PINNACLE @ DUXTON- THE SKYBRIDGE

The Pinnacle @ Duxton is a residential complex, consisting of seven buildings which are all linked together with a skybridge on the 26th and 50th floor. If you have an ez-link metro card, you are allowed to enter the skybridge on the 50th floor and have the most amazing view over Singapore. As you can wander from tower to tower, you pretty much have a 360 ° view over the city, from Chinatown over the harbor to Sentosa Island. It is definitely worth a visit, especially between 6 and 8 pm. The atmosphere is absolutely magical and since it's not really a popular spot for visits it is not crowded at all. When I went there on thursday night, there were only two other families on the entire skybridge, so I had plenty of space for taking pictures. 

MONKEY BUSINESS

Whenever I get up really early in the morning and enjoy the beauty of a sunrise I always tell myself to stop sleeping in that much and raise early more often.There's nothing like the calm and blissful atmosphere, that ultimate moment of peace when it's just you and the birds praising the new day and the beautiful colors welcoming even the grumpiest morning grouch.

I actually managed to drag myself out of bed at 6.15am today, to enjoy the sunrise in the MacRitchie Reservoir Park in Singapore. I'm still deeply fascinated on how it is possible to get lost in a jungle while actually being in the middle of a metropolis. 

My absolute highlight though were the monkeys having breakfast on the trees just above me. 

TRIP TO BINTAN ISLAND

It was only a few weeks ago that my parents surprised me with booking a short trip to Indonesia and here I am looking at pictures I took and wishing I could press the reply button for the past few days. 

The trip started really early on Saturday morning and because my entire family does not function before a first cup of coffee we decided to get up even a bit earlier to enjoy our secret weapon against tiredness and bad mood. 

A taxi brought us to the ferry terminal and after double and triple checking our passports various times we where allowed to board the boat, which was supposed to bring us to our final destination, Bintan Island. After thoroughly traveling through Indonesia a few years ago we were pretty much done with the cultural part of the country and focused on simply enjoying the beautiful beaches this time. 

A lady with the most charming smile handed out the immigration cards on the ferry, which said "Welcome" in the first sentence and casually mentions death penalty in the next one. I don't know if it's just me but that made the welcome part sound slightly less convincing but I'm probably just overreacting. 

To my great disappointment, passengers were not allowed to enter the deck but as a consolation, staff  turned on the oversized TV and showed Ice Age at full volume so that even Bruce Jenner would be able to follow. 

After only an hour, we arrived at our final destination and were brought to the resort.  As soon as I entered the beach, the Olympic Games of Sunburn were declared open, in which the different parts of my body competed against each other in the supreme discipline of who will turn into the brightest shade of red in the least amount of time. Frontrunners are usually toes and nose but this time the elbow got crowned as a surprise winner, triumphantly outshining the other contestants. At least we didn't have trouble finding back to our hotel room after dinner when the lights were turned off because of "earth hour" since my elbow reliably lighted the way through the dark. 

I've tried everything to boycott the games, from making the starting conditions extremely difficult by using 50+ sun lotion, constantly hiding out in the shade or wearing t-shirts in the water but there is nothing that could stop the participants. 

The past few days sort of merged into each other and mainly consisted of doing pretty much nothing except for eating, sleeping, relaxing and swimming. It never ceases to amaze me how differently the term "beach holiday" can be interpreted. Whilst for me it means sleeping late and relaxing, most of my family members try to squeeze in as many activities as possible and end up having crazy schedules which makes them play tennis at 7am or participating in jungle night trails. Don't get me wrong, when I am on a vacation in order to explore a country you wouldn't have to drag me out of bed because I'd be up first and you wouldn't have to convince me to do trips but when I'm on a beach holiday it's just a different story for me. 

All in all it was an amazing trip to this beautiful island.

OF WEETABIX AND VOX POPS

As tomorrow is the last day of this term, I decided to do a little resumé on my impressions and experiences I made during the first few weeks. I still can't believe we are about to finish this first chapter here in Buckingham because I still remember how excited I was before arriving and starting this course. 

In the last two months I met great people, learned how to properly eat weetabix, broke down certain barriers and went full retard on more occasions than I prefer. One of my biggest success is probably that I am now capable of leaving Chandos Road Building without running against the glass door because I forgot to press the green button (this is trickier than it sounds). When I am presenting for a story now, I don't need 20 takes anymore because I'm so nervous that I forget how to speak English, and end up insulting the camera in German. And I've learnt that there simply is not enough money for good food and booze at the same time.

Even though it was quite a lot of work, I realized that in the end it's just doing what I love doing. It still seems so surreal that going to "school" now means learning about camera angles, interview techniques and photoshop and assignments are designing posters or running around Buckingham equipped with a camera and dictaphone trying to get people's opinions for a vox pop. 

I still remember those days when "homework" meant connecting the dots or collecting at least five different types of leaves for a biology project. Back than going to University was something that felt so so unbelievingly far away that I sometimes actually thought it would never happen to me. University for me was the ultimate stage of being a grown-up. 

Well, here I am actually in University and far, far away of being grown-up. Maybe that is the trick though, keeping the little kid inside of you alive while maturing at the same time. I don't know where the further journey is going to take me, but I feel like I've chosen the right starting point.

FIRST AID TRAINING SHOULD BE MADE COMPULSORY

Have you ever been in a situation, where you wished for having attended a first aid course before? Luckily, I've never made such an experience… until two days ago. While walking home from the library, I came across a clearly intoxicated woman, stumbling in the middle of the road, who was heavily breathing and repetitively moaning she was going to faint: clearly a case for an ambulance. 

Depending on where the next hospital with an ambulance service is located from your position, it can take quite a while until they arrive and are able to come to your aid. While waiting for the ambulance two days ago, I was just absolutely terrified that the woman might faint before the ambulance is going to arrive and what would I have done? I do not have any kind of training in that field so I wouldn't have been able to do anything, which made me feel help- and useless. Fortunately, the ambulance arrived before worse happened but I might not always be that lucky.

This is why I do not only want to take a first aid course in my next holiday but I also believe that a first aid course should be made compulsory in college or latest in university. I guess that most of the people, including me, don't or didn't take classes because you don't feel like you'll eve be in a situation where you'd need it. Stuff like that happens to other people or on television but my experience made clear that you can be in such a situation quite easily and the feeling of helplessness is terrifying. 

The Red Cross in Australia, for example, already stressed the importance of making a first aid training compulsory in schools on their homepage: http://www.redcross.org.au/red-cross-calls-for-compulsory-first-aid-training-in-schools.aspx

I will now start googling where I can attend such a training in order to be better prepared in case of an emergency the next time. 

UKRAINE FASHION WEEK

The Ukraine Fashion Week kicked-off last week although there were plans of postponing the event due to the political unrest the country is facing at the moment. 

“We thought of postponing Ukrainian Fashion Week, but when the Crimea situation began we knew we had to do it now. We need to show the outside world that we’re unbroken and that we’re strong.” said Danylevska , who is one of the founders of the annual event. 

Roughly 40 designers present their collections and many took the chance to combine politics and fashion by presenting outfits with a clear statement. 

Designer Olga Navrotska, for example, designed sweatshirts which say "Stop the Regime" and "Stop Putin".

The Label Zalevskiy dressed their models up as prisoners and let them present the collection on a fenced catwalk.

CRONUT & PILOXING

If you already came across newly coined words such as "Cronut", "Bruffins" or "Cragels", you are definitely up to date on the newest culinary trend: food hybrids.

A New York pastry chef, Dominique Ansels, created the so-called "Cronut", which is a mash-up between a croissant and a donut. Soon followed the "Bruffin" (brioche + muffin) or "Cragel" (croissant + bagel). Even savoury fast foods such as Burger and Ramen Noodles, cannot escape this trend, as you can now buy a Ramen Burger.

The New York Daily News (http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/eats/expect-food-mashups-2014-article-1.1558879) predicted even more trends to surprise us in 2014.

Well, I've been asking myself: how come they are such a hit and flooding bakeries and fast food shops all across the world?

I believe that people nowadays want everything at once, they want more, they want the maximum they could possibly get. In addition to that, I think that people are afraid that they could miss out on anything and don't like to make decisions. Whereas previously, consumers had to choose between having a croissant or a bagel, you can now have both at the same time. Making decisions automatically means that you can lose because maybe the croissant turns out to be really nasty and you friends bagel is absolutely to die for. And the rest of the day you'd be angry for not choosing the bagel as well.

I've noticed these hybrids not only when it comes to food but also sports. Piloxing, yogalates or aqua spinning are just a few examples of fitness mash-ups, that seem to be taking over the fitness centers. You would love to do Yoga AND Pilates but you really do not have the time for two different classes? No worries, we offer a combination where you can have both in only one class. Sounds tempting, huh? You save time and the annoying process of having to make a decision.

Well, I am really curious what else we are being offered in the future as long as I can still simply enjoy my croissant while having a nice cup of filter coffee.