Not that the new year has kicked off it’s utmost time again for a new entry. I hope that everyone of you came into 2012 happily and healthy and so I extend my best wishes for YOUR new year at this point.
Quickly for you to catch up what happened at uni in the beginning of this 2nd term I’m here. I started off with 10 session in “Negotiations and Conflict Resolutions” with a quite nice professor, although at times I’d wish he’d talk a little louder, cause he’s really hard to understand when he whispers from behind his desk in the front 
the sessions themselves are quite interesting and also involve role plays.
The second course I am taking in this term is about “Globalization & Culture”, where the professor, a sociologists, mainly discussed the influences of capitalism, Christianity, and America on globalization, but also on culture. The course was really interesting (it’s 20 hours of lectures are already over) and as an additional part of it we had movie screenings in the evening where we watched films that approach the topics discussed in class in a critical way. The screenings included (a.o.) films from Belgium, Russia, the US, Germany, France & Iran.
The third course this term is “Discovering Self”, a course which is very interactive and through several exercises we explore ourselves our feelings and our relationships to others. I really appreciate this course a lot and I am looking forward to the next sessions mid of January. Part of the course will be writing an autobiography, which I am really looking forward to, as I’ve always wanted to do that and now I somehow got some pressure to begin with it and do it
For Christmas evening some of us got invited by Allegra & Hela (2 new exchange students from France/Italy and Tunisia) to their apartment – yes, they have an apartment at a guest house on campus, with kitchen, living room, TV, huge balcony and an own security guard (!) … where was I 
well, they invited us for Christmas dinner and had cooked a lot of great dishes, including pizza, chocolate cake, apple pie, and punch. I really enjoyed that evening. At midnight, Allegra, Koyel, and I went to a Syrian church in Kozhikode to attend the service there. This was another great experience as the liturgy is very different from what I had seen anywhere else before.
On 26th in the evening I left for GOA then to meet up with Jérem and his friend Anais there, and later join Morten at the Sunburn festival. Sunburn was an awesome experience. Although I rarely listen to electronic music I really enjoyed it a lot and danced there for hours … pictures of Sunburn can be found here (FB) and on my flickr. Robert, Morten’s friend from Denmark had also come for the festival and for 2 weeks of holiday.
During the days in Goa I mostly enjoyed the beaches and hung out there with the others … the others, that’s a good point. The number of them increased seemingly each day! At first Anu and Prashant arrived and brought along Elena from Russia. Then 3 exchange students from Mumbai arrived – Nelly, Imo & Jonas. Nelly is a very good friend of Jérem. On 30th I also explored the coast near Candolim and Fort Aguada a little and took some good shots with my cam in the evening we went out all together, although none of us was motivated in the beginning. At 6 in the morning it turned out that the night had been really awesome and we were looking forward to the last night of the year.
On the 31st some more people arrived, with Anna from Würzburg, who had couchsurfed Anu’s place, and then also Christina arrived with her 2 friends Hanne and Brita. In the evening the 15 of us then went down to the beach to have dinner at a shack on the beach. We ate and drank there and also watched the fireworks for New Year’s there. Later we went to another shack for dancing – that day I wasn’t really in the mood though, altough I really tried to party … so I went down to the beach and sat down with a bottle of beer there thinking about life & it’s correlations and about someone who I’d write a message later that night …
1st day in the new year we hung out at the beach and said good-bye to Christina and her friends as they left for Palolem in South Goa. In the evening we went for a nice dinner in Vagator and the next day we also just lazed at the beach before Anna and I went to the railway station in Thivim by bus – 20 kms for 20 Rupees; that is like 1.5 Euro cents per km
So now I’m back at campus after having a really good time in Goa with seeing some good friends again and also with meeting new good people! Pics about Goa are also here (FB) and on my flickr. I’m also looking forward to next week when I’ll meet Lisi and Sophia in Kovalam! C u there
So far so good, hope you are all well!
Stay strong in faith & be blessed!
Cheers,
Gergi
