Need I say more?Didn't think so.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Night life
Sitting outside, allowing the day's sweat to finally dry, I saw two bats zip over head- their high pitched chirping telling me even if I couldn't see them anymore they were still nearby. Now it's time for bed. I'll close my window and begin my nightly killing spree of all the buzzing insects that would eat me alive in my sleep.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Who needs a lawnmower when you have goats?
I marshaled the troops, (Renee, Monica, Chen, Vishal, myself) and we headed out to Diever, a village NE of Dwingeloo.
I'd been told that it boasted a Hunebed-an ancient mass burial site from the civilization that lived in this area 5,000 yrs ago. All that's left now is a formation of rocks (which, interestingly, are not native to the area. They were carried here during an ice age by a glacier from the north.) The people that come later saw these formation and thought them the resting place of giants. And that's what the name means, Hune is giant. Pretty cool, huh?
Diever also has a windmill! It's not longer in regular use, but every Saturday volunteers come and, if there's wind, actually use it to grind wheat. They produce 200kg/wk and supply some of the local bakeries. We climbed wooden ladders to get the the mill stones and the cat walk outside. Everything was covered in a fine layer of flour.
Then, in Dieverbrug, an even tinier town, they have a canal (pictured in an earlier post). We happened to be passing right as the road was lifted to allow a boat to pass.
Finally we got to back to Dwingeloo and decided to treat ourselves to an icecream :) The soft serve is SO much better here (just as I remembered from when I went to Edinburgh) It actually tasted like dairy, and not just sugar.
The people of Dwingeloo were out in force, enjoying the warm weather and sun. I'm sure it was just a normal summer Saturday, but they seemed so...quirky to me. I saw several people with small dogs in riding in baskets on bikes, children buckled into seats balanced on handlebars or back wheels, old couples riding their bikes together down the cobbled streets. Overall a successful Saturday afternoon I'd say.
I'd been told that it boasted a Hunebed-an ancient mass burial site from the civilization that lived in this area 5,000 yrs ago. All that's left now is a formation of rocks (which, interestingly, are not native to the area. They were carried here during an ice age by a glacier from the north.) The people that come later saw these formation and thought them the resting place of giants. And that's what the name means, Hune is giant. Pretty cool, huh?
Diever also has a windmill! It's not longer in regular use, but every Saturday volunteers come and, if there's wind, actually use it to grind wheat. They produce 200kg/wk and supply some of the local bakeries. We climbed wooden ladders to get the the mill stones and the cat walk outside. Everything was covered in a fine layer of flour.
Then, in Dieverbrug, an even tinier town, they have a canal (pictured in an earlier post). We happened to be passing right as the road was lifted to allow a boat to pass.
Finally we got to back to Dwingeloo and decided to treat ourselves to an icecream :) The soft serve is SO much better here (just as I remembered from when I went to Edinburgh) It actually tasted like dairy, and not just sugar.
The people of Dwingeloo were out in force, enjoying the warm weather and sun. I'm sure it was just a normal summer Saturday, but they seemed so...quirky to me. I saw several people with small dogs in riding in baskets on bikes, children buckled into seats balanced on handlebars or back wheels, old couples riding their bikes together down the cobbled streets. Overall a successful Saturday afternoon I'd say.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Catch Up
It seems I haven't been very good about writing this week, so here's a condensed version of my going-ons. I don't know how it happens, it's not like I'm really all that busy, but some how the day ends before I've gotten anything done.
Saturday:
Rachael, Vishal and I went for a bike ride. We packed a lunch and brought our rain jackets (the weather wasn't the most trustworthy) and chose a direction. Along the way we found a tea house (Thee huiz in Dutch) in the middle of the forest. I'm not joking. We came around a corner of bike path and there it was. No paved roads or anything- just a random tea house with a play ground in the middle of the freaking nowhere. A little bit farther on we stopped and ate lunch even though we really weren't that far from the guesthouse and finished our ride. It started to get cold and misty so I was glad to be back home in warm covers.
Sunday:
Laziness ensued.
Monday:
The weather was gorgeous!! Like wow, amazing. After work we all (Rachael, Vishal, Chen (who's first name is actually Ruwong, but you try saying that quickly) Renee, Dimitri, and myself) decided to hop on our bikes and see where we ended up. Dimitri's a bit more familiar with the area (he was a summer student 2 summers ago) so we followed him to a small town north east of Dwingeloo. There's a canal running through it with house boats and everything.
This is my favorite picture recently though:
For obvious reasons I think.
Tuesday:
Well I tried to do the same route that Vishal, Rachael, and I took on Saturday but backwards (starting out across the heath first and then heading back through the forest) but that didn't turn out so well. I ended up missing a turn somewhere and finding myself all the way in Dwingeloo. But as a consequence I found the pancake restaurant that's nearby. So that's good. All told: 18km. My butt was real sore (Becca, you may make a lewd comment now.)
Wednesday: Bridge Night
I guess it's been a tradition for over 20 years now, but every Wednesday folk from the institute get together to play bridge and have some drinks. So six of the eight of us students got on our bikes and 7:30pm and rode the 7ish km to Pesse, a nearby town. We played bridge until around 10:30pm until it was finally too dark to see well enough. The booze came outside on a tray and a fire pit was started. Somehow we managed to all talk for another 2 hours, well into darkness. The host and hostess were amazing nice, and friendly, and great conversationalists.
We finally decided to head back home, and so turned on our bike lights (powered by peddle) for the magical ride home. A gibbous moon was well above the horizon, illuminating the low clouds. We stopped to take in the amazing scene in the middle of the heath*, about 3km from home. Fog was like icing across the plain, making the clustered trees appear to float. I cannot tell you how absolutely surreal the scene was. The entire night had been wonderful, the bike ride home one of the best parts. I've decided I don't like bridge, but I'll continue to go every week just for the experience.
Thursday:
So today we got the grand tour of the institute, which turned out not to be the snooze-fest I thought it would. We got to see the electronics area of the building, where they design and test all the correlators for the majority of the European radio telescopes. They have a sound proof room with foam spikes and everything! There's also an optical/infrared instrumentation group centered here as well. They're working on the polarizer for an instrument called 'Sphere' which will go on one of the massive telescopes in Chile to directly detect exo-planets. I'll believe when it happens, but it's still pretty cool.
* This is a picture of of a little bit of heath, looking to forest. It's not a very impressive picture, I'll try and take another one soon.
And this is just a random flower picture. These are right outside my front door in a little glade. The little path to the left goes to the telescope. You don't have to hide your jealousy, I understand.
Saturday:
Rachael, Vishal and I went for a bike ride. We packed a lunch and brought our rain jackets (the weather wasn't the most trustworthy) and chose a direction. Along the way we found a tea house (Thee huiz in Dutch) in the middle of the forest. I'm not joking. We came around a corner of bike path and there it was. No paved roads or anything- just a random tea house with a play ground in the middle of the freaking nowhere. A little bit farther on we stopped and ate lunch even though we really weren't that far from the guesthouse and finished our ride. It started to get cold and misty so I was glad to be back home in warm covers.
Sunday:
Laziness ensued.
Monday:
The weather was gorgeous!! Like wow, amazing. After work we all (Rachael, Vishal, Chen (who's first name is actually Ruwong, but you try saying that quickly) Renee, Dimitri, and myself) decided to hop on our bikes and see where we ended up. Dimitri's a bit more familiar with the area (he was a summer student 2 summers ago) so we followed him to a small town north east of Dwingeloo. There's a canal running through it with house boats and everything.
This is my favorite picture recently though:
For obvious reasons I think.Tuesday:
Well I tried to do the same route that Vishal, Rachael, and I took on Saturday but backwards (starting out across the heath first and then heading back through the forest) but that didn't turn out so well. I ended up missing a turn somewhere and finding myself all the way in Dwingeloo. But as a consequence I found the pancake restaurant that's nearby. So that's good. All told: 18km. My butt was real sore (Becca, you may make a lewd comment now.)
Wednesday: Bridge Night
I guess it's been a tradition for over 20 years now, but every Wednesday folk from the institute get together to play bridge and have some drinks. So six of the eight of us students got on our bikes and 7:30pm and rode the 7ish km to Pesse, a nearby town. We played bridge until around 10:30pm until it was finally too dark to see well enough. The booze came outside on a tray and a fire pit was started. Somehow we managed to all talk for another 2 hours, well into darkness. The host and hostess were amazing nice, and friendly, and great conversationalists.
We finally decided to head back home, and so turned on our bike lights (powered by peddle) for the magical ride home. A gibbous moon was well above the horizon, illuminating the low clouds. We stopped to take in the amazing scene in the middle of the heath*, about 3km from home. Fog was like icing across the plain, making the clustered trees appear to float. I cannot tell you how absolutely surreal the scene was. The entire night had been wonderful, the bike ride home one of the best parts. I've decided I don't like bridge, but I'll continue to go every week just for the experience.
Thursday:
So today we got the grand tour of the institute, which turned out not to be the snooze-fest I thought it would. We got to see the electronics area of the building, where they design and test all the correlators for the majority of the European radio telescopes. They have a sound proof room with foam spikes and everything! There's also an optical/infrared instrumentation group centered here as well. They're working on the polarizer for an instrument called 'Sphere' which will go on one of the massive telescopes in Chile to directly detect exo-planets. I'll believe when it happens, but it's still pretty cool.
* This is a picture of of a little bit of heath, looking to forest. It's not a very impressive picture, I'll try and take another one soon.
And this is just a random flower picture. These are right outside my front door in a little glade. The little path to the left goes to the telescope. You don't have to hide your jealousy, I understand.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Confession
My name is Tahlia DeMaio, and I am an addict.
(click here for a soundtrack to accompany this post)
I have a closely guarded secret that almost no one, if anyone, knows: I am addicted to croissants. It's shameful, I know! But I just can't help it! Back home I managed to keep my obsessive impulses curtailed in the following ways: 1) Croissants are expensive! There's no way I could justify spending $2 or more one a single, heavenly, buttery pastry 2.) I know that so much goodness in one little croissant can only mean one thing: BUTTER and butter NE healthy. So my secret was well kept by my frugalness and guilt. But atlas! The same constraints do not apply here! 1) Croissants are so CHEAP and they're EVERYWHERE and 2) Croissants are so CHEAP and they're EVERYWHERE. In France, home of my weakness, a croissants costs 0.70euro, that's $0.88 folks! How can you resist that?! And they're even better here than back home. Softer, and flakier, and buttery-er and not dry or crumbly. My self restraint has been put to it's limits- I may just throw caution to the wind and accept the drain on my limited funds (though not as bad as it could be!) and addition to my waist (reduced by all my excessive biking!) and indulge.
(click here for a soundtrack to accompany this post)
I have a closely guarded secret that almost no one, if anyone, knows: I am addicted to croissants. It's shameful, I know! But I just can't help it! Back home I managed to keep my obsessive impulses curtailed in the following ways: 1) Croissants are expensive! There's no way I could justify spending $2 or more one a single, heavenly, buttery pastry 2.) I know that so much goodness in one little croissant can only mean one thing: BUTTER and butter NE healthy. So my secret was well kept by my frugalness and guilt. But atlas! The same constraints do not apply here! 1) Croissants are so CHEAP and they're EVERYWHERE and 2) Croissants are so CHEAP and they're EVERYWHERE. In France, home of my weakness, a croissants costs 0.70euro, that's $0.88 folks! How can you resist that?! And they're even better here than back home. Softer, and flakier, and buttery-er and not dry or crumbly. My self restraint has been put to it's limits- I may just throw caution to the wind and accept the drain on my limited funds (though not as bad as it could be!) and addition to my waist (reduced by all my excessive biking!) and indulge.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Three Weeks
So it's been three weeks, as of yesterday, since I arrived. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
Finally starting to get comfortable with the data I'm working with, which is nice. I think my adviser thinks I'm an idiot- which so long as she still writes a good letter of rec I guess I'm okay with. So for my sciendy readers, here's a description of what I'm doing. (Feel free to skip the next bit for anyone uninterested, sciency or not.)
I'm looking at the nearby starburst galaxy, NGC253, at the 146GHz and 218GHz para-formaldehyde lines. We have seven different pointings along the main axis of the galaxy each observed in the two different wavelengths. My job is to go through all the data (there's a lot), get rid of the ones with bad baselines, fully reduce each pointing to a single, averaged, spectrum and then measure the strength of the formaldehyde emissions. Sounds simple, right? WRONG. Anyway, once both frequencies are reduced and measured, we can then use the two different transitions (these are vibrational transitions) to probe the density and temperature of the molecular gas. New evidence shows that in starburst galaxies like NGC253 the molecular gas near the central region are actually an order or magnitude higher in temperature than previously thought, possibly as high as 150K. This leads to a whole range of consequences such as having to rethink the initial mass function of star-birthing clouds. ie higher gas temperature=more higher mass stars.
ANYWAY.
We have all but the last student here now for the summer, which makes for a much more lively group (which still isn't saying much, and is nothing like the comradery I had with last year's group.) In order of appearance:
-John, from the Twin Cities, undergrad
-Rene, he's from Germany, goes to the Max Planck institude for something or ruther (read: impressive), grad student
-Ruwong, from China, grad student
-Vishal, from India in Mumbai I believe, grad student. (I'm still working up to asking him if he knows Hindi and would practice with me.)
-Francillia, from Indiana, just graduated
-Rachael, from Princeton though origionally from Canadia, Toronto, undergrad
-and we're waiting on an Italian from the university in Bologna
Since Rachael's been here there's been a lot more group interaction. She and I made tandori chicken with rice for dinner for everyone Friday night, which was awesome. Dimitri, a visiting scientist for the summer who's using our kitchen while he's here made potato pancakes as well (he's from Russia) which were soo good.
Every year there's a pancake welcome dinner for the summer students, put on by the institute. Pancakes are a big deal here; there are whole restaurants that specialize in them. And not just the sweet variety either. So Thursday, after the weekly colloquim everyone gathered for drinks and pancakes. I had a cheese and onion one :) After we had eaten, Rachael, Vishal, and I went for a bike ride. When we got back game night had just started- so I played a couple rounds of Bug Bluff (don't ask) and then went to bed. I'd been sick for a couple days and by the end of cards I'd completely lost my voice. My voice is back now, my I'm still a gross, leaky, faucet.
Tomorrow the other students and I are supposed to meet with the big boss, (the director of ASTRON) for drinks in his office. I have no idea what to expect. I've been told it's a casual affair and he does it every year, but still, how strange!
I've started to get into a groove with work and everything. I try to be at my desk by around 9:00am. Some mornings I'll go to coffee break at 10:30, then lunch around 12:30, then colloquim at 3:30 if there is one. I don't know how anybody gets anything done, ever. Seriously, it must be a 30hr work week for most people if you discount the hours spent at coffee, lunch, colloquia, etc. Then after work it varies. I make dinner, chat with friends online, watch Torchwood, read, not study for the GRE (I'm working on that one, sorta), bike ride, etc. It's pretty damn remote, so the options are limited.
We've decided that we'll definitely be going on a day trip to Groningen one weekend and Amsterdam another. Dimitri is very familiar with Amsterdam, so he said he'd show us around, which is awesome. And then I'll be going to Berlin later in July to meet up with some of the people from last summer's REU. It's going to be busy busy and before I know it, the summer will be over. I'm not sure how I feel about that either.
Finally starting to get comfortable with the data I'm working with, which is nice. I think my adviser thinks I'm an idiot- which so long as she still writes a good letter of rec I guess I'm okay with. So for my sciendy readers, here's a description of what I'm doing. (Feel free to skip the next bit for anyone uninterested, sciency or not.)
I'm looking at the nearby starburst galaxy, NGC253, at the 146GHz and 218GHz para-formaldehyde lines. We have seven different pointings along the main axis of the galaxy each observed in the two different wavelengths. My job is to go through all the data (there's a lot), get rid of the ones with bad baselines, fully reduce each pointing to a single, averaged, spectrum and then measure the strength of the formaldehyde emissions. Sounds simple, right? WRONG. Anyway, once both frequencies are reduced and measured, we can then use the two different transitions (these are vibrational transitions) to probe the density and temperature of the molecular gas. New evidence shows that in starburst galaxies like NGC253 the molecular gas near the central region are actually an order or magnitude higher in temperature than previously thought, possibly as high as 150K. This leads to a whole range of consequences such as having to rethink the initial mass function of star-birthing clouds. ie higher gas temperature=more higher mass stars.
ANYWAY.
We have all but the last student here now for the summer, which makes for a much more lively group (which still isn't saying much, and is nothing like the comradery I had with last year's group.) In order of appearance:
-John, from the Twin Cities, undergrad
-Rene, he's from Germany, goes to the Max Planck institude for something or ruther (read: impressive), grad student
-Ruwong, from China, grad student
-Vishal, from India in Mumbai I believe, grad student. (I'm still working up to asking him if he knows Hindi and would practice with me.)
-Francillia, from Indiana, just graduated
-Rachael, from Princeton though origionally from Canadia, Toronto, undergrad
-and we're waiting on an Italian from the university in Bologna
Since Rachael's been here there's been a lot more group interaction. She and I made tandori chicken with rice for dinner for everyone Friday night, which was awesome. Dimitri, a visiting scientist for the summer who's using our kitchen while he's here made potato pancakes as well (he's from Russia) which were soo good.
Every year there's a pancake welcome dinner for the summer students, put on by the institute. Pancakes are a big deal here; there are whole restaurants that specialize in them. And not just the sweet variety either. So Thursday, after the weekly colloquim everyone gathered for drinks and pancakes. I had a cheese and onion one :) After we had eaten, Rachael, Vishal, and I went for a bike ride. When we got back game night had just started- so I played a couple rounds of Bug Bluff (don't ask) and then went to bed. I'd been sick for a couple days and by the end of cards I'd completely lost my voice. My voice is back now, my I'm still a gross, leaky, faucet.
Tomorrow the other students and I are supposed to meet with the big boss, (the director of ASTRON) for drinks in his office. I have no idea what to expect. I've been told it's a casual affair and he does it every year, but still, how strange!
I've started to get into a groove with work and everything. I try to be at my desk by around 9:00am. Some mornings I'll go to coffee break at 10:30, then lunch around 12:30, then colloquim at 3:30 if there is one. I don't know how anybody gets anything done, ever. Seriously, it must be a 30hr work week for most people if you discount the hours spent at coffee, lunch, colloquia, etc. Then after work it varies. I make dinner, chat with friends online, watch Torchwood, read, not study for the GRE (I'm working on that one, sorta), bike ride, etc. It's pretty damn remote, so the options are limited.
We've decided that we'll definitely be going on a day trip to Groningen one weekend and Amsterdam another. Dimitri is very familiar with Amsterdam, so he said he'd show us around, which is awesome. And then I'll be going to Berlin later in July to meet up with some of the people from last summer's REU. It's going to be busy busy and before I know it, the summer will be over. I'm not sure how I feel about that either.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Phew!
Oh my god, what an amazing weekend!
Saturday morning I got up early, had breakfast at the hostel in Brussel and caught the metro to Brussel-Midi. Found out that all the seat on the train I was hoping to take were gone, so instead I ended up going to Lille, France and catching a train from there to Paris. Surprisingly, I was only two hours later arriving in Paris than planned. Met up with Cameron and Elizabeth (!) and we set off to conquer Paris! This'll be the abbriviated version, if you want all my pictures I took you can find them here. Seriously, it's a pretty amazing album, so GO LOOK AT THEM AND TELL ME HOW AWESOME IT IS.
So first we went to Notre Dame which was awesome, though packed with people.
We went inside and walked around. Talk about some impressive architecture and stained glass. We then found the underground museum about the history of Norte Dame and toured it for a bit. At this point, we were hungry so we walked around and found an awesome alley packed with people and shops and yummy food carts
Then we decided to go visit the Eiffel Tower. So cool.
Then we went to Sacre Coeur, which was probably my favorite part place in Paris that I saw. It's on one of the high points in the city and looks out over Paris' expanse of white, ancient buildings. The church located there is fairly recent (built in the late 1800's) and is absolutely beautiful. The inside is so astoundingly immense and serene- well except for the really christian-y parts that made me a little annoyed.
So then we walked down to the Moulin Rouge which was in a rather red-light sort of district. Seriously, 2 out of 3 shops were sex shops. It was rather impressive that so many could survive so closely together. We'd be walking FOREVER it seems like at this point, so we decided to get some dinner at an India place C&E found when they arrived. The food was great (and pricey). We were hoing to catch the light show on the Eiffel Tower that happens on the hour from 10pm-1am, but we missed the 11pm and were too exhausted to wait/didn't want to miss the last metro runs. Thus, we called it a night.
Next morning I woke up and meet E&C at the Lourve at 11am. We stayed until closing- something like six hours- wandering around. I have to say it, the Mona Lisa was unimpressive. But besides that I really enjoyed seeing all the art. My favorite part was the sculpture garden.
We went back to the alley around Notre Dame for dinner becasue it was 'cheap' and had a gyro. Then we wandered around and lo and behold, we found an all ENGLISH used bookstore! It was amazing!!!!
Then we sat down in a local bar, had a happy hour beer and then went to see the Eiffel Tower do it's light show.
It was amazing and magical and just... awesome. It was a great way to end a perfect weekend in Paris with good friends.
The trip home on Monday was less happy, and filled with my usual dum blunders, but I'm not going to dwell on it. I got home and that's what counts! I mean, hello, I got to see friends and Paris all in one weekend, it was marvelous. Though it did make me realize I miss you all so much.
Saturday morning I got up early, had breakfast at the hostel in Brussel and caught the metro to Brussel-Midi. Found out that all the seat on the train I was hoping to take were gone, so instead I ended up going to Lille, France and catching a train from there to Paris. Surprisingly, I was only two hours later arriving in Paris than planned. Met up with Cameron and Elizabeth (!) and we set off to conquer Paris! This'll be the abbriviated version, if you want all my pictures I took you can find them here. Seriously, it's a pretty amazing album, so GO LOOK AT THEM AND TELL ME HOW AWESOME IT IS.
So first we went to Notre Dame which was awesome, though packed with people.
We went inside and walked around. Talk about some impressive architecture and stained glass. We then found the underground museum about the history of Norte Dame and toured it for a bit. At this point, we were hungry so we walked around and found an awesome alley packed with people and shops and yummy food carts
Then we decided to go visit the Eiffel Tower. So cool.
Then we went to Sacre Coeur, which was probably my favorite part place in Paris that I saw. It's on one of the high points in the city and looks out over Paris' expanse of white, ancient buildings. The church located there is fairly recent (built in the late 1800's) and is absolutely beautiful. The inside is so astoundingly immense and serene- well except for the really christian-y parts that made me a little annoyed.
So then we walked down to the Moulin Rouge which was in a rather red-light sort of district. Seriously, 2 out of 3 shops were sex shops. It was rather impressive that so many could survive so closely together. We'd be walking FOREVER it seems like at this point, so we decided to get some dinner at an India place C&E found when they arrived. The food was great (and pricey). We were hoing to catch the light show on the Eiffel Tower that happens on the hour from 10pm-1am, but we missed the 11pm and were too exhausted to wait/didn't want to miss the last metro runs. Thus, we called it a night.
Next morning I woke up and meet E&C at the Lourve at 11am. We stayed until closing- something like six hours- wandering around. I have to say it, the Mona Lisa was unimpressive. But besides that I really enjoyed seeing all the art. My favorite part was the sculpture garden.
We went back to the alley around Notre Dame for dinner becasue it was 'cheap' and had a gyro. Then we wandered around and lo and behold, we found an all ENGLISH used bookstore! It was amazing!!!!
Then we sat down in a local bar, had a happy hour beer and then went to see the Eiffel Tower do it's light show.
It was amazing and magical and just... awesome. It was a great way to end a perfect weekend in Paris with good friends.
The trip home on Monday was less happy, and filled with my usual dum blunders, but I'm not going to dwell on it. I got home and that's what counts! I mean, hello, I got to see friends and Paris all in one weekend, it was marvelous. Though it did make me realize I miss you all so much.
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