Hello world!
My name is Raffi, I am an astro-particle physicist from the beautiful city of Münster, Germany. This is my homepage slash blog slash travel diary. I write about places of the world I've been to, about experiences I made and about things that fascinate me. My latest adventure: A ten day silence retreat in Belgium!
Most of the content is in English, some of it is in German, some of it is a weird mix of both, and most recently I added some Español. Also note that this page is currently always in development. For more information on me, on how this website started, and some obligatory legal crap, see the about section.
- Official release of my Aurora Australis video!
- 9. May 2020
One and a half years after my great adventure, I am happy to finally announce the release of my Aurora Australis timelapse video, in collaboration with Ben Eberhardt, timelapse artist Martin Heck, and composer Michael Frankenberger! Read the story and check out the video here.
- Chasing the squirrel
- 25. January 2020
I went to Belgium to learn how to meditate! And the experience surpassed my expectations by a lightyear. No kidding, this one might be my most exciting journey yet (and I've been to the South Pole, bitches!). If you are curious what ten days of silence without a phone or a book or music are like, read the full story here.
- The Night Train to Lapland
- 21. August 2019
Not even half a year after my adventures in the North-East of Africa, I took off the opposite way on a quite different journey: I went to see the Aurorae Borealis in Swedish Lapland! Whether I could check off this number-one item on my bucket list (spoiler: yes) and what other experiences I found along the way, you can now read about in my journal Mit dem Nachtzug nach Lapland.
Like for the Uganda journal, the content is in German. For my non German speaking friends, there are pretty photos to look at - not super artsy, but with that warm grainy charme of an old DSLR :)
- Uganda: Better late than never
- 24. February 2019
Finally - FINALLY - I finished digitizing my Uganda diary. It took me over five years to sort through hundreds of photos and dozens of journal pages, envelopes of memories and souveniers, postcards and bus tickets, dried plants and Jacaranda seeds. But now the job is done! Read all about my friend Paul's and my journey through the beautiful east African country of Uganda in Uganda: Ein Reisetagebuch - the adventure that warmed me up to travelling in the first place.
The content is in German, but the photos are pretty in case you can't or don't want to read through my texts.
- A year at the South Pole
- 14. November 2018
I completed my newest adventure: A year at the South Pole as winterover for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory!
Although I've gotta say: There are adventures that are never truly complete, and I have the feeling - no, I know - this is one of those. Because sometimes, an adventure sends you on a very different kind of journey, that goes on long after you returned home, and on which you hopefully get to know yourself a little better. You don't have to go to the end of the world to achieve that, but it sure helps.
Read the whole story in Antarctica 2017/18.
- Python, baby!
- 26. November 2017
I am proud to announce that my little website runs on Python now! Don't be scared - All the magic happens entirely on my computer; YOU are looking at pure HTML and CSS only! For those of you who are interested in webdesign: Keep reading! Everybody else: Go look at awesome South Pole pictures here.
Now the interesting part: I used to hardcode my whole website in HTML, every single section, journal entry, headline. That sucks after a while, because HTML is kinda boring (although I was suprised how long of a way it came since I first learned it in 2003). So I wondered: "What is a more awesome way to do this?" And the obvious answer was, of course: Python! Why? Because Python is genious (thanks to my friend Lew for introducing me to it in 2015).
So I came up with a little Python script that writes my blog for me. All I have to do is feed it with my stories - and it automatically goes through all the folders, pulls out the images, generates the HTML code, and makes everything look awesome.
Here's another one of those travel diaries that clutter the internet! It all began when I visited Uganda in 2014, the trip that changed my life in a way that only those can know who took the courage - or, as in my case, the blessing of naivly misled expectations - of leaving their home for a place that lies entirely outside their comfort zone. I was so overwhelmed that I simply had to share my experiences with the world. That was the beginning of aliquo.de which later became nechnif.net - this website.
Since then I've not only travelled a bunch, but started several new jobs, did five more years of studying science, spent a year in a desert, six months in darkness and ten days in silence. So expect to read about that stuff as well :)
Some formal stuff:
This website, nechnif.net, and all content that is provided under this domain, are private and not intended for any commercial use. I do not claim any content to be accurate information rather than a product of my imagination or a reproduction of personal memories. All contents, including texts and images, are (if not stated otherwise) created by myself and are subject to copyright. If you want to use my texts or images for your non-commercial purposes, feel free to contact me at the email address below.
I expressly dissociate myself from all contents of external links on this website. I do not have any influence on those contents.
Webdesign by Raffaela Busse.
Contact:
Raffaela Busse
raffaela.busse(at)web.de