My name is Evamaria, I'm 30 now and graduated with an MA in Social Anthropology, Media Studies and German Literature from the university of Basel,
Switzerland, in February 2007. After an internship with a youth exchange organisation I went to New Zealand for a year and studies Human Resource Management in Wellington - you can follow my adventures abroad on my travel domain, InForeignParts.net. Now I'm back in Switzerland and am working in the administration of a non-profit organisation for renewable energies.
My parents are both retired already -- they only met in their forties
and got married pretty much right away. I guess waiting for the right
person pays off, because they're not only great parents but also a
great couple. My dad is a retired Baptist minister, and my mom was a nurse before
getting married and I've grown up in a pretty sheltered environment,
with lots and lots of love. Lucky me!
I was born in Germany (my dad's country) but moved to Switzerland (my
mom's country) when I was 7, so I consider Switzerland my home,
although I do have both passports.
I enjoyed the sweet life of a student and have traveled quite a lot during breaks. Traveling is one of my big passions - I love to see
new things and meet new people. I've learned quite a bit about myself
while on the road on my own and wouldn't want to miss it. Especially my time in New Zealand brought me a lot of joy - and a second place I consider home.
Anyway, another of my passions is reading - my room looks like a library and my
laptop is filled with stories, which I also write myself. I've also devoted a section of this site to books and reading, if you're interested.
Being online is important to me. I've found a lot of wonderful friends on the internet, on mailing lists and via blogs. I'm grateful for the opportunities the internet gives me every day - and I enjoy playing around here a lot.
When I'm offline and not working, I love spending time with my friends, listening to all sorts of music, watching movies (a passion I share with my movie geek brother) and TV shows (Gilmore Girls, of course, but also a vast number of other shows), dancing, or simply talking for hours (very, very fast *g*).
The most important one of those friends is Sibylle - our relationship is special, more like sisters than 'just' friends (because we're pretty different), and I'm lucky enough to also have a number of other close girlfriends who I trust with my life. One of them is Cindy, who I even shared a flat with in Bern during my internship with the International Cultural Youth Exchange: She's my oldest friend, we've known each other since my family moved to Switzerland, and we just get along wonderfully.
Also of interest could be that in autumn of 2003 I was diagnosed with SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder. Winters can be hard, but I've been seeing a psychiatrist every week and am trying to cope the best I can. I've got a light-therapy lamp and St. John's Wort at home, both of which have proven quite effective with many SAD sufferers, and until last year I took Citalopram, a mild anti-depressant, mostly to combat the physical effects of the SAD. Now I'm doing really well, though - I'm off the meds and only needed St. John's Wort pills to get me through last winter.
The latest development is a move towards more responsible living - responsible towards the planet, but also towards myself. I've discovered that I'm quite a bit more 'green' than I thought I was - or maybe just less lazy. :) Some information on that can be found on the latest addition to this site, Ethical Living.
To sum it up, I guess I'm pretty much a 'nice girl', hopefully in a good way, who's also a bit of a geek with quite a number of unusual quirks and weird interests. I love my family,
my friends, being appreciated, sitting at the sea somewhere abroad and
reading, discovering more about this planet and its inhabitants,
chocolate, romance - and many more things that make life worthwile.
I'm an optimist, a romantic dreamer and yet I'm pretty sensible, down
to earth and always try to be true to myself, ever more so as I get older, even if it means standing out from the crowd. Who wants to be normal anyways?
