catching up - life between North America and Europe

When months pass without me writing any blog posts, it's usually not because nothing happened (in which case I tend to turn to political commentary). Quite the contrary, so much happened that I didn't find time to blog. Or let's be honest: Blogging was the least thing I thought of.After spending about 7 months in Upstate New York to do field work for my master's thesis, I moved back to Vienna to finish my degree. Part of that was re-designing a green roof for IKEA in Budapest (don't think they ever actually implemented any of our plans). After fall semester, I reconnected with my hobo-self and kind of drifted back and forth between Vienna and my hometown Rostock while writing up my thesis. All this was interspersed with the odd trip to Prague, Berlin, Bremen, London, Somerset and Reykjavík. Don't think I ever spent so much time on long-distance busses. In the meantime, I accepted an offer to pursue a PhD in Rural Sociology at Pennsylvania State University and defended my master's thesis. Guess that makes me technically a Diplomingenieur in Landscape Planning and Landscape Architecture now.In retrospect, I realized that my restless traveling through Europe was my way to say good bye to the continent, places I love and people that I miss already. I am now in State College, PA, two weeks in the crazy adventure of grad school. Crazy it's been indeed so far, but more on that in entries to follow...