eMAG 30: Throwback by eMAG magazine

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eMAG 30 | SS 2017

http://emag.sz.uni-augsburg.de

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Dear Reader What you’re holding in your hands is the thirtieth issue of eMAG. So, to celebrate this anniversary, what fits better than Throwback as the main topic for the anniversary issue? When we remember old times and talk about anniversaries, we tend to get really nostalgic, whether we lived in these times or not. Everything was better back then, wasn’t it? Summer was sunnier, and winter was snowier, right? Why is it that we always look back? Is it because we always want what we don’t have? Or do we just put on our rose-tinted glasses? Even though nowadays the word ‘throwback’ is often reduced to Throwback Thursday in social media, it’s more than just looking back in time. While the term can also be defined as a setback, originally it literally meant ‘to throw sth. back’. But our aim is to guide you through all kinds of throwbacks in the main part (p. 6-17) of this issue, though not only there. We also take a look at the history of eMAG: in our special Anniversary Section (p. 18-29) you will find a lot of information about how eMAG started and more. We haven’t forgotten our regular sections Whole Wide World (p. 30-41) and Keep It Local (p. 42-51), though.

Before I let you read this anniversary issue, I’d like to thank my great team that always supported me, Peter, who tried to keep me grounded and the university for continuing to support the magazine in ways too numerous to mention. We had some special fun ideas for our release week, so we hope you joined in. Maybe you even won one of our special prizes? But now ... enjoy our magazine and don’t forget to let us know what you think about it at: magazine.emag@gmail.com. Your editor-in-chief, Angie

Author, Layout & Pictures: Angie Czygann

For this issue we’ve also tried something new: all pages are color coded to help you find your favorite article more easily. Another new feature concerns our website www.emag-augsburg.de. Maybe you’ve already noticed that we’re posting articles by guest authors in different languages – at the moment we’re trying to publish one international article per month - in French, Portuguese and Italian. And we’ll have others soon.

eMAG is an independent non-profit magazine published twice a year, by students, for students. It is part of a University of Augsburg Language Center course. Everything related to the production of the magazine is conducted in English. The aim of eMAG is to entertain and inform the university community about international, intercultural and local topics in the English language. As part of its philosophy, every semester eMAG donates an advertisement to a local charity. We also regularly publish articles on our website www.eMAG-augsburg.de. The content of individual articles does not necessarily reflect the team‘s view and opinions. print run: 1,500 | price: free | published: Jul, 2017 | printed at: Druckerei Bayerlein GmbH | copyright: 2017 eMAG. All rights reserved. | www.eMAG-augsburg.de

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Regulars Dear Reader 3 Watch. Read. Listen. Play. 52 Last Page 54

Throwback

Anniversary Still here after all these years! 20 Diary of a crazy editor 22 “Thinking outside the box“ 24 Throwback 26 „Kreativ haben jetzt Sie gesagt“ 28

Old but gold 7 Only 90s kids will remember! 8 Cinema is like a box of chocolates. 10 Movie melancholy 11 Back to school in the 1950s 12 Be a Freundebuch! 13 From 0 to 100 in an instant 14 Don‘t stop me now! 15 Brexit, Le Pen und foreign debt... 16 Last text for now... 17

Whole Wide World Combining two worlds Turns out I‘m a hopeless capitalist Mnmlsm A kingdom of convenience Writing on elephant poo Visiting the last dragons A Shocky Horror Future Show Confessions of an introvert New York, New York

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31 32 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

Keep It Local It‘s not all water under the bridge 43 Roll for initiative 44 Shopaholics, listen up! 47 Rudolf Diesel 48 How a rolling insect became stylish 49 We rise by lifting others 50

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Kulinarische und literarische VerfĂźhrung...

Author: ; Layout: ; Pictures:

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Old but gold A trip down memory lane

We probably all know the challenge of what to get our parents or grandparents for Christmas or for their birthday. We always want to get them the best and most impressive present because they do so much for us. So in order to find some inspiration, our generation loves to go on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Co to look for ideas. And while scrolling through the seemingly endless jungle of unimaginative and impersonal stuff, we suddenly see something new we’ve never seen before… The trend I mean the new trend of recreating old family photos. True to the motto: Old but gold! It first appeared a few years ago in social media, but no one knows for sure where the idea originally comes from. What I can safely say is that the hype has just started. When I first saw a small collection of old photos on Postize I was - in a positive way - shocked! I’d never thought of anything comparable so I decided to call my sister. And here the story begins… The process My sister Alicia and I wanted to do it. We wanted the best present for our mum and dad for Christmas. No sooner said than done. Thank God - Alicia had digitised some of our childhood photos so we were able to look through them and pick one out. It’s actually easier said than done. A couple of hours - and a bottle of wine – later, we agreed on a picture. A million things went through are heads: where do we find the clothes? How can we get the same background? And what are we going to do with our hair? So we went to the city, bought some yellow shirts, which wasn’t so difficult at all (yellow seems to be trending this season!), but we got stuck with the background question. To make a long story short: we painted it. And on arriving at home, we started to dress ourselves and tried to take the picture. The problem was, to be honest, me. I couldn’t be serious, because of my facial expression just have a look at the old photo and you’ll know what I’m talking

about. We laughed so much! About an hour later, we finally had our picture. It felt we were being transported eighteen years back in time. The moral of the story Family members treasure that moment when they are transported to a different time and place. Thinking of that one particular moment when the photo was taken with your loved ones is a great experience. But reliving it is even better! So my idea was to give you some inspiration for your next present. What are you waiting for? Call your siblings or cousins and convince them to do it with you! Because who doesn’t love a nice stroll down memory lane?

Author & Pictures: Chiara Leick Layout: Andreas Böhm

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Only 90s kids will remember! And oh boy are we glad that those are only memories You remember the great 90s? When life was easy and everything was better? Do you wish you could turn back time to the good old days like Twenty One Pilots? Well, be careful what you wish for, because not everything was all easy peasy lemon squeezy in the 90s… Having to rent a movie Remember the trouble you had to go to every time you wanted to watch a specific movie? You had to leave your apartment. Like seriously. You had to go to a video shop, look for your film, rent it and even have human interaction with the cashier. Awful. So I think I speak for all of you if I say: Praise our lord and savior, Netflix! Crimped hair Eeoooeeooeeoo – everyone hide - the Fashion Police are coming! The only thing I’ve got to tell you about this hair fashion trend is a story that says it all: one Christmas eve my mum crimped my hair for me. For years I wondered how the cat sneaked onto so many of the photos my mother took that day…. Turned out that was actually the back of my head. AOL’s notorious dial sound Did you ever have to shout: “GET OFF THE PHONE - I HAVE TO USE THE INTERNET!” to your family? Well, this means you had the glorious dial-up connection. I’m assuming you also probably remember the sweet, angelic SOUND OF THE DEVIL it produced when it tried to connect to the internet, which made you want to rip your ears off if you had headphones on or just generally forgot to turn the volume down?! Oh, and do you recall how long connecting to the internet took? And if somebody called you while it was connecting, you had to start all over again… Ain’t nobody got time for that

? You see Limited access to lyrics The 90s were a horrible time for people who loved to sing along to their favorite songs – like me. Everything was fine until… DUN DUN DUN! The CD leaflet didn’t have the lyrics in it. Why, you sadistic CD sales people? Why? How was eight-year-old me ever gonna learn that one rapped line on track 5?! The absence of Google Maps I seriously admire my parents’ ability to plan and coordinate a 13hour drive through three different countries using maps that are twice my size without getting lost once. Because without google maps, I would probably manage to get lost on the way from the fridge to my living room.

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Scooters At first you may be confused as to why I’d include your beloved “City Roller” in a list of negatives, but think about it for a second. Sure, these things were handy since they were light, cheap, cool and got you away from school and to your friends a little bit faster…. But I’m 100% sure you also knocked your ankle at least once and experienced a pain that felt like lightning had struck your foot. OK, I admit that my feet have never been struck by lightning, but I imagine that is exactly what it would feel like. VHS cassettes Thank god we have DVDs, Blue-Rays and Video on Demand nowadays. Do you recall how long it took until you could actually watch your movie? If you had managed to stick your cassette in the right way around (I don’t know about you, but I always messed that up at the first attempt). In 99.9% of all cases you had to rewind it, since let’s be honest here for a second - we all forgot or simply were too lazy to do so after finishing the movie. And if you had done it, there was still a very high chance that your parents had overwritten your favorite flick with some super boring adult rom-com or a documentary. Thanks mum & dad. Sigh. You know, I could go on and on, but I think you got the point. I’m gonna go now, lock myself into my apartment, watch some movies on my glorious smart TV and I won’t leave my couch for the next three days because I can order my food online.

Author, Layout & Pictures: Michaela Lappler

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Cinema is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.

New movies are released almost weekly and still film fans reminisce about the good old days when movies were revolutionary art projects that inspired generations. “Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” From the take of a fast-moving train, which makes the surprised audience jump, to the silent era with Charlie Chaplin – since their invention, movies have excited the world. They touch our emotions and transport us to unfamiliar places. When we were younger, most of us probably visited Pippi Longstocking and Mr. Nilsson at Villa Villekulla. The summer after our eleventh birthday we waited for our Hogwarts acceptance letter. A few years later, we might have accompanied Frodo and the fellowship on their journey to Mount Doom or celebrated some glittering parties at Gatsby’s stately home. “I am big. It’s the picture that got small.” It’s no secret that all these movies are based on brilliant books. However, I’m convinced that there are still lots of great stories nowadays, some of them perfect candidates to make a film of. So what is missing with most of the recently-released movies? Personally, I think they lack originality. Aimed to achieve a high box office, Filmmakers often invest into elaborate stagings with breathtaking action elements and outstanding special effects. Concurrently, the plot suffers.

“People love what other people are passionate about.” So it hardly comes at a surprise that everyone is currently talking about La La Land. In some ways, the movie proves you don’t need something completely new. Yes, the actors sing a lot, which is definitely a rare element in the film industry. But what caught my attention the most were the well-conceived dialogs. They’re full of life and humour, with intentionally 'clichéd' phrases which make the audience smirk. “May the force be with you.” As La La Land does, small-budget movies often deliver great dialogues. Instead of exploding cars, they represent actual people and authentic stories. Nevertheless, they usually don’t make it to the big screens. Responsible is – among other things – the audience. In a world where it only takes a few seconds to download the newest movies, and where trailers tell more about the famous cast than the actual story, smaller movies can easily be overlooked. Everyone has a different taste when it comes to movies – which is without any doubt a good thing. However, this shouldn’t clash with being open-minded. So when planning your next movie night, I recommend you also have a look on less talked about productions. Who knows – maybe you are about to discover the next Oscar-worthy performance.

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Movie melancholy Cinema’s nostalgic comeback

Do you remember that thing from your childhood you loved so much? The one thing you spend countless hours on? Yeah, they’ve made a movie about it! Can you imagine? A big blockbuster about that thing? Amazing, isn’t it? With acclaimed actors and the latest CGI and everything! Go see it now! What do you mean - it’s not how you remembered it? Plundering memory lane Nostalgia can be a powerful force in terms of marketing, something that the movie industry has always been keen to utilize. But recently this started to surge to new heights. And it seems there’s hardly a week without the release of a movie based on a nostalgic franchise. However, there’s an important observation to be made: barely any of these movies could be considered conventionally good. Most of them can’t be considered good, period. Target audience? What target audience? In part, this can be traced back to the fact that the movies have no clear direction or goal. Take, for example, the recent Power Rangers re-imagining. I mean, ‘rebranding‘. I mean, ‘reboot‘. Or something. Honestly, at this point there are so many ‘re-somethings‘ happening to old shows and movies that it’s hard to keep track of any one specific franchise. At any rate, take that new Power Rangers movie and ask the one big question: who is it for? • The fans? That is as imprecise a term as it can be, considering that the show now spans a staggering 24 (!) consecutive seasons over as many years. People that were into Power Rangers when it first aired now might have kids that also enjoy the show! • The first-season fans who are now older? A more reasonable assumption, but do they really want a movie that is very obviously inspired by teen movies such as The Hunger Games or Divergent, with all the baggage that implies? • The younger fans? Then why include a lot of the weirder, goofier elements of the old show that the new seasons lack? Instead, why not adapt one of the seasons the younger audience would be more familiar with? Why make the movie if there’s no clear demographic for it? Poisonous nostalgia The answer may be deceptively simple: by and large nobody involved in the creation of these movies actually cares for the franchise itself. The only relevant criterion is whether it’s marketable to one of two possible groups: children, for whom the power of brand recognition is key, or adults that grew up with the brand and who desire a throwback to a time when the world was not as complicated for them as it is now. Yeah, a lot of this may come across as pointless whining, but you can be sure that a whole slew of rights holders is currently scouring their portfolios for any property that is popular and well-known enough to scratch that nostalgic itch. And yet only a few of these movies will succeed in making the audience feel anything but a vague sense of emptiness and the realization that said movie will never be as awesome as the original is in their memory. But, hey, do you remember that other show? You were just in elementary school when that aired. It was awesome! There’s a remake in the works for that. You should probably go see it.

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Back to school in the 1950s Strict teachers, Tatzen and the Deutsche Schrift Are these terms what comes to mind when you think of school in the 1950s? Or have you never thought about it? Well, let’s see how my grandparents experienced school from 1951 to 1959. Boys only At that time children went to a Volksschule for eight years, the equivalent to our primary school. After that, only a few continued going to school because most children had to help their parents with their farming or worked somewhere else. At my grandpa’s school the kids were separated into different classes by age, which is normal for us today, but wasn’t the standard back then. However, it was very common to teach boys and girls separately. Brace yourself - winter is coming My grandparents told me that in summer all the children at their school had to carry wood into the school attic to use it for heating in winter. Besides the furnace, there were blackboards and angled school benches with inkwells and penholders in each of the four classrooms. And sports classes took place outside; in winter the kids went sledging, skiing or ice skating. What shall we do with the drunken teacher? School subjects were also different from those we have today. They learned the Deutsche Schrift, typing, the girls practiced cooking and the boys had handicrafts. My grandpa laughed when he thought about his sports classes: “the teachers sometimes came in drunk, so they slept on a bench while we played football.” Even then – no child without an Apple For the school break, the children only had bread and butter, and an apple. It was a real highlight to buy a bun for five Pfennig or a pretzel for seven. My grandma told me nostalgically that she got fünf Mark Milchgeld once a month, from which she bought a pretzel sometimes.

Better be smart If there were problems with discipline or bad grades, the children would be punished by Tatzen (hitting the palm of a child’s hand with a cane or a ruler), or they would have to stand in the corner. Or the teacher would pull their suspenders. Another punishment was the Hosenspanner; the scallywag had to lie on the desk and the teacher struck him with a piece of bamboo. My grandpa commented “Wenn’d halt gscheit war’sch, hasch der halt ebbes ind Hos nei gschobbat, nau hats et so weah doa“ (If you were clever, you put something in your trouser so that it didn’t hurt that much). Time to grab the pitchforks But there were even harsher punishments. If children talked during the school church services, the teacher would beat them with the teacher’s bag. Once a teacher pulled a girl from her seat onto the floor by grabbing her hair and then trampled all over her. Some parents who were farmers complained about these punishments by standing in front of the school with their pitchforks. Whereas my grandpa said that some boys needed these punishments because they were very cheeky, my grandma said that she often felt sorry for them and that the punishments weren’t always fair. Call them maybe? If this article has interested you in earlier school systems, go and ask your parents or grandparents about their school time. They’ll be very happy and it’s definitely worth it! You’ll learn so many exciting things. Author, layout & pictures: Janina Girschick

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Be a Freundebuch ! Just for kids? What reminds you most of the old days? Pictures maybe. Or you might have collected several bits and pieces from every country you’ve visited that remind you of your journeys. But one thing you wouldn’t probably think of right away (although you probably had one) is Freundebücher. How could there be any better way to remember all your friends than a book in which they share their interests with you as well as a picture of themselves that you’ll enjoy looking at later? I have three of these books, each of them from different stages of my life, and containing many of the friends I used to have. Some of them I’m still friends with; others I haven’t seen for ages. Giving Freundebücher to your adult friends? While looking at my old Freundebücher, I wondered why none of my more recent friends have received a Freundebuch from me. Well, because you only use these books until you’ve reached a certain age and then they aren’t cool anymore, right? To be honest, I can’t tell you why I stopped using these books, but I’m quite sure people would be confused if I gave them one now (apart from the children who still use them because to them it’s still cool). The other side Now, isn’t it a pity that no adult uses those books anymore? Freundebücher are such a nice idea that we seem to have forgotten

completely. Besides creating something to read for your future self and making you laugh about what your (at that time) 8-yearold friends thought they’d be when they grow up, Freundebücher have some deeper sense to them. First of all, they help you not to forget old friends. Even if you dislike some of them today, you’ll be grateful for the memories. Speaking of dislike, your friends’ entries might actually give you some insight into what kind of person they are (or were), and how much they like(d) you (based on how much effort they put into their entry). And they’re a very easy way to show somebody that you want to be, or stay, friends with them, and that you’re interested in what they like and what they want in life. In my twenty years of life, I’ve learnt that it’s quite important to show people how much they mean to you. Living the idea So if you decide not to use Freundebücher in adulthood, you should at least try to implement some of the ideas behind them in your everyday life. Sometimes people forget how important it is to put some effort into relationships with people who mean a lot to them, just like the latter would put effort into their entries. Of course, it’s also nice to remember old relationships, but some of them you just don’t want to become a faded memory. So, I’d like to give you one small piece of advice: be a Freundebuch. Be interested, be a friend, remember! ‘Cause that’s what you learnt as an 8-year-old.

2005

2017

Meine Hobbys: Malen, Basteln, Rollenspiele, Einrad fahren Ich bin ein Fan von: Yvonne Catterfeld Der coolste Film/ die coolste Serie: Spongebob, Hotel Zack & Cody, Hanna (sic.) Montana, Kim Possible Mein Schwarm: Ist mir noch nicht über‘n Weg gelaufen Mein Leibgericht: Piccolinis, Hühnersuppe, Pizza, Spaghetti Carbonara Das will ich werden: Kinderärztin, Eiskunstläuferin oder Schauspielerin Mein allergrößter Wunsch: Das (sic.) meine Famely (sic.) immer gesund, lieb und glücklich bleibt und immer Frieden auf der Welt!!!

Meine Hobbys: Singen, Tanzen, Fitness, Theater Ich bin ein Fan von: Reisen, Babys und guter Laune Der coolste Film/ die coolste Serie: Gilmore Girls, The Mentalist, Game of Thrones Mein Schwarm: Mein Freund Mein Leibgericht: Schokorosinen Das will ich werden: Englischdozentin oder irgendwas, das mit meinem Studium zu tun hat und mir Spaß macht Mein allergrößter Wunsch: mit 90 sagen zu können „mein Leben war schön“

Author & pictures: Ana Stankovic Layout: Simon Benseler eMAG30_2.indb 13

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From 0 to 100 in an instant Experiencing a panic attack

When this term’s topic `throwback´ came up, the main ideas that came to my mind were nostalgic flashbacks of previous events, for example the moment I first met someone special. We all love to remember and make sure we’ll never forget them. But did you know that you can actually have a throwback without realizing it? Some people learn the hard way that you can never fully dismiss dreadful events from your mind. Panic attacks can have many different reasons, but what many people don’t know is that they can also be the result of trying to repress a traumatic event, rather than actually dealing with it. Have you ever wondered what a panic attack can feel like?

still it doesn‘t seem to move. ONE…it’s a silent enemy…TWO…a demon…THREE…lurking in the shadow…FOUR…You’re breathing too fast, so you tell yourself to slow down. It’s always waiting for that one chance to control you… FIVE…you and your hopeless mind. It takes over…SIX…consumes your thoughts and actions…Seven…Frustration takes over and tears get blinked away furiously…EIGHT…you try to hold it back, but you’re losing the battle, as always. Warm tears fill your eyes and run down your cheeks. You stop counting, you can’t be bothered …everything suddenly seems so pointless. Your body is shaking and you almost feel like an epileptic.

You‘re a rational human being. Scan your brain. You ask yourself the same question as always. You want to find a reason. But it‘s not that easy. It never is. You close your eyes and actively feel and listen to the voices inside your brain, but these voices are talking too fast and you‘re not even sure if they speak a language you understand. As your heart and your breathing speed up, it seems that time still hasn‘t moved. Time seems to play against you. EVERYTHING does: your body that makes it impossible to relax your muscles, stop them from shaking. And worst of all, your mind, by refusing to give you a reason why you‘re in that state. But how can you suffer from something you can’t understand? And most importantly: How can you control it? The weight of a million bricks is lying on your lungs. ONE…TWO…THREE… FOUR…counting the seconds of inhaling…ONE…T WO…THREE… FOUR…FIVE…SIX…SEVEN…EIGHT… counting the seconds of exhaling … ONE…they still hurt…TWO…You‘re trying to relax…THREE…but it doesn’t seem to work…FOUR…the only thing that will help is time, but

ONE…you start counting again…TWO…hardly able to move…THREE…it’s far too tiring…FOUR…only a moment ago you were feeling all kinds of emotion…FIVE…but suddenly, you feel nothing…SIX…only a small amount of relief… SEVEN…it‘ll be over soon…EIGHT…It takes some time till you can breathe normally again and your heartbeat slows down. You tell yourself not to look back. ”You don’t have to worry, everything is just fine. You just had a bad moment. File it under ‘suppress’ and smile. It seems like the right thing to do.“

Search for help Psychological counseling Studentenwerk Augsburg +49 821 650424-40 Open office hour: Tuesday 11 - 12 am Appointments: Tuesday - Thursday

Author: anonymous Layout: Jasmin Orth Pictures: anonymous

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Don’t stop me now! Medicine, a science slingshot through time

Ah yes, springtime, the time for common colds to make their dreaded return. If you’re lucky enough to escape the warm breeze of sneezing and coughing, congratulations! In fact, we’ve been successful at curing a lot of potent diseases, but unfortunately this isn’t the case with the common cold. So, in the spirit of this term’s main topic, let’s go on a short trip through time and throw it back 200 years from now. First stop: 1812 At this time, people were busy inventing electric light bulbs and steam-powered locomotives, but had little interest in and knowledge of their own bodies and health. Back then, diseases like cholera were commonplace, killing about two million people in total. Yet people had no idea how deadly infections such as cholera actually spread. Moving forward, let’s take a look at how things were 130 years later. Next stop: the 1940s Remember that weird teenage phase when every grown up (especially your parents) was annoying, wrong and didn’t understand you at all? Well, consider yourself lucky enough to live in today’s world. Had you been a moody teenager in the 1940s, you would’ve received a lobotomy for your fourteenth birthday or Christmas from your parents, because back then the motto was “Lobotomy for everyone!” It didn’t matter if you were mentally ill, suffered from schizophrenia or just suffered from anxiety. A lobotomy was the answer to everything. What is this weird word beginning with L that keeps repeating itself, you might ask. Well, a lobotomy is a neurosurgical procedure, in which the doctor rams a needle into your forehead, scraping away parts of your brain. Doesn’t seem like the best treatment for everything, does it? Well, it took roughly fifty years for us to realise that it wasn’t the ultimate answer, thus leaving 70,000 people lobotomized. Now that we’ve touched on the rough times in medicine in the past, let’s have a look at how we’re doing today.

Last stop: 2017 Today we laugh about, or are even shocked by methods used two hundred years ago. We’re even able to replace nearly every part of the human body. Prosthetics, artificial hearts, implants are just some developments in twenty-first century medicine which make human life easier every day. And this year a new method has been developed. About twenty people will be part of a ground-breaking study, conducted by England’s National Health Service (NHS). The participants will receive tiny amounts of synthetic blood made from stem cells. That’s right, there will be blood, but no one on earth will need to lose a single drop of their own blood in order to help others. The hope is that this medical procedure will create blood cells in order to treat specific illnesses. As you can see, we have made immense progress in a rather short space of time. The question is what amazing sci-filike treatments will we come up with in the future? Will we achieve immortality? I guess in this case the same rule applies as with every good Netflix series. Wait eagerly and stay tuned!

Author, Layout & Pictures: Aleksandra Goralska

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Brexit, Le Pen and foreign debt… … what’s left of the “United States of Europe”? “Desiring to deepen the solidarity between their peoples while respecting their history, their culture and their traditions”, representatives of twelve independent nations met in Maastricht on February 7, 1992 to sign an amazingly short treaty – transforming the European countries into one European Union in order to grow and flourish under a beautiful blue flag with twelve stars. Some twenty years later, the flag is now fluttering over government buildings in 28 countries and has proved to be inflammable during Brexit riots. Why? Because EU law forbids the production of flags out of inflammable materials. The spirit of the Maastricht treaty, however, can’t be protected from populist propaganda, skepticism and what seems like a general feeling of weariness and disinterest from both young and old. What we lack The EU has suffered, for sure. There’s the Greek debt crisis, Brexit, the Euro crisis, populist parties in several governments and the governments’ failure to work together, even in the face of the 2015 European migrant crisis. And the system can seem slow, bureaucratic, just not really worth the struggle. There are Germans, who think they get to pay for everyone else, Eastern states complaining they don’t get a say in anything and, of course, Great Britain – which is a little like the guy who says he’ll come help you move your furniture, leaves after ten minutes for another appointment and comes back late at night, complaining someone else has eaten all the pizza. What’s the matter with the European Union? Where’s our European nostalgia, our throwbacks to better times under European legislation?

Why can’t a flag with twelve stars on it give you the same warm feeling you’re supposed to get when enjoying a Bier and Brez’n with your Bavarian friends, the feeling a Portuguese gets when listening to a fado folklore song or a Finn when entering a sauna? What the EU lacks is, well, charisma. The world has changed over the last twenty years, people vote for faces rather than agendas, follow politicians’ twitter feeds instead of watching the TV news; being able to present oneself is what any organization needs – and where Brussels fails. What we have It’s not all bad, though. There’s more to our Union than a series of crises and a bunch of bureaucrats – talking about the EU means talking about half a billion people in 28 democratically run states with elected governments and a free press. It means talking about an economic superpower, one of the ‘big guys’ at the negotiating table, and a successful attempt at peace and cooperation. It means talking about the winner of a Nobel Peace Prize. It means working together for something bigger, instead of doing so separately, against each other. The EU offers personal and economic liberties that our ancestors wouldn’t have dared to dream about. All it asks for in return is patience and a little optimism. What we get to keep We enjoy the EU every day when we go to university on streets that are free of landmines, when we talk to Italian, French or Irish citizens over lunch, when we book holidays in countries whose names used to induce hatred and enmity and now only make us think of long, sandy beaches and red wine. Our union is a present – let’s not let it go to waste.

Author: Niklas Schmidt | Layout: Andreas Böhm Pictures: Europabüro der Stadt Augsburg

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Last text for now... ... I’m running out of money on my prepaid card.

In 2017, this quote sounds quite odd. But do you remember what texting was like 10+ years ago? Sure - the first smart phones were about to be produced, but for most people they were neither affordable nor necessary. What’s more, instant messengers like WhatsApp and Telegram hadn’t been invented yet. So, whether you liked it or not, THE mainstream short messaging service was SMS, which would cost you between five and thirty cents a message consisting of up to 160 characters. Brainwash So now let’s fast forward to 2017: what has changed? Smart phones have literally invaded everyone’s pockets, bags and minds. They’ve become a huge part of everyday life and have revolutionized many aspects of society: news, shopping, entertainment and many more things have been heavily influenced. But since their original purpose was to improve communication, how did Apple, Google and other internet-giants actually modernize texting? The next big things At first, of course, the changes weren’t that obvious. SMS was still the number one means of texting and it was still as limited as it was before. The technical standards, however, had massively improved and built a foundation for hungry programmers and developers to create the next big thing. And since then, we’ve had lots of them: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, and many more have either been designed especially for smart phones or adapted to them and have become incredibly successful.

Impacts on texting Of course, this technological progress would eventually have an effect on modern texting, too. I’m sure that most of you remember struggling to text that one cute classmate you had a crush on and suddenly either receiving or having to send the text in the title of this article. But in 2009, WhatsApp was created, allowing people to send free text messages over the internet, and lots of new features have been added since then. You can now make video calls, send all kinds of files, and have group chats, to name but a few of them. Our worries have shifted from “I’m running out of money on my prepaid card” to “I’m running out of data volume” (which doesn’t really stop us from texting) and the only relevant character limit is Twitter’s 140-character limit. This shift has contributed to the concept of continuous availability and taken the pole position in modern texting in Germany (at least, I don’t know anyone who owns a smart phone without using services like WhatsApp). Will smart phones replace shavers? The benefits of all these innovations can’t be denied, which makes possible future changes even more interesting, so what’s next? Simulating different smells? Hologram calls? When I think about this, I remember listening to my grandfather who jokingly said, “I’m waiting for the day we’ll be able to shave by using our cell phones”. Who knows? The next change is probably around the corner…

Author, Layout & Pictures: Marcus Wiesenhöfer

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305 eMAG members to date Thank you to all of you!

Author, Layout, Pictures: Angela Czygann Author, Layout & Pictures: Angie Czygann

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Still here after all these years! An interview with eMAG co-ordinator, Peter James

Tell us about the very first issue: It was published in January 2003, and consisted of fifty-four pages in an A4 format; there were sixteen members. Looking at the group photo all these years later, I can still remember the individual students quite well. In one sense, eMAG isn’t like other courses; the intensive nature of the publishing process and the number of planning meetings required outside class throughout the whole calendar year means that I end up getting to know the students very well. So, over the years, I’ve had many informative, inspirational discussions with students in the Mensa or Cafete about all manner of subjects, not just eMAG, but the wider issues of the day. It gives me the opportunity to find out what makes students tick, and this process is very rewarding. How did you manage to create the magazine from scratch? I remember discussing the idea with the then Head of Department, Rudolf Westermayr, over a cup of coffee; he very much approved of the project. But the publishing process for eMAG 1 was extremely chaotic – we were making it up as we went along, literally. For example, half way through the first term we suddenly realised we needed a leader, a student editor!

Some eMAG statistics: • 30 terms = 15 years • 1628 pages of eMAG • 810 articles • 588 members (305 individual members) • 298 ads • 90 interviews • 60 book reviews

And I’ve always been interested in projects such as eMAG in education, so I’ve been willing to invest a lot of time to make it work. A kind of labour of love, if you like. And gradually, the process and systems have evolved and become more efficient, after an admittedly somewhat shaky start. How did you find the first eMAGgers? At that time, students got involved in eMAG on a completely voluntary basis. You couldn’t get credit points for the course, as students who wish to can now. Thankfully, there were always enough people who loved the idea of the class being entirely conducted in English, or who were interested in writing, journalism, publishing, etc. Indeed, there still are a number of highly-motivated students willing to invest their time and energy to make the magazine work, not necessarily only to get points. In what way was the first magazine different? The A4 format of eMAG 1 was very expensive to print. But, of course, we undertook changes…

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In January 2009, for eMAG 13, we switched to a smaller format, which was cheaper to print, and which gave the magazine a distinctive appearance. With hindsight, changing the design in this way – a student’s idea, I might add - was one of the milestones in the magazine’s development (I also love the uncluttered design of this later issue). For a long time, students also had to pay to read eMAG, at one stage, as much as €2, so we could cover the printing costs. But eMAG 20, an anniversary issue, was completely free, because of the university’s generous support, and the magazine has been free ever since. For a long time, only the covers were printed in colour, too. This changed in July 2013 when the editor, Manfred Schoch, took the bold decision to print the whole mag in colour, because we would have enough ads to pay for the printing. I don’t mind admitting that I was sceptical that it would work, but we took a risk, and the students proved me wrong. Not bad! Did students ever come up with something you didn’t like at all? Not really. Of course, the magazine will only be as good as the students who are part of it. In general, I try to go with the flow; I do express my opinion, but am not upset if the students disagree, which happens quite a lot, actually. It’s a student mag, after all, and not mine.

But, for example, I don’t really like the cluttered nature of some articles. Too much text, and too many photos on one page makes for a very busy design. We’re not professionals, naturally, but it’s as if we were trying too hard. In my view, less is more. At the moment, we’re working towards a cleaner design. Let’s see... Was there ever a time when you thought about giving up? If so, for what reason? No, I’ve never considered giving up. But it’s not always been easy, as there have, on occasions, been conflicts in the group, though nothing which has really endangered the project. On the contrary, we’ve been able to solve any such problems together, and use the opportunity to reflect on aspects of the magazine that we can improve in the following issue. The class size has fluctuated, too, dwindling precariously at times, but at the moment we have healthily-sized groups of twenty or twenty-five plus, including experienced students, who stay for more than one term, and a steady, welcome influx of new members with new ideas. Then, of course, in fifteen years, the world has moved on and circumstances have changed enormously. For example, the finances and administration have become more tightly organised, but this has all helped to make the systems more efficient, which is very positive. What was the worst thing that ever happened in the fifteen years that eMAG has existed? Nothing, really. Maybe one quibble, though. As proofreader, I get a little frustrated about students’ inability to punctuate clearly and accurately, despite my noble efforts! But I guess there are worse problems in life…and, after all, we’re still here after all these years… What do you think will happen to eMAG when you retire? I very much hope that a colleague will take over the role of co-ordinator. Author: Noemi Hehl, Angie Czygann | Layout: Angie Czygann Pictures: Noemi Hehl, Angie Czygann

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Diary of a crazy editor Dear diary moments I kept a diary. Actually, I’m normally not a diary kind of person. So, when Peter, our course co-ordinator, asked me – well, it was more like a recommendation – to start taking notes, I thought that I’d never be able to do it. But, here I am with my eMAG diary and I’m simply amazed how much this experience has changed some of my routines. Dear Diary, May 3rd Oh my gosh! I was so nervous! I don’t exactly like talking in front of people. To be honest, I really hate it. Let alone in English (or any other foreign language, that is). This term is going to be so humiliating. I almost had a nervous breakdown. Ok, I’m exaggerating. But you get the idea. I hope they didn’t notice how much I was actually shaking. Did my trembling voice give me away?After this first class people kept telling me that everything went great. I suspect they’re lying. ... Dear Diary, May 24th Do you know what’s really great about this job? There are so many nuances to it. It never gets boring. That’s exactly what I need. I’m so easily bored. Then, I tend to just stop doing what I’m supposed to. No danger here, though. Every day will bring some new surprises. And I really like the fact that these are mostly good ones. ... Dear Diary, June 6th Yay, yet another task I didn’t anticipate. Another small annoying thing which just didn’t work out as it should have. I know what you’re going to say: I told you so! ... Dear Diary, June 14th I really love this job. Today’s session was so much fun! We had a good laugh together. We were creative. People who I hadn’t heard talking much over the last weeks went crazy with great ideas (to be fair, it’s

hardly possible to talk to everybody when class splits up into teams most of the time). This was so much fun. I could even imagine doing this for another term. ... Dear Diary, June 16th + 17th I feel overwhelmed. Sometimes it’s really so much work that I’m not sure if I can manage it all. But, stubborn as I am, I’ll keep going. I’m not the person to give up. At times, though, I’ve got the feeling that it’s not going to work out, I’m feeling completely exhausted, ready to just call it quits. ... [sleeps] I don’t know why everything seemed to be so bad yesterday. Life’s great! We’ll do this and have a great magazine in the end. I’m absolutely positive. ... Dear Diary, June 30th Why didn’t you tell me it was going to be so much stress? Yeah, knowing me, I probably wouldn’t have listened anyway. But, this is so much work. Layout’s almost done, but these tiny little things, they’re taking so much time. ... Dear Diary, July 5th We did it! Every article is finished. Layouts are done. I’ll take the file to the printer tomorrow. After that, it’s not in our hands anymore. I’m really excited. We actually did it, can you believe it?

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An editor’s semester in a nutshell: 1. As editor, you’re going to have a lot of meetings. 2. Thus, you might not want to overload your semester with other lectures. 3. You need to be able to make decisions; sometimes these decisions might not be very popular. 4. You’ll have to read a lot of articles, so it’s probably best if you really like reading. There might be articles on topics you’re not particularly interested in. You’ll have to read those as well. 5. Your email inbox will be full on a daily basis, which means even more reading. And writing, as you need to answer most of the emails. 6. You’ll have to invest a lot of time outside class, outside university, at night (yes, if you’re not a supersonic superhero, you’re going to miss some sleep along the way). 7. You might have to help out with team-based tasks. 8. You need to have an insight into everything that’s going on. This doesn’t mean you’ll have to do everything on your own (see #9). 9. You’ll have to be able to delegate.

Author, Layout & Pictures: Angela Czygann

10. Last not least, there are some basic requirements: reliability, punctuality, persistence, organisational ability, etc.

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“Thinking outside the box” Editors of the past five years talk about their time with eMAG and beyond Anniversaries are the time when you reminisce. Of course, we wanted to know what the editors from the past five years of eMAG think; we asked them about their memories and what they’re doing right now. See what they’ve got to tell us about their time with eMAG and beyond. Susi Bouse (maiden name: Steinacher): eMAG #21 I joined eMAG in the summer of 2010 and stayed on the team until Spring 2013; the 2012/13 WS was my time as editor-in-chief. A few months later, I moved to the US. First, I lived in Chicago with my husband, and in 2014, we moved to central North Carolina. Currently, I’m a stay-at-home mom of two (Emilia, 2.5; Liam, 1), which keeps me pretty busy. When I do get some time to myself, I like to sew, and I just recently started volunteering with a non-profit organization that helps migrant farmworkers. I’m also taking continuing education classes about non-profit organizations. Being a part of eMAG, both as a team member and later editor, was one of the most influential experiences of my time at Uni Augsburg. Especially as an editor, as I learned a ton about project planning and organization, as well as teamwork and coordination, and how to conduct meetings. I most like to think back to all the promotional events we participated in, eMAG’s 20th anniversary issue party, and sales week at the end of every semester. It was always a fun time to hang out with the other team members and chat other people up about eMAG. And sometimes, I still miss it. Sybille Ehing: eMAG #23 Many greetings from Lake Starnberg! Where others come to relax and sunbathe, I’m spending most of my weekends behind a desk grading tests and planning lessons. I enjoyed being in the eMAG team not only because I worked with international students and people studying subjects so unrelated to

mine that otherwise I’d never have met them, but also because I got to try out lots of different things: I started out in the layout team (and kept layouting for all the following issues I was on board), then became the deputy editor and team leader of the ads team for Issue 22. This way, I got to play a part in convincing Peter to start printing in colour. I was the editor-in-chief of eMAG 23 (Our Generation) and bribed-slash-blackmailed my bestie Lena to join the team. Afterwards I stayed on for a couple more terms as the website team leader before leaving eMAG after a total of eight terms to focus on my state exams. You may have already guessed – I became a teacher (English and German). I’d say that what my time with eMAG taught me is how to react quickly to situations in which thinking outside the box is necessary, in order to make things work out in the end and, simultaneously, still be able to have a good time and laugh. This certainly makes life easier. Lena Schwarz: eMAG #25 Time sure does fly after you graduate ... I had to look up what year I joined eMAG and was mildly horrified to see it was in 2013. A year later I became editor-in-chief. I did stints in the layouting and ads teams. Funnily enough, the time I spent organizing, planning, editing and layouting Issue 25 helped me land a job “doing media”. I work for a special interest magazine about canines (dogs). Doesn’t sound majorly glamourous, but it’s fun. So I still do research both in front of a computer and out in the field. My job’s taken me on a treasure hunt looking for truffles and into the mountains with avalanche rescue dogs. Thinking back on my time as an eMAGger, what I remember most fondly is the teamwork. I got the chance to collaborate with Sybille, who convinced me to join, as well as a bunch of other students I wouldn’t have met otherwise. When the going got tough, we persevered together. In the end, we always released cool issues. Holding the printed mags when all was said and done was a pretty awesome feeling! Sybille Ehing and Lena Schwarz

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Mirà Kanehl: eMAG #24 I was on board as editor for the 24th issue (Bucket List). Later, I got married and moved to Iran, where I’m now working with a university in publishing, and I may study medicine from next year (it’s a long story). So not only did I learn a lot by being editor of eMAG for a term, but I stayed in the field. The main thing I learned was the concept and the details of publishing, and how to organize a publication. My fondest memories include looking at the first ‘real’ color copy of our achievement and realizing that even though I’m rather shy and softly-spoken, I can talk a whole class through it (if they’re nice people, which they really were), as well as the lunches and coffees together after class, when we had interesting talks. Ultimately, eMAG helped me trust in my abilities and showed me how important teamwork is in real life, and what a difference each person’s effort actually makes. Nadine Ellinger: eMAG #26 + 27 I started eMAG in October 2014 and stayed on board for four terms — two as editor and one as website team leader. Currently I’m working on my Bachelor thesis and hope to start my Masters in North American Studies here in Augsburg this fall. I’m also (still) working in the online department of the Augsburger Allgemeine and as a Hiwi at the university press office (thanks to being part of eMAG!). While I was editor, I sure learned a thing or two: how to organize myself and the team (now guess which part was harder ;)), how to “teach” a course (or at least look like I know what I’m doing), but most importantly, to trust in my team, and to delegate tasks. I remember very well how, at first, I tried to do as much as I could on my own. Partly because I didn’t want to make everyone work even more than they already had to. But also because I’m a perfectionist and wanted to make sure everything’s flawless, and well, perfect. A few weeks into the term, however, I realized that it’s OK — and sometimes even necessary — to ask for help (thank you Franzi, Kati, and the other team leaders!). The magazine would never have looked the way it did without the great

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teamwork and the effort everyone put in. So letting go might’ve been the hardest lesson for me, but it’s certainly the most important one! I have so many fond memories of my time at eMAG - it’s really hard to pick just one... But thinking about the many lunches, team-leader meetings and other “informal” sessions I spent with the team — many of whom I now call my friends — always brings a smile to my face. Yes, it sounds cheesy, but eMAG was one of the best experiences I’ve had in my entire time at university. Roma Rodriguez: eMAG #28 My name is Roma Rodriguez. I was part of eMAG for 2 terms in the winter of 2015/16 and the summer semester in 2016. During my time as editor at eMAG I learned that the team itself is everything. The issue that we put together wouldn’t have been made without the help of everyone involved and how hard everyone worked. I also learned that time management is very important and that you cannot do everything at once, even if you want to (I would know!). During my time at eMAG lots of memories come to mind, especially how nervous I was during the first class as editor and slowly got the hang of things, and how we had a weekly canine visitor that became the official mascot for the term. But my favorite has definitely got to be the first time I got the final issue in my hands; I can’t even describe the feeling of seeing hard work pay off, and how incredible it felt that you were part of something that big. It was the first time I was editor-in-chief of anything and having an issue of a magazine printed was a really cool experience to have. Life after eMAG has been really good as well. I did an Erasmus semester in Wales and now I’m working on my thesis and moving towards graduation. The dream of working as a journalist is still very much alive and I look forward to seeing what the future holds!

Author: Peter James, Angie Czygann | Layout: Angie Czygann Pictures: private

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Throwback

to b e

con

Thirty issues of eMAG - a look back in time

tinu

ed .

Here are the issues of the last five years and some older ones ...

30 - Throwback

29 - The first time

28 - Mysteries of the world

27 - Color up your life

26 - Up and away

25 - Really?!

24 - Bucket list

23 - Our generation

22 - Discover the unknown

21 - Home sweet home

20 - Stories

18 - (Not) Growing up

16 - Behave yourself

14 - Be creative!

12 - On stage

8 - Revolution

7 - Nostalgia

5 - The Xtreme Issue

1 - eMAG

10 - Heroes and villains

Author, Layout & Pictures: Angie Czygann

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eMAG isch indernazional blir eMAG uluslararasi oluyor eMAGinternational eMAG gëtt international

eMAG выходит на международный уровень

eMAGeMAG wird international goes international

eMAG става международен

eMAG je mezinárodní

eMAG será internacional

eMAG agora é internacional

eMAG word internasional eMAG podbija świat eMAG eMAG werd internationoi diventa internazionale

Visit us on www.emag-augsburg.de Layout: Noemi Hehl Picture: Henrike Wilhelm

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“Kreativ haben jetzt Sie gesagt” Ein Interview mit Klaus Prem, Pressesprecher der Uni Augsburg Jeder kennt den Mann der humorvollen Worte, doch wer versteckt sich hinter dem Sprachgeschick? Lest selbst und erfahrt mehr - ausnahmsweise auf Deutsch! Seit wie vielen Jahren sind Sie nun schon Pressesprecher der Uni Augsburg? Im kommenden November oder Dezember werden oder würden – man weiß ja nie – es wohl 28. Was haben Sie studiert und wo? Deutsch, Geschichte und Sozialkunde auf bayerisches Gymnasiallehramt an einer schwäbischen Reformuniversität, die, als ich anfing, immerhin auch schon sechs Jahre alt war. Was war ursprünglich Ihr Traumberuf? Anfangs die ganz normale Mischung aus Cowboy, Abschleppwagenfahrer und Solotrompeter. Später dann – schon etwas ambitionierter und realistischer – Historiker, Germanist oder Politikwissenschaftler. Alle diese Träume – inklusive des kurz ebenfalls in Erwägung gezogenen Oberstudiendirektors – erwiesen sich dann aber als Schäume. Seit, wie gesagt, bald 28 Jahren ist jetzt die Wirklichkeit allerdings einfach der Traum! Wie sind Sie zu Ihrem Traumberuf gekommen? Man kann das vielleicht so formulieren: Vor langer Zeit war einmal ein wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter an der Universität Augsburg. Er promovierte und promovierte und promovierte, und kurz bevor er dabei gestorben wäre, wurde er Pressesprecher und lebt heute noch davon. Weniger märchenhaft: In einer schon etwas länger anhaltenden Phase, in der es mit meiner Dissertation einfach nicht so recht vorangehen wollte, bzw. in einem fortgeschrittenen Stadium, in dem das Typoskript – man schrieb damals noch mit der Schreibmaschine – immer länger und unübersichtlicher wurde – so geht’s mir ja auch jetzt noch viel zu oft, wenn ich erst mal anfange zu schreiben oder wenn ich – wie hier – ein Interview geben soll – ... Jedenfalls: Es geschah also zu jener Zeit, dass die Mauer fiel und ein gelernter Journalisten-Kollege, der bereits die Übernahme der damals vakanten Augsburger Universitätspressestelle zugesagt hatte, einen Korrespondenten-Job im damals neu errichteten Berliner Büro einer unserer bekanntesten Augsburger Tageszeitungen bekam. Fragen Sie mich nicht, warum dieser Kollege damals die Universität Augsburg zugunsten Berlins hat sausen lassen. Is’ mir nach wie vor völlig unverständlich. Aber in meiner heutigen, natürlich denkbar subjektiven Per- bzw. eher Retrospektive war das kein Beinbruch, sondern gewissermaßen – um im his-

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torischen Bild zu bleiben – die Wende: Denn damals stand dann eben ich – von meinen Bemühungen um meine Wissenschaftskarriere morsch wie die Mauer – irgendwie recht gerne zur Verfügung. Lieber Pressesprecher an der Universität als stationärer Doktorand im BKH, dachte ich mir. Damals. Und welche Voraussetzungen mussten Sie dafür denn mitbringen? Damals – ich wiederhole mich mit diesem Wort bedenklich, oder? – eigentlich nur diejenigen Voraussetzungen, die man halt braucht, um “universitäre” Themen, also eigentlich solche aus Forschung, Lehre und Hochschulpolitik, die meistens ja eher komplex sind, einigermaßen so fassen und formulieren zu können, dass auch nicht-universitäre Menschen – von den Kolleginnen und Kollegen in den Redaktionen bis hin zu deren vielfältigen Leserschaften – diese Themen – ein Minimum guten Willens vorausgesetzt – einigermaßen verstehen können, obwohl es sich nicht um Comics handelt. Die Voraussetzungen, die ich mitgebracht habe – die wesentlichen jedenfalls – waren also neun Jahre Latein und sechs Jahre Alt-Griechisch, in denen ich gelernt habe, wie man eine Botschaft zu einen Satz konstruiert. Eine weitere ganz nützliche Qualifikation war gewiss, dass ich das zu kommunizierende Objekt und sein Innenleben aus im Grunde bereits damals schon viel zu langer, erst studentischer und dann mitarbeiterlicher Erfahrung ganz gut kannte. “Who is who?” war jedenfalls kein Problem, wobei man sagen muss, dass in meinen Pressestellenanfängen die damalige Universität Augsburg vor allem in Sachen Fächerspektrum, differenzierter Struktur und Komplexität natürlich nicht vergleichbar war mit der heutigen. Nicht vergleichbar sind auch die Anforderungen gewesen, die damals an eine – in der Regel noch – Einmann-Universitätspressestelle gestellt wurden, mit denjenigen, die heute an jene inzwischen wohl durchweg zwischen fünf- bis zwanzig- oder noch mehrköpfigen Kommunikationsabteilungen der deutschen Universitäten und Hochschulen gestellt werden, die im Laufe der vergangenen Jahre allesamt aus guten Gründen, aber in höchst unterschiedlichen Geschwindigkeiten etabliert wurden. Zu den genuinen Adressatinnen und Adressaten einer “Pressestelle” hinzu ist im Zuge des um das Jahr 2000 herum entdeckten bzw. erfundenen Hochschulmarketings eine Vielzahl unterschiedlichster Zielgruppen generiert worden, die ankommuniziert werden müssen. Deren jeweils individuellen Kommunikations- oder Informationsbedürfnisse haben in der Regel nur partiell zu tun mit jener “pressestellenklassischen” Erfüllung der Rechenschaftspflicht, die staatliche Universitäten als primär steuerfinanzierte Forschungs- und Bildungseinrichtungen haben – gegenüber der Gesellschaft allgemein, im Speziellen aber gegenüber unserer Vierten Gewalt, die sich freilich – unter wohl noch knebelnderen Marktzwängen als die Universitäten – selbst inzwischen halt auch mit Campuskatzen und vergleichbar Kuscheligem lieber, weil besser verkauft oder verkaufen muss als zum Beispiel mit

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Forschungsthemen und solchem Kram. Gegenüber dem was ich ursprünglich an Voraussetzungen für “diesen Job” mitgebracht hatte, musste ich also im Laufe der Jahre und in ganz unterschiedlichen Beziehungen ganz schön dazulernen. Andererseits hatte ich ja auch viele Jahre Zeit dazu und bin immer noch da, obwohl das inzwischen in vielerlei Beziehung jetzt ein ganz anderer Job ist als der, in den ich ursprünglich mit Unterstützung Gorbatschows, Bushs und Kohls noch quer oder queer einsteigen konnte, ohne dass dies von der Norm seinerzeit abgewichen wäre. Aber neben allen hinzugekommenen Herausforderungen – wie man so sagt –, die inzwischen zum professionell zu bedienenden Kommunikationsstandard geworden sind, gibt’s immer noch genügend Sinnvolles, das man unprofessionell mit ganzen Sätze und sogar Nebensätze kommunizieren darf. Auch wenn’s dann mal mehr Zeichen sind als diejenigen sind, mit denen man social media-kompetent ist. Klaus Prem als private Person, wie kann man sich ihn vorstellen? So wie im Dienst, also: nur ganz leicht – gewissermaßen kaum der Rede wert – über 60, Vollglatze, schwarze runde Brille und auch sonst keine besonderen persönlichen Merkmale, die sich nicht ohne besonderes Talent karikieren ließen. Wo trifft man Sie, wenn Sie nicht in Ihrem Büro arbeiten? Bei Mick-Prems zuhause. Und dort bei schönem Wetter oft im Garten oder – jahreszeitenunabhängiger und deswegen insgesamt wohl nicht seltener – in der Küche, anschließend konsequenterweise am Esstisch, später dann im Bett oder vorher gelegentlich schon auch noch mal am Schreibtisch. Woher nehmen Sie die Inspiration für die kreativen Emails? “Kreativ” haben jetzt Sie gesagt. Unabhängig davon: Über die Frage an sich habe ich noch nie so recht nachgedacht. Aber ganz spontan glaube ich, ich schau’ erst mal immer, was die Leute da so alles von mir an die Studentinnen und Studenten kommuniziert haben wollen. Und da sind dann in aller Regel schon immer ein, zwei Sachen dabei, mit denen man gebührend schräg anfangen kann. Und wenn man erst mal schräg angefangen hat, ergibt sich der Rest dann schon immer irgendwie, ohne dass es mir langweilig dabei wird. Was dann freilich schon mal dazu führen kann, dass das, was am Ende dabei rauskommt, etwas lang für die eilige Leserschaft gerät. Aber man muss ja nicht immer alles lesen! Ein Merksatz, der meines Erachtens insbesondere für diese ultrakurzen Buchstabenansammlungen gilt, mit denen geliked, gezwitschert und gejodelt oder sonst so kommuniziert wird. Wieviel Fanpost und wie viele „Hater“-Emails bekommen Sie in Reaktion auf Ihre manchmal bekanntlich etwas längeren Rundmails “an alle Studentinnen und Studenten”? Ich könnte jetzt natürlich sagen, dass ich längst aufgehört habe mitzuzählen. Aber das würde wohl etwas arrogant rüberkommen. Und wenn ich jetzt auch noch ergänzen würde, dass ich fürs Abzählen der Meckerer, die hyperventilieren, wenn ich gelegentlich mal ihren Posteingang bereichere, inzwischen meistens nicht mal mehr einen meiner beiden Daumen brauche, dann würde das diesen falschen Eindruck kaum korrigieren helfen, oder? Also lass’ ich das lieber. Wie fühlt es sich an, eine Berühmtheit an der Uni zu sein? Mit Verlaub: Wie kommen Sie auf die Idee, ausgerechnet diese Frage ausgerechnet mir zu stellen? Mein Job bringt es zwar mit sich, dass ich viele

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Berühmtheiten an der Universität kennengelernt habe und kenne; aber wie diese sich als solche fühlten oder fühlen – da habe ich wirklich keine Ahnung. Ich persönlich stelle mir das einerseits ganz lustig, u. U. sogar befriedigend vor, andererseits aber natürlich auch ziemlich stressig. Vielleicht liegt das aber nur daran, dass ich es mag, wenn ich meine Ruhe habe, um was machen zu können, anstatt darauf achten zu müssen, von wie vielen ich geliked werde. Wie sieht Ihr Schreibtisch aus? Vielfältig. Aber ich habe am Morgen danach meine Tastatur bislang nach relativ kurzer Zeit immer wieder wiedergefunden. Nur meine Maus mosert regelmäßig wegen angeblich zu geringer Bewegungsfreiheit. Aber da ich sowieso kein Vegetarier bin und meine Maus trotzdem bis zu zwölf Stunden am Tag streichle, lässt mich deren Gejammere über die eingeschränkten Auslaufmöglichkeiten auf meinem Schreibtisch ziemlich kalt. Ich sag’ ihr immer, dass sie die Klappe halten und froh sein soll, dass sie sich auf meinem Schreibtisch absolut sicher vor der Katze fühlen kann. Was sonst ja nirgendwo auf dem Campus mehr der Fall ist. Zu guter Letzt: was halten Sie von eMAG? Na, sehen Sie: Es gibt doch auch interessante Fragen, die man stellen kann! Wobei ich damit eine der vielen möglichen Antworten auf Ihre Frage, warum ich eMAG für saugut halte, eigentlich ja schon gegeben habe: eMAG schafft es seit Jahren – und v. a. immer noch –, als Print-Medium, also so richtig auf Papier mit ausformulierten Wörtern, Sätzen, ja gar Nebensätzen, die sich teils – inklusive unwillkürlich, ich meine: korrekt verwendeter Satzzeichen – in einem einzigen Artikel völlig anachronistisch bis zu einer vier-, ja gar fünfstelligen Zeichenzahl aufhäufen, dass erstaunlich und ermutigend viele Studentinnen und Studenten auf diesem Campus tatsächlich schon immer darauf warten, dass die nächste Ausgabe endlich erscheint und es mal was zu lesen gibt. Und wenn man es, wie eMAG, schafft, Fragen zu stellen und Themen zu finden, für die sich ein paar Leute selbst dann interessieren, wenn sie dafür Gedrucktes – und das dann auch noch relativ “am Stück” – lesen müssen, dann scheint mir das für eine außergewöhnliche Qualität des Produkts in jeder Beziehung zu bürgen. Am meisten Spaß macht’s mir allerdings immer, beim Erscheinen einer neuen eMAG-Ausgabe erst mal zu gucken, wie die Redaktion es mal wieder geschafft hat, Themen, die im Grunde vom Kuchen- bis zu allen möglichen sonstigen Backen reichen, mit unnachahmlicher Eleganz und Unaufdringlichkeit überzeugend unter ein einziges, übergreifendes Ausgabenthema zu packen. Und last but not least – ja, auch ich beherrsche das Englische! – ist da Mister James. Ich kenne ihn schon ziemlich lange. Und mit ihm habe ich bereits vor dem Erscheinen der ersten Ausgabe schätzen gelernt, was seither jede eMAG-Ausgabe verspricht und im Innersten zusammenhält. Vielen Dank! Es war mir ein Vergnügen – ein bisschen so, wie’s gelegentliche Emailschreiben an alle Studentinnen und Studenten.

Author: Eva Sitzberger | Layout: Michaela Lappler Pictures: Klaus Prem, Michaela Lappler

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30.07.2017 23:15:58

Combining two worlds An advanced guide to long-distance relationships

Anyone who’s ever been in a long-distance relationship, either in the same country or an international one, knows that not being able to see each other very often can be challenging. Especially for me, because my girlfriend lives in Japan, and I live in Augsburg, so seeing each other more than twice a year gets complicated and very expensive. That’s why we had to figure out how to survive the months in between our visits. And because we’re still together after more than a year, I naturally consider myself a total expert on this, which is why I’m going to tell you how to survive in a long-distance relationship. Four simple rules Rule #1: The first thing we both do is keep a memory book, in which we write down some of our memories of each other, the days or moments we would always like to remember. This way we have them written down somewhere, so that our brains don’t even get the chance to mess these moments up. It also has the added advantage that we paid more attention to those moments as they were happening, so that we actually could have something to write down and didn’t just sit there staring at our phone screens, because that’s just not an exciting memory to write down. Be old-fashioned and modern at the same time Speaking of phones – and I know this comes as a surprise to you – while they can be quite distracting, they can also be really useful! Rule #2 is to talk a lot, which should be quite obvious. We’re always able to text each other on messaging apps without paying the ridiculous fees for international texting and we’re able to video call as well, for those rare times that we actually want to see each other’s faces, which is, of course, always.

Rule #3 is – and at this point I feel almost forced to say this – don’t forget to write actual letters! You know they’re more personal, they are something you can hold in your hands, you can store them somewhere, and reread them whenever you feel the need to... I shouldn’t have to explain this. Rule #4. And lastly, if you do happen to find yourself in a similar situation like me, the time difference can be very annoying, so make a plan! Talk about when the free time in your schedules overlaps, and figure out how to maximise your time together. Easier than you might think If you follow all these rules, long-distance is very manageable! It’s not like you’ll never have problems, but it’ll be fine. So that’s it. Don’t let anyone tell you long-distance doesn’t work, because it definitely can. You just need to follow these simple rules, communicate honestly and openly, and then you should be set. You can do it!

Author: Emil Nilsson Layout: Aleksandra Goralska Pictures: Noemi Hehl, Emil Nilsson

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30.07.2017 23:16:00

Turns out I’m a hopeless capitalist How a trip to Cuba unmasked my capitalist worldview Baggage claims at airports are one of these places that turn us into selfish devils. We crowd around the luggage belt craning our necks to get a glimpse of the hole in the wall that spits out the luggage, praying that it will be the French pensioner’s suitcase or the Dutch guy’s backpack that didn’t make it and not ours. But what does this have to do with capitalism? Let me tell you!

Karma is a bitch I must’ve prayed a little too hard that day because I was still standing at the luggage belt after everyone else was long gone. And this is where my path to the epiphany that I’m a hopeless capitalist began. Stripped of all my worldly belongings that I had packed so carefully hours before, I admitted defeat and joined the other unlucky passengers in the very un-British queue in front of the lost property office. Judging by the relieved faces of the people who were reunited with their precious belongings, and, in contrast to that, my own desperation, I realised that although we like to think that we don’t depend on material things, their absence sure has the power to ruin a holiday!

days filled with frantic phone calls peppered with all the Spanish words of outrage I could remember, alternate washing and wearing of the two T-shirts and underwear I had with me, a nervous breakdown and way too many bad jokes about luggage. You might think this all sounds a little over-dramatic. And you’re right – in every other country in the world it wouldn’t have been a big deal. I would’ve gone to the next drug store to get the shampoo and toothpaste I usually use and I probably would’ve bought myself two cheap T-shirts from H&M. But this was Cuba! The tiny bastion of anti-capitalism tucked in the shadow of the world’s economic superpower. Socialism, which you might vaguely remember from your history classes, translates into empty supermarkets and an almost total lack of shops as we know them.

What capitalists do when they lose their luggage

Can money buy happiness after all?

To cut a long story short, the fact that I had lost my luggage had the following effect on a spoiled capitalist like me: I went through three

Material plenty doesn’t make us happy, people say, but I’m not so sure anymore. When I stood in the store they call supermarket in Cuba, al-

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though there certainly isn’t anything “super” about it, I felt like someone had stolen my freedom of choice. Did I not have the right to buy the product whose quality and price would suit my needs? Obviously not, because there was only one on offer and many of the things I needed so desperately weren’t available at all! But are we really happier than the Cubans because we can choose between twenty different shampoo brands? Aren’t we overwhelmed by all the products and the permanent advertising storm that tells us we need to buy even more things? Have we lost the sense for the important things in life? The absence of abundance I have to admit I don’t know the answers to these questions. All I know is that I’m so used to the benefits of a free market – high-quality products, good customer service, consumer rights and free choice - that I wasn’t able to see past the lack of these things when a forgetful airline gave me the chance to try life without material possessions. The Cubans might be much happier than we are, but I didn’t waste another thought on that matter as soon as I got my beloved suitcase back, and with it the somewhat shocking realisation that I’m a hopeless capitalist!

Student magazine since 2002 Local | English | International eMAGUniAugsburg

Author & pictures: Noemi Hehl | Layout: Janina Girschick

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emag_ua

www.emag-augsburg.de

30.07.2017 23:16:05

Mnmlsm Trying out a decluttered lifestyle

I’m lazy, which means I don’t like cleaning up too much, or bothering with the fact that my room looks a mess all the time. And recently, I discovered that minimalism is getting more and more popular on social media. There are a lot of pictures and videos online of people sharing their minimalist lifestyle. And let me tell you - it’s not that stereotype minimalist image anymore that just popped into your head. First steps So I decided to give it a try. I have a very small room, but lots of stuff, which never really worried me that much. But I was inspired by these videos which just make decluttering look so easy and so much fun. So I started by piling up boxes in one corner of the room: ‘trash’, ‘give away’ and ‘stay’. Then, slowly, one after another I randomly went through my belongings. In the beginning, it was harder than I had thought; but as I continued it got easier. I got rid of about 40% of my stuff. It was mostly make-up, beauty products I didn’t need anymore, a lot of documents, paper and junk. You know those tasteless little presents, like figurines or jewellery you get sometimes that you know you’ll never use? But you say thank you and take them anyway because you don’t want to be rude. Yeah, I had a lot of these. And I also threw out some clothes, for example, some plain T-shirts. But not too many, because for some reason I get really attached to them, and as long as they’re not completely destroyed I won’t let them go.

The outcome Now that I’ve finished, I have to say that it’s kind of easier to live in my room. I don’t have that feeling in the back of my head all the time that I need to clean up. Because, as I decluttered, everything I kept has its own space. So when I get home, I don’t throw my clothes in one corner of the room, or use stuff and forget to put it back, and even if I do, I’ll have it all cleaned up in a second. So, is minimalism a life hack for lazy people? Yes and no. Yes, because if you’ve really made it and only kept the things you really needed, cleaning up will be the easiest and fastest thing on earth. You know where everything belongs and you can put it there in seconds. No, because you have to get started. And it’s hard work. I was so close to giving up most of the time because, trust me, you’ll find things in your cluttered room that you never knew you owned, like some lipsticks I found. Or things that will make you lose faith in humanity, or better, yourself. For example, I found three bottles of the same lotion that I had bought because I thought I had lost them. I was actually going to buy another one at the end of the week. Anyway, if you have the courage to try it out, do it. It’ll definitely change your life for the better.

Author, Layout & Pictures: Jasmin Orth

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30.07.2017 23:16:08

A kingdom of convenience The common bachelor in its natural habitat

The scenery is astonishing. Intelligent life seems impossible under conditions like these. And yet, a closer look reveals movement in the rubble. One highly specialised creature has found a way to thrive here. The realm of chaos The small apartment looks as if a raid has taken place not too long ago. In the sink, dishes are waiting to be cleaned. Considering the thick crust of grease and detritus covering them, this seems like a very unlikely event, though, especially since there’s also still one... well... let’s call it ‘clean’ plate in the cupboard above the kitchen sink. It’s therefore not unlikely that the rest will be spared the touch of soap for one more week. At the mountains of madness We make our way to the next scene of the battlefield: the living area. A well-trodden path leads us past several piles of clothing. The one closest to the exit emits a slightly objectionable odour. Clearly, the bachelor has marked the edges of his territory by showcasing his physical prowess by means of worn sports attire. Further inside we find two more mounds of cloth - one with unused fitness wear, most likely a backup for when the first one has been completely used up, and finally a third one with regular outfits placed on a chair, and which are intended for the coming days. Next to it, a basket with a still slightly warm assortment of clean clothes.

Pit of despair From this hub area trails lead to all major points of interest: the afore-mentioned kitchen, the bathroom, a slightly less obvious one to the desk, which is covered with crumpled papers in various states of decay, and finally one to the bed. And this is where we finally catch a glimpse of the elusive inhabitant. Laptop on lap, the bachelor has created a comfortable nest for himself. He can be expected to spend an excess of three hours per day in this position, depending on his individual schedule, opportunities for social contact, the weather and the upload cycle of the Game Grumps. Into the wild Just then a ringing echoes through the humble dwelling. In spite of how events up to now may have made it seem, bachelors are actually very affable creatures and communicate with the outside world using advanced technology. The call of a fellow bachelor springs our so far rather lethargic subject to life. The talk lasts only moments: when, where, with whom? Basics are cleared and plans are made. Our friend approaches the laundry pile number three, quickly decides it would be better to go to the basket instead, picks out a T-shirt and trousers that could be considered an outfit - albeit not one that follows the latest trends in fashion or good taste - and after a few minutes he’s ready to present himself to the world. We catch a last glimpse of him as he closes the door behind himself. His late-afternoon trips can last well into the early morning hours. And so we say goodbye for now. We will wait patiently for his return, trying our best not to get too close to pile number one.

Author, Layout & Pictures: Andreas Böhm

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30.07.2017 23:16:15

Writing on elephant poo From dung to paper

You think this is strange? Well, you’re right. For us as Europeans it does sound odd, but it was important for a Singhalese elephant rescue station and they found a quite astonishing solution. Believe me, I was there and saw everything with my proper eyes.

of the earned money with them. This means they can go on caring for elephants.

The rescue station

I was quite surprised when I visited the rescue station, the factory and the shop during my journey to Sri Lanka because I had never imagined that making paper in this way is possible. I’m sure you would never guess that the paper is made with extraordinary contents if you held it in your hands. I think it’s a wonderful way of recycling while helping endangered animals.

The Millennium Elephant Foundation, a rescue station in the centre of Sri Lanka, cares for disabled elephants or elephants which have worked and have been abandoned when too old to work. Caring for these wonderful, endangered animals is a lot of work and costs a lot of money. Even though volunteers help and even though the centre earns some money by letting tourists wash or ride some trained elephants, it’s not enough to pay for the medicine, the doctors, the supplementary food or the people who are working there fulltime. Without some extra money, the station would have to close or reduce the amount of help for the elephants drastically. So what could they do to avoid this, having only elephants and lots of dung?

My personal opinion

An extraordinary idea Well, I can assure you that they found quite a surprising solution. They started working with MAXIMUS, a company that was founded in 1997 and which produces paper made of elephant dung and waste paper. In the beginning, the company had only seven employees and not much room for working, but they still managed to produce environmentally-friendly, acid-free and, last but not least, odorless paper in different colors and textures. A solution was found And over the years the company has grown. Today they have more than 200 employees, ranging from skilled to non-skilled workers, and they have several houses and storage rooms. But most of the work is still done by hand and in an environmentally friendly way. This means they don’t use acids or chemicals to color the paper. Instead, they use certain plants and crafting techniques. What’s more, the diet, age and dental status of the elephant influences the texture and the color of the paper. Now they sell different kinds of paper in their nearby shops, for example, colored ones, as well as things made of paper like present boxes, postcards or notebooks. They’ve succeeded in helping the Millennium Elephant Foundation by sharing a percentage

Author: Stefanie Sohnle | Layout: Andreas Böhm Pictures: Anonymous Hehl, Stefanie Sohnle

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30.07.2017 23:16:22

Visiting the last dragons Discovering Indonesia The most exciting thing about Indonesia is its unbelievably beautiful flora and fauna. So visiting the Komodo National Park should be on everybody’s bucketlist. Located in the Lesser Sunda Islands, it’s the only place in the world where Komodo dragons are indigenous. These majestic creatures are the largest known lizards and can reach up to about three meters in length and 70 kilograms in weight. Getting to the creatures isn’t so easy, but I’ve been… Are you ready? The best way to reach the Komodo National Park is to start at the island of Flores. I had to find someone with a boat in order to experience the beauty of Indonesia’s islands. After about three hours on the boat, we reached the second largest island of Komodo National Park - Rinca. Here the probability of seeing a Komodo dragon in its natural habitat is higher, because there are fewer tourists than on Komodo. Am I really that stupid? The first steps on the island are quite eerie. The guide telling us about the only colony on the island being built on trunks for reasons of safety – Komodo dragons aren’t able to climb stairs – isn’t really helping me to stop thinking how stupid I am to voluntarily visit the largest lizards on earth. They aren’t only venomous, but their saliva is highly bacterial and kills every creature it bites, slowly but surely. Walking by a wooden gantry with buffalo skulls pinned on it isn’t really helping either. That wow! moment After arriving in the village of Loh Buaya, my anxiety turns to pure excitement in less than a second. The gigantic creatures lying in the sun underneath the kitchen building – waiting for potential leftovers falling out of the window – look kind of scary, but are so calm and relaxed that you quickly forget that each of them is easily able to kill you.

Pure beauty really exists After hiking on the island for a bit, you’ll quickly discover that the Komodo dragons aren’t the only exciting things around. The whole landscape is incredible and purer than you can imagine. There are a lot of Macaque monkeys along the hiking trail eager to meet the unfamiliar intruders, as well as majestic deer and gigantic water buffaloes. Being left speachless After leaving the island of Rinca, the trip to Komodo National Park will not only leave you in a sweat – yes, it’s unbelievably hot in Indonesia – but also wondering about the beauty the earth keeps hidden from everyone who isn’t eager to look for it.

Author & Pictures: Lisa Schümann Layout: Johann Beß, Andreas Böhm & Noemi Hehl

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30.07.2017 23:16:25

A Shocky Horror Future Show Coming soon... The Texas Senate voted on bills banning safe abortion procedures and allowing doctors to lie to pregnant women about their babies’ health if they are concerned their patients might go for an abortion. In the Senate Gallery, a group of women wearing red capes and white bonnets can be spotted. Sounds odd, doesn’t it? But it really happened. These American women have dressed up this way to protest peacefully against anti-abortion Senate Bills. Plot The outfit refers to Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale from 1985, adapted into a series this year. The Handmaid’s Tale is about a fictional overthrow of the American government and the implementation of a new class system based on Christian fundamentalism, which is militarily enforced. The main character, Offred, belongs to the class of ‘handmaids’, fertile women whose sole purpose is reproduction. The handmaids wear red cloaks and white bonnets, and are stripped of nearly all their rights. And thanks to their God-given blessing of being able to give birth – in a mainly infertile society – they’re systematically impregnated by their ‘commanders’. Fancy dress equals protest? Wearing a costume might not seem to be the most spectacular or effective way of protesting, compared to millions of people marching through the biggest cities in the US. Unfortunately, you have to be careful when advocating women’s rights publicly. Female right-wing host Tomi Lahren got suspended after stating on air that women’s bodies aren’t government business.

rights in public and is dedicated to giving women the choice of abortion and therefore power over their own body. Pro-choice supporters say there should be safe and legal ways to have an abortion if a woman decides to have one. Pro-choice advocates just want women to have a choice, but don’t claim that it’s a topic that can be dealt with lightly. Why is this old novel relevant in 2017? Atwood’s novel describes a dystopian future, in which freedom of speech, religious freedom and other fundamental basic human rights no longer exist. A couple of points here might not seem too unfamiliar; President Trump tries to implement a Muslim ban in the US. And more than 150 journalists are imprisoned in Turkey – a preaccession country for the EU – for asking the wrong questions. So it’s no wonder that books telling dystopian stories are in demand currently. Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale has not only been turned into a series but also a symbol of anti-choice legislation. Dystopian novels leap to top of best-seller lists George Orwell’s 1984, which is about a totalitarian regime, is also gaining a new popularity because of the use of terms such as ‘alternative facts’ by Kellyanne Conway, senior counsellor to President Trump. That phrasing is reminiscent of Orwell’s ‘Ministry of Truth’. People seem to be currently reminded of the threat to democracy by the denial of objective truths and individual freedom, causing the resurgence of popularity of dystopian novels. Unfortunately, the Texas Senate passed those anti-abortion bills I referred to in my introduction. But they might still be vetoed by the House of Representatives, and spare us a potential Shocky Horror Future Show.

Pro-choice There’s a remedy, however, namely a socio-political movement called pro-choice. The pro-choice campaign in the US advocates women’s

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Author, Layout & Pictures: Johann Beß

30.07.2017 23:16:31

Confessions of an introvert This is how unicorns must feel

I’m an introvert. So yes, I don’t feel the need to be around people 24/7 and I spend a significant amount of time in my head, just thinking and daydreaming. But no, I’m not socially awkward, at least not when it counts. Still, introversion has become a major disadvantage in our increasingly extroverted world.

after they’ve socialized for a while. They just can’t wrap their mind around the fact that being around people can be so exhausting when you prefer to be on your own 95 percent of the time.

The first time I actually realized just how extroverted the world has become was in my first semester at university. I was shocked to find out that I was somehow expected to participate in class without being given the chance to actually think about my answer, and also that I was supposed to hold hour-long presentations in every single one of my classes. After twenty years in different schools, I can now officially confirm that presentations are the twenty-first century torture device for introverts. So yeah, university introduced me to a world made for extroverts

I know playing the blame game doesn’t solve the problem, but in my opinion, the USA and social media are responsible for our overly extroverted society. I mean, I’m really sorry, but as an introvert I just don’t feel the compulsive need to share every last detail of my life with my 638 closest friends and family. The whole concept of social networking was invented by Americans for Americans, yet somehow it spread across the globe; it seems Americans, with their love for small talk, don’t get introversion at all. And because of America’s obsession with small talk, people all over the world are nowadays expected not just to network on the internet, but also in real life. This means that in order to get ahead in life, you’re forced to go out, meet new people, and again make small talk. Introverts, however, prefer to stay in, have a nice cup of tea, and curl up on the couch with a good book or a great episode of their favorite TV show.

Gosh, you’re so arrogant! What probably bugs introverts most, though, is that they are constantly misunderstood because they’re on the quieter and more reserved side and are thus often thought to be arrogant by others. This has been happening to me since elementary school. Additionally, extroverts constantly complain when introverts say they’re tired

Why, oh why is there such a thing as networking?

Let’s even everything out a bit! On a more serious note, I just wish everything was a little more balanced. A world catering heavily to extroverts will inevitably make life more difficult for introverts. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like this is going to change anytime soon. Thus, we, the introverts of this world, have to either try to adjust or fight for the return of some balance. I sincerely hope we’ll choose the latter. Author: Alisa Lechky | Layout: Michaela Lappler Pictures: Alisa Lechky & Michaela Lappler

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New York, New York Interview with graduate student, Simon Stelzl Tell us something about yourself: who is Simon Stelzl? I’m originally from a small town near Regensburg, and am twenty-five years old. Currently, I’m finishing my master’s thesis in the Elite Graduate Program “Finance & Information Management” at the University of Augsburg, University of Bayreuth and Technical University of Munich. I’ve also been working at the FIM Research Center as a student assistant for two years, where I’m responsible for the design of lectures and my graduate program’s social media marketing. You went to New York last term. What did you do during your stay? In my program, students have a professor as a mentor and it’s very common for a master’s thesis to include writing an academic paper with a professor abroad. Luckily, my mentor gave me the chance to work with Professor Michael zur Muehlen at the Stevens Institute of Technology in the USA. At the end of my four-month stay, we submitted a paper Cognitive Computing in the context of Business Process Management at the BPM conference 2017 in Barcelona. Although my school was located on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, I decided to live in Upper East Side in Manhattan to experience life in the Big Apple.

In what way was your work or were your studies different from Germany? As I was a visiting research scholar at Stevens, I can’t say anything about the differences. I had meetings with my supervisors as I would have had in Germany. What I can tell you from friends I met is that their organizational system is different to that of a German university. The grade you get for an end-of-semester exam isn’t the only thing that counts for your final grade – you have to submit papers, assignments, and give presentations during the semester. Thus, the workload is more balanced over the semester than it is in Germany (binge-learning days before the exams). Classes are usually much smaller, too. So the relationship between students and lecturers is closer and more familiar. And all students usually live on campus. They study, eat, do sports, party, and hang out together all the time, which leads to a strong community and close ties with their university. There are a lot of stereotypes about life in New York. What was your personal impression? (1) New Yorkers think NYC is the center of the universe (or rather it is the universe). During my stay, I hardly felt the urge to leave the

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city and explore other places in the States, as New York offers so many great things that four months are actually too short. (2) Everyone in Manhattan has seen pretty much everything. After two weeks another guitar-playing underwear-clad cowboy or complete strangers breaking out into random dance sequences on the train didn’t impress me at all anymore. So, I did what everyone was doing – walk by without stopping. (3) Starbucks cup, yoga pants, superfood, hipster etc. This stereotype is totally accurate. A lot of people in New York run around with coffee cups, go to yoga, and are at least trying to live super healthy lives. Being abroad usually helps people to gain experience, broaden their horizons, etc. What experience had the most positive effect on you as a person and on your life? First, New York City is a melting pot of hundreds of different cultures and ethnicities that shape the city in so many ways: the best restaurants with cuisines from all around the world, bars with all kinds of music, different languages, different fashions. It felt that every part of the world is somehow present. This is the positive effect of making the world a smaller place that’s easier to explore. Second, everyone is very open-minded, friendly, and has a much more positive and relaxed attitude towards living and life in general. Although this sometimes seems superficial, it had a positive effect on me by showing me that looking forward and being optimistic can help in a lot of situations.

At the moment you’re a Master’s student. What are your plans? I’m going to submit my thesis and finish my master’s by this summer. After my graduation, I’ll start working as a data scientist at Celonis in Munich, a start-up specialized in a technique called process mining. This is an intelligent big data technology that analyses and visualizes every process in a company. Did your experience abroad influence your plans in any way? Actually yes, in a very concrete way. A friend of mine who’s also working for Celonis visited me and showed me the newly-opened New York Celonis office. So I got to know the company and future colleagues. And my experience confirmed my resolve to work in an international company with people from all around the world and to definitely go abroad again. I think it’s a great experience for everyone to work with people who are as diverse as possible in order to make the world a better place. Thank you very much for your time. We wish you all the best for your plans.

As there’s always the other side of the coin: what was your worst experience? Anything you had a hard time with? I never thought how much you earn in New York would be so important. On the one hand, this leads to the New York everyone has in mind: high-class fashion, Wolf of Wall Street, Fifth Avenue, glamour bars and clubs. Sometimes it felt like “fake it until you make it”. Even though people have a hard time paying their insanely high rents, they still have an iPhone, Apple Watch, expensive jackets and handbags – everything you can show off in the street. But I’ve never seen so many homeless people on the streets begging. So I learned that the more down-to-earth culture and our welfare state in Germany really do have a lot of positive sides. And I never got used to the tax and tips system. Prices are always net prices, so you have to calculate yourself. This can be very misleading, especially as tips of around 20% are common and expected if the service was good. Was there anything that you missed while in New York? Of course, I missed my family and friends. But honestly, what I missed most were Bavarian pretzels. I’m not sure who told Americans how to make pretzels, but they can’t keep up with the ones we have in Bavaria. Besides that, New York was too overwhelming to even think about missing something.

Author: Victoria Fairley, Angela Czygann | Layout: Angela Czygann Pictures: Simon Stelzl

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It’s not all water under the bridge The water towers and ancient water supply system in Augsburg

When you grow up in a city, you usually have the feeling you already know all the main attractions and interesting places there. So did I, but well – I was wrong. Even though I’ve passed the Rotes Tor at least a thousand times and I’ve seen several plays at the Freilichtbühne, I must shamefully admit I’d never even noticed those very nice-looking towers in the background. And when my mother asked me if I wanted to visit the ancient water towers, my first thought was ‘What is she talking about?’ What she was talking about The three water towers were built between 1416 and 1599 and are Europe’s oldest mostly intact waterworks. They were used to supply the city with drinking water until 1979, when the big Lech waterworks were built. The sight next to the Rotes Tor (directly facing the Irish pub Murdocks) includes the upper and lower pond-master’s house, the small and the big water tower and the so-called Kastenturm. The technological know-how was famous all over Europe and representatives from many countries came to Augsburg to learn from the pond master – the person responsible for the city’s drinking water system. They had one of the most modern technologies to pump the water up into the towers in the lower city using the water power from the channels and to make it rush down from there into the upper city’s ponds. Getting to know your city Every first Sunday in a month is ‘water day’ in Augsburg. On that day you can take part in a guided tour through the towers (for only €3) or through the whole Lechviertel to see the channels and streams that have always had an important impact on the city’s inhabitants and industry. In case you’re interested in taking part in the upcoming ‘water days’, have a look at the ‘drinking water day’ on August 6th, when you can get more information about Augsburg’s high-quality drinking water and how it’s protected. There’s also the ‘waste-water day’ on September 3rd with short info talks about the city’s wastewater system and how our water is cleaned and the ‘culture water day’, for which exhibitions and readings of Brecht are being organized.

Letting the world know The ‘Hydraulic Engineering and Hydropower, Drinking Water and Decorative Fountains in Augsburg’ are currently nominated for UNESCO world-heritage status in Germany. The Hochablass, the canals, the water towers and the three monumental fountains in the Maximilianstraße are part of the system. This system is so special because of the continuity of its importance for the city, the architectural and technical development, the artistic value of the fountains and the special connection, historic and present, between Augsburg and its water supply system. The final application for the status will be handed over on August 1st, but no matter if it’s successful in the end or not, the sights are always worth a visit!

Author & pictures: Sophia Brandt Layout: Janina Girschick

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Roll for initiative Fighting monsters with words

Shedding some light on an old-school classic Dungeons & Dragons was first introduced as a tabletop role-playing game in 1974. In it, each player takes over a character of their own design, to watch the story unfold in a fantasy setting, as the player party ventures through a carefully-crafted world on a quest to save it – most of the time. More than thirty years later, the format hasn’t lost anything of its charm and is still played by many enthusiasts. The crude core mechanics of the game consist of role-playing and rolling dice. Let’s say you want to steal some dude’s wallet in-game, for example. You’ll probably say something like: “I would like to attempt to steal his wallet.” The narrator (or Dungeon Master) will then have you roll a die to see whether you succeed or not. No technology needed, except for some music, maybe. Just your imagination, a pen, some paper, and a little bit of luck. How outrageous! A regular Saturday night. The sun is setting outside, and heaps of take-out dinners are piling up on the living room floor. Six people are sitting at a large table, a huge map spread across it, listening intently to the story the seventh person has prepared for the evening, some of them hastily scribbling down notes on their papers. Tonight, the party would be to infiltrate the lair of a dangerous necromancer from legends, and yet, the majority of them prefer talking to Bob, the crazy fisherman... Wait, what?!

The art of setting up a game When choosing a game of Pen & Paper, you’ll find that there are many different editions and formats to consider, Dungeons & Dragons just being one of them. There are a lot more – like Pathfinder, Das schwarze Auge (a German format) and Numenera (in a sci-fi setting), to name only a few. Each format has its own sets of rules that need to be studied carefully in order to guarantee a great experience

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for everyone involved. Or, if you’re not into any of these, you can still come up with your very own rules, settings and stories! Old-school gaming and the modern media In the past few years, the popularity of Pen & Paper games has risen. They’ve been featured in TV shows such as Buffy, The Big Bang Theory or Stranger Things. Also, there are many Youtube channels that provide shows of their own campaigns, such as Geek and Sundry’s Critical Role (American voice actors playing Dungeons & Dragons) or Rocket Beans’ B.E.A.R.D.S. pen & paper (about Vikings). There’s a big community dedicated to sharing funny campaign stories, so if you’re ever feeling down, treat yourself and have a good laugh reading some of them, on reddit, for example. Make sure to check out some of the stuff above! Maybe I’m just a huge nerd, but... … when people ask me what I like the most about the game, I gotta admit that it’s its vast potential. Even though basic character creation doesn’t offer endless possibilities, it’s the background stories that truly breathe life into them. A shy cleric brought up sheltered from the rest of the world? A barbarian chosen by the gods to pursue a new fate? A paladin trying to find his mentor’s murderers? A grumpy dwarf woman with a knack for fire-weapons? As long as your ideas fit into the setting, you can come up with almost everything. The sky’s the limit! But the best part about it is to actively role-play as these characters – to literally be someone else and see how they interact with each other and their surroundings; to completely indulge in the story and have a good time with your friends. Some campaigns can take years to finish, so... you could say it’s a truly epic hobby.

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Author: Mélanie Fournier | Layout: Johann Beß | Pictures: Mélanie Fournier

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Shopaholics, listen up! Girls’ flea markets in Augsburg

The scene is set: a large hall where dozens of girls are chatting, laughing and having a good time – they’re all gathering at a girls’ flea market to buy and sell clothes. There are several organizations that organise such markets in Augsburg, such as Fashion-Flohmarkt and Schwesterherz – der Mädchenflohmarkt, where you can enjoy an indoor shopping trip without spending a fortune.

• Don’t get there too late. The best things are going to be sold quite early on, so don’t wait until the market is about to close. Sometimes there are table changes - the vendors that have been selling goods all morning leave and new vendors set up their table. Inform yourself on the flea market’s website when this change happens. • Don’t be shy. Everyone bargains at a flea market, so don’t think it’s rude to ask for a cheaper price.

How to participate Becoming a flea market vendor is a great way to clear out your wardrobe and make some cash. You simply rent a booth and display your clothes. Just visit the website of the flea market you want to participate in, fill in a form and start your own business. You usually have to pay a rental fee of about €15/meter for the table space, but by selling your stuff you can earn a lot and you can share the table with a friend for half the price and double the fun. If you don’t have anything to sell, you could also just shop or have fun rummaging through all the clothes. Most of the time, you have to pay an entrance fee of €3-5, but you can stay as long as you want. What to do and what not to do at a flea market Shopping at a flea market can be quite stressful because so many people are haggling for lower prices in a crowded room, but if you follow these tips, you’ll be guaranteed a great day!

• Bring something to drink. There’ll be loads of people in one room; and everyone is trying to get the best deal; everyone’s pushing and you walk and walk and walk… so something to drink and a snack are always a good idea. • Have fun! Don’t lose your cool if something you’re trying on doesn’t fit, if someone grabs that beautiful dress right in front of your eyes or if you don’t find anything at all (not likely to happen). Just have fun and enjoy this different kind of shopping experience. Where and when This all sounds more fun than stress to you? Then come to the next Girls’/Fashion Flea Market on October 7th, 2017 at Kongress am Park or check out the websites and Facebook pages of flea markets for events before and after this date.

Author & Pictures: Julia Messing Layout: Simon Benseler

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Rudolf Diesel GREAT INVENTION OR NOT?

From the moment when the diesel engine was invented, people have put it to good use. From lorries to cars and later to locomotives, most use diesel engines to transport goods or passengers. The beginning of the end In 1893 Rudolf Diesel started designing an engine that would replace the steam engine, but little did he know that he was about to change the automotive industry forever. Around the world, many people love diesel engines, mostly for their reliability. A well-maintained diesel engine can run for hundreds of thousands of miles without having major problems. Unfortunately, we’ve come to a point when pollution is a very big problem that needs to be solved, or else it will destroy our planet in no time. A first step in protecting the world would be to ban diesel cars.

nies manufacturing cars have announced that by 2020 they will no longer build diesel cars at all. Possible solutions Every problem comes with a solution, at least that’s what we would like to believe. We could always take the Netherlands as an example and start cycling in cities. Using a bike is healthier for us and for the people around us, no doubt. For long distances, we can use a car that’s not powered by diesel, or, if we can’t afford one, we always have the electric trains as an alternative. What will happen by 2025 remains to be seen. Until then, enjoy driving your diesel car while you still can.

467,000 deaths a year The World Health Organization says that around three million deaths occur every year around the world, of which 467,000 in Europe, only due to air pollution. How do diesel engines cause such pollution? They produce particulate matter, a mixture of extremely small particles and liquid droplets, and nitrogen oxides, both of which are very toxic once inhaled, and which can affect the lungs and heart. Diesel cars banned by 2025? Right now, half of the cars on the streets of Europe are powered by diesel engines. The governments of many countries are planning to ban all diesel cars older than EURO 6 (EURO 6 engines have smaller CO2 emissions, so that’s why they could still be used). At the moment, some governments will even pay you if you decide to buy an electric car. In Britain, for instance, you can get a bonus of up to £5,000. Many big compa-

Infobox: • Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel, born in 1858 • Moved to Augsburg 1871 • Inventor of the Diesel engine • Developed his ideas at Maschinenfabrik Augsburg AG • Died under mysterious circumstances in 1913 Did you know there is a MAN-Museum in Augsburg? Check out their website: museum.man.eu

Author: Christian Cozmei Layout: E. Stützel, A. Böhm, N. Schmidt Pictures: MAN Museum Augsburg

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How a rolling insect became stylish - and found its way to Augsburg

1946 - the war is over. It seems impossible to ban memories of war from your head. There are many uncertainties, a crippled economy, and roads which are hardly passable and yet joy over this much-longed for peace bring obvious changes. This is where the story of the Vespa (from Italian, wasp), a motorized two-wheeler, began: an affordable motor scooter which allowed people, after years of war, to buzz around bombed-out areas in Italy. And today – despite being 70 years of age – it’s a stylish scooter. The motor scooter today Only eleven years after the Vespa emerged, Piaggio had sold one million Vespas. Originally made to transport people comfortably, riding a Vespa turned into a hobby. Movies such as Holiday with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck made the audience want to do the same: speeding up and down narrow Italian alleys or trying to get to beautiful sea-side resorts where people enjoyed the sun. Tin and gearshift in Augsburg Chic Italian dresses and a carefree lifestyle made their way to Augsburg and so did the Vespa. Was it the engineering? Was it the association with a viva Italia attitude? Whatever it was, the Vespa is the reason for Augsburg’s well-established scooter club Rollerkö, which has been around since the 1980s. A group of friends, or rather Vespa drivers, used to meet regularly at the Königsplatz and savored the freedom of riding on the motor scooter. These meetings became popular and the small group of friends turned into a big, well-known scene, which met every Friday and went on all sorts of trips with their scooters. For different reasons, such as time, family, jobs etc. the group was disbanded in 1990. However, in 2000, a group of friends revived this tradition and established it, as can be seen today.

people of all ages who own a vehicle to take part in. Up to two hundred enthusiasts take their fancy scooters along – Vespas, Lambrettas, … hand-shifted tin scooters are very welcome – it’s all about the lifestyle and the hobby the people share. If you’re interested, you can visit the Rollerkö on Friday. Everyone is welcome to the chit chat about the scooters and other small talk, too. And, if not, you can simply ride your Vespa and enjoy whatever it is you associate it with!

The Piaggo family • Equipped the Italian Air Force and had an idea for a two-wheeler • Motto: get from A to B safely and comfortably • Unique design resembling a wasp and even sounding like one and gave the scooter its name, Vespa • Inexpensive and reliable; it was also easy to handle and nitty gritty in terms of manual switch to prevent dirtying fine women’s shoes and Italian clothes

Fast forward Today, simple, informal meetings are held on Friday evenings at the Kö - it seems that all the generations are together again. The initiator, Alex, invests a lot of time and work; not only does he take care of organizational matters, the website and the presence in the social media, but he also plans long scooter trips. For example, the annual An-und Abrollern is very popular. And at the beginning and end of a Vespa season, the Rollerkö organizes group journeys, which allow

Author & Pictures: Elisabeth Jane Stützel Layout: Marcus Wiesenhöfer

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We rise by lifting others Freiwilligen-Zentrum Augsburg’s twentieth birthday I´m sitting in the small backyard in Philippine-Welser-Straße 5a in Augsburg – the headquarters of the Freiwilligen-Zentrum (FZ) Augsburg – together with my interview partner Ulrico Ackermann. He’s a Sozialpädagoge and has been working mostly full time for the FZ since 2002. In general, what is the FZ? The FZ is an opportunity for people of all ages to do voluntary work and find a suitable place for them to join the community. In which fields do you work and who do you help? My field of interest in the FZ is projects with pupils. There are two. One is called change in. This is a project for all pupils attending the eighth grade in schools in Augsburg, as well as those not living directly in Augsburg. They can join this project voluntarily and work 40 hours within 4 months supported by mentors. For more information visit www.change-in.de. The other project is called “Tu was du kannst”. This is a Service-learning project for pupils in seventh grade. We also offer it in five elementary schools in and around Augsburg. What’s special about “Tu was du kannst” is that the kids reflect on their voluntary work in school during lessons. Which projects would you recommend for students? They can reach the FZ 24/7 via our homepage www.freiwilligen-zentrum-augsburg.de. For students in particular, we’ve got two suitable projects. For one, lots of students in Augsburg work as mentors in our youth projects. Another project is “do it” at the University at Augsburg, which was initiated by us. At the moment, it’s organized by the Career Service. But we work closely together. As it’s your twentieth anniversary this year, what has the FZ achieved in the last two decades? Recently, there’ve been a lot of projects with refugees. I have two part-time colleagues who dedicate all their working time to organizing the volunteers’ work with adult and under-age refugees. Addition-

ally, we have a project for volunteers who work in nurseries. It’s called “Kleine Entdecker” and they do scientific experiments together with the young kids. Since 2003 we’ve had the status of an organization which cooperates with the EVS [editor’s note: European Voluntary Service]. Every year, we send about two or three volunteers to different countries in Europe, and also give advice about voluntary work in the whole world. What are the upcoming events? At the moment, the next highlight is the world conference for all voluntary centres in October 2018. One of our newest projects is “Ein Ball rollt durch die Stadt”. We take a very big football to collect money for children whose parents can’t afford to send them to sports clubs. The aim is that every person living in Augsburg donates one Euro. So we’d have €300,000 in the end, because I think Augsburg will reach the 300,000 inhabitants mark in the next few years. What’s your motivation? I’ve been working here for fifteen years – not only for a living, but I also help in two projects voluntarily: in one of them for more than 30 years and in the other project for more than 10 years. I think voluntary work is necessary, but you have to be able to afford it in order to enjoy doing it. I think the problem in and around Augsburg is that we’re one of the poorest cities in Germany. And a lot of people have their own problems and thus don’t want to do voluntary work. Thank you for the informative Interview. I hope that many students will be encouraged to contact the Freiwilligen-Zentrum.

Infobox: Freiwilligen-Zentrum Augsburg Philippine-Welser-Straße 5a 86150 Augsburg Tel.: 0821 450422-0 info@freiwilligen-zentrum-augsburg.de www.freiwilligen-zentrum-augsburg.de Author: Andrea Schneider | Layout: Jasmin Orth Pictures: Michael Hochgemuth/Stadt Augsburg

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Watch. Read. Listen. Play.

Watch Keeping Mum This British black comedy film starring celebrities such as Rowan Atkinson, Maggie Smith and Patrick Swayze was first released in cinemas in 2005. It’s about Reverend Goodfellow and his family, who live in a village in England called Little Wallop. As he’s too busy writing his sermon for a convention, the vicar doesn’t notice all the problems in his family. For example, apparently dissatisfied with the missing sensuality in their marriage, his wife Gloria starts an affair with her golf teacher. Holly, who is ashamed of being a clergyman’s daughter, compensates for this by constantly picking up new boyfriends, while her little brother Petey struggles with the impact of being bullied in school. But by hiring the new housekeeper Grace, their lives are about to change. As former serial killer, Grace has her very own ways of solving problems. I can only recommend this film; everyone who is a fan of British humour will find it hilarious. The story is full of ambiguity and deadpan humor. I’m sure you’re going to laugh your head off!

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket Even though they’re children’s books, when, at the age of ten, I started reading the first two “A Series of Unfortunate Events” books by Lemony Snicket, I simply didn’t like them. I found them creepy and they went over my head. Like the well-mannered kid I was, I thanked my aunt for buying me thirteen (!) of these weird books and never had a look at them again. Until two years ago, when I decided to give the series a second chance. The books follow the story of Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire after their parents’ death in a fire. Given that none of them is of age, they’re soon put in the custody of Count Olaf, who tries to steal their inheritance by means of various mischievous plans. Gradually, the siblings discover more and more dirty secrets about Count Olaf and their deceased parents while the situations they find themselves in become more and more peculiar. But the best thing about the series is the dark gothic tone and the sarcastic but somehow sophisticated humor employed. Even the writer himself warns the reader about the darkness of the story: “It is my sad duty to write down these unpleasant tales, but there is nothing stopping you from putting this book down at once and reading something happy, if you prefer that sort of thing.“ If you can accept that you’re reading a children’s book, I’m sure you’ll also find some depth in them. And in case you can’t get enough of the story, there’s a Netflix remake of the series with Neil Patrick Harris that was recently renewed for a second season, and I can assure you that it’s amazingly absurd.

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Fil Bo Riva When one of my fellow eMAG students recommended the singer Fil Bo Riva to me, I was kind of suspicious, as I didn’t even know how to pronounce the name. Regardless, I went on a YouTube stalking spree and I’m hooked! The 24-year-old Italian was born in Rome and raised in Dublin. After his very first visit to Berlin in 2012, he decided to move there. In 2014, he dropped out of college and decided to focus on his music career. His unique husky voice and heart-on-sleeve style fascinated many pedestrians as he used to busk a lot, but also brought him to the attention of PIA Germany, who he signed a deal with in 2016. In September 2016, he released his first EP “If you’re Right, It’s Alright” and is currently touring lots of festivals in Europe. So if you’re a folk and soul fan and cannot get enough of beating melancholic songs, I would highly recommend giving Fil Bo Riva a chance.

PLAY Shadow Hearts: Covenant Some time ago, when I decided to re-play one of my PS2 games, my eye fell on my favorite RPG yet again, which is Shadow Hearts: Covenant. It was published in 2004 and developed by Nautilus, a Japanese video game company, and is the second part of a series. The story is set during the First World War and revolves around the German lieutenant, Karin Koenig, who meets a young man with mysterious powers, and ends up going on a bizarre adventure with him, travelling all over Europe and Asia. The battles are turn-based and yet, the battle system is unique, as it relies heavily on the timing skills of the gamer. Players have to hit areas on a spinning wheel in order for their attack to be successful. The story itself is quirky, dark at times, has a diverse cast, a catchy soundtrack and one of the biggest plot twists at the very end. There are lots of things to discover, and by that I mean LOTS. On my first playthrough, this game kept me glued to my screen for over 80 hours, I’ve kept on returning again and again.

Author: Aileen Reifenrath, Maya Egger, Mélanie Fournier Layout: Michaela Lappler | Pictures: Michaela Lappler, Mélanie Fournier

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Team Summer Term 2017

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Angie Czygann Editor-in-Chief

Noemie Hehl Deputy Editor

Peter James

Course Coordinator

Niklas Schmidt Deputy Editor

Promotion Mélanie Fournier

Layout Team Leader

Aileen Reifenrath

Lisa Schümann

Elisabeth Stützel

Promotion Team Leader

Sabrina Korti

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Stefanie Sohnle

Victoria Fairley

Chiara Leick

Christian Cozmei

Ana Stankovic

Julia Messing

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Layout Andreas Böhm

Aleksandra Goralska

Layout Team Leader

Janina Girschick

Marcus Wiesenhöfer

Website Eva Sitzberger

Alisa Lechky

Website Team Leader

Emil Nilsson

Andrea Schneider

Jasmin Orth

Johann Beß

Michaela Lappler

Simon Benseler

Maya Egger

Solveig Paulsen

Sophia Brandt

Section dividers: Cover: Andreas Böhm Pictures: Lucy Hehl, Matthias Riedel Table of content: A. Böhm, A. Czygann Last page: Andreas Böhm

Main topic: Janina Girschick Anniversary special: Andreas Böhm Pictures: Manfred Czygann Model: Laura Czygann Whole Wide World: Andreas Böhm Pictures: A. Böhm, M. Czygann Keep It Local: Andreas Böhm Model: Sybille Gunesch

Proofreader: Peter James Special thanks: Press and support: Klaus Prem Finances: Michaela Kottmayer

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: t l h e fi p m e t a C s pu

Die Cam

„Mein Mini-Me gibt‘s im Uni-Shop!“ Den Uni-Shop findet ihr im Erdgeschoss des A-Gebäudes (Infopoint) oder unter www.uni-augsburg.de/shop eMAG30_2.indb 56

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