Anyways, right now Fedor's away shopping, so I have time to update my blog. Happy New Year!!! Buon Anno!!! I can't believe it's already 2008. Anyways, it's the way things go, isn't it? Time passes and the years come and go: goodbye 2007, welcome 2008! Now that I mention 2007, Christmas was a lot of fun. I think most of my courses were received well, but more importantly: we had a lot of fun! Obviously, we also had a bit too much to drink, but it was not nearly as bad as some of the christmas dinners I have organised in the past (I have half a mind of adding a picture that clearly depicts how terribly wrong things can go when drinking too much for christmas, but I have promised the person in question never to show those photos to anyone, so I won't...). Interluding the entire christmas dinners were plenty of presents. It's a fun way of spending your time in between courses: unwrapping presents! Both Jorryt and Lilian seemd very pleased with their set of presents (Lilian's new sparkly golden high-heeled shoes fit remarkably well....) and so were Fedor and I, of course! I received CD's of Sarah Brightman and the 1960's Italian singer Mina (who is AMAZING), as well as my long-desired Angels in America DVD. I only had the downloaded copy, but it's so amazing that I really wanted to have the DVD as well. Finally, two of my other presents really stand out: a chocolate fondue fountain (seriously, we now have a chocolate fondue fountain: how frigging awesome is that?) and a book I had been looking for for a long time: The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (you know, the guy who invented economics), which is an obvious must-have for any economist.
Of course, like last time when Jorryt and Lilian visited, we went on another little trip. This time, we rented a car and drove to the north-western Italian region of Valle d'Aosta (apparently the smallest and wealthiest region of Italy). It's an Alpine region, where there are apparently excellent skiing opportunities and some amazing landscapes. Of course a trip with Jorryt and Lilian isn't complete without a Hillman Wonder to see, and luckily there's the Matterhorn on the border of Italy and Switzerland to see. Or Mount Deer, as they called it in Italian (Monte Cervino).
After seeing that and playing in the snow for a bit (small bit), we had lunch in a ski resort before continuing to the regional capital Aosta. A cute little town, where it was very, very cold, so we didn't stick around very long.
The trip back to Milan was not very far (it's only about 2 hours away, really), but the fog was quite dangerous. At one point, we could hardly see the road markings, never mind about road signs or other traffic participants... I was extremely glad not to be driving (thanks to Jorryt). In the end, we made it home safely and in time to enjoy playing some more games as we do often...
The next morning, Jorryt and Lilian left and I decided to go back to work, and because my own building was closed, I went to my old office, where I was hoping to be able to use a computer. I felt very lucky when it turned out that not only were there computers available, there was even heating! That's the first time between xmas and new year that the university actually doesn't switch of the heating system... Unfortunately, they did decide to (temporarily) switch of the network, making it impossible for me to access both the internet and my own documents. Conclusion: little work was done...
Oh well, a few days later the network was back online and I have been doing quite a bit of work since then. Of course not many people are in the University, although it started picking up again the past 2 days (mind you, both 1st and 2nd year students have exams starting on Monday. So they ought to be back).
New Year's Eve was spent at the house of Belinda and Enrico, who returned from their honeymoon in the morning, after getting stuck in Dubai (piece of advice: if you're not European, make sure to bring your Permit of Stay when you leave the European Union...). It was a pretty good night and we got home around 4-ish.
Finally, we've had snow.
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It was disgusting. It rain-snowed on Thursday and actually snowed on Thursday night. Friday during the day, it may have looked fairly pretty, if it wasn't for the rain that was falling, and the fact that the snow had already turned into one big muddy quasi-frozen Margherita. Slush, that is.
I'm glad that's over, anyway, and temperatures should be up again soon!
Ciao,
OJ
PS Movie Tip of the day: The History Boys. A BBC production based on the play that ran at the Royal Theatre in London in 2004. Absolutely excellent movie and interestingly enough, using the same cast as the play. Absolute must-see!
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