute guy, looking for cute company"...). They had awesome bars there and breweries with fine food! Unfortunately a lot of those students there can't even get into the bars: "We are not legal yet"!

Another funny thing happened in Sedona. My friend Arno knows a hair-dresser there that I should go and visit. Her name was Marji and she was just doing Nita's hair when I arrived. She is actually a Russian woman but changed her last name so peole would actually be able to pronounce it correctly. That was a really fun conversation I had there: really friendly people.

Later I headed to Page which was my basis to discover Lake Powell, Antelope Canyon and the Horseshoe Bend. Check out the pictures to see how amazing those things look like!

Here you can look at the pictures

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

How the Grand Canyon looks at the very bottom...

I was really looking forward to see the Grand Canyon - it is about a four hour drive from Las Vegas - so quite a long time until you get to see the spectacle. Fortunately the landscape changes drastically when you drive to Grand Canyon from the South, so it isn't boring at all. In Vegas you are in the middle of the desert but the whole environment will get green once you approach Grand Canyon. The green of the north-western part of Arizona contrasts perfectly with the blue sky, the black road with the yellow stripes on it and some yellow plants.

The mean thing about Grand Canyon is that you don't get the smallest glimpse of its beauty until you are at the rim. The Grand Canyon ist the mother of all canyons, it is massive! It is so huge that you can't grasp it at first and it feels like you are looking at a picture hanging in front of you. The colors are simply amazing and they change over time as the sun is moving! I arrived at sunset and got to see the canyon in a very special light. In order to grasp the size of the canyon I decided to hike down to the bottom the next day.

At 4:30 am it was time to get up and get ready for the hiking day; I wanted to be there at sunrise. At the shuttle bus stop there were a handful of other people - but it seemed not that many of the visitors get to see the bottom of the canyon. I met three German guys at the bus stop that had the same intentions as I had. Taking South Kaibab Trail down in the morning and going up again on Bright Angel Trail. That's a total of almost 30 kilometers and a difference in altiutude of 1'500 meters one way! And then there is the sun it get's 40+° Celsius on the trail. So everything was set for a challenging hike! It was a lot of fun to hike with the Germans, actually it would have been quite crazy to hike all the trail alone so I am really happy I ran into them.

Have a look at the Grand Canyon pictures.

The way I travel
I want to say a few words about the way I travel; I have a car, I have music, I have lonely planet guides and I do NOT have a schedule of my trip. Most of the time I know where I will spend the next two nights but not much more; the activities throughout the day are always really spontaneous and flexible. If I want to sleep in, I will sleep in. If I meet people, I simply hang out with them. If I want to have a fantastic dinner, I simply get it... It's quite amazing what you get to experience if you do not depend on anything. Trust me, I am loving it!

Saturday, August 30, 2008

My first hat

I already wrote in my last post about Santa Barbara, well I stayed there for a little longer with my friend Arno who does an internship at Eiffel Software in Goleta (just next to Santa Barbara). So please check out the new pictures in the Santa Barbara album.

Shopping: Downtown Santa Barbara is awesome for shopping! The great thing is that they don't have a big mall there - it is more the European style of shopping where you have little boutiques on a street. I have found a store I adore: The Urban Outfitters. Check them out if you are in the US. So I got myself a hat here (You'll see it on the pictures); the first hat I have ever possessed :-D My mum will be so proud of me - I was never wearing hats or caps before but sometimes you simply fall in love! There is actually a t-shirt that I bought along with it: it has Tony the Tiger from the Kellog's Frosties on it. The color of the shirt is of course blue ;)

Surfing: Unfortunately there are no pictures that would proof my surfing experience! My secretary was out of office ;) ... so how is surfing if you are an amateur, meaning you never ever surfed before! Well you should probably go to a surfing course with a good teacher... I tried it the hard way and just got a surf board to try it out myself. Well Arno and Paul were along and they were of course already pro's at it: wait in the water orthogonal to the wave - paddle - paddle - paddle - PADDLE... and stand up! That's the way it works, and yes it worked several times!
So for the guys among you who know how to surf: I got this soft surf board without wetsuit! If you surf half a day with a soft board you will rub it all the time against your tummy, chest and breast - it hurts like hell - you look like a lobster and you really don't want anybody to touch your nipples (Insider: and especially not Svendsen!). But all in all it was so worth it; it is incredible when you feel that you ride the wave, the speed and the force of the water! Try it out by yourself even if it is only for a few hours. It is absolutely the greatest way to experience the force of the sea.

Sunset: That was one beautiful sunset there - don't want to say much about it, have a look at the pictures! There is just one problem with the sunset in Santa Barbara: the sun goes down behind the mountains so if you are lying at the beach you will miss the sun very early!

Dancing: Going out was a lot of fun in hip Santa Barbara, first of all it is important that there are a lot of young people (major source is the University of California there, girls are back in town!).  Secondly it is important to go to the right place: We went to the Wildcat! A great place to dance and meet people - they even have an outdoor patio and kick ass music. Oh, I forgot to mention the juicy dancers in the fishnet stockings. Incredibly great atmosphere there! I can't really remember but we got ourselves a stretch limo taxi to get home! That was awesom too (thanks Arno, ha ha): First time for me!

a thing you should know about the leftmost lane on freeways! On big freeways like the one I described in my last post you will find a car pool lane. Check out the video on youtube! You are only allowed to use this lane when there are at least two persons in your car. It's the first time you realize that there is almost nobody sharing his car! Everybody sits in his own car!

Las Vegas
Strange city in the middle of nowhere: A lot of entertainment, money, freaks and whores! The thing that was best in Las Vegas: Cirque du Soleil. I watched the Mystere show! It was absolutely AMAZING!! If you are in Vegas - watch one of those shows! Find the pictures of Las Vegas here!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Erste Eindrücke: Über filmreife Szenen…

Jawohl, die USA ist eine Aneinanderreihung von Filmszenen, man hat so einiges schon in einem Film gesehen - in der Realität jedoch meist noch eindrucksvoller. Aber jetzt zurück zum Film: Alles, was einem nicht gefällt kann man hier einfach ausblenden! Ich möchte euch darum hier ein paar kurze Szenen beschreiben. Die Fotos sollt Ihr natürlich auch anschauen, die sind nämlich immer mit Kommentaren versehen, damit man meine Reise mitverfolgen kann!

Szene1: Freeway
Den Mazda M3 mit Her(t)z gefasst und den Zielort im GPS eingegeben fahre ich ahnungslos los: Das ist doch mal ein guter Start! Es ist schon dunkel draussen und ich bin nun schon 16 Stunden „wach“ (ZRH-JFK-LAX); also beste Voraussetzungen um ein bisschen Free- und Highway zu fahren. Glücklicherweise lotst mich das GPS auch auf einen solchen und das war dann auch die erste überwältigende Szene: Da rast man von einer Rampe auf den Freeway nieder: Links von der Mittelmauer sieben Spuren weisse Lichter, rechts davon sieben Spuren rote Lichter. Unumgänglich musste ich überwältigendes „Woooow“ von mir geben.

Szene2: Verfolgungsjagd
Langsam hatte ich genug von der Küste und dem Strand bei Santa Monica – darum bin ich auf dem Interstate 5 durch das Innere von diesem Riesenkalifornien gefahren! Ebenfalls überwältigend: Weitläufige Hügelzüge mit gelben Gräsern überzogen geben den Eindruck von goldigem Samt; unglaublich schön, gross und überdimensioniert. Plötzlich geht’s dann wieder runter und vor sich sieht man einfach in eine unendliche flache Ebene; dort wird Landwirtschaft für die Masse betrieben und mit Tiefenpumpen („pumpjacks“) Gas gefördert. Diese Weitläufigkeit drückt unumgänglich auf das Gaspedal; Bei einer Kreuzung hatte ich dann auch endgültig genug von der lahmen Ente vor mir und überhole Sie direkt nach dem Stopp mit einem Garacho! Da schiesst ein laurender Stereotyp-Polizist mit seinem Standardwagen wie eine Rakete aus dem Gebüsch! Staub, Dreck und Kies in der Luft und rot-blaue Lichter im Rückspiegel. Ui, Verfolgungsjagd :-D … ich hab dann aber aufgegeben und rechts angehalten; Ich hab ihm meinen schwedischen Führerschein übergeben… „you drive way too fast and way too dangerous!“ … „You got to drive wayyyy slower… or do you want me to make you walk??“ … okay, ich habe die doppelgestreifte Mittellinie beim Überholen überfahren! Das Ganze war dann aber im Nachhinein wirklich sehr amüsant.

Szene3: Be happy & funny all the time
Ich habe bis jetzt keine unglücklich wirkenden Amerikaner getroffen (ah, doch, aber nur in Las Vegas!). Um weiter mit der amerikanischen Kultur auf Tuchfühlung zu gehen schaltet man auch mal das Radio ein! Da gibt’s dann immer so Gewinnspiele, wo man und frau anrufen können um Gallonen für Ihre Trucks zu gewinnen. Das wichtigste am Ganzen ist, dass die Amerikaner nur happy people hören wollen; darum lacht der Moderator mit etwa zehn bulligen Männern im Hintergrund nach jedem Satz, den der Teilnehmer sagt. Hier wird per Knopfdruck gelacht und automatisch ist jeder Mensch glücklich & lustig hier ;-D

Vorurteile
Man sagt ja immer die Leute sind dick hier und fahren riesige Autos? Stimmt gar nicht - an der Californian Coast ist man sportlich, man surft (habe ich natürlich auch probiert - macht sehr viel Spass!), man ist sexy und man besitzt Kompaktwagen oder sogar Hybridfahrzeuge. Mr. Schwarzenegger ist ja hier der Boss - das will einem irgendwie nicht in den Kopf reingehen, wenn man durch Kalifornien fährt... der hat in seinen Filmen ja nicht einmal einen vernünftigen Dialog auswendig gelernt.

Allgemeine Situation
Es geht mir sehr gut hier in den USA, darum bin ich auch noch nicht gross zum bloggen gekommen: jetzt geht's aber los und ich versuch auch noch ein weiteres Mal von mir hören zu lassen. Vermisse nämlich die eine und den anderen unter euch schon bisschen! Momentan habe ich mich entschieden in Deutsch zu schreiben, aber das könnte jeden Moment ändern. Ich freu mich auf jede Antwort von euch! Jetzt gönnt euch aber die Photos!

Photos
Los Angeles Area
Ich habe in Santa Monica gewohnt und das übliche Touristenprogramm gemacht.

Interstate 5
Von L.A. nahm ich den I-5 um schlussendlich mit einem Umweg nach Santa Barbara zu kommen

Santa Barbara Area
Ich war bei Arno auf Besuch, Fotos nicht komplet. Vielen Dank nochmals für die Gastfreundschaft

Momentan sitz ich gerade im Grand Canyon fest... wirklich atemberaubend.