I will go to Australia... I talked to my professor last week, because we had to choose the topic for my Master Thesis, which I will start to write next year in April. I was very nervous before the conversation, because I knew that another decision had to be made at that day: WHERE to write my thesis. My professor provides to write Bachelor or Master Thesis at other universities in foreign countries and I think this is a great opportunity to see other countries and people and it will help me to find a job later, because in Germany many companies require that you stayed some time in another country during your studies. Before the conversation I thought my professor would send me to the US, because most of the students who write their thesis at other universities go there. But as I entered the room he told me his idea was to send me to the University of South Australia in Adalaide. After the talk I felt uncertain. I did not expect him to send me to Australia! What should I expect from Australia? It is so far away... and it is winter when I will stay there April-July! Now after some days I get familiar with the thought going to Australia, but I still think a lot about it. And the main problem will be to tell my parents about this...

Huge event in northern Germany starts today I live in Kiel, northern Germany, as some of you might know. Kiel is a small town and most of the time it is very boring here, but once a year everybody gets excited, that is when "Kieler Woche" starts. During this event, which lasts 10 days, the town changes completely. The "Kieler Woche" is a mixture of festival, fair and sailing event and all streets a crowded with people. The visitors come from everywhere, even from southern Germany, to be part of this experience. Originally the "Kieler Woche" was a pure sports event, where important sailing competitions took place. Nowadays people come here to drink, eat and listen to more or less famous bands. We, the citizens, and especially the young people here enjoy this time very much. On the other hand it can also be annoying that the streets are so full of people and you just can't go anywhere. The traffic can be horrible during this time. Well at the moment the anticipation prevails. I am curious what this year will happen :-)

What tense should I use to describe the past? I'm not sure what tense I should use to describe things in the past, simple past or present perfect? I recognised that we use simple past rarely in German, present perfect is used mostly.

Introducing myself :-) My name is Simone and I live in Kiel, northern Germany. I am a student of food science and home economics at the local University here in Kiel. Next year in spring I will go to the US to write my Master Thesis. I don't know where in the US exactely, my professor and I will talk about more details next month. I am already excited because I will have to do a survey for my study there and I am not sure whether my English is good enough to do this. During my school time I was very good in English, but this time is 10 years ago now. The main problem is that I forgot so much vocabulary. :-( In my leisure time I read a lot and I am a huge fan of photoshop and other graphics software. Also I spent a lot of time with my husband of course. ;-) I would like to chat with people here and to practise my English.