Iloenchen

My name is Ilona and I'm a 27 years old.

I find introductions painful and rarely know how to start writing. But once I get into it, it gets easier and by the time I'm done, I've always written more than I wanted to. I often have trouble keeping myself brief, so forgive me if this gets longer than it should.

Anyways, I live in Rostock, which is in Northern Germany, just next to the sea. I didn't grow up there, but I've always loved the sea and so when it was time to move out, I chose a university close to a huge beach. I love the endlessness of the water and not knowing what awaits behind the horizon. Looking at it inspires me and makes me imagine far-away-countries.

I love reading and writing (as I mentioned above, I can keep writing for hours). I've got lots of short stories saved on my computer and a hundred plots and characters floating around my head.

About two years ago, I fell in love with Kung Fu. I've never been much into sports, but there's nothing better than spending your evening whirling a long stick around. Besides, I now feel much more confident when walking around the dark streets of Rostock in the evening.

I love travelling. After finishing university, I went on a four-month trip around the world and seriously, it was the best experience of my life. I don't think I've ever been that happy. I went to Southeast Asia, to Australia and New Zealand, to the Pacific, North America and Iceland. I saw summer, autumn, spring and winter all in one trip, I went from unbearable hot to freezing cold and I saw so many different cultures, that I'm still amazed. I went surfing with dolphins, walked through ancient temples at night and visited far-away villages where I was the only western person. As you probably noticed, I could go on for hours about my trip. The world is such an amazing place, I'm looking forward to seeing even more of it in the future (and in case anyone is curious, the trip of my dreams, if I ever get enough time off, is going overland from Cairo to Cape Town).

Random facts about me:

1. Someone once told me to tell him the first word that popped into my head. It was dolphin. Since then, whenever I try to think of something random, I see a dolphin in my mind.

2. I don't like coffee and only drink it if I'm extremely tired. But I'd rather go through the awful taste than fall asleep in front of a teacher.

3. I dream a lot at night. Sometimes, I hate waking up because of the stories that I can't finish dreaming. If I wake up in the middle of a dream, I can continue by holding onto it while I fall asleep again.

4. I've always dreamed of a house next to water (the sea or at least a lake) with a library in it.

5. Ghost stories can scare me so much I can't sleep for days, but I still love them.

6. I have trouble keeping myself short. But I think I already mentioned that, didn't I?

I don't listen to music all that much. In fact, the only times I do is when I try to get into a specific mood for writing (and then I choose one song, listen to it and turn the music off afterwards) or when someone takes me along in their car.

If you talk to me about your favourite music, I'll find it interesting. But you best describe styles instead of artists, especially if they aren't extremely famous, or otherwise I won't be able to follow you.

Oh my. I could keep going on and on for hours here. Believe me, you don't want to know about all the books I've read (26 so far this year, in case you're wondering).

I like a huge variety of books. Sometimes, I stay in a genre for a while, but I love changes. I've just finished reading two Young Adult novels, one about a backpacker girl in Central America (Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard, which was amazing) and one about vampires. Before that, it was a historical fiction set in China in the Middle Ages. Then, there's this chick-lit book that I'm going to read next and the crime mystery that I finished last month.

But that wasn't the question, was it? So what are my favourite books? Well, let me give you a small collection of books that I could re-read over and over again.

First of all, there's Harry Potter, the only series which I actually have re-read. No explanations necessary, I think you all have heard of this one.

I loved The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon. It's a book written from the point of view of a boy who suffers from autism.

Actually, I love books with unusual points of view. The sheep books by Leonie Swann (Three Bags Full) are a good example.

Khaled Hosseini and his two novels, The Kite Runner and A Hundred Splendid Suns are awesome. Does anyone know if he's working on another novel at the moment?

Everything by Robin Hobb is great. She writes character-based fantasy. This means that it's not about a quest and saving the world, like in Lord of the Rings (which gets old very fast), but about characters and how their way of thinking affects the world they're living in.

I've lived four years without a TV and never missed it. There's so much crap on it, I'm amazed that anybody would want to watch it more often than once or twice a week.

The only series I watch are Vampire Diaries and How I Met Your Mother. I found both of them stupid, but that was until my roommate made me watch them. Now we're hooked on both and for the first time in ages, I'm glad to have a TV so we can have our weekly dose of Vampire Diaries (and hopefully, How I Met Your Mother will get back on soon, too).

Here's another random thing about me: I hate all series related to doctors and hospitals. I keep noticing all the mistakes and it drives me crazy! Not to mention that when I finally have some time off, the last thing I want to see is anything related to my work.

It took me a week, but I've come to the conclusion that I do have some favourite movies.

I love Pirates of the Caribbean for the humor in the movies and because, let's face it, ships, the ocean and the horizon are awesome (and I'd do about anything for postcards of that movie). There's Kung Fu in Kung Fu Panda, so it makes my list as well, and I very much enjoyed Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride.

So what else is there to say? I'm torn between the desire to write more and the urge to stop here and not bore you any longer. I think what I've written above should give you some insight in my life. If anything's missing, don't hesitate to ask. Oh, and I've seen that lots of people have list of likes/don't likes on their profiles. You won't find one here because I don't want you to feel forced to send me something very specific. I love surprises and being open to new things. If you like it, chances are that I'll like it as well.