Party etc

So we finally had our Housewarming Party on Saturday. Better Late than Never, as they say! We unfortunately did not quite have as many guests as we would have liked to see, but it was a lot of fun, nonetheless. In fact, it was a whole lot of fun and it was nice to have the opportunity to show our house to everyone.

 

 

Of course, having the front door open from 14.00 until 23.00 did lead to a little "Mosquito Issue". Some of us being a little drunk, this then led to it seeming a good idea to have a Blood Fest in the house and we killed many a mosquito. The next morning, I certainly did regret our action from the night before, as can be seen by this little example from the wall:

 

Oh well, we had to clean anyway, so we just cleaned the walls and the ceiling as well!

After that cleaning action, the rest of Monday was not overly easy. At night there was a Student Representatives Dinner, though, where Junye and I enjoyed the pleasures of being PhD Representatives... Unfortunately, we got stuck with a table full of boring people, so we did not manage to get as drunk as planned. I hope we'll do better for Xmas! The rest of the week consisted of 2 things: 1) working on my paper, for which the Saturday Deadline is approaching steadily (and which I am getting more and more sure that I will not make) and 2) working on the exam. Oh yes, my Comparative Political Economics students had a resit today and I thus had to do some more office hours and help some students. It is amazing to see how many opportunities students get to pass their exams: the next opportunity is in 2 1/2 weeks already!!! (which is going to be the fourth time in 3 months...).

Some of the students also managed to amaze me with their stupidity and rudeness. What about this "Oh, professor, I don't have time for the resit on July 16th because I am going to beach with friends the weekend before. Can't I do the exam 2 days later?", or "Oh professor, I will leave the country on Sunday, so can you make sure we have the grades before then?", or during the exam itself "Professor, this is my answer: is it correct?"... I mean, seriously, who the fck do these students think they are???? I am still amazed when I am thinking about it. Now let's hope I remember their names so I can subtract points for stupidity when I grade their exams...
Ciao,
OJ

It's been some time...

Mucho busy, is all I can say. From Friday until Tuesday, BarD and Marlous were visiting. Friday night we had a little food and a little drinky, but didnt go out too late. The day after, we went to Monza, a nearby city, to which Fedor and I had been wanting to go for quite some time, but never had a chance. This is a little, odd, because it is only about 15 minutes away by train! Now we finally did go there and enjoyed the town centre and its gorgeous park!



No pictures from the gorgeous park, unfortunately: we were to busy relaxing... We spent the Sunday shopping, which BarD and Marlous did very successfully. I left them alone at the end of the afternoon, in order to meet with Jakob, my former Master Supervisor and Groningen Professor. We drank some wine and I enjoyed all the gossip. At night, I met up with BarD and Marlous again (and Fedor, of course) in order to enjoy some more eating!
On Monday, I really had to get back to work (grading exams, et cetera), so the kids were left to themselves. They apprently rather enjoyed a visit to good ol' Como and we went for a lovely sushi aperitivo at nite.
All in all, it was an intensive, but enjoyable weekend!
However, there is obviously a lot of work to do as well. Apart from the exam time, which means a considerable amount of extra work, I also had a meeting with one of my supervisors in which I had to convince her that my second paper-idea is good (I think I managed). The biggest problem, however, is the fact that next week there is a deadline to hand in the first paper. I am nearly there, except that the results aren't quite as good as they should be... So this is causing a little teeny-wheeny bit of stress! Oh well, I guess I'll be fine!
This weekend, no visitors. But instead, we are going to have our Housewarming party! Oh yes, finally, after 11 months, we are going to have a house-warming party!!! Sunday afternoon, in a sort of Sunday Lunch/Housewarming/Summer Party kind of celebration, we have invited all our friends and colleagues and we hope to have a nice fiesta. This does mean there is a lot of preparing (and cooking) to be done, of course....
Ciao,
OJ
PS What the fuck is wrong with the Vatican? How do they get it into their fcking minds to say that "good catholics" do not support Amnesty International, because the organisation does not oppose abortion in all situations???? I mean, does the Vatican have nothing else to fight? Maybe, say, all the fcked up morons that do populate the planet and all the organisations that actually harm anybody? Fighting against Amnesty International is like trying to kill fluffy baby bunnies: JUST NOT COOL! (yes, that was a rant)

Quicky

Hey y'all (I hate that expression), this will be a quicky update, because we're planning to have an early dinner tonite and watch a movie (early is relative thing of course, as Fedor isnt even home yet). Last week consisted mostly of working and bitching about the weather (I don't actually remember what was wrong, but it was either too hot, too cold or too wet...). During the weekend my friend Andrea (a female, that is) came to see us. Due to Dutch weather conditions she was delayed quite a bit and we ended up at Central Station at 2.00AM, where we missed the last opportunity to take a tram. Instead, we ended up taking a taxi. Oh well... Of course, we stayed up way too late, just talking, but it was a lot of fun. The rest of the weekend consisted of a lot of walking and seeing the regular sights





It was a very enjoyable visit. After she left on Monday, I spent 4 hours sitting through seminars and third-years' presentations. Normally, this would be quite interesting, except for the fact that Bocconi is having some Aircon-issues. The A/C is completely out-of-control and tends to make the University uncomfortable during any season. But particularly now. Temperatures are around 14-15 degrees inside (while it is around 30° outside) and then 4 hours of sitting still is very, very long.... Of course I forgot to bring a warm coat, so it was quite heavy.
Today, however, was a GREAT day. I spent a lot of time giving office hours for students who didnt show up at all (they never do, so that is unsurprising), but received a lot of good news as well. Another paper has been accepted for publication!!!! The paper I co-authored with my former supervisor was accepted today as a chapter in a book that will soon be published by MIT Press. I am totally excited about this, particularly because it has been under revision for AGES... In addition to this, I also managed to find a Teaching Assistant position for the first semester next year. This was slightly doubtful and I had practically given up on it, but today managed to arrange something anyway. So: Many good things!
Me Happy
Ciao,
OJ

Cemetery Festival :-S

After skipping the Notte Bianca last night, we were happily surprised about the great weather today. It was warm, sunny: a great Sunday Afternoon... To go to the Cemetery. At first, we went to see a Jazz Concert by a group of musicians:


The concert was really beautiful, we then saw some Theatrical Dance Company, who played a number of characters dancing in between the graves. It was a little morbid, but also rather beautiful.


Finally, the best part of the afternoon came when we went to see a group of people Waltzing on Stelts... Uhm, what? Waltzing on Stelts on a Cemetery? Yes, exactly!!!



All in all, it was fantastic!!!
Ciao,
OJ

Booked!

Last Night, there was the Goodbye Party of my friend Dominik, who has been at Bocconi for one-and-a-half year. It was a nice party, but everybody was sad to see him go. Thanks to Facebook, we will obviously be able to stay in touch with him, but it is still a pity!
What was not a pity, was the fact that we had a nice and quiet day together today. We slept during most of it, but also took some time to book our Summer Holiday!

Woohoo, finally! Our plans changed last minute and we will not, as I mentioned to people before be going to Russia, after all. Instead, we are going to fly into Bucharest, then take a train or something to Odessa, then Kiev and Lviv. Afterwards, we will fly out of Katowice, Poland into the Netherlands on the 4th of September, where we will be for nearly a week (including the Wedding of Fedor's friends Maartje and Edin). Anybody wanting to meet up with us, please let me know before then. We will obviously be travelling all around the Netherlands, but if you book early, you will try to make you part of the programme!

Anyways, I am totally excited about going to Romania and Ukraine, so that will be great. Before then, we will be celebrating Notte Bianca tonite (although the weather sucks and I really dont feel like going out at all) and tomorrow a music and theatre Festival at the Cemetery... I cant wait!

Ciao,
OJ

PS this post was completely not thought out and written quickly, while I am waiting for the oven to go BLEEP and say that our fish is ready to be eaten... sorry if I made any stupid mistakes...