6th Semester VI

Tomorrow I will have my last exam during my bachelor studies! I already had exams in Marketing, Biotechnology, Microbiology and Food Processing. This is the reason I neglected my blog quite a bit. Besides I had to give a presentation about Kopi Luwak, the most expensive coffee in the world. This coffee is rather special as the coffee berries are eaten and digested by a small tree-dwelling animal in Indonesia. Locals will collect the digested beans and wash them extensively before they are roasted and ready for consumption. As only 400-500 kg are produced annualy, one cup costs up to $50!

I had some excursions to Emmi AG, Pastinella and Bischofszell Nahrungsmittel AG. Actually I enjoyed the last one most, as they had the best day program and the best meal afterwards :-).

Even though I had exams, I used the time I spend each day in the train to read some books written by Honoré de Balzac. My first novel was "Father Goriot", now I read "Eugénie Grandet" and already bought "The woman of thirty". All novels are set in Paris and present the french life after the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815. Balzac's work habits are legendary: He used to work often for fifteen hours or more at a stretch. His preferred method was to eat a light meal at five or six in the afternoon, then sleep until midnight. He then rose and wrote for many hours, fueled by innumerable cups of black coffee (There is a coffeehouse chain in Germany named after Balzac).

Once more I ran a 6.2km stretch with 420m in hight difference for our SOLA 2008 Team "Meep, meep"! As Valentina came to Zurich to watch me running, I tried to run as fast as possible so she wouldn't wait too long! :-) Unfortunately I wasn't faster as last year, so I invited her to eat at Tibits before we returned to Schaffhausen.

What happend as well is very tragic... One of my friends commited suicide. I was pretty shocked because I met him a few days before and I didn't noticed anything! He was talkative and funny as ever...