In early 2015, I went to Gothenburg, Sweden, for a semester abroad. I had a great time and met some great people. Luckily, we were able to sort of keep in touch within one small group of friends that was formed there. I’ve seen some of those friends a few times within the last two years, but this spring, we decided, it was time for a reunion. We settled on a house close to Warsaw, Poland, which we found on Airbnb (and later on Facebook). Unfortunately, not everyone could make it in the end. The house was just as beautiful as it had looked on the internet and we pretty much had our own little lake with a boat and a bridge, a little forest, and a huge sort of patio on the water.

After I had scaled down my traveling a little and spent the first few months of 2017 in Switzerland (and thus, by the way, successfully fulfilled one of my New Year’s resolutions), in mid-April it was time for a little road trip. Seraina got some days off over the Easter weekend and my parents let us use their car so we decided to spend a long weekend in France. Our first lunch stop was Annecy, a beautiful small city not far from the Swiss border.

Open Mat is a gathering of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) practitioners that happens every 1-2 months in Switzerland. If you don’t have a clue what BJJ is – like most people in Switzerland – Wikipedia, Youtube and other resources may provide some helpful and insightful information. Basically, it looks like a bunch of grossly sweaty guys and girls hugging each other and rolling around on the floor in weird pajamas. In reality, they actually try to choke each other out and break each other’s arms and legs. Anyways, go check it out yourself.

I’ve sent another eight rolls of film to Spain for developing and scanning, but before we’re moving on to spring and summer, I’ve got one more winter post for you. It’s basically just a selection of photos that I have taken in Bern this past winter and wanted to share. The first six photos were shot on Gurten, the city’s local mountain (or more like a hill). It’s a wonderful hill with a nice view over the city.

The Matterhorn is one of the most famous and best marketed mountains of the Alps. A good place to see it is usually the Gornergrat summit, 3135 masl, reachable by Europe’s highest open-air railway (and second highest railway in Europe after the Jungfrau). The Matterhorn is usually the star and steals all the other mountains in the area the show. But what if it hides behind a wall of clouds?

For the turn of the year, Seraina’s family and I flew to Sarajevo to visit her grandfather. I hadn’t been to Bosnia before so I was very curious. Many things were very much the way I expected them to be, having heard and read quite a bit about the country, though in general it was a bit nicer and more modern, actually. I enjoyed seeing a new city and enjoyed the food. The Bosnian (or Balkan) kitchen isn’t all that popular internationally, nor did it seem extremely rich in variety. But there were a few highlights.

What an amazing city! We got to spend almost a week in Tokyo and we loved every second of it. The city is so incredibly diverse, it has so many different faces. It felt safer and cleaner and more organized than any other megapolis I’ve ever been to. Getting around and finding things was super easy despite the language barrier. People were charming and always very helpful. The food was absolutely delicious.

I arrived in Seoul in mid-November to visit my older brother Dennys, whom I hadn’t seen in months. A few days later, Seraina arrived, whom I hadn’t seen in five weeks. My brother showed us around on some days, on others we discovered the city on ourselves by subway and by foot, walking around the numerous neighborhoods, all of them so different from each other. On our way to the famous Bukchon Hanok Village, we found a lovely tiny bookstore called Veranda Books.

After five weeks on the Big Island of Hawaii, it was time to say goodbye. Before flying all the way to South Korea, though, I squeezed in a few days on Oahu, another Hawaiian island, since my flight connection went through Honolulu anyways. I was quite active during these 5 days: went all the way up to the North Shore, took the bus that goes along the coast around half the island to get back to Honolulu. I walked up Diamond Head, went swimming on Waikiki Beach, explored downtown Honolulu and some less touristy spots than Waikiki, and had coffee at pretty much every specialty coffee shop in town.

Last October, I went on a five-week trip to Hawaii to visit my uncle and his wife, who moved there a few years ago and started a farm. Besides growing all sorts of delicious fruits and vegetables, they grow coffee, which was the primary reason for my visit. I made a few short videos about coffee processing and about their farm and a website for their coffee business. What’s more, I got to experience the whole process from tree to cup and learned a whole lot about the wonderful plant. They live in Kailua-Kona, on the west side of Hawaii’s Big Island.