Night frost!

After the first cold night, the kiwis have accumulated enough sugar and will be picked from today. That means I will stay here for a while. In this forsaken nothingness, It takes 2 weeks to get 'atlas shrugged', and they only have the abridged version available. Please send me my copy from home, it is either in the book box I left at Jonas or it is in my boxes at my parents house. I hereby promote Jonas to coordinator for the book to find me at

Central Oasis Backpackers
30 King Street
Opotiki
New Zealand

The people in the hostel are great. Finally, someone to have a conversation other than
-Where are you from?
-How long are you in New Zealand?
-What have you seen?

These are great topics, but without moving every other day, one gets to know each other and can address other topics. One example which I have scribbled into a short text with the netbook (please note that events may have been more mundane than depicted):

Within my sixth semester of molecular biotechnology I realised that I haven't done anything for about half a year. This realisation alone didn't change the status quo, I just started daydreaming about getting away from the laboratories with their repetetive tasks, the concrete block that is Bielefeld University. But for another semester, I made little to no progress for my bachelor's degree. Two events set things in motion again.

The first being my friend Jonas, who already told me about the intoxicating idea of anarchocapitalism, gave me 'the fountainhead' by american author Ayn Rand. The characters in the book, as well as the philosophy of objectivism they transported, showed me the necessity to change the tranquility I was captured in.

The second event was me visiting the university's therapeutic support desk, organised and led by psychology students. There, I was told about the possibility to schedule a therapeutic session with an experienced therapist, funded by the government and donations. After talking about my situation and articulating my problem, 'Ich fuehle mich dem Leben ausgeliefert', I was almost casually informed that it was no wonder I felt like that because I avoided decisions. Which was true. I realised that I was afraid of the responsibility any decision brought with it. But without making decisions on my own, my problem whould not change.

The only thing defining an adult is the possibility and necessity to make one's own decisions and taking the responsibility of their consequences. As a kid, we know what we want, but we can't decide about it. Our parents won't let us eat candy all day or go to the water park whenever we want to. As an adult, we can decide do all this, but, for better or for worse, we have no one to be responsible for the consequences but ourselves.

Realising this, I confronted myself with the decision to concentrate and work hard on that bachelor's degree and taking a year off afterwards, or to take a year off first and finishing the degree on return. I decided to take the year off first. My daydream to get literally as far as possible, to New Zealand, took shape. I booked the flight and insurance, applied for the visa and passport, and informed my family and friends. After making the firm decision to do so, it took me only seven weeks to leave for the land of the long white cloud.

Greetings,
Patrick

ps. How are you holding up? What's going on? How is life without me?