News from DC

So, here is the news from DC!

Actually, there is also sort-of news from before-DC. We had my friend Stephie over for a visit during the weekend, and it was great to see her. The weather was nice in Berlin (at least for 1 day), and we saw lots of the city. Once again, I promise to upload pictures. Except that this time, I actually have time to do so immediately, and I will.

The week after Stephie's visit was quite busy. I had several important deadlines coming up and I fulfilled all of them. So that was quite delightful. Particularly the completion of a paper that had been commissioned by someone publishing an Oxford Handbook had been weighing on my shoulders for along time and I was happy to have completed it.

Anyways, this week I am in Washington DC. For events, but mainly for networking. It started off rather negatively-turned-positively. My Air France flights was overbooked and I got bumped off the flight. And given that this was a 6.45 flight, I obviously wasnt happy about about it. However, when it turned out they were able to put me on a different flight (through BMI Baby and British Airways) that got me to DC with only a 45 minute delay, that relieved my mood. particularly when finding out that I was eligible for the "getting-bumped" compensation anyway! Unfortunately I wasnt completely awake in the morning and chose the 300€ cash reward, instead of the 500€ Air France-KLM voucher, but it is still a nice bonus!!!

When I did get to DC, the weather turned out to be quite horrible, so I spent a few hours in the Washington Plaza hotel, before meeting with my cousin Megan who lives in Arlington. We had dinner together and talked a lot. On Sunday, I met with my friend Jorida for brunch and a bunch of her friends. This was a great networking opportunity (well, sort of). In the evening I had dinner with my friend Macha who works at the Dutch Embassy.

Yesterday (Monday), I had time for sightseeing, and the weather was absolutely amazing. So that was fantastic, and I saw many of the beautiful sights DC has to offer. The trees and their autumny colours are particularly impressive right now... Dinner in the evening with my colleague Kati who arrived as well. Today I moved hotels and I am now staying in the Mayflower Hotel in DC (and am I glad I dont have to pay the 450$ per night it costs). Tomorrow the Real work starts during the German Development Day at the World Bank. We will be presenting some things there, including what was my Job Market Paper. Very exciting! On Thursday there is a Policy Forum and gala dinner, here at the Mayflower, organised by IZA. Finally, on Friday, I will have meetings at World Bank, SAIS and Georgetown Uni, before taking the night flight back to Paris and then to Berlin. busy, busy busy!

Now, as I am in my hotel anyway, I certainly will have time to upload old pictures. And I will! The DC pictures will follow (I would promise next week, when i am back in Germany, but that is probably not too realistic, eh).

Howdy!
OJ