Photo: Dwingelderveld National Park

Posted on March 2, 2012 | 2 Comments

Taken October 20, 2011

I’m cheating and not using the current view here because trust me, the current view of the area is quite gray and not particularly inspiring.  But I was out here in this remote corner of the eastern Netherlands because it’s where ASTRON is, so I felt the area itself deserved some mention.

The curious detail about ASTRON is it’s in the middle of Dwingelderveld National Park, though I feel obliged to mention that by Dutch standards a national park just means trees and is strikingly similar to the Pittsburgh suburb where I grew up (actually even less so, as there were no fences there!).  This detail manifests himself in curious ways- for example I have no issue sleeping through birds chirping in the wee hours, but hearing that will instinctively make me hop out of bed on the left side as I used to growing up and that’s rather awkward when there’s a wall there instead. (I swear I did this more than once even though I knew I wasn’t in Pittsburgh- and in fact never will hop out of bed at that house again, as my parents sold it about a month ago.)

But anyway, the next time I come out here will be just after Easter, and I’m told the Dutch countryside is quite a sight to see that time of year.  Stay tuned…

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Posted in 0. The Netherlands, ASTRON, snapshots

Chamonix Skiing

Posted on February 22, 2012 | 4 Comments

When people ask me why I love living in Amsterdam I always tell them truthfully that it’s because I could do anything I can imagine wanting to do here… except for alpine skiing.  So to remedy this situation somewhat, I took a long weekend to go skiing in Chamonix, France, which turned out to be a most excellent idea-
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Posted in France, Science!, Skiing

Skating on the Amsterdam Canals!

Posted on February 6, 2012 | 2 Comments

It’s been a rather crazy winter in the Netherlands this year.  Two weeks ago I distinctly recall photographing daffodils along the Amstel River, today we’re one week into the longest cold stretch in a decade and people are walking and skating on the canal outside my apartment!

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Posted in Amsterdam, daily life, Dutch traditions

The Strangest Coincidence EVER

Posted on February 2, 2012 | 9 Comments

Daffodils blooming on the Amstel River in Amsterdam- taken Jan 21, 2012

Now imagine the following for a second.  It’s Saturday night in Amsterdam, and due to my birthday party the night before I’m too tired to do anything crazy but a low-key drink sounds like a good idea sort of thing.  No worries, there are a bunch of little cafes around here that I haven’t checked out yet and one is hosting a CouchSurfing get-together, so I head to said cafe to see what I see.

The place is busy, but there’s a spot next to a cute fellow with a German accent who is asking intelligent questions about my research, and it turns out he’s a Physics PhD student in a town in Lower Saxony six hours away from Amsterdam, in town for the first time this weekend to help a friend move.  A geek running into another geek unexpectedly is always a relatively rare occurrence so we spend ten minutes discussing our respective areas of study, and then he mentions offhand that he used to study in Auckland.

“Wait, New Zealand?”  I am momentarily confused, then have a flash of recognition.  “Johannes!  Professor LW’s E&M class, the first half of 2007!!!”  He in turn recognizes me and much hugging and squealing ensues, not all of it coming from me, and we chat nonstop into the wee hours to catch up. (So much for a low-key night!) Because you see it wasn’t just that we were in the same class, we actually did problem sets together- which Johannes recalled in much greater detail and fondness than me, he’s the theorist after all- but I never grabbed his contact information before leaving, so I hadn’t heard a thing about or from him in five years.

Let me repeat this again so we are clear on this: I went into a random bar and sat next to a random guy who was randomly in town… and it was one I last met five years ago, half a world away!  I believe we have now passed from “it’s a small world” to The Twilight Zone- or as another friend put it, I have now officially traveled enough that the entire world is my neighborhood.

What’s the strangest coincidence that ever happened to you?  I’m sure I’m not the only one with such a strange story!

The University of Auckland- taken February 15, 2007

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Posted in Amsterdam, daily life, New Zealand, Science!

Photo: Map of Where I’ve Been

Posted on January 29, 2012 | 5 Comments

I hosted my birthday party earlier this weekend, and because my friends are awesome they knew just what to get me- a towel so I’ll always be a frood who knows where her towel is, a gift certificate to the outdoors shop, and a scratch map where you can scratch off where you’ve been like a lottery ticket.  I finally recovered enough from the merriment to tackle the map with a guitar pick (more precise than a coin), and the resulting picture above is a generally good idea of where I’ve been on planet Earth in my 26 years here.

My only comment (beyond thanks again guys!) is geez, nothing like the Mercator projection to make a girl consider traveling to Russia, Greenland, and Antarctica!  When that happens, I’ll be sure to take the towel.

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Posted in daily life, Photos

Artie Aardvark’s Austin Adventures at AAS

Posted on January 19, 2012 | 5 Comments

Gather ’round partners, it’s time for Artie Aardvark’s recap of the 219th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Austin, Texas!

Yee-haw, I am off to the biggest astronomy conference in the whole wide world!  This year it is in Austin, Texas, which is so far from the Netherlands I have to fly hours and hours to get there.  I’m glad that gives me lots of time to look out the window! Continue reading →

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Posted in Artie Aardvark's Adventures, ASTRON, Texas

2011: A Year in Review

Posted on December 27, 2011 | 2 Comments

When I think back on 2011 it will undoubtedly go down as the year where I did more in 12 months than most people do in a lifetime.  If I didn’t personally already defend a thesis, become a published author, move to a different country, and explore 20 countries on 4 continents along the way I would accuse myself of lying because I’m tired just thinking about it.  But I apparently did because I lived through all of it! Continue reading →

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Posted in 0. The Netherlands, Artie Aardvark's Adventures, China, daily life, France, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Kenya, Nepal, Ohio, Post-Trip #2, Tanzania, Tibet, Uganda