Stocherkahnrennen

Berlin

End of May it was time for the last of the radiology meetings where my work from Boston got accepted for presentation.
This time it was in Berlin and luckily enough it was during the weekend of the 60th birthday of the Republic of Germany and a big party took part in the German capital in front of the Brandenburger Tor, the place where the wall formerly divided Germany and Berlin in an eastern and western part.
There I even saw the German Chancellor and the German President in person and a lot of other people of influence.

Now in my memories my stay in Berlin seems to be a dream.
A couple of days before the meeting I was notified that my poster had won a price and that I was allowed to present it during the poster session.
I was also nominated for the Young Investigator Award and a jury consisting of the heads of radiology departments from the most recommended university hospitals in Germany like Heidelberg decided to give me a special award for my PhD thesis. I am invited to attend the meeting next year again free of charge.
On the last evening of the conference I was invited to the formal dinner of the Head of the Conference who was also the Head of the Radiology Department of my home university of Tübingen. For me it was a big surprise that I really enjoyed the evening among all those professors.


A very good friend of mine from Tübingen and the US (we went to Toronto and the Niagara Falls together) lives in Berlin now and I could stay with her. Together with her roommate we had perfect evenings going out and enjoying the party at the Brandenburger Tor.
Thank you so much, Annika, for your hospitality and the great time in Berlin!

Die Sicht der Dinge

Hatte ich doch schon lange das Gefühl, ich würde schlecht sehen, kam heute beim Augenarzt die Stunde der Wahrheit....
Als letztes Mitglied der Familie werde ich nun auch Brillenträger werden, damit ich endlich wieder den Durchblick habe:

Muttertag

Muttertag = Mother's day
Normally the kids visit their mother on this day - today it was the other way round. My parents came to visit me in Tübingen and even brought a strawberry cake with them.
We spent some wonderful hours together in the historic center of Tübingen. Time went by so fast and after five hours we already had to say Good-Bye again.
Vielen vielen Dank, dass Ihr hier zu Besuch wart!!!

Boston Sightseeing with Ben

Boston Beach

After another morning of work, this time after a relaxing brunch together with Chris, I spent an hour at the beach, enjoying the nearly unbelievable 93℉ (=34℃).

Summer day

Yesterday I spent a second wonderful day together with my friends.
In the morning I had to work and talked to my supervisor, afterwards I went to the conference and organized all formalities.
Around lunch time I visited Ben again at the MIT Ballroom Dance Competition, then I went sailing on the Charles and once more enjoyed the flowers at Boston Common. We were lucky and the forecasted T-Storm didn't arrive, so we could enjoy a BBQ at a friend's place.
What a day: It feels more and more as if I've never been away from Boston.

Back in Boston - coming home

After a long travel I arrived in Boston Friday afternoon. And I felt like I was coming home. In the bus I already talked to friends and in the evening I met my best Boston friend and former roommate Ben who returned to Germany nearly a year ago, but coincidentally is visiting Boston right now too.

Saturday was a wonderful day with nearly 30℃. I met the next best friend Chris (German medical student who was in Boston a year ago to do research and who returned a while ago to do an internship for his final year of Med School) at Boston Common and we spent a couple of hours in the park and in the harbour talking about medicine, future plans and former times.


Later I went to the MIT Ballroom Dance Competition where Ben was dancing in the Silver competition.


In the evening I went together with Ben (THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE FREE TICKET!!!!) to the Dance Show with Luca and Loraine Baricchi. It was amazing to see someone dance most complicated figures looking easy and smooth.


Later in the evening I went to the Concert of my former orchestra Harvard Wind Ensemble and met all of my friends there. They played a nice concert performing only American composers together with one of the Harvard Jazz Bands.
Finally I went out to meet some other friends and at 2am I went to bed - exhausted, but incredibly happy and knowing that Boston is the place on earth where I want to live.

Tübingen

Now it is already nearly three weeks that I returned to Germany.
It was very strange in the beginning, but I already feel like at home. I've got a beautiful big room in a dorm with the awesome view over the historic part of Tübingen. And many of my friends are still there and welcomed me back home.

I spend all my days in the surgery department, and even if I have to work and study very hard I love it. It is interesting and my supervising doctors were super friendly and explained a lot. And even better: I was allowed to do many things by myself like gastroscopies!!!

Tomorrow I am again flying to Boston. For a conference.
I cannot wait to be back in this beautiful city where I spent wonderful months. And of course I cannot wait until I see many of my friends again.

Gedanken

Nach vielen vielen Monaten im Ausland werde ich in wenigen Tagen nach Deutschland zurückkehren exakt dorthin, von wo ich vor fast zwei Jahren aufbrach.
Und spätestens dann werde ich sehen, ob sich meine Befürchtungen bewahrheiten: dass ich mich verändert habe, während der Rest der Welt stehen geblieben ist - dass ich mich zu sehr verändert habe, um noch einmal in Tübingen so glücklich zu werden, wie ich es schon einmal war.
Denn ich sehe vielleicht noch so aus wie vor zwei Jahren, doch innerlich fühle ich mich um Jahre älter durch die vielen positiven und negativen Erfahrungen in den USA und in Spanien.
Gleichzeitig möchte ich mich bedanken, bei all den Leuten, die meine Aufenthalte in Boston und Alicante zu so einem besonderen Erlebnis gemacht haben:
- in aller erster Linie meine Familie - meine Eltern und Klaus - die mir in guten wie in schlechten Zeiten zur Seite standen, mich besucht haben, mir viele viele Emails geschrieben und viele viele Stunden mit mir geskypt haben.
- Ben, meinem besten Freund, dem ich durch Zufall kurz vor Beginn meines Boston-Aufenthalts begegnete, mit dem ich tolle Auflüge unternahm, der fast ein halbes Jahr lang mein Mitbewohner war, und mit dem mich eine ganz außergewöhnliche Strandliebe verbindet: Kennengelernt am Strand in der Bretagne, der erste Ausflug von Boston aus ging nach Cape Cod an den Strand, der weitest entfernte nach Miami South Beach, wiedergetroffen in Alicante am Strand.
- Linda und Ralph, die für mich eine zweite Familie in Boston waren und auf deren Wiedersehen in 4 Wochen ich mich unglaublich freue.
- die Clique der Deutschen in Boston: Jonas, Tim, Andreas und all die anderen Harvard Law School Studenten.
- meine europäischen Freunde in Boston: Chiara, Roberto und Maya
- das Harvard Wind Ensemble
- das Harvard Ballroom Dance Team
- Vicky, meiner Mitbewohnerin in Alicante, die innerhalb weniger Wochen zu einer sehr guten Freundin geworden ist: ihr Besuch bei mir in Deutschland und unsere gemeinsame Reise nach Salamanca sind schon fest geplant.
- meine europäischen Freunde in Alicante: Adriana, meine Retterin in größter Not am Tag meiner Einschreibung an der spanischen Uni, Rimos und Danilo, Kerstin und Birgit, und all die vielen anderen Leuten, die ich hier nicht namentlich genannt habe, denen ich oft nur kurz begegnete, mit denen ich entspannte fröhliche Stunden verbrachte und die mir halfen, mich in der Fremde wie zu Hause zu fühlen.

DANKE DANKE AN EUCH ALLE!!!

Altea

Alicante Sightseeing and Beach

Happy End

Valencia

In the upcoming week the Fallas take place in Valencia.
Fallas is the biggest festival during the year and people from all over Spain come to see the great statues made of paper maché that will be burnt after being evaluated by a jury next Thursday night. On my visit the artists were working to put the single pieces together.