My topics for the KGP

Students scurrying around, the lack of enough feedback sheets and listening comprehensions and the struggle to maintain the time schedule - this is a perfect description for the culture days :-). However, the topics were well chosen and every presentation was informative.

On Wednesday I've seen these presentations:
America: Oprah Winfrey

Ireland:  The life of Irish Traveller Women, Bloody Sunday for the GAA, Gaelic and its use in Northern Ireland

On Thursday I've seen these presentations:

America: Harlem, Scientology

Ireland: Operation Demetrius, Patrick Nee, Oscar Wilde and William Yeats, the Integration of Islam in Ireland, Witchcraft in Ireland, Homophobic Bullying in Irish schools, Kilmainhaim Gaol, the Children of Lir, Gulliver's Travels and Pro-life

I was very indecisive at first concerning what topics I'll chose for the KGP. These are the ones I'd like to be questioned about in the KGP:

1. Operation Demetrius - I'm highly interested in the happenings of Northern Ireland and its history. Furthermore, it relates to my own Culture Topic as the Guildford Four were arrested 4 years after that. 
2. The life of Irish Traveller Women - I've never heard of "Irish Travellers" before so that's why I want to    know more about it.
3. Kilmainhaim Gaol - I myself have been to this jail in Ireland and its story really fascinates me.
4. Pro-life - This issue is currently very controversial and I'd like to be more aware of arguments against abortion
5. Oscar Wilde and William Yeats - As Oscar Wilde is one of my favourite authors, I'd like to get to know more about William Yeats in connection with Oscar Wilde. 

Shocking words

"Gerry Conlon" - A man who is willing to reveal the truth about victims of miscarriages of justice by reflecting every pain he himself had to go through!
In preparation for the presentation of my culture topic I have seen many interviews of Gerry Conlon. It appears to me that he still remembers every moment of these horrible 15 years in prison. When he talks it seems that he puts himself back into prison. He recalls the exact date and time of certain situations and his face becomes extremely terrified by these memories. Have a look at these 3 interviews of him! When I saw them for the first time I almost started to cry. It's quite unbelievable that human beings are able and willing to act in such cruel ways.

• Gerry Conlon 1
• Gerry Conlon 2 (Part 1)
• Gerry Conlon 2 (Part 2)

He wants to raise people's awareness for Gary Critchley and Shaker Aamer who both have become victims of flawed courts. They are falsely condemned prisoners in the 21st century!

I really recommend watching these interviews as I didn't have enough time to show them to you at my presentation. I guess it's a good way to bring yourself back down to earth and realise what a blessed life we lead. 

First time on a flea market

Last sunday I decided to go to a flea market with my mother. I had always wanted to see how a flea market looks like and especially what the people sell. I think it is a very personal thing to sell your own items. Through the years you collect a number of things and they somehow define your character. People give things some kind of meaning and that's the special part of a flea market. So many different people want to get rid of their stuff and it's actually very interesting to see what they posses and give meaning to. You automatically create a picture of the person's character. Anyway, I saw some really cool things there. Rummaging around I found old books, antique furniture, loads of records and some cool clothes. Most of the items were very special and unique. I don't quite understand why people are so reluctant to wear clothes from other people. Why not? If it's something very exclusive that you can't find anywhere nowadays why wouldn't you buy it? That's why washing machines are there for! :-)
However, I have to admit that some people wanted to sell their trash too. Well, it was worth a try :-)
The atmosphere was very great as all people were in search of something different and unique. I'll definitely will go to a few flea markets more often, you just never know what you can discover :-)

I extended my book collection by buying three books on the flea market. One book from 1942! is written by an Austrian author called Grillparzer. It is just about to fall to pices as it is very old. The other book is a thick one from 1944 and written by Nietzsche. It looks very dusty and really antique. The third one is a newer book written by Mario Puzo. I only spent three euro for these books. Unbelieveable! :-)

A Chocolate Factory without Oompa Loompas

The marvellous Riegersburg

Zotterchocolate - This is the name of the only real Austrian chocolate. Some members of the English group felt peckish and they made their way ahead, including myself, towards the chocolate factory which is located not far away from the magnificent Riegersburg. It took us only one hour to reach the destination. The drive was very entertaining and an auspicious start for the trip. We chatted the whole driving time through and that somehow distracted our great driver Julia from keeping track. Anyway, we arrived there before the others :-)

After paying the entrance we got a little spoon which we used for all the very delicious chocolate fountains. Before the tour began a film was shown to us. It was about the owner of the factory, Josef Zotter, and about the whole process of importing the cocao beans from India where the weather conditions are more than perfect for growing cocao beans. The concept of the Zotterchocolate is what makes the chocolate so special. The Zottercompany really tries to treat the farmers in India very fair and provide them with food and good salaries. This is not so common in the rough world of food companies. So, while eating a Zotterchocolate you can be sure that the farmers are treated well in comparison to other companies, where the poor farmers don't earn enough money and therefore live under deprived conditions. After the short film we couldn't wait longer and stormed into the real factory. We stuffed ourselves with every chocolate we came across, some of them were good but a few were a little yucky. Two chocolate fountains were heavenly delicious to me - nougat chocolat and caramel chocolat. I couldn't help returning to refill my spoon. In the end a few of us had to rest because they were too full to move on :-)

Then we continued to the Tiergarten and stroked some lovely animals. The weather was sunny and we enjoyed the mountain air which smelled like the scent of cows :-) We even saw Josef Zotter smilling at us but I couldn't react so quickly and so there's no picture of him :-(
After a while we got back in the cars and visited a typical Autrian Buschenschank at the foot of the Riegersburg. We had a marvellous view to the castle. We had a really great time while eating freshly made bread with different spreads and salads and while drinking fresh juices. But it eventually began to flash and we had to return back home.
The Zotterfabrik-trip was a good idea to stuff our bellies with great chocolate and to get to know each other a little more. We really had a great time :-)

By the way, I'm sure there were Oompa Loompas in the factory but they were too shy to come out :-)

Being in a fantasy world

The cinema hall was full and all seats were taken by Freaks :)

Yesterday was a very special evening for me. An event took place in the KIZ Royal Cinema in Graz and I had the opportunity to be part of it. The event was about the well-known Tv Show called "Game of Thrones". Since I'm a dedicated fan of this show I obviously couldn't skip such a great occasion. The icing on the cake was the fact that the entrance was for free. The event was organised by the Tv company "Sky". For the release of the show's third season on Sky they gave us the chance to get a preview of the first two episodes. I took two friends of mine with me and we really enjoyed it. They also played the opening song of the show and that made the whole atmosphere better. Some people were even dressed in costumes of their favourite Game of Thrones characters and I realised what a big fan base this show already has (for good reasons!).


Before the episodes were shown to us, the hosts of the evening gave the dressed up people present bags. Luckily, the other one in the cinema were also able to get one of these bags by answering a question correctly regarding the show. And so I did!! I encouraged myself and answered one question. I had to enumerate the countries in which the show was filmed. Now I'm a proud owner of a T-shirt, a mug and a poster, each with sigils of different houses. I wanted to buy them anyway, but fortunatelly I got them sooner than I thought.

I really recommend watching this Tv show as it is a phenomenal production of HBO. It basically tells a human story about intrigue, deception, family honor and betrayal. It is a drama with complex characters and it got themes run through that everyone can relate to. But they've put some magic and fantasy on top of it and that makes it so special.

The very Great Gatsby

Two weeks ago I saw the very entertaining movie "Great Gatsby" by Baz Luhrmann in 3D. I don't quite understand why the movie has been so controversial and caused mixed reactions. I was very overwhelmed by the way the director has put it on screen. Even though the book "Great Gatsby" is a piece of classic literature, Luhrmann managed to portray it in an unusual fantastic way for the people in the 21st century. He wanted to take the movie audience to a journey through the Golden Age of America, also dubbed "Jazz Age", but to create a connection to the 20's as well so that the people could really FEEL the spirit of this time. Therefore he put in some elements to back this idea up.
Firstly, the dresses and costumes are created with a mix of elements of the 20's but also nowadays fashion details such as jewelry. The hairstyles are inspired thoroughly by the Golden Age.

Secondly, the music was overwhelmingly great. The director didn't want to play slow Jazz-music during the movie. He cooperated with artists like Jay-Z, Florence and the Machine, the Xx and Beyonce to create a timeless soundtrack for the movie. I personally believe it's one of the greatest soundtracks I've ever listened through. Although each artist follows completely different music genres, they do mach perfectly together because every song has some kind of an element which relates to the movie.
Listen to this song by Jay-Z. The jazz component to this hip-hop song works incredibly good.

100 dollar bills -The Great Gatsby soundtrack (Do you notice the similarities between Jay-Z and the Great Gatsby?)

Besides the very well acting by the great Leonardo Dicaprio, the amount of effort which was put into the movie to make it perfect is just incredible. The director really proved the greatness of the Great Gatsby.

The movie is actually about a tragic love story. 

The importance of being creative

The last month of this semester is just about to end and everbody's busy with learning for the final exams. So was I but at one point I realised that I'm not quite fulfilled with what I'm doing. I noticed the importance of being creative. Instead of being too focused on studying desperately in order to achieve the best marks, we, especially students, should get away from it all and get a moment for ourselves. I know that the university's obligations sometimes prevent us from pursuing our hobbies. However, we should all realise that life's not only about studying, it's about fulfilling your happiness and personal hobbies. It is very important regarding mental activity. I've noticed how relaxed and happy I'm after doing some creative activities such as photography or writing texts. Same as with studying, we sometimes have to conquer our weaker selves and force ourselves to be creative. It does very good on our contentment and happiness to life.

Anyway, that's the reason why I've decided to put an extra blog up to post about things which interest me highly and to post my own "creative" work but as well as some work by other people. I hope it's going to be an exciting and productive summer :-)