Singapor 18

Just to let “our four readers” know that we’ll be back soon with pictures and stories from the other hemisphere… Upside down!

Which is not a typo, but the “battle cry” the German supporters use during a football match.

I know the World Cup ended quite a long time ago, but I did not want to bother you with my pictures when everyone was speaking just about football… I’d better be original and show them now!
(Does sound as a credible excuse for my laziness…?  but I also got the pictures late! Is not 100% my fault…)

Anyway, given the HIGH performances of the Italian team, and given I am living in Munich and wanted to have parties in the city… I rooted for Deutschland!
And for the first time in my life, I actually watched a football game (wait till I’m done writing! It wasn’t my first football game at all… maybe the third or the fourth..) I actually watched a football game in a stadium
As you can see, there was an impressive numbers of people, cheerful (Germany won THAT game) and friendly and passionate.. it was a lot of fun!

You can try to guess the craziest supporter…I event went to Leopoldstrasse – the Munich central avenue -  where everyone flows after a successful game (see upper right picture).

Apparently, my effort wasn’t enough to bring Germany till the final, but still… i gave every energy I had, you see…. ;P

Waiting to discover which team will deserve my support for the next World Cup…GO SCHLAND!

Each researcher has to face, at least once in his/her young life, the idea that this job may not be forever; and has to imagine other possibilities, to create some backup plans. And maybe even test them.
So it happens, quite often actually, to  us PhD students, which have three years to try the taste of real research and acquire indispensable skills for the future. If we ever decide to quit astronomy, what will be written in out Curriculum Vitae to justify these years passed?  Which ability can we offer the world?

For these reasons, mainly , we have started to take care of our future.
Here are Massimo and I practicing our skills:

Silvia Fabello
Born in Milan, Italy
……
ACQUIRED SKILLS: Idl programming, Observation with Arecibo, PingPong, Juggler

Summer must have been really fun and relaxing… a couples of decades ago…for parents…
given that a lot of us have birthday in April and May!

So, four girls who were born between April the 20th and May the 7th, started more than a month in advance to plan the most amazing Munich party ever (!). A barbecue along the river. Interesting idea, uh? `

Unfortunately the weather turns to be crap as soon as they planned the event, nevertheless they kept organizing, inviting people (final list of invited friends: 80! We thought to call the police the day before, just to let them know we were not having a rave party!), cooking and praying all the possible scientific and not gods for having  nice day.

It is not easy to converge on a common idea of fun, but finally we managed to set the date, and succeeded! We have to admit, not  all the thanks go to us, but we played well.
And we had the only almost-sunny-with-a-lot-of-clouds (but-who-cares-given-the-weather-in-the-last-week) day in weeks, a LOT of nice friends coming  along, frisbee, cards, food…

At the end it was an all-day barbecue, almost a celebration of the new season (for which we are actually still looking). Some of us were a bit confused, maybe (like Francesco who brought the Texas hat I stole ), but sausages and beer always make us feeling at home… And now, nothing to do than wait for a real summer, to have more and more barbecues and fun.

A long night is going to start… Is my turn for observing at Arecibo. Right, I’ll put my headphones on, sit quietly but impatient and listen..

Oh, sorry, that was the wrong movie! My work is not so romantic, maybe… Still pretty fun, though. In the meanwhile,  while a weekend has half gone (but that week was interesting and not still done; gonna tell you more…) I just tell you about I visit I received few days ago.
A friend arrived from far far away to see me. He was actually the first Italian friend to come and visit my new place in Munich, so.. Congratulation! He won another trip here
This time I am not going to tell you what we did and how much fun we had.. I’ll let (his) pictures speak.

Hint: maybe you really want to  sit and let the pictures tell you a story…

and so the bike tours, the walks, the sun and the meals on the roof. The light which wakes you up early in the morning (early?!) and the sound of the birds.

And new friends, new ideas, new desires…to be reconciled with the old.
Have a nice new start,
to all.

Life’s like a Milkshake, just to stick a little more on the American stereotypes.
Or at least, life has being like that this month in Cornell.
You take a good base ingredient, strong. Then you start adding flavors, more or less chemical, because the shake has to have the taste you expect. But you also mix by accident or by chance  some nice stuff: “may contains peanuts”, and if you are not allergic, you enjoy. Unless the plus ingredient is Tapioca, it’s obvious!
And of course, you mix. Shaking is the secret, gives you the… shake  you need, creates little bubbles, smooths the ingredients.
How does all of this connect with me? In these weeks, I have searched for the TrueAmericanExperiences. I wanted to leave my personal American dream; which may of course not correspond to the actual America [is anyway a campus-life ever close to real life, even in Europe? We may discuss about that..], but for sure is a big mix of everything.

In my journey, I have an old friend playing along with me, showing me  the path. To the most careful readers, that could sound as a quote of Alice in the (US) Wonderland following the white rabbit; I had already met him in my previous visit to Cornell, remember?  But I am afraid I will disappoint you. I am not so poetic today. Rather, this looks to me more like a crossover in a tv series! you know, when just to increase the audience the scriptwriters make a character from one show going to play in another one. So, here I am in Cornell, playing (well, for sure ) inside Ale’s show.

Being him a good real ingredient, I have added a bit of everything.
I went to watch the Superbowl match, in an American house, bothering people by asking explanation about the game. We had tacos and Doritos, apparently the perfect chips given that they were one of the game sponsors. You may not know, but actually the favourite activity is not  really following the game, but having fun watching the tons of crazy ads they transmit. Astrophysicist friends, you should enjoy this one, btw.
And I tried the Apple-Pie, and the stuffed-with-everything-you-can-ice-cream. And of course a couple of time we had dinner with big Big burgers (forget McDonald’s and co, those are for children).

And I went to a tropical house party. Where the landlords put their heating to the maximum value, and the guests dress as if they were on a beach; and all together they have to play beer-pong; one of the classic drinking games so popular in colleges, of course!
The college life involves also having meals in the canteens surrounded by undergrads, walking in front of the brotherhoods mansions; pretend to study till late in one of the libraries to see which kind of population is there. And tries to reach the top of the list “106 things to do before graduating in Cornell”.

Now that I’m back, my show must go on. Pictures are left behind as “the best of”, and what else can I say…I know I do not leave you with a cliffhanger, but still… the plot is open, remember…

They say one images says more than thousands words.. So look at these: on the left a picture I took yesterday. On the right, how it was today. It started snowing in the evening, just so you know…

and  then, that you have appreciated how much is snowing –  it is still snowing right now! – you can enjoy this last cool picture: