Sniff. My trusty little self-made longboard has rolled down its last hill after a very short life of only 1 1/2 years. Last Wednesday, at another parking lot session, while trying to avoid crashing with Alex on his fixie, I slipped, fell and somehow in that process managed to break the wood. Funny in a way, since just before that crash I was talking to another rider about how my board might be a little too flexible and lightly built for my weight. But we both came to the conclusion that it was still within the limits and if it did break – after several years of use – I would just have to hope it wouldn't happen while riding. Oh well...

But, since more than half of the riders I know are product designers who are currently building boards for themselves on a 48h basis it probably wont take too long before I have a new one. Until then I'll just pop the trucks and wheels on my old skateboard, should make for a fun toy as well :)

Still, kinda sad to lose my first love this fast. Sniff.

Diploma research is slowly coming to a close, thankfully. I'm starting to get tired of nothing but reading and can't wait to start on some sketches. Also the stuff I've been hammering into my brain these past weeks isn't exactly easy to digest: 'Basic Forms Of Fear' by Fritz Riemann, 'Archetypes' by C.G. Jung, 'Nature Of Man' and 'Anatomy Of Human Destructiveness' by Erich Fromm and finally 'Structures Of Evil' by Eugen Drewermann . Especially heavy for a wannabe designer who doesn't read a lot. Still, I feel like I'm learning a lot, particularly about myself (which isn't always a good thing) and human nature in general. Anyways, by the end of next week I'll hopefully have a somewhat solid concept or at least a thesis. I'll keep you posted. Until then a peek into our 'hole' in the basement. Not much – even less when you see, where the product designers get to work on their diploma – but kinda cozy after a while. If only we had daylight...

Last Wednesday I met up with a few friends from school and a couple of other longboard and skateboard enthusiasts to visit a local underground car park for a late night skating session. All in all we were about 10 people speeding down the different levels of the lot or trying to perfect our sliding moves :D Great fun, especially since the entire building is heated, meaning you can skate in shorts and t-shirt while it's close to 0°C outside. I had to adapt my 'cruising' board to the needs of high speed, tight-turns parking garage riding but now I'm hooked. Can't wait to check out the other spots around town – everyone told me there's at least two equally good ones in Darmstadt. Yay!

Whoop whoop, as of today 2 p.m. my first oral exam is over! That means I'm like one tenth or something closer to my diploma and thereby being a 'state approved' Designer. Not much, but it's a first step and for the moment I'm a pretty happy camper. As a sign of my bliss, a couple of pics from over two weeks ago: kitchen rave and the hunt for Mr. X.

Finally – I've went and seen some concerts again! Was about time. So far I hadn't had the patience to look into the local scene after having been spoiled with a great selection of gigs almost every week in Oslo. Last weekend though, good friend Falko and his Safarisounds played a gig with Toni L and Torch at Heidelberger Herbst. One hell of a party, with the crowd entering the stage for the last two songs. Always good stuff even though Funk isn't exactly my thing.

Yesterday then, my flatmate and I went on a very spontaneous trip to Frankfurt in order to see Soap&Skin at Mousonturm. I had never heard of her before even though she's been so very much hyped for over half a year now. Also yesterday I only had the time to listen to half of one of her songs before we left. But damn it was worth it. Good voice, great piano play, very unique style – overall awe-inspiring atmosphere and performance. I've never really heard anything like it, even though the music of Deaf Center or Svarte Greiner might show similarities in their very dark, melancholic approach. Despite the very short set of only 45 minutes, a definite must should she ever be in your area.

Last weekend, good friend Martin finally redeemed a two year old birthday coupon for a day at a local high ropes course. So on a beautiful late summer Sunday three guys and three girls made their way to Betzenstein for what turned out to be a pretty cool experience – with a couple of exceptions.

The park was quite pretty with the sunlight playing through the leaves and the platforms, giving the whole thing sort of a Neverland-ish atmosphere. We arrived at a pretty busy time and killed an hour chilling on a nearby meadow (Martin and me trying to sleep off our hangover from Heilbronn) before listening to the safety instructions. After those the girls went off to do the beginners course while the boys started off with an intermediate one (harrharr...).

I have to say that I'm not particularly afraid of heights, but in 10-12m above the ground with nothing else holding you but two ropes... well, you get the point. After two courses, Martin and Julia took another intermediate trail while Tim – who goes climbing almost every week – urged me to take the expert course. Frankly, I wasn't too keen on doing so, only wearing sneakers and having seen how difficult it would get. But then again I didn't wanna let him go by himself and I did feel a certain inner temptation, so we went. Bad Idea.

Already having been scared shitless at the second obstacle, there was one about halfway through the course where I was this close to losing it. It was shaky as hell, I had major difficulties keeping balance, I was slowly losing strength in my left arm (which was carrying all my weight at that time) and had huge troubles with the constant reattaching of the carabiners to the different ropes. I was so fucking panicky I kept shouting horrible insults (motherf***** being one of the lighter ones) at Tim – who had already passed it – for the entire time it took me to get through the obstacle, which was all in all maybe 10 minutes. During my struggle and verbal abuse of Tim I caught the glimpse of a kid doing a course one level below us. He stared at me in utter disbelief probably thinking "If you can't handle it, don't go up there, dumbass!". God, he was so right.

Anyways, half an hour later we were one safe ground again. I had lost 2 pounds of sweat, the ability to speak and my sense of humor. In retrospect it was cool to have 'taken on the challenge' but I could just as well have done without. Still a really cool day. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take our cameras up so you'll have to settle for these three shots from below.

Darmstadt: diploma research.
Cologne: meeting a friend from back in the States after over 11 years and a farewell party gone slightly wrong.
Darmstadt: preparing for diploma workshop.
Stuttgart: diploma workshop, lots of work and wonderful dinner.
Heilbronn: exhausted, drunk at Weindorf and late night pasta feed.
Erlangen: high rope course, beer garden and chilling.
Darmstadt: dazed and confused.

Fuck, I got so much shit to sort out! More updates soon though.

Nothing brings them warm fuzzy feelings for this town back to life like the beauty of a delicate, heartfelt little piece of art like the one below – seen just a block away from my apartment. That or the fact that people here have already discovered the trend color of over two years ago (purple) – seen in the streets everywhere. That or the cute little Nazi couple in line behind me at the late night supermarket that bought four cans of the cheapest beer around – seen last evening.

I hate to say it, but I think there are few cities in Germany that have less class than Darmstadt. Thank god there's good friends to make up for it...

Admittedly, the picture below is about three weeks old, but it pretty much visualizes my life since then up until now. After I arrived home I had about one week to empty out my room – dismantle furniture, throw out memorabilia and pack up the rest – before the new house owners took over the floor to start reconstruction. Then I moved to my grandpa's old living room and helped my parents do the same thing to the rest of the house for two weeks while trying to get my life in Germany back on track.

Last Sunday we were finally done with everything. On Monday the moving company picked up the furniture and the keys were handed over – in other words, bye bye old home *little sniff*. And since Tuesday I'm back in Darmstadt, my oh-so-beautiful study town :P

It took me two days to straighten up the apartment. I almost forgot to re-enroll to university (one more week and they would've kicked me out). I'm behind on pretty much everything, first and foremost my diploma preparations. I'm broke, confused and aimless. In general it seems I'm having slight troubles adjusting to my home country.

Either I get my act together reeeal quick and come to terms with fact that this is gonna be 'it' for the next half year or it'll be one long semester...

There are few things in nature that I love more than that special light during a late afternoon summer rain. It doesn't happen too often around here, if you're lucky maybe two, three times a year. But when it does, when the sun / cloud constellation is just right, you get this beautiful warm yellowish hue everywhere. And then these warm heavy water drops that'll get you soaked within seconds – perfect moment.