Where is Iris now?

Earthquakes felt by Eeyore

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 22:04:41 GMT

Also, also, for people who do not follow me on my facebook: to get to know my science community a bit better (and for them to get to know me), I started to write (irregularly) for the Seismology Division blog of EGU as a guest writer and I am in the process of setting up the Geodynamics Division blog of EGU as coordinating editor and, hence, regular contributor.

I'll post links on this blog to my posts there. I solemnly promise that they will be fun reads for everyone to enjoy. You don't need to be an expert in seismology or geodynamics (I'm not. Yet).

The first fun blog was for the Seismology Blog and it was about earthquakes that Eeyore may have felt. It combined my passion for British classic literature with my actual work. Perfect.

Happy reading!

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A Tale of Two Cities

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 21:52:22 GMT

For my BILBO bookclub - Classic British Literature book club, we had to read A Tale of Two Cities this month. As I wrote a little something on goodreads to remember it, I thought I might as well post it here, and once again breath life into the blog. I have a lot of stories to tell you, and a lot of pictures to show you. Did you know I should still update you about my trips to Japan, America (San Francisco), St Petersburg and Leeds? It's a lot to take in, I know. But let's first focus on this book, okay?

The first sentence of this book, is the epic sentence: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

And from there it goes downhill, because it gets boooooring... Luckily it's more of a parabola (instead of a linear decline), because the ending is awesome! And actually makes the book worth it.

The ending was just... wow... I'm speechless. True, you have to plough through 2/3 of the book to get to a moderately interesting last 3rd, but the last 70 pages are just absolutely worth it.

Some things I learned about the French revolution and want to remember:
- Liberty, equality, fraternity or death. That was the original motto during the Terrors after the French revolution. Leave it to the French to scratch that last part of their motto nowadays.
- There were so called knitting-women who were knitting during the guillotine executions.

Besides the mostly, quite frankly, boring stuff, there were some beautiful passages/chapters that reminded me of the Dickens that I loved in Oliver Twist and David Copperfield. Favourite passages were:
- The description of Dr Manette's trauma. It was just really powerful and well written.
( Spoilers )

I wasn't really emotionally invested in any of the characters, though. I thought Lucie was pretty bland, as she was the 'perfect lady' everyone was in love with. I guess my favourite character was Dr Manette, because his trauma was so well described.

Final verdict is that I actually liked the book, even though I thought that would be impossible during the first 300 pages.

And with that, I leave you with the hope of ever finding yourself a Sydney Carton to love. There. I said it.

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Harry Potter London - The Cursed Child

Tue, 22 Nov 2016 18:01:19 GMT

More than a year ago, in October 2015, the first tickets for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child were released. I was determined to get some, so that we could go with the whole book club! I registered as a priority member (because that's what I'm like), and had the most stressful internet-experience ever! After getting through the queue (finally!), I had to click on the dates with a green or yellow colour (indicating availability) to book tickets. Only my dates didn't have any colour at all! They weren't even red! I have never been so disappointed by a colourless calendar! So: frantic google search about what could possibly be the problem. Meanwhile, I am panicking, because you only have 5 bloody minutes to do everything on that website!

Long story short: the safari browser was not supported yet. Are you freaking kidding me?

So, I got kicked out, went back into the queue (bloody queue) with some 20000 people before me (seriously..) while frantically downloading firefox. As you do. Mild heart attack ensued when they announced that the tickets were now sold out. Which was very ironic, as this was still the priority-member sale, before the sale opened to the general public. Luckily, the smart Harry-Potter-people also realised they couldn’t open the sale the next day while everything was already sold out, so they added more tickets to the mix and then (and only then) I managed to snatch 4 tickets for October 2016.

Fast forward a year And we finally got to go to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child a few weeks ago, after more than a year of anticipation. As you can imagine, the expectations were astronomically high at this point, also because we all had refrained from reading the script and had avoided spoilers online. Or as JK Rowling would say: #KeepTheSecrets.

And that is, strangely, my most important piece of advice to you: refrain from reading the script, avoid spoilers and you will have the best time ever. I have always been a theatre lover, but beyond a doubt I can say that this is the best piece of theatre I have ever seen. And I mean ever. I have seen quite a few big (musical) productions, and some plays, but this was a whole other level. My favourite musicals Footloose, Avenue Q, and Cats can’t compete with this magical gem of theatre! Les Misérables, Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat are all very nice, but peanuts compared to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Promise.

The music! The acting! The theatre (you will know what I mean if you’ve been ;) The costumes! The magic! The story! The characters! Oh! It was amazing, magical, basically-any-positive-word-you-can-possibly-think-of.

After the show, we got our programs signed by some of the cast members. I was by that time in a very peculiar state of mind, and could only babble to them about how great the show was and how thankful I was to them for being so amazing and blablabla. They must’ve thought that I was some weirdo-creep, but that’s okay..

In the spirit of keeping the secrets, I will only share some of my favourite quotes behind the cut.

( (mild) SPOILERS! - My favourite quotes from the play )

And then I leave you today with the cheeky fact that, after another stressful afternoon, I managed to get tickets for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child for January 2018 (seriously though!). So I’ll be back!

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Harry Potter London - The Studios

Mon, 14 Nov 2016 19:21:58 GMT

I have been to London a few times already (I even visited London during the Harry Potter Holiday "Harry's Magical England" which is, indeed, as awesome as it sounds), but I had never been to the Harry Potter studios before! Can you believe it? The main reason for this is that you have to pre order your tickets online and I had never had the foresight to do this (I didn’t know this amazing place existed!) and/or I didn’t have a laptop with me, so no chance of getting tickets while I was in London, admiring the billboards…

But, now, finally I had the foresight and I made the book club come along with me! We arrived via Watford Junction and the Harry Potter bus (*screaming internally!!*) and were soon inside the premise. Tips from other Harry-Potter-fan-friends included the fact that I had to get the children’s passport at the studios, because you can collect awesome stamps and look for snitches. I was desperate to get one. Normally, I shy away from things like this, particularly asking these things, because, you know, embarrassing!, but now I was determined to get one of these passports. Shame aside and go for it! So, when I was walking into the studios absolutely giddy with anticipation/happiness/nerves-about-asking-for-this-bloody-thing I soon got a Harry Potter passport from a lovely woman walking past. Yay! Day made! Happy! But only if we would act childish and over-excited inside the tour. No problem!

The others also got a passport (some more reluctantly than others..), but soon found out, when we were actually doing the tour, that the stamps were absolutely gorgeous and so worth it! It is, however, quite hard to get the stamps in your passport nicely, as not all of them work well. The best advice I can give you is to only put one piece of paper underneath the stamps. That seemed to work best.

The tour itself is a-ma-zing! I have always loved the books and the films (although I will always stay true to the books), but I have now gained a whole new level of appreciation for the movies. There is so much detail in all the props and sets! It is absolutely incredible. Most of these details aren’t even visible on screen (or at least, I have never noticed them, and I have seen the films quite often!) and they still put in so much effort!

One of the coolest things there (according to me) were the Death Eater masks, as each Death Eater in the movie has a different, individual mask, with minuscule detailing, that is handmade and fitted to the actor. Stunning.

The set that I found most beautiful was the Ministry of Magic set: it is quite big and has these great, lively colours of red and green! It’s a shame that they put a dark filter on the movie, so that the bright colours don’t really pop out, even though they are incredible on set.

The Yule Ball sculpture/drink bar was visually stunning

Isn’t this amazing? This is an actual, real working door with slithering snakes that they made for movie 2

Hogwarts Railways! On the actual train!

Saying hello from the Knight Bus!

My finest moment was when we were talking to one of the staff members and he challenged us to guess to whom one of the wigs belonged, after hinting that it was a very difficult one. After an additional hint (it was movie 7), I correctly identified the wig as belonging to Aunt Muriel! Woohoo!

I went slightly crazy in the shop, and bought the following:
• An Edible Dark Mark for each of my office mates and myself (although I don’t think they fully appreciate the Edible Dark Mark). Of course, as you undoubtedly know, it was developed by Fred & George Weasley during the Second Wizarding War to make fun of the Death Eaters and keep up the spirits of people. I don’t think my office mates get any of the humour. I don’t even know if they know what a dark mark is. Anyhow, they each have a lollipop now!
• The Souvenir Guidebook. Did you expect me to just not buy it? Right, I didn’t think so!
• A Ravenclaw pillow, because I am a Ravenclaw, obviously. (It’s not just me that thinks so: I was sorted accordingly on Pottermore as well)
• A Pygmy Puff to help me face the lonely days and nights in Switzerland (I know it’s not real, but it does purr…)
• A gorgeous notebook, which I have yet to write in (it is so pretty! I don’t want to destroy it!)
• A snitch charm. Very expensive. I repeat: very expensive. But it is real silver with plated gold and it would just look lovely on my silver necklace, right? And this never looses it’s value, right?

In any case, you get the idea. I won’t tell you what I had to pay in the end (I threw away the receipt as soon as possible. I am repressing the memories as we speak), but let me just tell me that I didn’t feel so bad for spending all my money on this stuff, when I saw the woman that was standing behind me in line holding a broom. I repeat: She was going to buy a broom. At least I did not spend my money on a fake Nimbus 2000, huh? That is something. Although she was also feeling the embarrassement of the purchase herself and kept telling people that it was not for her. Even if it was, I wouldn’t have judged. It is a Nimbus 2000 after all.

And so, I leave you today with an important question: what should I call my Pygmy Puff? I haven’t got a name yet, and am tempted to select a name from Cursed Child… Very tempted to go with Scorpius, but that seems a little extreme for my pink, fluffy Pygmy Puff. So, suggestions?

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Harry Potter London - Sightseeing & The Mousetrap

Wed, 02 Nov 2016 20:06:49 GMT

On our second day in London, we decided to do some sightseeing. We started with a brief stop at Piccadilly Circus and then went to Westminster to view the Big Ben (one of the musts for one member of the book club), the houses of parliament, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye. I can assure you that they all still look lovely.

In the St. Margaret’s Church (next to Westminster Abbey) was a sale of Christmas cards for charity. We all really wanted to buy some Christmas cards for a good cause and I found the most adorable Christmas cards of ‘Ratty & Mole in the snow’ from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, which were also, of course, extremely relevant Christmas cards for our book club (we read The Wind in the Willows a while ago :) ).

After walking around a bit, and having a delicious lunch at a Greek restaurant, our next stop was Buckingham Palace. After establishing that the queen was at home (though sadly wouldn't invite us over for tea), we walked through Green Park to the big Waterstones book shop near Piccadilly Circus. The parks of London are one my most favourite things about the city!

We drooled and sighed and dreamed for a looooong time in the book shop, because BOOKS. Being in a book club and all, this book shop was heavenly. Of course, we couldn’t resist buying some marvellous books (although, alas!, I hadn’t calculated this in my holiday-budget.. I think this was the moment I decided that the budget would go out of the window…), and I bought two lovely books:
• A very luxurious edition of The Canterbury Tales (which was so beautiful I really needed to have it! And also, we will read this at some point with the book club, so it will be totally worth it, right?)
• A book full of Russian Fairy Tales in anticipation of going to St. Petersburg in a few months. Again, a totally necessary buy; I challenge you.

To top of this wonderful day, we went to the Mousetrap in the evening. If you are not familiar with this, The Mousetrap is a play by Agatha Christie which has been running for 64 years on West End continuously. It is the world’s longest running play. Traditionally, the Mousetrap has not been published in any books, and the terms and conditions by Agatha Christie determine that no movie can be made unless the Mousetrap stops running on West End for more than 6 months. So, of course it has been running for 64 years straight. Can’t risk making a movie out of this, right?

All this makes the Mousetrap an extremely cool play to go to: the plot and solution are heavily guarded secrets and everyone who sees the play is politely asked to keep the secret. As we are going to read Detectives with the book club next year, this was the perfect kickoff!

I can also attest to the fact that the play is very well written, very humorous and entirely unpredictable with a very good surprise ending. Agatha Christie really is the Queen of the Whodunnit!

To blow my budget a bit more, I did not only buy the programme of the play, but also a book with a collection scripts written by Agatha Christie. Again: a must.

And then I leave you today with the fact that we attended the 26659th performance of The Mousetrap to be precise. Quite something, wouldn’t you say?

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Harry Potter London - Platform 9 3/4

Tue, 01 Nov 2016 19:04:10 GMT

Instead of trying to catch up with the increasing amount of things I should write here concerning trips/holidays etc., I am just going to write about something that has gotten me extremely excited. Even for me. Office mate R. noted that he knew I could get very enthusiastic, but he had never actually seen me jumping around.

So. Excitement.

I went to London last week for a long Harry Potter weekend. I love Harry Potter, and I love London and the UK. In fact, if it wasn't for the great opportunity at ETH, I would've definitely moved to the UK, because that is just where I would like to live at some point. But we'll see what happens in the future :)

Just so you know, this is not my first Harry Potter holiday, and neither will it be my last. I love Harry Potter extremely. I have a lot of friends who love Harry Potter in various degrees, but somehow I always seem to be the most extreme. How can I not be, I ask you, because it is Harry Freaking Potter (consider yourself awarded 10 house points if you recognise that reference ;) ).

So. HARRY POTTER LONDON.

The idea started a loooooooooooong time ago! In fact, it started in 2015 when I learned that a new Harry Potter play was coming out. Even before the title was released, I knew that I had to go there, because if there is anything I love besides books, it is theatre. It touches me in a way books or movies never can: for me, it is a very emotional, personal and beautiful experience. Which sounds lame, but that is just the way it is. So I was determined to go to this play, no matter the costs or logistics and I registered as a priority member (obviously).

Sidenote: bearing in mind my love for theatre, I was absolutely thrilled when I got a musical-voucher from my office mates and colleagues for my birthday 2 weeks ago :)

When the tickets for Cursed Child actually went on sale, things were absolutely crazy! It was by far my most stressful experience on the internet ever! After a brief moment of panic - where I finally got through the queue to buy tickets, but learned that the Safari browser wasn’t working, so I had to get back into the queue, while frantically downloading FireFox - a new booking period from September - December 2016 was released and I managed to get 4 tickets for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on October 29, 2016 for the entire book club (they had consented to go to the play with me with varying degrees of enthusiasm..). I was elated! But it was over a year before we actually got to go.

And last week, the time had finally come to go to London, to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I had deliberately not read the script (even though it was seducing and tempting me from my book case every single day, since I had pre-ordered it of course!), so that everything would be a surprise.

However, just going to London for only 1 play (even though it is Harry Potter), seemed a bit of a waste, especially since some members of the bookclub hadn’t been in London before. So we (well, I mainly) decided to go to London for a long Harry Potter weekend with lots of activities related to Harry Potter and books! I very happily arranged it all :)

So these blog posts will be the Harry Potter London Chronicles, where I will tell you in detail about our A-MA-ZING Harry Potter weekend. Today, the first instalment: Harry Potter London - Platform 9 3/4.

We arrived on Wednesday, October 26 in the evening and had a lovely pizza dinner at King’s Cross station. After the dinner, we went to Platform 9 3/4 (OF COURSE), where we had our photo’s taken (I did not anticipate buying them, but the photos were just so superior to the ones we managed to make ourselves) in house scarfs (I am a proud Ravenclaw!).
I also bought quite some stuff in the shop: a Harry-Potter-bag (which I really needed), and Harry Potter trivial pursuit (so that we could play it during the weekend) and of course the photo. The rest of the weekend, I bought more stuff, and more justifications will follow :p

For now though, I will leave you, while I depart from Platform 9 3/4 with the Hogwarts express!

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PhD retreat in the Black Forest (Germany)

Fri, 23 Sep 2016 12:20:22 GMT

(So, I wanted to write earlier, but then: summer holidays: Japan!, back to work! Conference! You know what it’s like…, so here a very outdated update.)

To forge a bond between all the Earth science PhD students at ETH, a PhD retreat was organised in May so that we could actually meet people that are not on the same floor (I believe I tend to be quite narrow-minded socially…). We all went to a large guest house in the Black Forest in Germany and then indulged in science and not-science :)

View from the guest house.

One day we had an excursion (so that not all days were science-y) and I opted for the geological excursion. It was really nice on the one hand (nice nature, we also needed to go to a castle to view the rocks, which was pretty cool. And they had ice cream there), but on the other hand, it made me realise again why I didn’t choose geology: rocks! I just don’t see the things in them that I am supposed to see. Just give me some models!

Walking up to the castle.

The castle! So pretty!

The cherry on the cake was that I got a lot of compliments on my presentation (representing our research group). Most importantly, I apparently know the level of my audience very well, so that everyone can enjoy my presentations. Nice!

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Excuses for being away + Tatort Jungfrau

Wed, 27 Jul 2016 20:21:33 GMT

I have been neglecting this blog (for like, the 100th time), I know. I'm sorry. Shall I name work as an excuse again? Yeah let's do that..

You see, when you're a PhD at ETH, there is apparently this thing called a 'Proposal Defence'. Before getting into ETH, I had never heard of it, as it is not common in the Netherlands. The proposal defence is one of the two major deadlines during your PhD (the other being the defence of your actual thesis): before the first year is up (but at the end of your first year), you have to present your 'proposal' for the rest of your PhD to the committee. In order to make it appealing, a mere schedule and some vague plans are not enough: you basically have to show everything you have done so far (or generate results very quickly), and give a very detailed plan, including methods, time estimation, etc. This is also one of the most likely stages where you could potentially get fired. After this, you are pretty safe. So: it's a big deal.

Needless to say, when the date for your proposal defence comes nearer and nearer you realise more and more that you actually do not have enough results to fill the 'approximately' 10 pages report. So, you go into panic mode and work. At least, that is what I did. I sacrificed a total of 3 weekends (farewell!) and worked more hours than usual during the week, although I did not work crazy hours: I know I'm not productive when I try that. In the end, I did have a report of 37 pages and some (nice?) results, so I guess it was worth it? In any case, the committee let me pass (after a discussion/question round, which made me sweat a lot. I know they should ask me things, but it was nerve-racking.. )

My proposal defence was July 11, 2016 and I started really working on it (or rather: generating the results) somewhere in May. Busy times.

Unfortunately, these two months of work coincided with a lot of travel (most of them work related), so I was (and still am) a bit knackered.

To get over this, I am going on a (well-deserved) holiday soon to ... *wait for it* ... Japan! Not sure if I'll be completely rested afterwards, but it should be at least very awesome.

Before I will post pictures of Japan though, I wanted to share my recent (work-related) trips with you.

The first trip (which was just for fun, not work) was Tatort Jungfrau during the Pentecost weekend: a detective game in the Swiss Alps (Jungfrau region), where you have to find clues located everywhere in the area. It was a fun way of discovering one of Switzerland's most beautiful scenery.

Snowy landscapes at Kleine Scheidegg

( Click here if you want more pictures )

Next trip I will tell you about is the PhD retreat in the black forest in Germany. Stay tuned!

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Cats!

Mon, 09 May 2016 20:16:08 GMT

Yesterday, we (friend N. and me) went to Cats - the original English production in Basel and it was a-ma-zing!! Basel has a lovely theatre: I also saw the Lion King there last summer!. It made me realise again exactly how big of a passion of mine theatre is. Unfortunately, I can't really do much with this passion here: I'm away half the time, so how could I ever play in a production? Not to mention the fact that most groups are German-speaking. Fortunately though, there are occasionally some very good (English/original) productions in Basel and/or Zürich, so I can at least satisfy some of my theatre-cravings :D (bloody expensive, though).

To commemorate this cheerful day a not-so-very-flattering-made-in-a-hurry-picture of us in front of the Cats logo.

I will sing these songs for a looooooong time to come ;)

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Mount Rigi

Sun, 08 May 2016 13:00:43 GMT

Last Thursday (on our sneaky extra free day) I decided to take matters into my own hands and proposed a 'lazy people mountain day trip'. Very soon, we had established the Lazy People Group, consisting out of 4 people.

We decided to go to Mount Rigi near the Vierwaldstättersee and take the cogwheel train up to the top, instead of walking up (we are the Lazy People Group, after all). The weather was great and the views were breathtaking, so I will share my most pretty pictures with you now!

Taking the cogwheel train up
After going to Arth-Goldau by train from Zürich, we took the cogwheel train up. This ride lasted for about 45 minutes and was very scenic. You should definitely go on this train once (even if you’d normally rather walk up the mountain), because you’ll see great views from spots you can’t always reach yourself.

N. and F. are in the right spirit! We were very lucky when we took the train, as we were in the old, cosy train!

Train looks cute, doesn’t it?

Views at the highest train station Rigi Kulm
This is the view you are greeted with immediately after stepping out of the train:

( More views from the train station )

Views from the hotel/restaurant
F., who was in charge of maximising the laziness of the day, soon found an elevator which took us one level up, to the hotel/restaurant with, again, very pretty views!

Me!

( More views from the hotel/restaurant )

Views from the top
After laughing a bit at our laziness with the elevator, we took the gentle path upwards (total distance ~300 m) to the absolute top of the mountain. This path was marked with a statue of an old man with a cane. Laziness maximised again! The other path, by the way, (which was shorter, but much steeper), was indicated by a statue of a fine, young, backpacking guy. Of course.

( More views at the very top! )

On our way back from the top to the restaurant, we were not really paying attention and hence missed the path for both the lazy or elderly people and for backpacking guys. Hence, we chose our own path and just walked down over grass and snow. This was the first indication that our group name might be changed eventually to the Somewhat Lazy People Group.

Hike from Rigi Kulm to Rigi Staffel
After a lunch at the restaurant (I had a bratwurst with fries), which was expensive but okay, and a visit to the souvenir shop, we decided to walk down to the next cogwheel train station, as that was not too far (we started to really become a Somewhat Lazy People Group).

We hiked from all the way up there!

( More views during the hike from Rigi Kulm to Rigi Staffel )

Hike from Rigi Staffel to Rigi Klösterli
We were (surprisingly) still in good shape when we reached the cogwheel station and we decided that we actually wanted to hike a little more; not in the least because when you hike, you see a different view every twist and turn, which is amazing! Unfortunately, the next stretch of the trail/path next to the cogwheel tracks that we had been following so far, was still snowed under, so we couldn’t take that. Fortunately, J. found a path which was even suitable for prams from Rigi Staffel to Rigi Klösterli. This was a nice 40 minute walk on a very well-maintained path (although I’m not sure if it would really be that suitable for prams, but Swiss people are special, so maybe they would be able to use it for prams after all..).

( Views during the hike from Rigi Staffel to Rigi Kloesterli )

Hike from Kräbel to Arth-Goldau
When we reached Rigi Klösterli (which was again a cogwheel train station), we decided to take the train down a few stops, because the total hiking time back to the main station in Arth Goldau was over 2 hours, and even though we were quite active so far, we are still the Somewhat Lazy People Group :p.
So, we ended up taking the train from Rigi Klösterli to Kräbel from which we walked all the way to the main station of Arth-Goldau.

( More views from Kraebel to Arth-Goldau )

It was a lovely, lovely walk. While waiting for our train back to Zürich, we had some ice cream and when we arrived in Zürich, we had some drinks in the park. It was a lovely, great, amazing, somewhat lazy day and I can’t wait to go to the mountains again!

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A first impression of Vienna

Thu, 05 May 2016 19:51:50 GMT

I went to my first big conference: EGU in Vienna! It was quite the experience! Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to visit the city. I did manage however, to get a few nice pictures of the city centre and the conference centre :)

City centre + river

Conference centre

Stephansdom

Beautiful fountain

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The Winterthur-Tour

Thu, 05 May 2016 19:45:19 GMT

One of my collegues, R., and his girlfriend live in Winterthur, which is a city near Zürich. They invited us on April 10 for a lovely dinner and a tour of their city. I came up with ‘The Winterthur-Tour’, and I will admit, I was very pleased with myself :)

Winterthur

If I remember correctly, this is the town hall, which was designed by the same architect that designed the ETH main building.

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Englischer Garten in Munich

Sun, 10 Apr 2016 08:56:37 GMT

When did this actually happen? March 19, 2016

And then, spring was finally there! While in Munich, I used this beautiful spring day to visit the Englisher Garten in Munich, which is a enormous park. It was lovely!

It was huge! This is only a tiny bit of the complete gardens.. Oh my!

There was a Chinese tower in the Englisher Garten, because that makes sense?!

It was such a lovely, lazy day.

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Being nerdy in Munich

Sat, 09 Apr 2016 13:59:13 GMT

When did this actually happen? March 16, 2016

I went to Munich for two weeks to collaborate with some people on one of the codes I am using (which is developed in Munich). During these two weeks, we also had a meeting of the project that I am in. This meeting was at the technical university of Munich (I was visiting the other university: LMU), and this technical university had to spent some money on art.

They made mathematical art. Mathematical art.

I’ll be honest with you: I went slightly crazy. There is of course a reason that I briefly studied mathematics: I really do appreciate good (and bad) mathematics jokes. So this university was made for me!

First of all, they had written the Fibonacci sequence on the wall facing a glass wall in the elevator, so that you could see the Fibonacci sequence when going up or down in the elevator. How awesome is that?

Also, they had giant slides from the third floor to the ground floor in the mathematics building! These two slides together form a parabola *squeeeeee*.

I had to go on them, but was a bit self-conscious. Luckily, after the meeting, when I tentatively proposed going on the slides to my colleagues, they turned out to be quite willing as well. So we went on the giant slides! They are really steep at the beginning (well, duh, it’s a parabola), so you go really, really fast! They are great! I want to go back now. Even better: I want slides at ETH!

Me coming out of the slide really fast!

And then, when we went home, I found out that even the subway station of the university was full of geeky physics and mathematics art, highlighting lots of famous scientists. I hope we have a lot more meetings here in the future.

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Skiing seismologists - Day 2

Sat, 09 Apr 2016 12:19:58 GMT

When did this actually happen? February 28, 2016

The weather was quite bad this day, so most of the seismologists refrained from skiing, actually. Instead we became the road-tripping seismologists: we decided to visit Montreux, which is supposed to be very beautiful with a lake view and mountains in the distance, and Gruyère, which is famous for its cheese, of course, and apparently hosts a museum about HR Giger and his art that some of us wanted to visit.

So, let’s start with Montreux. Well, the sad thing was that the weather was pretty crappy in Switzerland as well, so the beautiful lake view with mountain vistas was nowhere to be seen. Pity. It was still nice for a little stroll, though, and it did look very promising, so I should visit again on a clear, sunny day. I think it can be really pretty then. After our winter-stroll, we were all starving and found a very good Chinese restaurant where we had a delightful lunch. So goooood!

The lake view in Montreux: very nice sidewalk, but unfortunately no mountains…

Then, we drove to Gruyère to visit the museum. Apparently this museum is about the guy who designed the art work for the movie Alien (which I haven’t seen) and in this museum you can see all his other art.

Good things about Gruyère: the village turned out to be a Medieval village that is a touristic place because it’s so beautiful. So the village was very cute and in between mountains. Also, they have a local speciality of meringues and cream that is absolutely delicious! I wish I could go back only for that!

Pretty castle village!!!

Look at it. Just look at it. Even though it’s hazy, it is still so pretty!

Bad things about Gruyère: The museum was absolutely disgusting! This is so not my type of art. I actually never do well with disgusting things, in the sense that I get easily nauseous when blood or other yuck is involved and this museum had it all and more! Horrifying experience. Not my type of thing. Yuck. Unfortunately, I do now feel obligated to watch this Alien movie (as I’ve seen all the art now anyway), but I really, really don’t want to. Maybe on a sunny day at 13:00h to prevent nightmares. Maybe…

So, all in all, day 2 of the ski-weekend involved slightly less skiing, but was quite fun nonetheless. I saw a lot more of Switzerland in any case. I am already looking forward to the skiing weekend next year!

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Skiing seismologists - Day 1

Sat, 09 Apr 2016 11:50:18 GMT

When did this actually happen? February 27, 2016

We went skiing with the research group (the skiing seismologists) in Les Houches, France (because even though we are living in Switzerland, driving all the way to France and skiing there for a weekend is cheaper :p ). Now, if you remember the previous post I wrote about skiing for the first time, you will remember that that did not go so well (and that is, indeed, an understatement).

However, this time I wasn’t the only one who had never been on skis before, so me and two colleagues decided to take a class (smart idea!) to actually learn skiing instead of slowly (or quickly) skiing to our death.

The class was freaking awesome! None of us fell! And at the end I was actually quite comfortable to follow the instructor and ski down a (I guess green) slope. It was really, really nice. Our instructor was also a really nice guy: every time we tried something new (such as letting go of our poles, getting on the conveyor belt to go up, getting in the ski lift!, doing turns, etc.), he would gladly cheer us on and scream: “See, you didn’t die! Hooray!”. He really knew how we felt.

After our class, the three of us didn’t manage to ski down the blue slope to the restaurant for lunch where we were supposed to meet the rest of the group (we asked our instructor if it was possible to go there after our first lesson. Response? "Impossible". We were all secretly relieved…), but we had a nice lunch in the town: yes, we went back to the town and got rid of the skis. Even though the skiing was now very nice, the boots still hurt like hell!

After going back up the mountain to make some beautiful pictures, we went to Chamonix, where we strolled around, bought souvenirs and had a lovely dinner (with the rest of the group this time).

As always, the mountains were stunning!

Being happy on the mountain

Me and my fellow first-time skiers!

At the bottom you can see the ski-lift we took! So we actually skied down quite a bit, huh?

Day 1 of the ski-weekend was a big success! Plan for next year, concerning skiing: take a long weekend off together with one of my fellow first-time skiers and then take classes every morning and practice every afternoon, so that we are prepared for the next ski-weekend!

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The three castles of Bellinzona - Sasso Corbaro

Sat, 19 Mar 2016 17:22:02 GMT

When did this actually happen? Sunday, February 21, 2016

Up, up, up we go to the last castle!

I really think this looks like a very sinister, Dracula castle..

It's that mountain again: now from our highest viewpoint!

The castle was really pretty as well, especially in the light of a setting Sun. However, it was a bit unfortunate that we couldn't get in the castle (grounds) like with the other two, because this castle was closed until somewhere in March :(

Behind the castle, there were nice rocks :)

I really love the light and composition in this picture. This might be due to the fact that I love the colour blue and really like it combined with nature (grass..). Also, there is again a very nice castle wall. You can never have enough pictures of castle walls!

Same old mountain again in the beautiful sunset light with a nicely accentuated church.

On our way back to the train, we saw our first castle Castelgrande for the last time, beautifully illuminated. I thoroughly recommend a visit to Bellinzona: it has very nice scenery and culture (the castles), and as it is the Italian part of Switzerland, they have great (Italian) food as well. I had the best tagliatelle bolognese ever for dinner. It is however more expensive than regular Italy (it is Switzerland after all), and they speak little to no English or German (in this sense they are more like the real Italians.. :p )

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The three castles of Bellinzona - Montebello

Sat, 19 Mar 2016 16:56:32 GMT

When did this actually happen? Sunday, February 21, 2016

The second castle! After walking all the way down from Castelgrande, and having a nice drink in the town square, we had to walk all the way up to Montebello, the second castle. Worth it, though ;)

Picture taken while walking down Castelgrande to the town centre. You can see a very nice church that we briefly visited in the foreground and behind that the second castle: Montebello. In the distance, on the hilltop, you can see the third and last castle: Sasso Corbaro.

The first thing you see when you enter the grounds of the castle is a nice field of grass (that will be nice in Summer!) and the main buildings of the castle.

Picture of the third castle Sasso Corbaro from the second castle. It is still pretty high up, even from this castle... Also: mountains.. :)

Me and N. with Castelgrande (the first one) in the background.

I will never tire of beautiful castle walls..

There is the mountain again! Still very pretty: also from this viewpoint!

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The three castles of Bellinzona - Castelgrande

Sat, 19 Mar 2016 16:48:11 GMT

When did this actually happen? Sunday, February 21, 2016

Because N. had this very cool (and cheap) railway ticket, we decided to go somewhere in Switzerland where neither of us had ever been that was far, far away (to get the most out of the train ticket). We chose Bellinzona, which is mainly known for its 3 castles; each of which are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. As we both like castles a lot, this seemed perfect. Also, from my point of view: I had never been in the Italian part of Switzerland yet, so this seemed like a really good idea.

It was a really great day and I made lots and lots of pictures. Therefore, this one day will appear here in 3 parts.. coincidentally coinciding with the 3 castles that we visited (see what I did there? :D ).

We started with a 2.5h train ride through beautiful scenery from Zürich to Bellinzona. Then we went to the first castle: Castelgrande. This is the largest castle (maybe that is reflected in the name, eh?) and most prominent one. It is also the one which is most suitable for visitors: there is a museum explaining the history of the three castles and an elevator (we took the stairs. Oh my. But I did it). There is also a very nice, long stretch of the city wall on which you can walk, which is pretty awesome.

Here then, are the most pretty pictures of Castelgrande:

Of course the castle is strategically situated on a hill.

Mountains! The castle is surrounded by mountains! And there is snow on the mountains! I made soooo many pictures of this mountain: it is so pretty!

More mountains! :)

And the same mountain again from a slightly different angle...

N. posing against a castle wall.

The big wall that protected the city!

From the end of the city wall a picture of the whole castle again. It was really, really pretty. :)

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To-read-(wish)-list 2016

Thu, 10 Mar 2016 11:38:46 GMT

( BILBO Bookclub )

( Preparation for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child )

( Preparation for Japan )

( Attempting Shakespeare on my own )

( Spontaneous, fun reads because I feel like it )

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Einsiedeln - First time cross-country skiing

Sun, 06 Mar 2016 18:22:10 GMT

When did this actually happen? Saturday, January 30, 2016

After the painful first time Alpine skiing, I tried my hand at cross-country skiing (or langlaufen) together with Dutch friend N. and new found Belgian friends N. and J.. There were two main good things about this crazy idea of going cross-country skiing together:
1. None of us had ever done cross-country skiing before.
2. We could all speak Dutch together.

That first thing led to a lot of hilarity that day, simply because we had no idea what to do.

In fact, as we were lost in the beginning and couldn’t found the skiing area, we came across this beautiful monastery, which I would like to visit properly one day.

Then, after renting the skis, boots and poles, and getting advised on taking the easy (but long) 10 km track, we spent a good 15 minutes in the snow figuring out how to attach the boots to the skis. This is not trivial. Right.

Anyway, we were ready at one point and actually started the cross-country skiing. This, I can vouch for, is 1000 times better than Alpine skiing for beginners. First of all, it is easy to do. Maybe we were not doing it correctly concerning the technique, but we at least moved forward.. or backwards sometimes as going uphill is a bit tricky… In any case, you don’t fall as much. Second of all, you still have a very nice gliding sensation and a beautiful view on the mountains and third of all, it is a lot cheaper than Alpine skiing as you don’t need to pay for expensive ski lift passes and the equipment is cheaper to rent as well.

This all made me love cross-country skiing quite a lot.

( Happy faces during cross-country skiing )

And just look at the views! Even without being really high up, Switzerland can be really pretty. We went to Einsiedeln, because that was the closest place for cross-country skiing.

All four of us very happy and content after our first 10 km cross-country ski track.

( The embarrassing story of how I wanted to get a victorious pictures at the 10 km mark )

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Pizol - First time Alpine skiing: The falling

Sun, 06 Mar 2016 14:05:50 GMT

When did this actually happen? Sunday, January 24, 2016

The first time skiing was a very painful and slightly scary experience. I think this was mainly due to the fact that my optimistic friends took me to ski down a blue piste. Please keep in mind that I had never ever been on skis before. So, long story short, I fell down a lot and it was caught on camera.

My main motivation, I should add, to get down the slope, was to get to the lift, because walking up the slope in ski boots (which hurt like hell) was something I considered even less likely than skiing down.

Me, as I spent most of my morning: lying in the snow with two very long and cumbersome skis attached to my feet.

Sometimes I had brief intervals (of say 10 seconds: I am not lying) of actually skiing. Whenever that happened, I was feeling quite proud and happy, because skiing down is quite a nice sensation (when you don’t fall).

Me at the bottom of my first blue piste. Look at the very strained and terrified smile I try to give my friends. Very telling.

Finally some respite: lunch! After lunch I decided I had quite enough of skiing for one day, so I took off the painful boots and drank hot chocolate in the restaurant. An afternoon well spent I would say!

( Celebrating my first time skiing with friends )

Group picture at the end of the day! Notice the guy at the far right: he didn’t belong to our group. We have no idea who he is. But he refused to move for our picture!?

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Pizol - First time Alpine skiing: The views

Tue, 23 Feb 2016 10:29:57 GMT

When did this actually happen? Sunday, January 24, 2016

I went skiing for the very first time. It was less horrible (for lack of a better word) than I expected, but I fell a lot. However, let’s start with one of the nicest things first: the views. I had never been on a winter sport holiday again and even though I am not really sportive or particularly keen on learning Alpine skiing, the views are absolutely breath taking and absolutely worth it. Maybe next time when we go Alpine skiing, I’ll just bring a nice book and enjoy a hot chocolate in one of the restaurants at the top of the ski resorts, quietly enjoying the view.

( Enter the snow white world of Alpine Skiing in Pizol! )

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Zürich zoo with mom

Mon, 22 Feb 2016 21:02:02 GMT

When did this actually happen? Sunday, January 10, 2016

When my mom visited in January for a week to celebrate my new room (I am in a new room!), we went to the zoo for a (rainy) day. We stumbled upon the Penguin Parade: the penguins take a walk through the zoo every day (when it is colder than 10°) to greet the other animals. This parade is absolutely hilarious.

The Penguin Parade

We also found a capybara and an anteater.

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Christmas markets in Bern!

Mon, 22 Feb 2016 17:56:57 GMT

When did this actually happen? Saturday, December 12, 2015

N. and I once again decided to do something in Switzerland and go for a city trip to Bern. We found a nice discount train ticket gave us some nice surprises at the Christmas markets: a voucher of 5 francs to spend at one of the Christmas markets, and a free glühwein (for me hot apple punch that was way too sweet) including the mug! Super nice!

The Christmas markets were nice, but we only really bought food (snacks, really). Bern turns out to be a very picturesque city with some very nice mountains visible in the distance. We also went to the place where they keep all the bears, but the bears were hibernating. Too bad. This means I will have to come back to Bern one day, because you can’t say you’ve really been to Bern, until you’ve seen the bears!

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