Featured today: ME!

Yay, I'm famous! (Oh, I'm so humble ;-))

Well, maybe not quite yet! But I'm working on it! Meanwhile, check out this interview with me. FIUTS is the Foundation of International Understanding at the University of Washington. I have volunteered there on many projects to foster international understanding. I've also taken pictures for them and just finished editing this video teaser for an upcoming event.I will also do a little video of the event itself.

And right now, I'm on the non-profit's front page!

In the interview I talk about being an international student, Germany and my travel to Mexico. There's also a number of random Q&As. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Bizarre Landscapes: Mt.St. Hellens&The Oregon Coast

Bizarre Landscapes on the West Coast



With my visiting friends from Germany, I used the last weekend to explore one of the strangest places in the Pacific Northwest: Mount St. Hellens.



Since the erruption of May 1980, the arrea seems very surreal. Until today, the devastation is quite obvious and everything reminds of the massive explosion.



Where the lave floated down the mountain it formed a valley and left marks on the earth that make it appear very unreal, almost like on another planet.



It is hard to imagine the force of nature that created these landscapes, but nature has also started to claim back the territory. It creates new beautiful landscapes.

We spent another day along the rough West coast for more if its beautiful landscape.



In Oceanside, we used the "tropical" setting for some relaxation at the beach. Here, the wind was creator of all landscapes. After a couple of hours, it had changed the appearance of the sand, shifted dunes from one place to another.



Of course, these populated coast areas cannot deny the human impact on the landscape.
HEre it is a little harder for nature to make its claim.



steel and metal dominate the landscape where politics has drawn the state line between Oregon and Washington: on the Bridge over the Colombia River

Tulip Festival

Tulip Festival in Skagit Valley



The Netherlands undoubtedly have the monopoly on Tulips and Skagit Valley reflects that fact. However, this tourist attraction in Washington makes for quite a competition in the flower universe. On Saturday, we drove up there with several cars to check out the place.



Of course these beauties have to be secured from evil visitors and passers by.





Although I didn't like Tulips much before going there, I found some real beauties in the fields...



and just the fields and masses of flowers, the intensitiy of color and the combination with the landscape were incredible.



Despite horrible weather forecast the day turned out to be gorgeous. So after several hours(!) in the fields, we used the rest of the day for a nearby farmer market and a roadtrip to Whitbey Island.


Riding up the Canadian Bordr and back: Coreina&Heather (roomates of Estelle), Barack and me.

Insides Into Seattle

Seattle's Coffee Culture Examined



For my latest audio story for the Communications class I am taking, I have explored Seattle's coffee culture.
My goal was initially to tell the story of struggling coffee shops in the economic situation. While I worked on the story the focus shifted. I found it more interesting to focus on the the different kinds of coffee culture (global-commercial v. local-communal) and to show why people prefer "The Local" over Starbucks.

TOPS Visit (Updated)

On Friday we went to a Seattle elementary to have our long anticipated TOPS visit.



FIUTS students were invited by the school to present their home country to small groups of elementary kids.


The "German" Group

Lissy had borrowed a Dirndl for the occasion and we had prepared lots of material for the kids.
We led them on a little trip flying over from Seattle to Frankfurt and then took the train to finally end up hiking through the Black Forest.
After a short break we played "Ochs am Berg" with the kids, drew the German flag and taught them some basic German.

The event was a lot of fun for both the kids and the international students.


Update: See the FIUTS Photo Gallery of the German TOPS team

Summer in the City

Summer in Seattle

After a long application process, Thursday finally brought a turn in my quest for an internship this summer.

Filmateria Studios had invited me for a second interview on Wednesday and it went really well. They liked my technical skills, my international profile and my knowledge of social networking sites.



Hermina gave me the honor of capturing the moment when I got the Email offering me an intern position. We were working in the law library of UW.

The next step will be the application for a visa extension. If the extension is approved, I will stay in Seattle until October as an editing intern on a project called Team Marco Polo - a travel show for kids! Cross your fingers for my summer in Seattle!!

PNASA Conference

Stories and histories of the Pacific Northwest...

... was the themeat the annual conference of the Pacific Northwest's local chapter of the National American Studies Association this year.

In Lincol City, Oregon, scholars from the Pacific Northwest and beyond gathered to present their papers.

And I was one of them!

In fall, I had prepared a paper on Native American representation on 19th century maps in the greater Washington State area (a project I dubbed "Getting the Natives off the Map") in which I identified the use of maps as a political tool used by white settlers to decrease Native lands.

Luckily, my paper was accepted for the conference and so Andy,

a fellow grad student at UW and I, made our way down to Lincoln City

- right on the Oregon coast. the conference itself was very interesting - but what really made the weekend was the ocean! There is nothing better than watching the ocean mist move into the bay when the sun shines on it. Of course these are the moments when you are without camera!