Ever To Excel

Katrin Ganser is a young, German artist and author living and working in Germany and the United Kingdom. She currently attends the University of St Andrews in Scotland.

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The first thing they tell you when you come to St Andrews is that "IN THE NAME OF THE ALMIGHTY, don't step on the PH!!!" So you jump, and reach even higher.

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no matter where i go today, a st andrews girl I always stay.

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First Snow in St Andrews

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Was lucky enough to talk to Matthew Goode today. He is playing in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in St Andrews and tool a little time to talk to me and some of the other spectators. Matthew is really sweet and quite a good golfer.

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The Pier Walk is an ancient tradition at the University of St Andrews. Students wear their academic gowns and walk down the St Andrews Pier to commemorate a peer that saved foure sailors when they were almost drowning. We walk the walk every sunday around 12 midday after church. Under Graduates (Bachelor) Students wear red while Postgradtuates (Matster) Students (such as me) wear black/crimson. My first Pier Walk last Sunday was one of the happiest days in my life. I bought my gown in the morning, standing in line for more than an hour with two friends before we walked over to the pier. The walk made me realize again how much the St Andrews traditions are enriching my life - I am so happy to have chosen this place for my PG study!

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Yes, the gowns are too expensive. And you don’t really need them. I know, poshness is taking over. However, the gowns are awesome, and give you a sense of belonging to the student community.

Every Sunday, after the service, St Andrews students take a walk to the pier, walking down, up the ladder, and back on the wall.

First challenge of the academic year - climbing up the ladder and walking in strong wind with a gown, managed with bravura. The rest will follow, I guess.

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Nice, Winter 2012

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Rome, Summer 2013

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A little Kitten in Downton-Abbey-Land ENTRY NR 5 - MADLY IN LOVE

Now that I am almost about to leave, I need to write a short notice about these two gems - my dearest friends Micole and Ellie. I got to know them through the Jewish Society of the University of York and we've been spending some great time together ever since I started this term. If I have found two friends here it is them and I love them beyond measure.

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le quattro stagioni - vivaldi In early 2014 I painted a picture smaller, but very similar to this. Someone asked me to paint one for his office, he liked it so much, but it was just too small for him. It took my 3 months to make this, but I finally finished it in November. More pictures to come soon!

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With one of my most precious friends at the Dead Sea, Ein Gedi, Israel.

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© Katrin Ganser

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So I am teaching myself to do Henna. I met a girl at the Live & Loud festival that was really good and told me the ebay-seller that she got her cones from. I've ordered a few and been practising ever since, this is the first result, I don't think it's exceptionally good - but I love it any everybody is just really: "Oh this is so pretty, who made thi? You? You're kidding, you're so talented!" It's just so much fun! If you're in York, let me know and I can practice a bit on your hands as well hihi

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A little Kitten in Downton-Abbey-Land

ENTRY NR 4 - CAMBRIDGE REVISITED

And here we go again. Four years lay between today and my last visit to Cambridge so it was high time to pay the city a second visit.  The decision to do so, however, came quite sudden. I had actually planned to go to the Lake District last weekend, but when I was booking the trip, it turned out far more expensive than I had thought. So one of my lovely new friends, Sabiene, who studied in Utrecht and helps me to keep my Dutch more or less fluent, drew my attention to another trip offered that weekend, a bus tour to Cambridge. We left far too early, of course, my ticket said 7:00am, which meant getting up at 5:40am, leaving the house at 6:30am and then waiting for the bus until 7:30am – because thank you dear organizers, next time please let me know that the time given on the ticket is the departure-time of the bus at the other end of the campus. Well, at least I got to see the sun rise over the fields and felt a bit like Keira Knightley/Eilza Bennet at the end of the Pride & Prejudice remake. I teamed up with Tara, a lovely chick from near St. Louis that was very keen on seeing as many painted cathedral-glass-windows as possible and trusted me enough to be her guide for a day. Much had changed since I had last seen it. I remember walking away from my friends on my last night, a last look at the bus station, at Parker’s Piece and the streets I was lucky enough to spend my summer in. I remember turning around to Eliska, who had tears in her eyes and hugging Maria who wished me a good flight and promised me that this wasn't good-bye forever. The busy streets, filled with people and noise were nothing like the calm summer night I left Cambridge, but standing at my old bus-stop again, walking down the park we all used to meet in and having a glimpse at the restaurants we dined at made my heart pound a little faster. I like to think of my summer in Cambridge as the second time my life changed forever. I had never thought that I could have such wonderful friends, determined people that were also striving for doing their best and having some fun along the way. I miss them all dearly and hope that someday, some of our paths will cross again. But enough of that for now, Tara and I had a splendid day: We visited King’s College and King’s Chapel, Emmanuel’s College, St. Catharine’s College and Corpus Christi College all of which were wonderful to look at. We had a great Lunch at a small Italian restaurant named Don Pasquale right in the Marketplace before we went punting on the river enjoying the warmth of the afternoon-sun, in any case the highlight of our day, the only thing that was really missing was a bottle of fine Champaign, that neither of us would have probably touched. Next to all the pictures, I brought home a “Bunny-scarf” (basically a beige scarf with blue rabbits) and two postcards that the two receivers will definitely love – although I am not sure yet when/if I will send them, I don't trust the Royale Post... Now on to some more general things: School has finally started YES! Since I haven’t really done anything since late May, I was extremely looking forward to finally starting classes again. I follow three courses, two in the department of Literature and one in the department of Politics & Economics. In addition to that, I have been informed that after all I also have to follow a course in Nijmegen from the distance (which I really wasn’t all too happy about, but I will spare you my ranting now). Well, at least the courses at York are fantastic and super interesting. Sadly, they’re all taking place on Monday which basically means I am dead on Monday evenings and got little to do for the rest of the week – at least until teaching starts for me in a couple of days – let’s see about it all then. I should probably also inform you of the fact that I have partied with Hodor about a week ago! Yes, you’ve heard me, Hodor from Game of Thrones. The actor is a DJ and he is MASSIVE! I was painting the faces of some York-Freshers with Amy while he was playing at the Live & Loud Festival and he was really good, we had a fun evening together although we were freezing by the time we went home…

Lastly, I love this place – just in case you haven't noticed – and I have decided to apply to four British Universities for my Master. I am super excited about that and I can’t wait to start applying, even though that might mean that I will leave some of the most wonderful people I have met in the last years behind in the Netherlands. We will see. Future is an open book and I’m finally taking the pencil to start writing.

So long, Cheers and love you all - Katrin

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A little Kitten in Downton-Abbey-Land

ENTRY NR 3 - DAYTRIP TO WHITBY

It’s been slightly more than week since I arrived in England and it took me until now to settle so far that I can write another entry to this blog.

Upon arriving in Manchester, my most wonderful friend Chealse granted me a few days of rest in her apartment in the city. After having lunch on Saturday with my Russian friend Anasatasia, who will study in Manchester from this month on, we drove to York on Sunday where we quickly unpacked my belongings before we went out for a delicious Sunday roast and some sightseeing.

I will not lie, the first two days weren’t easy. I felt quite alone and although there was much to see and visit, I felt a little bit overwhelmed with the new circumstances and environment. Nobody was there yet, but somehow I managed to find a few Asian girls who had spent their summer here, brushing up their English and now and then we met to stroll through the city and run some errands.

I have by now seen most of York’s city center, including the Minster, which can only be described as absolutely brilliant. I have walked the city walls (yes, you can indeed walk on top of them) and painted my own pottery, had delicious cupcakes and cream tea more than it could ever be healthy.

To make a long story short, I have settled just in time for the introduction weeks. Today almost all of my fellow students will arrive and tonight they have organized a Karaoke party I am looking most forward to attend.

Yesterday although, my new friend Joanne and me took a bus to Whitby, a small fisher town even further north than York. It takes more than two hours to get there by bus, but our journey through the foggy moorlands was at least as enjoyable as our time in Whitby itself. For those that have never heard of Whitby, Bran Stoker sojourned there for a summer and let himself be inspired by Whitby Abbey, an old monastery that Joanne and me visited towards the end of our day, to write his famous “Dracula”.

There is not much but ruins left on the cliff above Whitby, ruins that overlook the city like the spooky ghost of long forgotten times and almost disappear in the fog in the afternoon. One who has read Stoker’s Dracula will surely understand where the author found his inspiration, but for me the remains of the cathedral looked just like the decayed ruins of the Red Keep. I wonder whether Mister Martin has ever visited Whitby, or maybe one of the producers of the show, because Daenery’s stroll through the snowy and destroyed Throne room.

I slept through most of our drive back, but I still remember the sheep running free in the moor, grazing and looking at our bus with curiosity in their eyes. You couldn’t even see past a hundredth meters due to all the fog. It was brilliant.