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

New in da house!

Now also available in a professional formate: ME

click here to see!

Ciao,
OJ

bits and pieces of news

It's because G. asked that I am posting this. No real news yet from the interview. It seems they are positive, but some minor problems have arisen. Next week there should be more news. Which means I am unfortunately going to miss the conference in Amsterdam.... that's too bad. But to compensate for that, I did get accepted for a conference in Tunisa, early June and invited to attend a week-long seminar at Brown University at the end of June (which I will attend, if I do not get the desired result from the job interview).

So all in all, things seem pretty good, eh? For the rest, I'm very busy, making sure I am all prepared before next week's conference in Izmir, Turkey. And Bart and Tineke were here last weekend and it was lovely! The weather was gorgeous and we enjoyed the city and the antiques market a lot!




I'll keep you posted on further developments!
Ciao,
OJ

PS This was the 300th entry into my blog... And while I am not going to present statistics as fancy as G., I will point out to you that my speed is declining significantly. The first 100 was reached after about 6 months. I reached 200 after about 12 months, but to reach 300, I needed a total of 32 months! It's pathetic, isn't it?

poverino....

Poor Fedor. The funny Dutch people in Eindhoven had some sort of power failure at the airport and his flight got cancelled. So after a lot of calling, messaging and other hassle, his only way of getting back here in time for work tomorrow was by train. So he's in the night train right now from the Netherlands to Milano.

That's what you get for flying Ryanair! If your flight is cancelled, you're on your own... aka: you're f*cked.

Oh well, I will welcome him with all his stuff at the train station tomorrow morning so he can go straight to work!

Ciao,
OJ

blog changes

Well, what do you think? Slightly different colour scheme compared to before, but I must say that I am rather satisfied. The only thing that unfortunately has not survived these changes was the randomised blog-title-picture :-(

But I will look into it to see whether I'm gonna be able to repair that too!

A Very Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! A very happy Easter, in fact: lots of good news recently... I had a job inteview (by phone) for a fellowship program for this Summer, and I will hear the result from that in about a week... I was absolutely dead nervous, obviously, for the interview, but it seemed to have gone quite well!
Additionally, I had my paper accepted at 2 conferences (in Zurich and Amsterdam), although I am not sure yet I am actually going to make it to either of them, but it's always nice to hear that someone is interested, isn't it? Finally, as mentioned before, in 3 weeks, I will be in Izmir again for the weekend for a conference...

So, that was all the good news. For the rest it's been work, work, work (yesss, finally some results for my latest paper: a cooperative effort) and some R&R in between. Fedor's father and his father's girlfriend were in Milano last week. It was quite relaxing for me, because I had a very good excuse not to participate in the Day Entertainment Program... Instead I relaxed and cycled! With Fedors new bycicle, I went on a real trip to investigate the end-of-Milan! That is, I cycled down the Naviglio Grande until I was in the fields.... About 45 minutes of cycling, but it totally felt like I was back in the Netherlands. Look at this picture:


This week-end is, if possible, even more relaxed. On Saturday it was a bit stressfull, because Jorge and Diana (Costa Rican friends of ours) came for dinner and of course I had to match their excellent Costa Rican meal they made for us last month. So I spent the whole day making an entire Japanese meal. And it was a great success!!! So I was very happy about that. Fedor was not as happy, the next morning, because he had to get up early to fly to the Netherlands to see La Famiglia. But I am sure that all the festitivies in the Netherlands will cheer him up, despite his little hang-over... Anyways, I am having 2 very relaxed days, without Fedor here and the University doors locked for Easter! I watched three movies yesterday, while stuffing myself with sushi left-overs: it was lovely! Today, I may make another bycicle tour again, because the weather is gorgeous...

Now, those were my happy thoughts for the day. I will finish with a buckload of pictures of all the things that I hadn't posted pictures of yet.

downtown Porto


View from Cathedral over the river in Porto


Old City in Porto


Fedor, Nuno and Marta in the Museum Gardens


My brothers by Lake Como


Kim and Joost at the Cimitero Monumentale

Ciao,
OJ

PS I wil try and do something about this horrible colour scheme. But I'm not making any promises......

bugger

Well, somehow, I am not able to change the text color anymore. Instead, I've had to change the background. Sorry for those people who are color blind or otherwise visually impaired, I bet it's completely unreadible now. I hope to soon find out how to get back to original state (which I never wanted to change in the first place: bloody blogger!)
Ciao,
OJ

summary...

Well, it seems to have been quite a while since I updated... And for some odd reason, blogspot decided that Black on Blue would be an improvement, it seems... I will correct this asap, once I find out how to do so. However, since I am downloading some movies right now, I have zero-speed when trying to do things online, so I can't do it immediately. This is also the reason why I am not adding any photos here. If you want to see photos from some of the things I will describe later, just check them out on Facebook or Volkskrant Reizen... And maybe I will add some later on, anyway.

Now, I can't believe I didn't even write anything about Porto yet! That trip seems ages ago already, even though it was only about 2 weeks ago. It was realllllly nice to see Marta (and Nuno) again and they were excellent hosts! They showed us all of Porto, which I should say is a beautiful city. It could use some paint and a good cleaning, but overall, it's very charming. But of course, for us it was mostly the hosts that made it best. We ate very, very well (fresh seafood: wooohooo) and went to a Port tasting in one of the cellars. We enjoyed some walking on the beach and a glass of wine looking out on the sea. I can imagine why Marta always says she wouldn't want to leave that city! One thing I did learn, however, is that it is possible to get a jetlag from only 1 hour time difference! Admittedly, it wasn't the time difference, but the fact that our flight was terribly early. Basically, we arrived at 8AM local time and had already been awake for six hours by then! This meant we could really enjoy the whole weekend, but it also meant we were totally wrecked at the end of it.
After returning there was another whole week of work to enjoy before, last weekend, my brothers arrived. It was very cool to see them and they were lucky with the weather. On Sunday, the temperature in Milan reached some 25°C, which is uncommon for Northern Italy on March 1! We went to Como that day and enjoyed the weather, the ice creams and the views from the top of the mountain. It was awesome! Also, they brought a new harddisk for Fedor's computer, which Jorryt had arranged somehow. So now Fedor has his own computer again: VERY NICE...
And............... I'm going to be an uncle again! Niels is expecting another child in September, which means that in my competition with Fedor, I will then be leading 4-0! Beat that! Seriously though, it's very cool and it'll be another good reason to go the Netherlands again in October or so...
The past week, I continued working and received word that my negotiations with the a conference in Izmir were successful: they are paying for my entire trip, including the flights, so I will be in Izmir during the 2nd weekend of April! I can hardly wait!
This weekend, Joost and Kim arrived from Rotterdam, to spend some time here, before taking the train to Firenze this morning. We had a lot of fun, meeting with other friends of mine and walking through town. They had been here before, but that was during Easter (last year) and many things were closed that time. So we had to do the Cimitero Monumentale still, as well as Hightech. I think they enjoyed it a lot too, as did we. Although, to be honest, I don't mind the fact that they left quite early today and we basically have an entire Sunday with each other, not doing much. Very Relaxing...
Particularly because it will give us the chance to FINALLY watch The Godfather tonight. Why make 3-hour movies? It is so inconvenient for people who have to work etc! We've had these since my birthday and never actually had 3 hours of time to watch even just the first part. But today we will!
Ciao,
OJ

Seriously...

Wow, I found out yesterday that the fact that the government fell in January is probably gonna end up costing me about a 1000 euros!!! The 2008 budget included a proposal to increase our scholarship by some 140 euros a month (remember it's about 800 euros a month right now) and even though it has been approved by the parliament and the Senate, there is now no executive in charge to sign the bill. So we're gonna have to wait for the elections, which will probably be won by Berlusconi. And since he's not so big on Universities (he's generally not big on institutions or people that do not agree with him), he will chuck the bill out of the window for sure! So Prodi's fall is going to cost us the scholarship increase. Amounting to something in the order of 1000 euros.... :-(((((((

On to happier topics: we went to an Eritrean restaurant yesterday. And I can tell everyone, it's something you should really try! It was a great experience, which has been described before as "eating pancakes with goulash, with your hands". While this kinda covers it, it doesn't quite describe the entire experience. Definitely a good idea though!

And on to even happier topics: we're going to visit Marta in Porto this weekend. The flight leaves at an absolutely ungodly hour (6.30 AM: that means getting up at 3.30 AM), but I am sure we're gonna have a great time, nonetheless!

That's all I wanted to share today!
Ciao,
OJ

Valentine's Day!

A short Summary of what's been happening: work, work, work, my Mother-in-Law came to visit (woohoo, I received Rome, season 2, as a belated bday present!), lots of sun and great weather and more work. And of course, Valentine's Day:

Well, to be honest, we did't really partake in the whole Valentine's tradition and we didn't particularly celebrate it. We did, however, go to Verona for the weekend! And Verona, the city of Romeo and Juliet, is also known as the city of love, so we sort of turned it into a Valentine's weekend-trip. I had used hotelclub (see link on the right-hand side) to book a 4-star hotel for only 53 euros and it was fantastic! An enormous room, nice little thingies and an amazing breakfast: it was gooood!

The weather wasn't great, unfortunately. Cloudy mornings, sunny afternoons, but with rather low temperatures. But that didn't stop us from going around the city and visiting all the interesting sights!



We returned to Milan Sunday night, very satisfied.

In other news, did I mention I presented my second paper? Well, I did and it was received reasonably well. Currently, my supervisors are looking at it and I am waiting for several conferences to respond. It's looking good! I have also started working on my third paper (within the PhD): a cooperative project this time... So now starts the final phase of my PhD, I guess. I am trying to arrange my oral examinations before Summer and I am really aiming to hand in the dissertation before February 1. We'll see.

The week ahead: Thursday we're going to an Eritrean restaurant! Some friends recently went, and were very enthusiastic. So we're going on Thursday, with some other friends of ours. I cannot wait! Then on Saturday, we're flying to Porto, to visit Marta! It will be lovely, and the weather is forecast to be really good too, so that should be very enjoyable. Either way, it'll be great to see Marta, even when it's not sunny!!!

Yes, I realise this post is completely messy and makes no sense. Oh well, shit happens, I cannot be bothered to go through it and let it make more sense...
Ciao,
OJ

Happy Bday....

It's the season to be older.... I wonder if anyone ever researched whether there is a correlation between birth month and probability to do a PhD (actually, I know some research which does look at birth quarter and education achievement, but not on PhD level), because in my PhD it seems that by far the greatest majority is born between mid-January and May. This means: lots of celebrations. Last weekend was Felix's turn, but he decided against celebrating it. Obviously, we didn't accept this and we (well, I) organised a surprise party for him this weekend. And it was fun! Unfortunately, I did forget to bring my new party-camera I got on my own bday. So no interesting photos of the event...
For the rest it's been hard work to finish my paper before a few conference deadlines. And I managed! The first version of my second PhD-paper is now finished! "Measuring Ethno-Linguistic Affinity Between Nations": in the theatres near YOU! Well, the latter part may not be true, but I will be submitting this paper to a number of conferences (Ankara, Tunis, Amsterdam, Zurich, Athens): we'll see what's going to happen... But I must say that I am rather satisfied about the speed with which this paper has been written. I got the idea in November, so it only took about 3 months. And while it is not completely finished of course, the body of it should be just about finished. I will present it at the Graduate Seminar Series at Bocconi on Monday: let's see what people think...
I have also started brainstorming about the next paper, and it might be a cooperative work! Let's see where that goes...
Fedor and I do not see each other a lot, because we both work a lot. But at least we have the weekends together! Not for long anymore, because the bookings are starting to come in seriously now. February: fully booked. March: fully booked. April: 1 or 2 free weekends. May: fully booked. It's hard being this popular, isn't it???
This weekend: Fedor's mother. That should definitely be fun!
Ciao,
OJ

Happy bday to me!

Well, happy birthday to me! As I mentioned in my previous post, I actually celebrated my birthday for the first time in years! And it was lovely!!! I am absolutely doing it again next year. I found a newly opened hip bar near the University and celebrated it there with some 40-ish people present. What can I say: pictures say more than words, so I'll just post a collage of photos and you can see for yourself:








So, that should give a nice overview of what the party was like. My friend Maja had put herself in charge of taking photos and she did an admirable job! 335 photos in one night!

Although, admittedly, Fedor took the last photo, on the way home when I may have been slightly drunk, but apparently convinced that this was an absolutely gorgeous object and that I would not come home until he took a photo of me with the object:

Oh well, what can I say? It was a good party!

Yesterday, we did very little and simply watched some movies. One more movie tip of the week: Go West, an absolutely amazing movie about a gay Muslim-serbian couple who have to flee Sarajevo and are hiding in a small town in Bosnia. Not the most upbeat film you'll ever see, but certainly very interesting!
Ciao,
OJ