So it’s been a while since my last post with acutal content. The past year has been somewhat troublesome, my health was pretty bad and after a long-ish stay in the hospital I luckily got back on my feet in February this year. I am very thankful for this and for all the support I got from family, friends but also from university staff. Without I wouldn’t have been able to finally finish my Bachelor’s degree, after good four years of study and a good deal of personal development. I was happy to write my thesis on an important piece in the field of politcal theory, Hannah Arendt‘s “Vita activa – Oder vom tätigen Leben” (engl. “The Human Condition”).
Also, and this too is very exciting, I moved with my partner into a small caravan community in Erlangen/Germany. It’s like “white trash in a trailor park” but eco-friendly 😉 No, just kidding, it’s a bunch of interesting, engaged people who decided to live differently in an urban area. We are generating our own electricity (mostly solar), growing some of our own veggies and fruits, most of our food is dumpster-dived/rescued from ending in the garbage bin. I’ll certainly write a longer entry about this way of living at some point.
Since I recieve a very generous scholarship from the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung I decided to continue with my studies right away, that is to do my Master’s degree in Cultural Geography at the same university I did my BA. Reason for it was, amongst others, that I got the possibility to start my Master’s with a stay abroad, enrolled at the FLACSO in Quito, Ecuador. My focus in this programme will be geographical research on (rural and urban) development, particularly connected to food souvereignty, ecology and democratic participation. Being able now to put a focus on and specialize in Latin America makes it even more interesting for me. I am also looking forward to get fluent in Spanish.
So now I arrived in Ecuador on October 2nd. I managed to get somewhat adjusted, figure out the bussystem (well, at least the parts that I really need) and I am excited about university starting on October 17th. I’m gonna be updating this blog with impressions, both in written and photgraphed form. I hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to contact me about any questions, suggestions and the like!
