xmas holidays are nearly here!

Two-and-a-half weeks of agony have gone by. The agony of being on the job market, that is. The OECD in Paris still has not got back to me. In response to me asking, I was told that the final decision had not yet been made. For now, i am still taking that as a kind-of-positive sign (it's not NO...), but I guess hope is not great on that front. And, in all honesty, the number of interviews in San Francisco is also kinda disappointing. I'll obviously continue blaming the market, and the fact that I'm in the wrong field (which, by the way, is definitely true....) to be succesful. Oh well, I'll just have to do my best in those few interviews I have. And after all, it could have been worse! I could have had none... Anyways, my forced xmas holidays are nearly starting (due to the fact that the university is closed between 24dec and 2jan), so it's all quite rushed right now to finish as much as possible before then. Of course, in-the-house, there is also much to do, such as preparing for xmas dinner! Friends of Fedor are coming over, and it will be up to me to prepare an 11-course xmas dinner (details follow afterwards)...

One thing I hadnt posted about yet is our trip to Sicily, a week ago. It was one of my xmas presents to Fedor: a return trip to Trapani, Sicily (I HEART Ryanair). While we had a lot of fun, and had some fantastic food, the trip was not quite the success it could have been. Sicily is not a place to be in December, while relying on public transport. And we did, because Trapani itself is not all that interesting, so Fedor had selected 3 things around Trapani he wanted to do. And while we tried hard, getting up early and exhausting all options (bus, train, walking), we ended up with a total score of ONE of THREE. Even Meatloaf would agree, that one out of three is actually pretty bad... So for any future visitors to Sicily: RENT A CAR. it's not that expensive, and it makes things so much easier!

However, as for the things we DID see:

 

In the background, you can see the mountain Erice, with on top of it the old town of Erice, one of the places we wanted to go. However, after trying a first bus station, we found this huge field of asphalt. Apparently a bus station of some kind, except that no buses seemed to have been there for at least two years. In the end, after walking for quite some time, we did make it to the mountain, but when we got there the funicular was out of service, due to strong wind (it's an ISLAND, for crying out loud! Of course it's windy. And it wasnt all that windy, anyway!) and climbing the whole mountain on foot was a bit much for us.

 

So we, once again, returned to the train station, where we spent quite a lot of time, in general! At least, they had a lovely little tropical garden, as you can see...

 

 

Finally, we did make it to Segesta (dont ask about the way back though.....), which was pretty amazing. It's in the middle of nowhere and constists of an old Greek temple and this city, with theatre on top of a large hill, from which you can see very far across the island. Here, as opposed to Erice, it actually WAS windy... Anyway, it was a beautiful place to be and totally worth it.

However, let me repeat it, for future reference: rent a car.

And I have taken this lesson to heart for some of my future trips and decided to rent a car when I am going to visit Yosemite in two weeks. Doing that on public transport is bound to be absolute hell, so a rental is definitely going to be a better plan! This is part of my trip to the AEA meeting in San Francisco for the Job Market. I will be in San Francisco from december 31 until January 6. Then I go to Yosemite and fly out on the 8th, to New York. I will have a whole day in NYC and take the night flight back to Milan in order to arrive back on the 10th. It'll be lovely! And I will have short week to recover from that trip, before going to the London job market the week after, from the 16th until the 19th (that will be the first time Fedor is actually going to join me on any of my business trips!).

So enough travelling in the near future!!!

For now, however, I will wish everyone happy holidays and a nice and quiet (or not, whatever you want) xmas!!!!

Ciao,
OJ

Immacolata

Happy immocolata everyone! That is, the day of Madonna's Immaculate Collection (uhm, or Conception: I never know which one) and therefore, a forced Free Day! At least this year, the holiday of San Ambrogio was on a Sunday (yesterday), so that was not an additional free day. Oh well, while I would have preferred to be working right now, I guess having a three-day-weekend is not too bad either! It has given me the opportunity to put up all the xmas decorations and make our xmas card for this year.

Particularly the decorating-thing was quite a crisis. I had decided to finally go for a more subdued and traditional xmas tree this year, instead of the horrible collection of light and colour that I usually apply. But, it turned out, that all my neutral xmas lights didnt work anymore! Can you say drama? Anyways, I bought new ones and quickly decorated the tree into a lovely red-white-silve ensemble. And we managed to buy the first xmas presents as well, so it all looks lovely now!

Yesterday, we also got the opportunity to enjoy the O Bej, o bej, market: the yearly San Ambrogio-related event with lots of stalls selling food and other goodies. But, strangely enough, NO mulled wine this year!!!! (ie gluehwein, vin brulée or vin chaud). Quite a disappointment, I must say. Oh well, we enjoyed some on Saturday already, home-brewn and gorgeous!

From the Job Market, there has been no news, apart from the odd rejection here and there (oh, you think that just because I know nothing about Urband Development and India, that makes me an undesirable candidate for working on your Urban Development Project in Hyderabad, India??? Well, FINE! I don't even WANT to work for you anymore!). So in the meanwhile, i just continue labouring on my dissertation and assisting the students that come to me by the dozen nowadays...

Ciao,
OJ

Back from Paris

While Fedor is trying to communicate through Skype in the background, I have time to write something here. The whole Skype thing is pretty random... I know lots of people who use it a lot, and they enjoy it lots, but I have never been able to get into it. Whenever I try to connect, it doesnt work or there is something annoying going on. Skype is simply not my thing. And apparently, this has rubbed off on Fedor, because his communication isnt going very smoothly either....

Anyways, I have spent the last weeks sending more applications, as well as some tutoring and a bit of teaching etc. All in all, it wasnt half-bad! But last week, we went for a trip to the Netherlands, where my brothers and I had organised a surprise sort of party for my mother, who is turning 60. She was indeed surprised (as she should) to see all of us and we had a really good time. It was particularly enjoyable to have to cycle in the snow and walk around in the snow etc....... :-S

Anyways, afterwards, Fedor flew back to Milan and I went to Maastricht, where I was going to go to a conference. I stayed in one of the nicest hotels that I have ever been in (special price, from 200 for 57 euros a night!) and the conference was fairly interesting. I met a few people, and was able to present my paper on education in the Basque region, which I hadnt done often before. On Tuesday, however, directly after my presentation I had to run to catch a train to Paris! Because I had a REAL job interview!!! For the most awesome job EVER at the OECD Development Centre. The interview happened in the afternoon and it went pretty well!!! However, there are a total of 13 candidates, so I am still not giving myself a great chance of making it... But we'll know next week!

After returning, there were again more things that needed to be done, which is fine. But I also received my first interview request for during the ASSA/AEA meetings in San Francisco in January!!!! For a job at the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin!!! Again, we'll wait to see what's happening!

Anyway, let me just go and try to help Fedor get his skype sorted (btw, we saw Madame Butterfly yesterday in a theatre yesterday and it was great! We also went to Caroline's goodbye party and got a bit drunk: that was great too!!!)

Ciao,
OJ

photo-post!

Here is finally, the long promised photo-post. Basically just a summary of all the things we've been doing that were worth taking pictures of...
First of all, we went to India:
The first photos are from Chittogarh

The desert town of Jaisalmer:

The Taj Mahal in Agra:

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The erotic temples of Kajuraho:

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The Golden Temple of Amritsar:

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The holy windscroll-thingies of the Tibetan Budhist temple in McLeod Ganj:

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McLeod Ganj:

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Mode of transportation (and this was a relatively quiet one!):

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After returning from India, early October, we went for a wine-tasting weekend in Morbegno:

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And on the way back, we went to Lago di Como (the North part though, where neither Fedor nor me had ever been):

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Shortly after, Marie and Stephie came to visit and we had a lot of fun, taking funny pictures everywhere:

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Oh, and as you can see, we were lucky with the weather as well:

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on top of Duomo:

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Then after, Fedor and i went to the Netherlands to see our new nephews. Here is just one photo, of me with my new nephew Ruben, as well as Leah and Daanç

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One week after returning from the Netherlands, BarD and his friend Selina came over, here at the Cimitero Monumentaleç

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Once again, we went to Comoç

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And then, Halloween cameç

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Finally, recently the new University Building was officially opened (as was the academic year, at the same time), by President Napolitano and Chairman of the European Commission Baroso (woohooo, I saw another president!). For this momentous occassion, there were a few things organised at the university, and we went to a lovely concert where they were playing Astor Piazzolla music (did I mention I LOVE Piazzolla??? Well, i do!). Additionally, it turns out that our new building has won an apparently rather prestigious award, as well: linky. Anyways, here are a few pictures of the amazing new building:

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(oh, and indeed, these are the pictures taken by the organisation blabla, not my own, etc)

Well, that was a summary of the past months, in pictures. If more comes to mind, I'll expand this post....

Ciao!
OJ

too much

Many great things, too many to write about! We went to the Netherlands, to see our new nephews, we had several visitos (Marie and Stephie and later on BarD and Selina): it was just all too much fun!

And in the meantime, I have obviously been writing writing writing, applying, applying, applying... Just over 50 letters sent now, and so far, I have had 2 positive replies (that is, replies that allow me to continue into the next stage of the application process), so I am going to be in Paris in 2 weeks for my first real fly-out interview!!! And that is for an absolutely amazing job, so I am already completely nervous!

Of course, during the past weeks, we also had Fedor's birthday, which was lovely, and Halloween, which was even amazing! I will upload the pictures (and this time, I really will, because I have not got much to do today), so you can see how amazing it was...

Oh, and before it's too late: hurray, Obama won the elections! (yeah I know, it's a bit late now, isn't it?). anyways, that was just a realllllly quick summary, I think I'll just summarise in pictures in a separate post now. That is, if I manage to download the picture-upload-software....

Ciao!!!
OJ

1st interview done

Time flies when you're really frigging busy, doesn't it? Short summary: I'm cured! Finally! And without having to do the hospital visit, which I really, really wasn't looking forward to... for the rest, I have only occupied myself with my preparations for my first real grown-up job interview!
These preparations consisted of getting some serious grips on the current financial crisis and a thorough knowledge of macroeconomics. I must say that all of this has been quite interesting from an economist's perspective. Things are really happening so fast and unexpectedly, it really was quite interesting to be forced to spend two weeks just reading about this entire crisis. Anyways, this all concluded into my doing this interview today with the IMF recruitment team. It didn't go very well, but I still think it was a very useful experience, so I am quite satisfied.
Now I can focus on sending out more and more applications. And preparing myself for my oral exam next Wednesday!

Last weekend, we spent the weekend in the lovely town of Morbegno with a couple of friends. There was a wine-tasting weekend, and we went around to lots of wine cellars tasting different wines (obviously, they all tasted the same after the first 5 or so.....). And it was so much fun! We were very lucky with the weather, and we enjoyed a sunny day and quiet night in Morbegno. On Sunday, we drove to Lago di Como and lunch by the lakeside: it was rather beautiful, I must say!!!

I still haven't worked out the pictures uploading thing to work so smoothly, so once again, I will refer you to Facebook$, to see them...

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Gerwin and Marjolein on all their great news. As for Gerwins comment on the last post, I am willing to tell you that my applications go to a large variety of institutions, varying from the sort-of training programmes at IMF, World Bank and OECD to junior research positions at research outfits like OECD, UN, etc, as well as academic positions (Uni of Hong Kong, Boston College, Washington State Tacoma, Toronto, Montreal, Georgetown, etc). You'll probably hear more about all of these by the time I start getting interviews (IF I'll get any!!!). I did book my trip to San Francisco for the job market interviews during the American Economic Association meeting there in early January...

Anyways, enjoy your week! I will do the same, particularly with my friends Stephie and Marie coming over this weekend....

Ciao,
OJ

just a few things

I have a new laptop!!! My brother and his wife came over two weeks ago and they brought me a new laptop, after I had finally given up on ever being able to revive the old one, that darn thing. Anyways, the new one is an emachines, so that is a top brand (hence the 399€ price tag).

I also, more importantly, have a new nephew! My other brother's wife gave birth to Ruben yesterday and I am therefore now a quadruple uncle! It also means, I have won my bet in the race between my brother and Fedor's brother, who is also expecting a child one of these days... So that's all great news!

Over the past few weeks, I have been quite busy. There was the not-overly-interesting conference in Copenhagen (at least I managed to meet up with my friend Rasmus) and the oh-so-important Third Year Workshop. But mostly I have been starting the finalisation of my PhD. That is, getting prepared for all the things that are still to be done, such as my oral exams, handing in the dissertation etc. And the most important part of the finalisation of my PhD is, of course, finding a job!

So far, I have sent only a handful or so applications, but I have been preparing for the biggest bunch to be sent late october. This whole application process, though, takes surprisingly much time! All these different places want different documents, different cv styles and of course different cover letters. That way, it seems as if I have to do everything 100 times, even for just 10 applications... Anyway, it keeps me off the streets, I guess!

Something kinda funny:


more music charts

Finally, our little health issues are not improving much. Fedor is officially cured now after his third visit to our family doctor. My situation, however, is not too good yet. After the first visit, I took 5 pills a day, after the second visit, I was taking 14 pills a day and now, after going for the third time this Tuesday, I have a different kind of antibiotics that I take twice a day. And in two weeks, I will go to the hospital..... I'm afraid you'll hear more about this...

Ciao,
OJ

We're Back!

OK, actually, we've been back for quite a while already, but I haven't had time to post before. My laptop is still broken (the BigBro Laptop Repair Service is coming over next weekend), so I am sharing Fedors laptop all the time. Except at work, where I should obviously be doing other things, such as....uhm, well....working!

However, given the (un)fortunate event of being at Bocconi, the internal network has just gone down again, as a result of which I cannot access any of my required documents anymore. So while I am waiting for the repair-people to start working on it, I finally have time to write my update here.

Let me start by saying that a probably more detailed account is available at Fedor's Weblog, because he has actually been updating during the trip. Additionally, as I am at my Uni computer now I cannot add any of the photos either. However, I can refer you to Facebook, where the all photos (about 130: sorry) can be viewed from HERE, HERE and HERE. I will probably post some photos myself as well at a later point, hopefully after my laptop has been repaired...

Anyways, India! It was definitely an interesting trip, if not always equally pleasant... We started of in Hot, Sweaty, Humid Mumbai (after a short visit to pleasant and gorgeous Helsinki), which was overwhelming and impressive. As we were meeting Felix and Annaig, friends from Milan in the Rajasthani city of Udaipur a few days later, our first days were hurried and resultingly not overly pleasant. Obviously we had flown in during the night and then spent all day in Mumbai. That night we took a night train to Ahmedabad, where we arrived early-morning. Another full day in Ahmedabad before taking another night train to Udaipur... When we arrived we were smelly, sleep-deprived and generally grumpy, but that was nothing a good shower couldnt solve! And of course the company of Felix and Annaig!!!

After spending a great day with them, they left and we went on a trip to the deserted mountain top city of Chittogarh. This was our first really sunny day and we had some great photo opportunities. The day after, we took a bus through the mountains and a nature reserve (and an awful Monsoon downpour) to Jodhpur. Jodhpur is famous for its towering fortress and its fabrics and spices. The fortress is indeed impressive and we were kinda tricked into buying some nice fabrics that are utterly unusable for us... The following day we took another bus trip towards Jaisalmer, the desert town that is close to the border with Pakistan. Another impressive fortress, and some of the friendliest people that we met during the entire trip. Jaisalmer was also the location of the cheapest hotel we stayed in (€3.75 for a double room with private bathroom and somewhat of a view in a friendly hotel with a swimming pool.....not bad, eh?).

In the original plan, we had planned to go directly north from Jaisalmer upto Amritsar, but it turned out that this was much less convenient than planned, so instead we took a night train to Jaipur and immediately afterwards a train journey to Agra, so that in about 20 hours, we were suddenly another 1000 kms down the road! Unfortunately, the Taj Mahal (World Wonder number 1 of this trip) is closed on Fridays, but we did manage to get some pretty pictures from across the river and beyond. In all honesty, we didn't mind not having to spend €23 euros to enter the Taj Mahal, because it is simply outrageously overpriced. We did, on the other hand, visit the Agra Fort and that was truly impressive (and had some more great views).

As Agra really is not a place you want to spend too much time, we left again the next morning and made our way (via train and Bouncy Bouncy Bus) to the small town of Khajuraho, another 10 hours down the road. This town is known for its amazing, ancient, temples, largely decorated with rather explicit depictions from the Kamasutra (that according to the descriptions obviously are NOT a sign of "moral depravity", but should be seen as works of art from a long-gone civilisation... Obviously, while we were respectful and thoughtful of the artfulness of it all, you cannot really expect people to be serious when you put statues of guys fucking horses on your temple, really......

After enjoying these temples for 2 days, we took an afternoon bus to the small town of Mahoba, from where we joined the night train towards Varanasi (World Wonder Nr 2 of this trip!). Varanasi: what can I say? It is absolutely filthy, filled with excrements, dead bodies, sick people and beggars. The smell is awful, any ritual is usually swamped with tourists and the it's incredibly humid. In conclusion: we were not overly fond of it..... In fact, we were very happy to be able to leave after two days. Wading through a foot of rain/poo in the streets, we finally made it to the train station and got a train out: NOT a good experience... The 28 hour train ride (1200 km) in the 5th class to get us out of there, filled with people without manners who would not stop staring, was also not a great experience either. When we finally got to our destination, Amritsar, both Fedor and I had uncontrollable Delhi Bellies, which we had so far been spared) and the two days in Amritsar were mostly spent on the toilet. We did of course make it to the Golden Temple of Amritsar (World Wonder Nr 3 of this trip!), which is an absolutely amazing sight... The rest of Amritsar, likewise seemed like a clean, pleasant and, importantly, hassle-free city!

The next stage of our journey was into the mountains. We took a bus from Amritsar to Pathankot and then onwards via Dharmsala to McLeod Ganj. And as it turned out, McLeod Ganj is our favourite place in India by miles! It is absolutely gorgeous, high in the mountains (about 1800 meters high), with mixed foggy and sunny times. The town is populated mostly by Tibetan refugees (the Tibetan government-in-exile is based there), who are friendly, hassle-free and don't try to cheat you in every move. Also important is their lax attitude regarding alcohol usage, so it is indeed possible to buy beer there! Around McLeod Ganj we made some long walks and in the evenings we enjoyed the excellent Tibetan food and the relaxed athmosphere. Finally, we also managed to do quite some shopping there....

Unfortunately, all good times come to an end, so after two nights we had to leave. We tried to take the "toy train" from Kangra back to Pathankot, but apparently "one of the bridges had collapsed", so we were forced to take the bus back to Pathankot, from where we took a night train to Delhi.

By this time, both Fedor and myself were getting a bit travel weary, but we still managed to enjoy some of the sights that Delhi has to offer. Particularly the Lotus Temple and Tomb of Umayden were impressive. The Red Fort, on the other hand, was very underwhelming and disappointing... One evening we met up with Fedor's friend Shruti, an Indian english teacher from Milan who was in Delhi to get married. We narrowly missed the wedding, but it was fun to meet her anyway. She showed us her house and her sweet sweet mother cooked us a yummie meal. After 3 days of Delhi, it was time for us to leave again and we took the super-fast and super-luxurious (both relatively of course) train to Mumbai (1400 km in 16 hours: not bad....), in which we could finally relax a bit. The final day was spent in Mumbai, doing those things we hadn't done during the first visit, particularly Elephanta Island. Unfortunately, the whole day was absolutely drenched in rain and Fedor was starting to seriously suffer from a Delhi Belly, so we did not manage to enjoy that day a lot.

During the evening, we decided to go to the Airport already, because we were supposed to fly in the morning and couldn't be bothered to have to negotiate a taxi fare at 4AM. Afterwards, this may not have been such a good idea, because Fedor fell very ill, with high fever and uncontrollable shaking. Additionally, our flight was delayed by four hours, so Mumbai Airport may not have been the best place to be. By the time we finally made it to Helsinki, our flight to Milan had already left and we thus had to stay overnight in Helsinki. Now being both sick as dogs, with stomach cramps and uncontrollable diarrhea, the idea of going home had been a much more appealing option, but alas, it simply wasn't in the cards...

Instead we got home on Monday morning, where we quickly tried to pick up our normal lives again. The funny Delhi Bellies, however, have not subsided and we started medication, including different kinds of antibiotics this weekend, after consulting our doctor. This sort of post-trip unhealthiness certainly does cast a bit of a gloom over the trip, although it certainly was very enjoyable. Let's hope we'll be well soon and can get on again. During the past week, we also had a guest over, my friend Jochen who was in Milan for a big conference that was being held at my University, so he was quite some distraction as well!

I will be going to Copenhagen from Thursday to Saturday for a conference, which will be a nice little trip, and in the meantime I am doing some serious job hunting. Now let's see whether the technicians have already repaired the network so I can actually access my own CV...

Photos will follow later I hope!

Ciao,
OJ

Off to India

Just two more days before we're off to India! And I am so ready for it... Particularly because I finally heard last week that I will receive an extension of my scholarship into next year! So that means I am not going to be starving just yet! woohooo, and it's a bigger scholarship than I've been receiving these past years, that's also quite pleasant.
For the rest, it's been lots and lots of working, as always. And a few Indian movies, to get into the mood (if you ever have a chance, Love Story 2050 is a must-see!). Additionally, we have also been out partying a few times of course, among which was a curry-bollywood night at our friend Louisa's place last Saturday... And a (free) concert of the Latvian Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra at the Villa Reale last week.
The best concert that we've recently seen, however, was the Roberto Fonseca Group from Cuba, who also performed at the Villa Reale, last Thursday. You've got to love the Milano municipality for organizing lots and lots of stuff during Summer to entertain the few people who are actually in town... During August, however, even the Municipality takes some time off, but in September they are back with a vengeance with another month-long music festival!
Anyways, I'm sure it's gonna be a long time before the next update, because we're off to India!!!! (oh, and I've once again broken my laptop, so that also doesn't quite improve my posting abilities...)
Ciao,
OJ

pfffffffff

Well, where do I start? I'l go with chronology I guess: that seems like the right way to approach the last month or so.
I had already mentioned my trip to a conference in Tunisia and that it was quite impressive (the country, not the conference). I did not, however, add any photos yet, so here are just a few little impressions:




So, after returning to Italy and finally receiving my luggage, I was off to Turkey. One night in Istanbul, with a friend, and then a bus trip to Ankara, where I attended the 12th Annual Conference on Economics and Security. It was, in fact, my first conference that really concerned the topic that I am working on, which made it a really interesting experience of course. There were some very interesting papers and I received a lot of positive comments about my work. So that was very satisfying. The conference was nice enough to also organize a one-day trip to Cappadocia, which is the Number 30 according to the Hillman Wonders list, so definitely unmissable! And it truly is impressive. An unusual geographical formation, combined with centuries of lost civilizations: pretty impressive! And the underground city was definitely not bad either! Just some photos:





Finally, I returned by bus to Istanbul, from where I flew back to Milano and finally saw Fedor again. Those few days in Milan were very busy though. Two papers had to be finished before the end of July and therefore had to be finished before my next departure, 3 days later. So I worked, worked and worked and managed to complete most of my work. I was also present to enjoy the whooping that Italy gave to France in the Eurocup, so that was kinda nice (although the match really sucked, obviously). Then on the 18th, I flew on Lufthansa (my Air One flight had been cancelled: I wasn't very flight-lucky around this period), via Frankfurt to Boston!
A truly amazing city, combining the big-city American architecture, with lots of parks and open spaces and not all that many people around. I could stay with friends, and enjoyed the city for 3 days, including visits to the graves of some of the Founding Fathers, Little Italy and Harvard, and seeing my Milan ex-flatmate Meghan and celebrating Fernanda's birthday...
After those few days, I travelled to Providence, Rhode Island, in order to attend the IHS's Graduate Workshop on Social Change (also referred to as Libertarian Summer Camp). An unusual experience, I must admit. Never before have I spent much time with lots of self-confessed libertarians, particularly those coming from the fields of Political Theory, philosophy or Philosophical History... And a fair few of the attendees were either serious assholes (ie die-hard libertarians) or simply insane (trust me on that one: don't ask). But there were also a few great people, and I must say that a lot of the lectures I heard were in fact very interesting and thought-provoking. While I do not agree with all of what was being said, I at least found it interesting to experience. And I did have an excellent time with some of the people I met there whom I now consider to be my friends. Among them, the (according to the NY Times) "prolific young liberal author" James Poulos and many others.
After a week of enjoying this (and trust me, not getting a lot of sleep), I was quite ready to go home! I spent one more night in Boston with Max and Jessica (just in time to see Max of to hospital with an acute appendicitis), before flying back to Milano. Just some pictures of my US trip:





Back in Milano, Fedor had some friends over from the Netherlands for that weekend and I enjoyed an afternoon and evening with them, in the sweltering heat that had overcome Milano by then. However, I did have to get up at 4AM the next morning again to fly to Amsterdam, for the Jan Tinbergen Peace Science Conference. I got there just after it had already begun and enjoyed 3 more days of presentations and socialising. However, I must honestly admit that with the lack-of-sleep, the jetlag and the general exhaustion, this conference was not as useful for me as it could have been if I had gone there well-rested. But it was good to see some of the people that I had met before on previous conferences, as well as friends from Groningen. And I did get some positive comments on my paper as well, including interest from an author who works on very similar topics. So I was quite satisfied, overall.

After three days of that, I finally was able to go home and sleeeeeeeeep.

The past week or so has been a little more relaxed. Working, working, working, trying to get some papers finished obviously takes up some time, but it's not too bad. I did have The Phonecall yesterday, which is (partially) going to determine whether or not I am getting a scholarship extension next year. I'm going to hear the result for that next week, so please cross your fingers for me!!!

On the social front, last night was the goodbye dinner for Elena and Lin Lin, who have both graduated and are moving to other Universities (oh, how I wish I was amongst them!!!). And today, we slept late and did nothing: perfect!

Ciao,
OJ

PS 18 days until India!
PPS Click for more photos from Tunisia, Turkey or the United States

back-for-a-moment

Tunisia is beautiful!!! I had a very good time there, even though the conference was not as interesting as I could have hoped for. Carthage, Sidi Bou Said and the Bardo Museum, however, are pretty amazing, so it was totally worth it. Or so I thought... Because on the way back (silly me, for flying Alitalia), my luggage got lost. So for the past few days, I have been trying to get it back, as it contains a lot of stuff (such as my phone recharger, but also my good shirts etc) that I am going to need at the next conferenence in Ankara, Turkey and for which I will be leaving, uhm, TOMORROW! So now there is quite a problem, if I don't have my luggage.... Well, the last time I have spoken to them I was informed that my luggage will in fact arrive tonite still, and they promised it would be before 22.00, so I will still have some time to wash it as well...

Let's see! It is a little unfortunate though that I am not able to go and see the match Netherlands-Italy in a bar, although my Italian friends are probably going to have quite an opportunity to ridiculize me, anyway... (although, just for support, I did predict in our pool that it will be 1-0 for the Netherlands....).

Also, I have had the doubtable pleasure today to visit the Dutch Consulate for the first time! I had to request a new passport, which I am truly hoping will arrive fairly soon. But, you never know... (although it's Dutch bureaucracy, which is not nearly as bad as the Italian one, so it should be fine!). Anyway, my passport is actually still valid until January, but Fedor and I have just booked our Summer Holiday and the destination country requires the passport to be valid for another 6 months at the moment of arrival. Unfortuantely, mine would only be valid for 5 months and 23 days.... Oh, by the way, the destination is........ India!!! Woohooo, very much looking forward to that, as well.

Anyways, just a quick update, and before you know it, I am on my way to Turkey. For those who may be interested, HERE is an unorganised bunch of photos from Tunisia... It's too much hassle to put them in this post, so if you're interested, just click on that link...

Ciao,
OJ

Family weekend etc

Well, that was an interesting weekend last week! On Thursday night, I flew into Amsterdam, and took the train to Groningen. I was staying at my brother' place and while I had some difficulty reaching him, I finally did manage to do so. The next morning I had enough time to look at little Hannah (8 months old now) and give presents to Leah (sort of early for her third birthday next week). As usual, she managed to pick the cheapest nonsensical present to be most excited about and she spent the entire visit blowing bubbles...

I was very happy to also meet up with my other brother, his pregnant wife (next child: September) and little Daan, in order to give him presents for his upcoming third birthday as well! After this first dose of family, Marielle was so nice to bring me to the train station in Assen, where I realised that I had left my jacket, wallet and passport in Groningen. So, with an hour's delay (yes, I am a retard, I know), I finally arrived in Nijmegen at about 16.00, where I was met by Fedor's mother's boyfriend Rob. Together with his daughter, we then continued to Wellerlooi, for the long-awaited Family Weekend of Fedor's family.
I am not the biggest family guy, in all honesty, but I most certainly did have a great time! A LOT of alcohol was consumed and many games were played. I missed out on the Eurovision Song Contest, but it was absolutely worth it.

It was particularly cool to see Fedor's soon sister-in-law (the wedding is in three weeks), who is getting more an more pregnant...

(more photos can be found here)
Anyway, on Sunday, Fedor and I returned to good old Milano, where we had a nother busy week of work. I've been working my ass off to get as far as possible on the paper I am writing together with my friend Idil and I am rather confident we are going to make it in time! The deadline is the end of June, but neither of us has a lot of time available in June... In my case, this is due to my slightly overloaded Conference Schedule during that month, as posted previously. It may be some time before you hear from me again, because I'm not around a lot. Tuesday, it starts with a very early flight from Milano to Tunis...
But don't worry, in the famous words of A.S.: I'll be back...

Ciao,
OJ

updating 101

There is no excuse, there really isn't. Except that I've been working my ass off and had other things on my mind. That is the only excuse for not updating for so long.

However, there is quite a lot to say now (you've got to appreciate the small things, eh?). First of all, the move to the new building has been a complete success. I am sharing an office with my friend and we love it! It's light, there is air, air-conditioning and some sort of view (well, not really). I'm very happy about my new office! The occassional electricity interruption notwithstanding, I am also finding myself to be able to work quite well there. I will soon take some pictures and post them, because it certainly is quite a sight!

Two weeks ago (I believe) we had Matt and Anthony over from England. It was an exhausting weekend, with faaaaaaar too much to drink, but plenty of fun was had! As it was their xth time in Milan, we had to perform some alternative activities, and I think we succeeded rather well. After a Mongolian meal on Friday with other friends, we picked them up from the train station and spent the rest of the night drinking. On Saturday, after long considerations, we decided to go to Como and to pedalo for some time

At night, we went out with friends and got outrageously drunk (well, I did, anyway), so we slept late on Sunday again as well... But when we finally got up, we managed to go to Vigevano, the cute little town after which our street was called. It's a lovely place, with a gigantic castle and equally impressive Piazza right in the middle of it. While we only spent a short time there, it was nice to be away from Milan for some hours!



The next morning, the boys went back to England and rest returned to our casa. Rest, and a loooooot of work, but that's okay.

I have also finally got my schedule for my OJ-goes-Global World Tour. I will do 4 continents in 3 weeks, starting June 3rd (Tunisia) and finally finishing in Amsterdam (until July 2nd), visiting 4 different conferences. I am looking forward to it, although poor Fedor will surely miss me a lot (and probably enjoy the relaxing freedom i will give him too). Anyway, before that we have a few other things to look forward to: This weekend, our long-awaited quasi-annual Spring Party takes place: the International Stereotypes Party. I am looking forward to it very much and I really hope it will be successful! If it is, it's going to be absolutely insane...

Next weekend, we will be in the Netherlands, for a family weekend of Fedor's family. That is surely going to be a few enjoyable days of relaxing, drinking and playing games: sounds pretty good, no?

Anyways, in conclusion, there is still lots to do and I will do it now.
Ciao,
OJ

Boxes, boxes, boxes

This week has been fairly quiet. We presented the very, very early version of our work on Tuesday, and it went rather well. The rest of the (short) week was spent packing boxes etc.: The University has been constructing a new building for years and finally, FINALLY, it's nearly finished. That is, the 5th floor is now finished, and that's where I (and most of my friends) well be. So during these days, starting last Wednesday, the whole University is basically moving, which means packing lots of boxes, sorting through many, many, many old exams and old books and hoping that all is going to go well. In principle, from Tuesday on, my new office is supposed to be in the Via Roentgen, but you never know what may go wrong. My computer may get lost, my boxes may get lost, I may not be able to find my office (5-d2-08 is my office nr: what does that mean? No idea), et cetera. Adventures, that's what I call them!
Anyway, the week was a bit shorter than normal due to the fact that last Friday was Liberation Day! Remember, the day that Italy got liberated from the Germans? Hmmm, a slightly odd perspective, but that's how it is here. And on that day, everything is closed, incl. University. So it was also a free day for me. Which was good, because my parents came to town Thursday Night (on their way to the South), and we had a good time with them, drinking, eating, drinking, so it was good not to have to wake up too early.
Then on Friday Night, we had a Rubik's Cube Party (everyone had to come with items of clothing in the colors of the Rubik's Cube and through cloth-trading, make sure you're all wearing just one colour at the end of the night: very cool party theme). Unfortunately, this is Italy and Italians are not so good in the "look-like-a-jackass-but-just-dont-give-a-fuck"-department, so the theme wasn't overly successful. I did manage to end up in full orange garments though.... :-D My own photos aren't so great (click here for photos), but I'm hoping to see some other ones and I will post them when I do see them.
Today is just a nice quiet day: the weather is lovely, we have no obligations, it's perfect! Same for tomorrow, and we're loving it!
ciao,
OJ

Izmir et al.

So, last Saturday I did not even have to get up so ridiculously early to be able to catch my Alitalia flight to Istanbul. It really was quite relaxing just to calmly go to Malpensa and fly there. In Istanbul, a convenient connection brought me to Izmir (after I had noticed that Istanbul is the most outrageously prices airport ever. It's about twice as expensive as Malpensa, and Malpensa is already not-so-cheap. I also noticed that I really hate indoors-smoking. How is it possible to enjoy your teeny-tiny 7 euro sandwich when everyone around you is smoking cigarettes? It's foul!!!). Anyways, I arrived that night and went to the hotel.
The next day, there was trip organised to visit Ephesos, the House of the Holy Virgin (right....) and the little wine village of Sirince. An absolutely lovely day, where I really got to know a few people.



In summary, good times were had! In the evening, it was time for the conference dinner, followed by some drinks in town. Of course, as always with these kind of things, a few drinks turned into too many drinks and it was seriously difficult to get up the next morning. I had no chocie though, as the conference was the next day. After the first few presentations, I felt much better though and I made it through the day alright.
Unfortunately, the presentations I saw were mostly not very interesting to me. Either the level was simply too low (this was a mixed undergrad-graduate conference) or the topic was far away. I did seriously enjoy a paper by an Italian PhD student from the University of Namur, though, and I got a little bit of feedback on my own paper.
At the end of these presentations, it was time for the official celebration of the founding of the University. It was similar to last year, with long-winded speeches and lots of dancing performances. The nationalistic flag-waving and reverence of Ataturk is still something I cannot get used to, though (and yes, that was an understatement, but i don't want to insult my Turkish friends by embellishing on the topic). Oh well, afterwards a nice dinner was had and we hit the town again...

The next morning, I got a ride from one of the guys in order to get to the airport at 6.30am. Mid-morning, I arrived in Istanbul again where I met up with another conference participant and her friend.


I think I am finally convinced that Istanbul truly is a beautiful city, and I enjoyed walking around and visiting the spice market etc. In the evening, Alitalia brought me home again, where Fedor was awaiting my return.

The rest of the week has been hard work, preparing my Political Economics students for their exam on Friday and running lots of computer programs to make sure we have some results before Tuesday, when Idil is going to present our joint work for the first time (and no, there is no paper yet, and not really any results: don't get me started!). Finally, i also got some grading done and went into the weekend absolutely exhausted!
But satisfied.

Uhm, is there anything else I should add now? I did have a meeting with Chris Blattman, an absolutely amazing and interesting economist who is extremely well-travelled and knowledgeable: it gave me happy feelings! Oh, and one more thing: I am moving offices next week or so. There is a new building for the University (which is absolutely unfinished), and I will be sharing an office there with Idil and someone else: it'll be great!

Ciao,
OJ