Breakfast on a Monday Morning

Yep, after CreamTea and Cheesetoast ... Food for thought breakfast ;-))

PROJECT EUROPE 2030  ... challenges & opportunities

http://www.reflectiongroup.eu/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/reflection_en_web.pdf

Leise rieselt der Schnee...

Am Freitag war's mal wieder soweit: die zweite Seminararbeit war um 16:00 faellig!! Ach du meine Guete das war diesmal was...

Ich hab ueber das Wiederaufleben der rechtsextremen Parteien in Westeuropa seit den 1980er Jahren geschrieben. Ganz besonders hab ich dabei natuerlich Oesterreich ins Visier genommen und mit Schweden verglichen - ich hab wahnsinnig viel gelernt ... ueber Oesterreich und unsre eigene oesterreichische Geschichte und hab natuerlich auch sehr sehr viele Ideen dazu!

Allerdings bin ich ein bissl grantig weil ich das Gefuehl hab, meine Ideen und Argumente nicht so niederschgeschrieben zu haben wie ich mir das vorgestellt haette :-(( *aaaargh*

Anyways, ich hab also um sieben Minuten nach vier meine Arbeit ageschickt und als ich die Bibliothek verlasse ... schneit's draussen!!

Juhuuu - ich konnt es selbst gar nicht glauben, das ist aeusserst ungewoehnlich fuer Bath :-)

.... es tat sooo gut die kuehle Luft einzuatmen, ueber das beleuchtete Bath zu schauen und mir bewusst zu machen: it's over - the essay is handed in *clear cut* 

 ... sooo merkwuerdig, bis zur letzten Minute hinzuarbeiten, 5 Tage in der Bibliothek zu verbringen, sieben Stunden lang nix zu essen vor lauter lesen/ausbessern/letzte Details und dann ganz ploetzlich von einer Minute auf die andere ist alles vorbei!!!

Ich hab dann meine Studienkollen in der Students Union Bar am Campus getroffen - wir haben unsre blauen Kapuzenpullis und -westen bekommen ... mit dem Euromaster Logo drauf ;-))

Die Uni-eigene Radiostation hat Musik aufgelegt ... ein gemuetlicher Abend! Und dann zu Fuss den Huegel runter ... ein guter Wochenausklang!

Rise of right-wing populist parties...

...and sentiments within EU-countries...

Link to: Financial Times Article

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/fd54377c-f104-11df-bb17-00144feab49a,dwp_uuid=03d100e8-2fff-11da-ba9f-00000e2511c8,print=yes.html


...implictions of this development??!

- I'm indeed interested in any comments!

SOUTHWEST ENGLAND

Juhuuu - eine Woche lang keine Vorlesungen! Geri kommt mich für 4 Tage in England besuchen und ich treff ihn am Abend in Bristol am Flughafen :-)

Dort holen wir auch sogleich unser Mietauto ab und Geri kurvt gleich ganz bravourös auf der linken Seite der Straße!!

Die erste Nacht verbringen wir in Bristol City - nachdem wir durch einen deutschen (!) Weihnachtsmarkt schlendern und in unserer Unterkunft eingecheckt haben geht's los: Pub Crawling ... yesss, von einer Lokalität zur nächsten *awesome*

Bristol - morning by the harbour

Durch die grüne Hügellandschaft geht's nach Stonehenge...

Our next stop: Salisbury

...a little old English town with the "highest cathedral - tower" in England

But - our real highlight comes at the end of the day: we get to the seaside!!!

We stay overnight in Exeter and discover the coast on Saturday ... nice fishing villages,  old castles in the middle of beautiful landscapes, sheep farms, deers and grey patrideges, Agatha Christie's hometown, afternoon tea, Cornish pasties and - of course: Fish & Chips as well as English Breakfast!!

It was a great trip!! *thank you, Geri*

Picturesque BATH, UK

BATH - this beautiful little English town is where I live for three months... 

The Romans were fascinated by the hot springs and as seven hills are surrounding the area they saw this is a sign to establish another "base" here! 

 

Buildings from the Georgian and Victorian era are still present all over the town. Furthermore, Jane Austen - a famous novelist (remember romantic fiction Pride and Prejudice?!), lived in Bath on and off in the late 18th and early 19th century.

I am actually quite surprised by how good the weather has been throughout this mild autumn... most of the days were sunny, the abbey looked even more prestigious with its tower rising into the blue sky!

...every now and then one could listen on the radio: "you might have recognised, there is some rain in the area" ;-))) *muahaha*

Autumn in London's Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens

Hyde Park and neighbouring Kensington Gardens ... beautifully coloured ;-))

Wow - after 15 months I am back at uni, just started with my Masters  at the University of Bath in the UK and now five weeks are past already! In a few hours I am going to hand in my first essay
time to reflect: 

First of all, I am just impressed by this new feeling that studying here in the UK gives me. I am discovering a whole new world. My professors encourage me to question everything. They want us students to challenge them, think critically and voice doubt about long-established principles. I am realising only now some further aspects of many things that I learned during my undergraduate studies. It is so new for me to explore things myself ... I was used to learn subjects just as they were presented by the lecturers. I indeed enjoy the system here: read, "think actively", analyse, discuss, reflect, ...

• It is just soooo motivating to have professors who work with the EU or write for the magazine Foreign Affairs ... couldn't believe my eyes when I received the e-newsletter from this mag this evening, listening the headlines of the newest articles. There he was: Scott M. Thomas writing about "A globalized God" (...rising importance of religion and its role in international politics - one of my favourite topics), just next to Hillary R. Clinton "Leading through Civilian Power". 

• Awesome is also to hear "insider news" from my lecturer, working for the EU in Brussels. 
• Great to know that another one is a researcher for Chatham House in London, The Royal Institute of International Affairs.
• Others are working on research projects concerning terrorism, security in Europe, international security, etc.

Well, I have written 4000 words on the relevance of Marxism today: evaluate the extend to which forms of Marxism are still relevant for understanding international relations. It may not sound too exciting but I have to say, the more I read about it, the more interesting the whole topic became, the more I wanted to know about it. Marxism is just not what I was thinking, there is so much more in it than Lenin, Stalin, Mao, North Korea and Cuba. Marx was a great philosopher  (some would say scientist) and has considerable influence on a great number of  disciplines  (politics,economics, arts, literature, philosophy, religion, education, etc.) down to the present day. 

I can't remember when it has happend the last time that I was done  (relatively well) with an assignment before the deadline expired (wait, let's not talk about these people who were done 10 days before the deadline and started with the secod essay right away *tztztzzzz*). I do remember the day I had to submit my Bachelor's Thesis: It was a Tuesday and the "physical" paper had to be in the office by 2pm. Guess what - I was doing the last amendments until noon, ran to the print shop and arrived at uni at 1:45pm ;-)

Well, I hope this was just the start of a nice series of well-timed essays ... 4 are to be submitted, the last on January 14, 2011  *so, let's keep fingers crossed*

What has certainly played a role in my "relaxtness" is that I've kept telling myself that I am enjoying what I am doing, it was my own decision to study  European Affairs and International Relations and it's for my personal "enlightenment". 

Have fun at what you are doing and it's not a burden ... 

Another factor contributing to that is for sure,
that I am living in my beloved Funky Backpacker's Hostel ... so many funny people, globetrotters and story tellers - lets me get other ideas apart from thinking as a student ;-)

Thanks for sharing this hilarious phase in life Darek, Yuko, Nobuko,  Kamil and ... to quote Jess: "I don't know anybody else who is getting his/her Master's in a backpackers" ;-))

I can just emphasise again how happy I am with the decision to do this awesome Euromasters here in Bath!

Well, let's see what our "reading week" holds for me ... there are no classes next week - we're supposed to read and digest these masses of "food for thought" :-)))

I am off to London for the weekend and  look forward to see Geri in a few days in Bristol, from where we will start our roadtrip through England' Southwest!!!

...many greetings from Great Britain

EUROPA - Youth on the Move

Opportunities to learn, study, train and work abroad ... what a positive apect of the EU - facilitating exchange (of people, culture, ideas, values, ....) between the different EU-countries!

Youth on the Move - Programmes

http://europa.eu/youthonthemove/euprogrammes_study_en.htm

...news about my great trip to the southwest of England and more pics from Bath are following soon...