Distractions, oh... distractions...

In 2 hours and 15 minutes I'm gonna write the last progress check for this year. *yay*
Since I am not the type of student that can sit there and study until the very end, I thought I'd distract myself by writing another blog post.
Yesterday they finaaalllyyy aired season 5 of one of my favorite American TV shows: Pretty Little Liars
This show is so gripping that I sometimes sit there and forget about everything else that happens around me.

The plot is brilliant and I think I don't lie when I say there has never been anything like it.
It's about a girl who disappears and is soon found dead. Her best friends meet at her funeral and it turns out that a lot of weird things had been going on between the dead girl, her friends and their classmates. One day, the girls start getting weird text messages signed with the letter "A" (the dead girl was called Ally). Those text messages soon turn out to be real threats. Someone seems to be playing with the girls - but who? And is Ally really dead? If yes - who killed her?  If not- who is the girl in the grave? And who is this mysterious "A"- what does he/she want?

Of course I already know some of the answers, but I don't want to spoil :P.
I really recommend you start watching this show. But don't start if you need to study for an exam...I guarantee you just won't be able to stop. You'll probably watch all of the 5 seasons in a row and in the end fail all of your exams ... but at least then you know a bit more about Ally :P jk.

Studying, studying, aand... yup..you are right ;)

Believe it or not - being a student can actually be a whole lot of work.

Since there is this rumor going around in our society that all students are lazy and don't do anything else but go to parties and get drunk, I’ll to my best to smash these illusions by telling you about my life as a poor, poor student : P

I'm gonna tell you about my plan for the next couple of weeks to illustrate just how wrong this image of "a student" is.

Soo... it all starts next week with PC2 (Thursday). Of course I've already been studying for it, but I'll still have to prepare over the weekend. Then 4 days after PC 2 (on Monday) I'll take my final Russian exam. *yaaay* - that's gonna be fun...*sarcasm off*. On the same day and the day after that, we have the "Culture Days". This means we have to give a presentation about a culture topic. I decided to make my presentation about war crimes in Vietnam. This already required a looooot of work- watching interviews, gathering information, making a handout, making a powerpoint presentation, thinking of what I'm going to say etc. etc.

---Ok, at this point I have to admit that even if the culture project is so much work, it's also pretty damn awesome. Doing so much research that you can actually say you "know something about that" is very interesting, especially since I am totally fascinated by my topic.---

Three days after the culture project, I'll take my final German exam. I haven't had the time to prepare for that yet, so that's gonna be a lot of work too.
One week ofter that comes the moment we all fear most - the "Kommissionelle Gesamtprüfung".
That's an oral exam that lasts 45 minutes, in which you have to prove that you can actually handle grammar, vocab, and culture of all of your three languages (Russian, English, German). Most teachears claim it's not so difficult...but well.. we'll see. Maybe after the KGP I'll read this post and be like: "haha...that was really easy...why all the worrying"


And then, when most students are already on vaccation, I'll take another exam about US culture.

So yes...being a student can actually mean studying a lot. 
The only good thing about this is that I love my field of studies so much that I sometimes get pretty excited while studying with friends, especially when the light bulb goes on and we're like: "uuuh...nooow I get that"

Being sick sucks...

...so I decided to make the best out of it and use my valuable time (I have to spend in bed), writing a new blog post.
Since the main topic for PC2 is health and medicine, I decided to do some research on the most common symptom everyone knows.
Do you know the feeling when everything aches, but the worst is your sore throat that wouldn't even allow you to talk?
I wanted to find out: why is it the throat that hurts so often when people are sick?
The answer to this simple question is preeettty amazing and highlights the "awesomeness" of our immune system.Very often when our throat hurts, the swollen lymph nodes are the reason for it. But, why do we have swollen lymph nodes? Does the virus/bacteria attack our lymph nodes? Not really.

Everywhere in our body we have lymph nodes, including the armpit, the stomach and the throat. All in all we have about 700 of those little "battlefields". Lymph nodes are party of our lympathic system and help to defend our body against hostile intruders. The lymph, some kind of a fluid, circulates in our body. It's task is to transport not only vital nutrients, but also bacteria and viruses. It takes the intruders to the lymph nodes, where they can be analyzed and destroyed.

For all the science geeks among you, I'll explain this more exactly:
The lymph nodes are full of B and T- lymphocytes. B-cells dock to the intruder and ingest it. The antigen is then presented on the B-cell's surface. T-helper cells then dock to the B-cells. The T-cells then know the DNA of the antigen and s
end signals, which cause the B-cell to transform into an activated B-cell that produces antibodies.Those antibodies will only be able to destroy antigens with the same DNA. Also, B-memory cells are produced. This is why, for example, children have to have had certain diseases, before they produce antibodies and are then immune against the disease. When the same intruder enters their body again, the B-memory cells know exactly which antibodies to produce.

In order to produce more antibodies, more B-cells are needed. This results in an increased blood flow. Also, in order to destroy the antigens more easily, the temperature in the lymph nodes is raised. The inflammatory process starts. The lymph nodes start to swell and hurt.

All over the internet you can find advice on what to do about hurting lymph nodes. Very often you can read: cool it with ice. This might be of help for a little while because the swelling as well as the pain will go away. But it is not a very smart decision in the long run. By cooling it, you repress the natural response of your immune system. Antigens will not be killed as effectively, and your body will just have more work raising the temperature.

Homework correction: The African spirit in American cuisine

History

Soon after the foundation of the first colonies in the US, the importation of African slaves began. The slaves had to work hard not only in the fields, but also in the kitchen. The African cooks could neither read nor write, which made them completely dependent on African dishes they could remember. Food that originates in Africa is called "soul food". Many ingredients were said to have spiritual properties. However, the ingredients of the original African dishes have slightly changed over time. For example, roasted pig was the main ingredient of "barbacoa". Due to availability issues, this was changed to beef in the West, while it stayed pork in the East.

African American cuisine and ingredients
African cuisine was based on vegetables that were not known in the New World. With the importation of African slaves, their food as well as their cooking traditions were brought to the colonies. Common American foods like watermelons, black-eyes peas or eggplants have their roots in Africa. Also, various kinds of stews as well as dishes rich in starch - like rice - marked the African diet. When slavery ended, many former slaves continued working for the Whites. However, they were poor and had to be creative with what they could afford: offal (internal organs of animals), pig's feet etc. This was the beginning of many dishes that are considered delicacies.

Influence on African American health nowadays
Nowadays the rate of type 2 diabetes, which is caused by obesity, is about 1.6 times higher in the black population than in any other ethnic group in the United States. Among other social factors (for example processed food is cheaper, less working out), this problem stems from their traditional way of cooking: deep-fat frying. Due to a shorter cooking time, deep-fat frying was especially useful in Africa during summer. While in 1965 African Americans were more likely to have a healthier diet than Whites, by 1996 the situation was reversed. Many organizations are still trying to deal with obesity among African Americans, but seem to be fighting a losing battle.

Keep in mind:

• be exact with tenses!! There is a difference between a simple tense and a perfect tense.