As many may have noticed, I did not really write that many entries over the last few weeks. But there is an easy explanation for this: It is just not that much new interesting stuff happening for me anymore. After a good four months in a foreign country, I got pretty much accustomed to this situation and have built up my weekly and daily routines. I am not the “German” any more, but rather switch nationalities between American, French, Swiss and Chinese. LOL

However, in recent time I have noticed something new. Something I have seen and experienced before, but just not in that kind of way and especially not since I have been here. As you can call from the header, I am talking about aching hearts:

Last Sunday was a big football day, and for the first time I have been here, I got this weird feeling in my chest again. You know, when you have been rooting for someone the whole year and then suddenly it all ends?! It is not just that you called the match-up a month before that makes you root for either side. I did not even know that pain was there, until some players just threw the game-ball away, and somewhat hit me with it right into the chest, cracking open my heart, making it ache. It is those situations that expose a big part of your real character. Almost like you are in love with someone and that someone breaks your heart in the most brutal way by cheating or betraying you. You feel sick, and even the next day when you oppose the images of that situation (damn Sportscenter), your heart cannot stop aching. I have not felt this way, maybe since the Mavs lost against the Heat in the 2006 NBA Finals. Kind of the same situation: Mavs (Vikings) throw the ball away and the Heat (Saints) get some really lucky calls by the refs. What seemed to be a clear match-up, suddenly gets complicated and goes the wrong way. And even though you kind of liked the opponent (Saints or Mourning) the whole time, after that decisive moment, just can’t do anything but dislike them for a period of time, until you get over it. In the end, the most important moral of this story is: I like the Minnesota Vikings!

My Top 5 songs:

1. Natasha Bedingfield – Pocketful of Sunshine

2. Alicia Keys – Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart

3. Timbaland ft. Miley Cyrus – We Belong to Music

4. Joss Stone ft. Jamie Hartman – Stalemate

5. Alicia Keys ft. Jay Z – Empire State Of Mind

My Top 5 albums:

1. Alicia Keys – The Element Of Freedom

2. Joss Stone – Color Me Free

3. Timbaland – Present Shock Value II

4. Alicia Keys – Unplugged

5. Gnarls Barkley – St.Elsewhere

My Top 5 shows:

1. The Big Bang Theory

2. Castle

3. Friday Night Lights

4. Two And A Half Men

5. Modern Family

My Top 5 movies:

1. Walk The Line

2. Four Christmases

3. Ray

4. KeinOhrHase

5.  Turistas

I seriously thought there was no way we could get close to some of those weekends we had in the Verm this past year. However, this New Year’s Eve in Sioux Falls easily comes right up there, regarding fun, amount of alcohol, and silliness.

Due to the fact that the Mafia is spread out all over the country (and even Germany) right now, we only had us four to end the first decade of the 21st century. I was already staying at Matt’s place for most of the week; Eric is his roommate, and Alison luckily lives close by. So we decided to come together and have a blast. Food and lots of alcohol were quickly bought. We actually spent over 150 bucks just for booze, including 4 bottles of the good old German Jägermeister, a 24 pack of Miller light, as well as some imported Beck’s from Bremen (a town just 1 hour away from my home). Other materials we needed were: 40 cups, 6 ping pong ball, a door, a slow cooker, wieners, champagne, strawberries, ginger ale, skittles, a balcony, tiaras, a hat, glasses, and of course cameras. Most important were the cameras, which we found out the morning after.

Before we started the night at 7, we had to make a list for everything we planned to do. This sheet also was used to keep track of what Alison and Matt were drinking. We started the night slow, taking some group pictures and some fake Edward-Campagne-Hands pictures. For all the people, who still wonder why Matt is considered the screamer in the mafia, see this video:

Then we took out a door from one of the closets, put it on some book shelves, and we had ourselves a nice beer-pong table, which was later on turned into a mix-pong table. Of course this meant, that not all of us would survive the night. Way before 10 p.m. we had the first funny quote from Alison: “Ups, I spelled beer wrong.” Surprisingly, Eric was the first one to pass out though; unfortunately, it was an hour before actual midnight.

Midnight: I was proud to introduce one of my New Year’s traditions to my friend in the US. Like I do every year, me and my friends Matt and Alison jumped into the new year. German style! as Alison would call it later. Here is the video:

An hous after midnight, we could cross of another plan from our list. Jumping of the balcony. We wanted to do that, since there has been snow out in the Verm. So finally we jumped. The story is, since I consider myself as a good athlete, I decided to jump first and see if it is possible for drunk people! So I jumped and landed just fine. I was surprised how easy it was. However, I climbed over the railing first and kind of fell off. Matt, the idiot, had to do the jump start off course, thinking that he would get further out and could land at the top off the snow hill. Bad idea, I tell you. Bad idea. Well, see the video for the whole story:

Another funny fact was: The Kuck-Floor-Syndrome hit again. All three of us. See the pictures here:

To sum it up. It was an epic night to end an epic year. Maybe the best one and most successful of my life so far! Only one thing left to say to all of you guys out there, especially my friends and family back in Germany:

Happy New Year

When I left Germany for my year abroad, I knew that I would not be home for Christmas. I quickly learned to deal with it, since it is not my most favorite holiday anyway. However, I was very happy when Matt asked me to join his family on Christmas a few weeks back.

On the 24th, usually the day when we in Germany celebrate Christmas with the unwrapping of the gifts, we drove to Rapid City by the Black Hills for six hours. After we arrived at Matt’s aunts house, we had a nice dinner and I got to know his family. Everybody was so nice, and they made me feel welcome.

The next day we had a big breakfast and then sat at the Xmas tree for some time and shared our gifts. It was nice, and I was surprised that I got so much, which would not have been necessary. My biggest Christmas gift is waiting for me in Germany when I come back, although the Janes’ invitation may be the best present they could have given me. I cannot thank them enough.

On the night of Christmas day, Matt, his parents and I spent three hours in the kitchen and especially his dad told a lot of funny stories from his life. It was really cool. I like story times!

Even better though was the following day in the Black Hills. It got to see Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. The whole area was beautiful, especially in the white cover of the snow. Just beautiful.

The drive back from Rapid to Sioux Falls was a little adventurous. We dozens of cars and trucks in the ditch because of black ice. Luckily I had a good driver on my side, so we got home safe. There is been so much great stuff this weekend that words fail me. I would love to write tons of more stuff, but I wouldn’t know where to start. The only things I cannot say enough is: Thanks for my very good Matt and the lovely Janes family. Those days were some of the bests so far here.

Since I get to stay Christmas with the family of my buddy Matt, I had to look for nice gift for him. Luckily, Amazon has almost everything:

Click on it for bigger size…

So I have talked about a lot of things here in America. You kind of get the idea how the people are, what the university is like, and some other stuff as well. But I never told you about the food. Different country, different food! Right?

That is only half of the truth. America is the land of fast food restaurant, and most of them we already know in Germany. McDonalds, Burger Kings, Pizza Hut, or Subway. Nothing new for you; however, I was a Subway virgin coming here. Not anymore! But no worries, we used protection! haha…

In addition to that, most of there other is food is just like everywhere else, except for a few main dishes. Most of all, in Germany we don’t have the traditional turkey at Thanksgiving, and all the other dishes that come with that holiday. I did not have a Thanksgiving dinner this year, which is not bad though, I don’t know if I would like it anyways. Turkey is not my favorite bird to eat.

Another important food are pencakes. Okay, now you might say, we have pencakes in Germany, too. But we eat them a lot different, as far as I know. When I make pencakes at home, I use oat, milk, eggs, and some water. Last night, I made pencakes in the US for the first time. It was a lot easier, because I only needed to put water into the prepared mix. Quickly, I had 7 nice pencakes, all tasting very nice, topped with some strawberry jam from the squeeze-bottle. And they were filling as well.  Take a look:

This definitely goes on my cooking list for the rest of my stay! Easy to make, tastes good, stops the hunger! However, as good as pencakes might tastes, there are some idea about I do not like. For example these:

Another big food things is meals for the microwave. I had a Bolognese Lasagne dish two weeks ago. It was surprisingly tasty, however I could have eaten three more of them and I still would have been hungry. So for 3 bucks a pack, it is not worth it. I rather wait for my Maggi Fix Mixes from Germany and make my own Lasagne. The American like that, too! Still, here the microwave meals:

Okay, last but not least, let us talk about the beer for a little bit. I know, for a German I am a bad beer expert. However, I was still able to say, that a good German Beck’s is a lot better than a BudLight. At least it was in the beginning. With the times I got used to the beer here. One thing I like, is that the space of the glas is not wasted with foam. You get a lot more beer for the same price here. Also, in most bars you can order whole pitchers of beer, which is awesome! And at Eagles, it also is very cheap. So no worries about the beer. You can get drunk here, too. Even with all the Light Beer.

Despite her young age of twenty-two years, singer and songwriter Joss Stone recently released her fourth album: “Color Me Free.” Stone, a Dover, England native, was discovered for her outstanding voice in 2001, and she soon released her first album, “The Soul Sessions,” only two years later. Unlike many other new artists nowadays, her first single was not a number-one hit in the charts; however, she grew popular over a relatively short time and eventually her album went triple platinum in 2005, two years after the official release. Her music, a combination of classic and modern soul, R&B, and pop, is greatly influenced by the 1960s and 70s music of Dusty Springfield and Aretha Franklin. She also had great success performing on stage with music legends such as Blondie, James Brown, Tom Jones, and Gladys Knight. Besides her incredible voice, Stone is also known for her trademark barefoot performances.

Her new album, “Color Me Free,” contains 12 new songs, which is two less than on the last couple of releases; however, in all but two songs she was a major part of the song writing process, and the track list also mirrors a variety of songs with more diverse styles than in the past. Those styles include fast pop songs and classic jazz songs, as well as romantic ballads, performed either in a duet or by Stone alone. Therefore, the title of the album is fitting, since it is the first one which she has freed herself from all the predefined terms of other writers, producers, or labels.

Another striking point of this album is that it sounds more musical and instrumental. There is less computerized or synthesized sound; instead, the supporting instruments range from a single piano to a big band. They never undermine her strong voice, making it an album about singing and song writing, not just instrumental music. However, it is important to state that only both voice and music together create the sound that is typical for Joss Stone and her style of music.

The first track of the album is also the first released single. The song, called “Free Me”, reflects the overall purpose of this album; namely, to break free from her previous styles of songs, to break free from the songs of other writers, and to break free from conditions predefined by her record label. The chorus of this song says “Don’t tell me that I won’t, I will. Don’t tell me that I’m not, I am. Don’t tell me that my master plan ain’t coming through […].” This clearly states her ambition to represent herself as a new, independent artist. Additionally, the whole song, including music and singing, sounds strong and self-confident.

One of Stone’s best songs on this album is track eleven, a duet with Jamie Hartman, who is a British musician and songwriter. The song, “Stalemate,” is about a guy and girl being in stalemate with each other; while he does not know what he did wrong, she feels betrayed, heartbroken, and better off alone. However, it is not the topic of the song that is worth mentioning.  This part is more average and many lines are built up in a similar way. But it is the music and the juxtaposition of two unique voices, forming this song into a beautiful love ballad. When I first heard this song, Hartman’s voice surprised me with an unusual husky sound, and I wanted to skip the first verse to hear Stone singing. However, his not-so-clear strong voice gives a perfect set up for the change to Stone’s voice. A minute and a half into the song, Stone opens her verse with “You used to pick me up, yeah” sung in a deep, calm voice. In my opinion, this is one of her best verses ever. In addition, Hartman’s and Stone’s different voices make the whole duet work perfectly. They represent the perfect couple, having problems in their relationship at a point where they are at a stalemate.

As a big Ray Charles fan I was looking forward to hearing track ten of Stone’s new album, which is a cover of the Charles classic “I Believe It To My Soul.” Since nowadays covers of old songs are usually a cheap pop or dance version, missing every well-working element of the original, there was some fear that Stone might have done the same. But she did not. The music of her interpretation is almost exactly the same, using a brass band, a percussion set, and female background singers. Even the lyrics are the same, and Stone’s performance of this song is simply the homage to one of her idols, arguably the best swing and jazz musician of all time.

One of the songs not working for this album is track eight, “Incredible,” which is not a bad song; nevertheless, it sounds like it was stolen from one of Stone’s past albums. The rhythm, beat, speed, and instruments are similar to her old songs. The songwriting is good, but the performance of this song, including parts where it sounds out of rhythm, or where the background singers suddenly jump in, is not as strong the rest of this album. With a runtime of less than three minutes it is also the shortest song she ever released on an album.

Overall, Stone definitely goes new ways with her latest album. Her major involvement in the work behind the songs, the diversity of new styles containing classic and modern music, and her strong singing performances, turn this album into a good piece of music which does not follow the usual trends of pop, dance, or hip-hop music. Despite her young age, Stone is a grown-up artist and not an overhyped teen-sensation. Musically and vocally, “Color Me Free” is her best album so far, and with time she may also bring her song writing to perfection.

Due to recent incidents in the McFadden mafia, there is a warning for a weird disease spreading among the members. Most common symptom: People suddenly falling down to the ground or randomly laying down! It started just two weeks ago, in one of the secret hideouts of the mafia! First it seemed like a fun random incident, but last weekend the same symptoms occurred again. After a medical check-up, the secret mafia doctor came up with a new disease that can only be spread through fluids, mostly alcoholic; it is called: The Kuck-Floor-Syndrome! The first time this illness broke out, it hit three members at once. Caused by “The Bomb”, the mentioned affected persons randomly fell to the ground. Luckily, pictures could be taken to help the researchers identify this new kind of syndrome:

Member in the back was already able to pull himself back up. Others were not that lucky.

Just minutes later, three more members were hit; all incidents were not correlated to each other. As reports tell, the fourth member fell down during a normal card-game. Reasons for the fifth incident are still unconfirmed, but due to witness reports, the victim had a lot of gold in her system. The sixth incident was apparently caused by the sight of some Mr.Miller???! However, this member was hit the hardest and needed several attempts to finally get back up again. Pictures are in order of occurrence:

Unfortunately the disease was not a one day thing. Only one week later three more incidents happened. Two members even were hit for the second time, and one of them also suffered serious injuries. According to reports, he tried to stand up from his chair, excited about the fact that his pick-up-line worked for the first time ever; however, on his attempt to sit down again, he failed immensely and obviously had another outbreak of the rare syndrome. The other member was hit on the way to a fellow members car. Well, that also could have been the slippery snow though. Look for more pics here:

To sum it up, already seven members have been struck by the Kuck-Floor-Syndrome, two even got hit twice. Researcher are still looking for a cure, since the disease may spread rapidly among the mafia. If you find yourself on the ground for no reason, please report the mafia office immediately. The office is located in McFadden 301. Appointments are available through Christmas break. Please help, to find a cure for this rare condition.

So this is my first blizzard warning in my life! At least that I can remember! At least in early december. Did I ever see that much snow on a Dec. 7th? I don’t think so! They said something about 10 inches of snow! It looks crazy outside. and it damn cold. Minus 8 degree celcius during the day, and minus 16 at night. Take a look:

There are some show I just like, because they are funny, or they have a great stories. Then there are shows that seemed to produced just for my likes. For example “One Tree Hill”, which is the perfect combination of teeny drama, basketball content, and great actors. Another one of these shows is Fox’s new success “Glee”.

I like choir music, especially gospel choirs. As I mentioned, I also love teeny-drama playing in High-School or College. And then I like a good diversity of good actors. “Glee” has all of it.

The story is about a High School glee club that wants to win regionals, but faces several difficulties on its way. First of all, the members could not be more different from each other. There is the unpopular girl, who has the best voice; there is the nice popular football player, his prom-queen girlfriend, the nerd-girl, the gay-kid, the football jerk, the cheerleader, the nice-guy, the fat-girl, and the kid in the wheelchair. All of them join the glee-club in some way or the other, and of course this does not end without a few disputes. Their teacher always has to solve problems of his kids, or his own. The coach of the cheerleading wants to destroy the glee club since it swallows the school money she wants to use to win the cheer-championships. And the kids all of problems of their own, may it be a pregnancy, relationships, love-crushes, family problems, or whatever. It is is total confusion, but somehow every episodes end in a happy end.

What is most striking about this show is, of course the fact that it kind of works as a musical. After all this series deals with a glee club, and therefore we see a lot of performances by the group. Most of the songs are well known pop and rock songs, staged in new different way. Choir style is always very different from the original, but some of the performed songs actually gain new levels of sound, e.g.  Duffy’s “Mercy”, or Winehouse’s “Rehab”, or “Don’t Stop Believin” by Journey. All songs are studio recorded and performed by the actors themselves.

The main actors are Matthew Morrison as “Will Schuster”, Corey Monteith as “Finn Hudson”, Lea Michele as “Rachel Berry” and Jane Lynch as “Sue Sylvester”. The latter is known from many other movies and shows such as “The L Word” or “Two And A Half Men”. She is one of the most prolific actresses in Hollywood and known for her feisty, funny characters. Like this she also appears in Glee and perfectly fits the role of the Glee clubs main enemy.

Lea Michele (right picture) is not a famous TV-actress, but a proven Broadway singer and performer. Her role in Glee is very diverse. On the one hand she is the unpopular girl, who does not have any friend, but on the other hand she is the strong, self confident leader of the Glee club. Michele’s voice is definitely one of the strongest in this show, and she sings the main voice of many songs.

One of the newcomers of this show is Dianna Agron as “Quinn Fabray”: In her role as the cheerleading captain and the girlfriend of the football captain, she literally flourishes, convincing the audience of her charachter’s dilemmas with her beautiful smile and surprising vocal performances. Quinn is not the typical strong, narcissistic girl. Although being cheer-captain, and future prom-queen, she has to deal with a lot of problems in her life, and is quite vulnerable. One of her biggest problems is her secret pregnancy. Interesting fact by the way: She never had sex with her boyfriend Finn, but she claims she got pregnant when they got to second base in the hot-tub one time. Of course, she knows that Puck is the father, but she lets Finn believes it is his child. Overall, Agron’s acting performance is very good, and she is easy on the eyes, too.

To sum it up, “Glee” is a musical, funny, girlie, and somehow weird TV-show, which is definitely worth watching. If you like show such as One Tree Hill, The OC, or the American Pie movies, you may like this one as well. However, if you favorite show is fucking C.S.I., than please don’t waste your time and leave me alone with your stupid comments.