February 21-24, 2018

It's done! 😍 

After a final night shift, I FINALLY managed to finish my master's thesis. By the way, a night shift means that I really didn't sleep a whole night. From now on, life is beautiful again and I can once again report to you about my travel experiences every two days. In the past few days, that wouldn't have been particularly exciting because I was sitting at my laptop for up to 14 hours a day. Well, those who procrastinate their master's thesis until they have to write it on vacation have only themselves to blame! 😅 Hopefully, I can convince my students to do it differently later. To celebrate the occasion, here's a little retrospective. I never mentioned here that I occasionally worked on my thesis. I was afraid to hear statements like: "You'll never make it!!!" or "Won't that ruin your vacation?!" Now I can draw a conclusion and say with full conviction: "Oh, it wasn't that bad after all." 😄 Now we just have to wait and see what happens and if the quality of my work has suffered under the writing conditions. Andi is so kind that he will print and bind my thesis on Monday and submit it on Tuesday. Thank you!!! ♥️ Thanks also to Magdalena, my rock in the storm, always there for studying - but now also beyond that! Magdalena is amazing, just so you know. 😌 And the biggest thanks goes to my parents, of course. No matter what it is, I will always be grateful to you because you are the ones who make all of this possible, the ones "responsible" for me being on this beautiful planet. By the way, it's already been 24 years since Friday! 🤗 How time flies. Thank you Mommy, thank you Dad! I love you. ♥️

And now a look back and insight into my writing process, which has taken me around the world:

The whole fun started in Germany. Before I could hand in all the books (didn't want to take them with me on my travels), I had to summarize or at least photograph all the passages that could be of significance for my work. That alone cost me a lot of time before Christmas.

Next stop: Thailand. And honestly, there are definitely worse places to write a master's thesis, right? 😄😍

Every day, I completed a task before going diving again.

In Australia, the work rested for a long time. I was on a boat so often and it was really impossible to sit down and work in peace. On Magnetic Island, on the other hand, it went very well again before going hiking with wild koalas, for example.

However, I wrote the majority of the work in Melbourne and Auckland, so I definitely have to visit these cities again at some point to get to know them outside of the hostels and surrounding parks. 😋

I missed my desk many times! 😄

Even longer bus rides were excellent for working. By the way, my document now consists of a total of 188 pages! ☺️💪🏻

That's it for now. If the work turns out well, you will probably find out somehow, so it's better not to ask if you don't want to step into a minefield in case I fail for some reason (which hopefully no one expects!). 😄♥️

02/24/2018: As mentioned in the last diary entry, I have been in Rotorua for a few days now. The hostel room is the smallest one I have ever been in. There are 5 bunk beds right next to each other. If you want to climb up to the top bed, you get stuck between the two beds! There's also not much space towards the ceiling, take a look:

Nevertheless, I like the hostel, it's very familiar, everyone is super lovely. Even though no one understood why I preferred to work on my master's thesis on a Friday evening rather than go out for a beer with them. 😄 Here in Rotorua, I withdrew New Zealand dollars for the first time, especially the coins look sooo cute:

On Sunday, we have a five-hour hike at Lake and Mountain Tarawera, and on Monday, we will be driving to Turangi in a rental car, from where I will contact you again!

Best regards 🤗