The best part(s) about staying too long...

Before I spend my last week in lab, I took a couple days off to visit the rest of Australia. In particular Cairns (Barrier Reef) and Sydney.
In Cairns I snorkeled around the reef and saw some pretty awesome stuff.


I met up with an American who was on a 2 week leave from Iraq and had a great time with him.

After he left I hung out with a bunch of German guys. Germans are everywhere!!! We went out every night and had a blast. There were a lot of adventures with the "Einkaufwagon."

We also got some much needed sun after spending 2 months in 0 degree weather.

I got to go fishing as well. I was intending to go out in the reef or past it and do some light tackle fishing for small marlin or some other creature of the deep, but the winds picked up. They were forced to keep everything in the river, but that was still a good time. Caught a couple Baramundi and even an eel.

I had about 9 hours on my last day in cairns, which limited options on things I could do. There aren't any beaches, just swampland and the reef. So I only had 1 option...


Down in Sydney, I got to tour around the city and take lots of pictures with the Japanese tourists, including the opera house. I went to see Orlando tonight as well which was really good, but not the best.

In response to all of Miguels VW pictures I felt I would represent the wealth of Italians in Australia with the great Ferrari. I was going to take a picture of the only Australian car manufacturer (Holden) but they don't really make anything worthwile.

Tonight I'm headed out around the town, as Sydney is suppose to be the best for that!

I'm back to work for a few more days soon to finalize all my research before I make the 20 hour flight back to Atlanta where I only have friends... no mates.

Thoughts of Rome...

Today was a nice breezy day outside so I kept the windows open for the fresh air. American windows slide open and have screens, very different from Italian windows that open inwards with vertically reclining shutters. For one, our windows can't block out the sun and let in fresh air at the same time. However, the door of my room was slamming from the changing air pressure and I went to go hook the chain behind the door to keep it open, only to find that it didn't have one...

On another note, I managed to find some "Genoa salame" at the market, despite the very Americanized name. It didn't taste all that bad but it just wasn't the same as the boar salame I got in Rome.

I have been keeping in touch with my friends, co-workers, and professor since I've been home. I really do think I will get to see at least some of them again. It's so sad to think the world was shrinking so rapidly when the mess of expensive energy got caught up with travel.

My next goal is to get my hands on a Vespa so I can feel the wind in my hair again. I think I'm going to go watch Roman Holiday again. It's so amazing that Rome over fifty years ago looks exactly the same it does now, except with fewer tourists. Is anyone else feeling nostalgic for their times abroad?

That is not to say that I am having a terrible time in America. I went bowling last night and ended up in Hooters watching the Olympics with some delicious buffalo wings and cheeseburgers WITH PICKLES. I'm sure you can imagine how very confused I was the first time an Italian expressed distaste in putting "cucumbers" in hamburgers in America.

If anyone is aching to get some real Italian food in Atlanta, Baraonda's in Midtown makes some very authentic Neopolitan pizza. As for the fluffy Roman pizza with potatos and ham, I will have to search some more to get a taste here. If someday I happen to fail at life I think my plan B will be to open an Italian style pizzeria, complete with arancini (fried rice balls with peas, meat, cheese, and sauce), fried olives stuffed with meat, gelati, and of course, tall decanters for serving tap water.

Speaking of tap water, I'm sure there was something in the water in Rome. For at least 5-6 weeks straight I remember I would wake up every morning with my head filled with the vivid dreams that I had had the night before. Afterwards either I just became accustomed to it or perhaps they stopped, but they definitely started again when I went back to Rome and drank some more Roman water. It's really unavoidable, as there are spigots spewing refreshing cold water every block or so. Something is up. I jokingly told my friend that the government might be doping the water to give everyone in Italy the happy demeanor they always have. Whatever it is, that's about the only thing I don't miss about Rome.

Auf Wiedersehen, Deutschland. Bis Naechstes Mal.

What can I say, it seemed like yesterday I got on the plane to London from Miami and then 8 hours later took the train from Munich to Regensburg. Now, I'm typing away on my computer in room in Florida, more than 4700 miles away ( that's about 7600 km). After my last post, I only had about seven work days left not including the weekend. On the last thursday of my internship, my supervisor, Robert, came back from his honey moon in Venezuela. My total work included some synthesis reactions with thiophosphenes and the following workups but the PhD students didn't really have much other than that for me to do since I had so little time left. I spent a lot of my time during that last week in Regensburg with friends I made both in and outside of lab. I played lots of soccer/Fussball, beach volleyball, and took in the Regensburg night life, which is pretty decent for the small town that it is.

My family flew in to Munich on the 21st of July, a Monday and rented a car and drove to Regensburg to see me. I gave them a tour of the lab as well as and introduced them to all of my colleagues and, of course, the PI, Dr. Koenig. As for German culture, it was interesting noting my family's reactions to things that I had come accustomed to, such as drinking, general cleanliness in the city, and German organisation (like all things associated with a culture, these mentioned items are more like generalities and are not absolutes).

On my last working day with AK Koenig (AK = Arbeitskreis (working group)) I invited the three colleagues who worked in lab to dinner with my family and I. The three included Robert, my main supervisor, Stefan, my "adopted" supervisor, and Ralph, another undergraduate working in the lab. I'm going to miss working with them and all of AK Koenig. They really embody the paradigm of a great research group. While they all concentrated and focused on their different research projects, they also shared other common interests outside of research such as cooking, sports, and, of course, drinking. Combined with being German, it was a unique camaraderie that I was glad to be a part of and sad that I had to leave it so soon.

Fellow labmates on my last night in Regensburg. From left to right: Stefan, Robert, and Ralph.

The following day, my family and I left Regensburg to embark on our roundtrip tour of Europe. From Regensburg, we would proceed on to Leipzig, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, and finally, Munich. Leipzig and a part of Berlin used to belong to the old DDR or in English GDR, the German Democratic Republic aka East Germany, and so naturally I found the cold war history the most interesting part during my time there. Aside from the communist pipes sticking into the streets, my first encounter with the cold war was the Stasi Museum, which had a pretty thorough collection of historical items as well as the paper shredders the Stasi used to destroy their documents when the wall was coming down. Leipzig is also well known as one of the hometowns of Johann Sebastian Bach and so we visited his statue as well as the church where he conducted and composed music.

My sister and I at the Stasi Museum.

Berlin has a lot of things to see and do and, therefore, it is a must on anyone's trip to Germany. There's definitely too much to be done in the two and a half short days we were there but thankfully a lot of the interesting things are centrally located near the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag (German Parliament).

The Reichstag, the center of German politics in the country's capital, Berlin. It was set afire in 1933 by a Dutch communist and then survived the Siege in 1945. The remnants of the SS made their last stand here against the Soviets in the Battle of Berlin. Today, tourists can go up on the roof and walk up the glass dome.

The Holocaust Memorial. There is a museum located underneath. It is adjacent one block to the Brandenburg gate.

The Brandenburg Gate. After Napoleon conquered Prussia, current day Germany, he had it dismantled and sent back to the Louvre in Paris. When Napoleon was later defeated and ousted from power, the Prussians or Germans took it back.

If you wanted to visit a city that made you feel like you were back in the 18th century then Prague is the place to be. Sadly, we were only able to see the main tourist sites like the castle and old city, which, although very pretty and worth seeing, were way too packed with tourists from all parts of Europe and the world. It almost felt like the Disneyworld of Europe, except with no rides. I would definitely go back to Prague and the Czech Republic again but I don't have interest to be in the tourist soaked areas, which are full of overpriced restaurants and souvenir shops.

Old Town at Prague, or Praha. The Czech Republic drinks more beer per capita than Germany.

Vienna, or Wien (pronounced Veen), is probably might favorite big city in Europe. The city and architecture are both old and beautiful and complemented by the endless list of things to do. Perhaps Berlin would have been as equally as visually pleasing if it had not been leveled by the Allies in WWII. Among the many tourist favorites, we visited the National Library, Habsburg Palace, Art and Natural History Museums, and we even had Wiener Schnitzel. I also recommend the coffee. Ask for Wiener (Remember "Vee-ner") Melange if you ever stop in a cafe there. Beethoven also had an appartment in Vienna that you can visit.

Wiener Schnitzel. On the left of course.

Vienna Opera House. We just took a tour inside. It is out of season in the summer.

Salzburg is probably Austria's (Oesterreich in German) most popular little city as it was the birthplace of Mozart. We went to the Mozart dinner concert in a thousand year old restaurant. Aside from the River boat cruise and the Church, the only reason you go to Salzburg is to take in the history Mozart. You can visit both his family's residence and his house of birth there. Hotel service was below marginal.

View of Salzburg from the Castle.

Munich would have probably been more fun if I hadn't already done everything by myself before my family came but I still had fun, nonetheless. We visited the Deutsches Museum, the biggest science museum in the world, the BMW World, and Neuschwanstein (Noy-sh-von-stein) which is about an hour outside of Munich. Neuschwanstein is THE castle to see in Germany. Its not a real "castle" in the defensive aspect but more of a palace than anything. It's set in a really beautiful part of the Bavarian Alps. We also stopped by the mountain town of Mittenwald, known for its violins, ski resorts and most importantly, food. No where have I had such good luck in randomly picking restaurants and being so satisfied afterwords. Remember, Mittenwald = GOOD FOOD.

Messerschmitt 262 at the Deutsches Museum. It was the first turbojet fighter plane to be used in war. It made its debut in the European theater of WWII.

View of Bavarian Alps from Neuschwanstein.

And so the next day, I bid farewell to the country I had grown to love and become a part of in almost every cultural aspect. (I didn't get to wear Lederhosen, which is traditionally only Bavarian and Austrian, but I would have bought myself a pair if the average price wasn't around €2oo.) And now I'm sitting here back at home once more again, reflecting on the many adventures and friends I had made. Unforgettable is probably the best way I can describe it.

I hope to share more of my experiences in and out of lab when I get back to Emory. Until then, enjoy the rest of summer.

Thanks again everyone in IRES for helping make this possible. Vielen Dank.

Best wishes or Viele Grüße aus Melbourne, Florida,

Miguel

Last Week

Well, it is officially the beginning of my last week in Japan. I am certainly excited to be coming home, but i would be lying if I said that i wouldn't miss Kyoto. I will definitely miss my bike rides to and from work everyday. I will also miss my favorite bar here, called simply Tom's. It's the perfect kind of bar for me, very small and cozy with ample opportunity for both low and high brow discussion over a pint of Heineken. The bar's owned by and Irishman and frequented by an international customer base, so it's been a great place for a foreigner to hang out.
Last weekend i went to Tokyo on a day trip. I took the bullet train again, so the 300 odd mile trip didn't take too long. Makes me really wish he had bullet trains in the US. I didn't see too much of the city because i was on foot and it was insanely hot, but i did manage to walk over to the Imperial Palace. It is closed to the public with a wide, raised perimeter, so there wasn't much to see. It was still quite impressive though, and helped convey the mystique and majesty of the imperial office.
Like I said, i'm looking forward to getting home. Thankfully, my brother is going to be able to pick me up from the airport so i don't have to face a ride on MARTA after a 20 hour trip. First order of business will be to get some greasy, disgusting American food eaten with a fork and knife(which i know is going to be strange transitioning back to). Then I have to see all the films that came out during the summer that i missed because i was in Japan.

Just a reminder...

To check out my blog :). tasooey.blogspot.com

lots has been happening...

Unpacking

Hi everyone, I've been home for about two days and I've just been resting and trying to get my life back. For those of you who live in the Atlanta area at the moment, you probably remember the enormous storm on Thursday. Well, I was trying to fly out of Hartsfield-Jackson that day (after arriving from London), along with a few other thousand people, and it did not work out so well for nearly all of us. I consider myself fortunate that I actually arrived home that day. I met a family who were trying to catch a cruise in Rome, and another German family who would have to wait in Atlanta for two additional days. The only bad thing that happened to me was that I was up for 26 hours non stop, and definitely crashed once I got home. Everything is fine, and I really miss Rome and Italian food. Today I even made my family this Italian dish I had learned. Since I am home, I guess this is the last post I will write, or perhaps group of posts, depending on how much I can cover in each post. I managed to travel to some other Italian cities after my 10 weeks in Rome, and wow they were really different. I really didn't have enough time, so I'm definitely scoping out places to see the next time I find myself back in Italy.

I went to Venice, which is a group of islands shaped like a fish on a lagune. The people's accent are very different from that in Rome. Imagine something like a Frank Sinatra singing "signorina" and it will give you a better idea. I was very excited to go to Venice, but when my friend and I got out of the airport, we were immediately eaten alive by mosquitoes. Good thing we brought some cortizone cream. My number one complaint about Venice (other than the mosquitoes) is that it is sooooooooooo touristy. If you think about it, Venice doesn't really get any money from anything other than from tourism. I basically was not allowed to take a picture inside any building, and that includes most shops, probably because they wanted to sell more postcards and souvenirs. Nearly everything in the city was geared for tourists, and I heard that native Venetians are moving out because they can no longer afford to live in the city anymore. Tourism aside, the city was very quaint and cute, but I can't imagine living there for long. The streets are very narrow and the abundance of bridges with steps make wheeled vehicles impossible. Trash collection involves a man lugging a two-wheeled cart around and throwing bags behind him. The best thing to use is your own two feet and boats. We were very lucky to get a room in the center of town.

It really is amazing to see an entire city on the water. The taxis, buses, and even ambulances were boats. The ambulances disobeyed the "no wake" regulations just as police cars ignore speed limits even in the absence of an emergency. While there, I got to visit an island called Murano, which is famous for its Venetian glass. There was a glass museum with little miniature cities made of glass inside. I also got to visit the Doge's palace, with all its extravagance and themed rooms.

Here I am going on the gondola ride. Unfortunately our gondolier wasn't enthusiastic enough to sing.

The patron saint of Venice is St. Mark the Evangelist. The Piazza San Marco has the enormous cathedral the Basilica of San Marco, which contains the relic remains of the saint stolen from Alexandria around 780. They wanted to have the body of a very famous saint to rival those of Peter and Paul, which are held in the papal state of Rome. Also to be different from Rome, a lot of their architecture and even interpretation of the Bible reflect Eastern Orthodox tradition rather than Roman Catholic. Back in the day Venice was a huge merchant city since it sat at the cross way of land and sea trade to western Europe. Now Venice pretty much does everything for tourists. I couldn't even take pictures anywhere.

I am on the balcony on top of San Marco basilica overlooking San Marco Square

We also went to Naples for a couple of days. Naples is a beautiful city right on the coast. In Naples we stayed in an apartment owned by an elderly man who was simply delightful. Like other cities built in the need of defense, our apartment was on top of a huge hill. The owner, named Giuseppe, gave us both a ride on the back of his Vespa to bring us and our luggage up to the apartment. We spent most of our time in Naples walking along the sea, checking out castles, and oh yeah, visiting POMPEI.

This is the coast along Naples. You can see the Castel d'Uovo on the left and Mt. Vesuvius in the background. It's actually much larger and more menacing in person.

On the beach in Naples, which was mostly rocks and not sand, there were chains of locks around lamp posts. Closer investigation revealed that they were locks of lovers' names professing their eternal love.

Pompei was a very fun experience, as I absolutely LOVE ancient Roman ruins, but it wasn't nearly as exciting as Ostia Antica. Many of the rooms were locked up and unaccessible. Perhaps they want to better preserve the rooms or to earn more money, but they offer tickets valid over several days and probably rotate the open rooms. Pompei is much larger than Ostia Antica and we spent about seven hours walking around. There were rooms of very well-preserved wall paintings and frescoes. Unfortunately, pretty much every statue, notable fresco, or mosaic had been removed and placed in the National Archeological Museum of Naples.

This is a wall fresco from the Villa of Mysteries depicting some sort of Egyptian ritual.

A fresco of the birth of Venus behind an elaborate fountain in the large gardens behind another villa.

We then returned to Rome for two days as I was flying out of Rome to London. I finally made a trip to the Vatican museums. We took a guided tour and saw some very famous statues, rooms, paintings, etc. The guided tour lasted only 2 hours, and there were years left to see!!! I really regretted not going to the museums more when I was in Rome. I will have to go again each time that I return to Rome.

This is the famous statue of Laocoön which scholars only had written documents about. It was rumored to have decorated the Domus Aurea, or the Golden Palace belonging to Nero. It was unearthed around Michelangelo's time and subsequently identified. Laocoön was a Trojan priest who had warned the Trojans of the gift of the horse, but no one listened to him and gods on the side of the Greeks sent sea serpents to eat him and his sons. At the time of its discovery, however, the right arm of Laocoön was missing, and they completed the piece according to inference. The display of this statue was the beginning of the "Museums" of the Vatican, some 500 years ago. Hundreds of years later, the arm was actually discovered, and they realized that the statue should have been reconstructed according to Michelangelo's suggestions. So, the arm was reattached and the other additions removed.

In London I did not get to see much as I was only staying for one day to catch my flight. However, I did get to go on the Eye of London, which is a huge ferris wheel overlooking the Thames river.

In this picture, you can see the next cart of the Eye, the houses of Parliament attached to Big Ben, as well as Westminster Abbey right behind them.

I also got to take a short tour of the Tower of London. It was so strange to think that Rome had its heyday around 2000 years ago and then around the Renaissance, while most of England's significant history and buildings come from the Middle Ages. It really goes to show that the times of great development for a country or region has marked its romanticization in novels today.

Now that I am home, I don't have anything to eat! I have gotten so spoiled by the cheap olive oil, cheese, and meats sold in Italy. I think all of these things are controlled products from Italy, which means they can not even be produced elsewhere and must be imported. What a tragedy. I bought Parmiggiano Reggiano from Kroger and it was just NOT the same. Oh well, I guess I can look forward to the next time I'm in Italy for good eats.

I really do miss Italy already, and I am so thankful for this opportunity to have lived there. I met a world of wonderful people who I will keep in touch with and my outlook on life and the world has changed substantially. Thank you IRES!!!!! I can't wait to share more about my experiences at our next meetings (are we having more?).

To make up for lost blogging

So I didn't post much at all at the beginning of my time here in Melbourne, so I'll be making up for it a little.  This weekend I went down the Great Ocean Road, which is a winding road that overlooks cliffs of the South Pacific Ocean and a rainforest on the other side.

The  rain forest actually is home to the mountain ash which is reportedly larger even the the california redwoods, but the largest trees were harvested by early settlers.  The remaining trees were pretty impressive though.

There were more koalas as well in the forest, but none of the pictures rival the hard copy I have of me feeding one.  Since it's a hard copy though it will have to wait until August to be scanned in and showed around.

The 12 apostles are these really cool landforms that are caused by the rock eroding and collapsing.  There were originally 16 according to natives, 12 when early settlers found them and now only 7 (the last one fell down in 2005).  

London's Bridge was a really cool landform with a great story.  It was called London's bridge years ago, but in 1950 part of it fell down and really gave the nursery rhyme a new meaning.  However when it fell down there was a couple that was out on the far platform and they got stuck for hours.  The best part though, is that the guy told his boss he was sick and was staying home.  And also told his wife that he had to stay late at work...  They were on national TV and he lost his wife and his job!

We had a party afterwords to say goodbye to one of our friends who's heading back to Germany.  She actually lives in Regensburg, Miguel!  Not many pictures survived...