Well hello! It may be (late) November, but I've got to catch you up from way back in September. So let's start (although I DID fill you in about Oktoberfest, and that's one of the most epic things I've done since then...):
I was doing SO well with exercising and being healthy. Like REALLY well. But then, the gym closed for 3 weeks (throughout August and September). Around this time, it also started getting dark at a ridiculously early hour. So, needless to say, I've fallen out of my exercise routine. There is really no excuse for this, but its hard for me to get back into the motivation once I've fallen out of it. Which is ridiculous; because even though my actual weight didn't drop, I lost 1-2 inches on all my measurements over only a couple months. And that's pretty epic.
Early September brought in much stress planning for the poster presentation I had to give for the postgraduate Research Colloquium at the University. There was much rushed experimentation and last minute poster-making, but it all turned out fine in the end.
I also got asked to do an experiment for my co-supervisor to try and help out with a publication. It started as a quick experiment and turned into an extremely difficult and in-depth project. We are wrapping everything up now. Now, this is pretty common for research- you think you know how everything will go and then you have to pick apart each step to figure out what's going wrong. I actually really liked going through the whole process. It was a great learning process and really made me triple check my science (and learn new biochemistry that I hadn't known before). I'm pretty excited for the experiment and paper to be finished and to get my name in a publication!!
September also meant the new school year started back up- which means Journal Club is back on and so is teaching discussion sessions for the intro Neuroscience course. The big new change this year, though, is that I have 3 undergraduate students doing their final year projects with my helping them as one of the PhD mentors.
I also did a last minute conference attendance at the Royal Chemical Society. It was a little over my head (it was a chemistry conference....) but it was awesome to have an excuse to spend the day in London!
In non work-related terms, we went to Stanmer Apple Day to enjoy all of the local fall harvest. Best part of the day? Drinking pear juice from France. Actually, no, the best part of the day was watching Ben try apple cider vinegar (TWICE) and not realizing he was eating vinegar.
The most exciting things happening in my life are when we go travel. And those adventures always get their own special blog post. Sorry that the ones in between are a bit boring...
Monday, November 25, 2013
Friday, October 18, 2013
August: In a blog post
The beginning of August held Pride, a celebration event that the LGBT community of Brighton and Hove puts on. Its is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) in England and its a great event. Ben and I went to see the parade throughout the town:
The restaurant Pie Society had a cute sign outside of their shop for the event. Unfortunately, we were too far back in the crowd for my phone to get any good pictures of the floats.
We also continued our weekend walks in Wild Park. Originally, I had found a Stanmer Park walking group. As Ben and I were waiting at the meeting point, we realized that everyone arriving was quite elderly. Apparently, what I had found was a walking society for the elderly to keep them active. I did not know this, as it did not explicitly say. So instead, Ben and I found a walking trail for Wild Park, which is right next to Stanmer Park, and we went through a little walk in the woods. It was beautiful, although I wish we had gone earlier in the year when the bluebells were in bloom.
The weekend after, we went on more walks- but this time in Chichester and Arundel! So far, I would recommend Arundel as THE city to go to in England. It is the American's idea of what England is meant to be- a tiny city with beautiful countryside and a big castle hanging over the town.
And our final adventure of August was going up to London to see the West End show Wicked! It was my first West End show and I LOVE LOVE LOVED it!!!
... Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, I have no pictures of this.
I had continued my very good routine of lifting and running, sticking to both of my programs really well. The running, especially, was a big deal to me. I've never been much of a runner and so it was very exciting for me to slowly be working my way up to a 5k run. Hopefully within 30 minutes as well! By the end of August, Ben and I were running a little over 3k and slowly increasing the distance weekly. The last week of August, the gym shut down for refurbishments. I wasn't too happy about this, as there is always a concern that I'll fall out of routine and not be able to get back into it. But more on that in Septembers update...
I had of course been chugging along with the research as well. The biggest project I had in August was to clean out the molecular lab. It was ridiculous, if I'm being honest. I was the first to properly clean out the lab since at least 2002. But I found stuff from as early as 1994. But my cleaning spree was fruitful! I found many antibodies and other consumable items that could provide very useful for someone in the lab. Besides that, I all but finished my molecular pathway work and kept working along on my APP cloning work.
We also continued our weekend walks in Wild Park. Originally, I had found a Stanmer Park walking group. As Ben and I were waiting at the meeting point, we realized that everyone arriving was quite elderly. Apparently, what I had found was a walking society for the elderly to keep them active. I did not know this, as it did not explicitly say. So instead, Ben and I found a walking trail for Wild Park, which is right next to Stanmer Park, and we went through a little walk in the woods. It was beautiful, although I wish we had gone earlier in the year when the bluebells were in bloom.
The weekend after, we went on more walks- but this time in Chichester and Arundel! So far, I would recommend Arundel as THE city to go to in England. It is the American's idea of what England is meant to be- a tiny city with beautiful countryside and a big castle hanging over the town.
And our final adventure of August was going up to London to see the West End show Wicked! It was my first West End show and I LOVE LOVE LOVED it!!!
... Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, I have no pictures of this.
I had continued my very good routine of lifting and running, sticking to both of my programs really well. The running, especially, was a big deal to me. I've never been much of a runner and so it was very exciting for me to slowly be working my way up to a 5k run. Hopefully within 30 minutes as well! By the end of August, Ben and I were running a little over 3k and slowly increasing the distance weekly. The last week of August, the gym shut down for refurbishments. I wasn't too happy about this, as there is always a concern that I'll fall out of routine and not be able to get back into it. But more on that in Septembers update...
I had of course been chugging along with the research as well. The biggest project I had in August was to clean out the molecular lab. It was ridiculous, if I'm being honest. I was the first to properly clean out the lab since at least 2002. But I found stuff from as early as 1994. But my cleaning spree was fruitful! I found many antibodies and other consumable items that could provide very useful for someone in the lab. Besides that, I all but finished my molecular pathway work and kept working along on my APP cloning work.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Oktoberfest!
As many of you know, I went off to Oktoberfest for some epic German adventures. It was my first time in Germany and I loved it!
We did a road trip, since the flights were over 200 pounds each when we were looking to book in early March. On the way there, we split the driving over two days and stopped over in the Black Forest.
We stayed in a tiny town with a waterfall only 1.5 km away. It was beautiful and now I am determined to go on a camping/ hiking trip throughout the Black Forest at some point.
We then headed down to Munich; sad to leave the beautiful forest surroundings but excited to start the Oktoberfest fun! After we got to our camping hostel and pitched our tents, we headed out for a little history before starting the celebrations. Dachau concentration camp is just outside of Munich and we went for a visit. It was obviously a very sad experience, but I am very glad that we went.
After the dose of history, we went to the wiesen for our first beers:
The next day, we went on a walking tour of Munich. And then headed off to the wiesen at night for more Oktoberfest celebrations.
We got our lederhosen and dirndls and spent the last two days of Munich at the Oktoberfest, in the tents. The first day we were in Lowenbrau and the second we were in Augustiner.
After Munich, we went off and stopped over in Cologne before the long drive back home. I LOVED Cologne! And ate the biggest schnitzel of my life...
Overall, I loved it. Every city we went to. And the German people are some of the nicest I've ever met. I can't wait to go back to that beautiful country!
We did a road trip, since the flights were over 200 pounds each when we were looking to book in early March. On the way there, we split the driving over two days and stopped over in the Black Forest.
We then headed down to Munich; sad to leave the beautiful forest surroundings but excited to start the Oktoberfest fun! After we got to our camping hostel and pitched our tents, we headed out for a little history before starting the celebrations. Dachau concentration camp is just outside of Munich and we went for a visit. It was obviously a very sad experience, but I am very glad that we went.
After the dose of history, we went to the wiesen for our first beers:
The next day, we went on a walking tour of Munich. And then headed off to the wiesen at night for more Oktoberfest celebrations.
We got our lederhosen and dirndls and spent the last two days of Munich at the Oktoberfest, in the tents. The first day we were in Lowenbrau and the second we were in Augustiner.
After Munich, we went off and stopped over in Cologne before the long drive back home. I LOVED Cologne! And ate the biggest schnitzel of my life...
Overall, I loved it. Every city we went to. And the German people are some of the nicest I've ever met. I can't wait to go back to that beautiful country!
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Wrap up of July
Now that August is almost wrapped up and over, I'll try and get you caught up on July. And then August. And hopefully we can get all caught up before the new term starts and I become even BUSIER with teaching.
It probably won't happen, but here's to hoping!
Anyway, let's start!
As I said in my last post, I was really busy with applying for a predoctoral fellowship. I'm happy to announce that its officially passed to a review stage and I should hear back about the decision in the end of October!
July was busy with this writing, but I was also very immersed in working on my cloning and sequencing project. I've really enjoyed this, although at the moment its been lagging due to waiting for new supplies to arrive in, because its brand new work for me. DNA and RNA work it very different to protein work, which is what my emphasis has been on. I've got nothing exciting yet to report about this experiment, but when I do I'll mention it. So watch this spot!
This summer I've also been really focused on working on my health. I'm trying to implement a 90/10 clean eating diet and have actually been able to do it really well for awhile (I fell off the wagon recently this week, but let's ignore that little fact....). With that, I've also been working on a strength as well as a running program. I'm really enjoying both, although had to invest in a pair of new running shoes to keep down my old ankle injuries. I'm over half way through the strength program (a lifting for women program) and already have my next program set up. The running program is close to completion- which means I am quite close to being able to run a 5k! I'm sure a lot of you are thinking "That's easy", but for me that's a big deal! And I'm actually enjoying running with Ben and progressing with each run, which for me is great.
Its hard to celebrate the Fourth of July in England.... if you spend even a little brain power on that, you will figure out why. So Ben and I celebrated through gluttony- the most American tradition I can think of. We had BBQ on the actual 4th and American brunch the Saturday. I wouldn't usually mention this, but I think its worth putting in a few reviews:
For BBQ on the 4th, we tried a new restaurant. I won't bother reviewing that as it wasn't anything special, but I would like to talk about World's End and their BBQ Shack. Let me just say- wow. It is a little piece of home, living in Brighton, London Road. I've found that A LOT of food here (especially food from the Americas) is a weak attempt at the real thing. And Brighton has a weird mix of weak attempts (SUPER bland for a white palate) or REALLY delicious. World's End falls under REALLY delicious. Its probably my second favorite BBQ ever... which is a big deal considering its in England (American BBQ isn't widespread over here).
For American breakfast, I was again let down by a weak attempt at legit food. I haven't yet found good American, or really Californian, breakfast here. And I'm starting to doubt I will. However, I've grown partial to the English fry up and there's a few good ones kicking around Brighton. First off, Mange Tout is THE best breakfast in Brighton. Lots of different option (not just variations on a cheap fry up) and a bit fancier than your typical greasy spoon. The best fry up lives at Bill's. But again, its fancier than your typical. If you want a typical and cheap English, go to Seven Bees. Its great and doesn't leave you feeling like a brick is in the pit of your stomach for hours afterwards. Another great breakfast place is Billie's. It doesn't fall under American, or English, or fancy. But they've got breakfast hashes that are AMAZING and I feel bad for anyone in Brighton who hasn't eaten there yet.
I really like reviews and I really like food. Each new city that I move to, I make a list of cafes, bars, and restaurants to go to. Two years living in Brighton, I've established a pretty good idea of what's good and what's not here. I've still got a bit of a list, but will definitely eat and drink my way through it by graduation.
Now back to me, for those who don't live in Brighton and don't care about the food scene here. About half way through July, Ben and I went to London for the day to go on some walking tours. Sadly, I only took one picture:
But it was from our favorite tour. There's an area, not quite sure where, that is for super rich men. But it seems like the shops are from decades ago. They've got bicycles like the one above, badger hair shaving brushes, monocles... It was great!
Ben and I have also been going on hiking/walking adventures around Brighton. The countryside around here is beautiful and occasionally the weather is really nice in the summertime!
That's it for July. I'll catch you up on August later.
It probably won't happen, but here's to hoping!
Anyway, let's start!
As I said in my last post, I was really busy with applying for a predoctoral fellowship. I'm happy to announce that its officially passed to a review stage and I should hear back about the decision in the end of October!
July was busy with this writing, but I was also very immersed in working on my cloning and sequencing project. I've really enjoyed this, although at the moment its been lagging due to waiting for new supplies to arrive in, because its brand new work for me. DNA and RNA work it very different to protein work, which is what my emphasis has been on. I've got nothing exciting yet to report about this experiment, but when I do I'll mention it. So watch this spot!
This summer I've also been really focused on working on my health. I'm trying to implement a 90/10 clean eating diet and have actually been able to do it really well for awhile (I fell off the wagon recently this week, but let's ignore that little fact....). With that, I've also been working on a strength as well as a running program. I'm really enjoying both, although had to invest in a pair of new running shoes to keep down my old ankle injuries. I'm over half way through the strength program (a lifting for women program) and already have my next program set up. The running program is close to completion- which means I am quite close to being able to run a 5k! I'm sure a lot of you are thinking "That's easy", but for me that's a big deal! And I'm actually enjoying running with Ben and progressing with each run, which for me is great.
Its hard to celebrate the Fourth of July in England.... if you spend even a little brain power on that, you will figure out why. So Ben and I celebrated through gluttony- the most American tradition I can think of. We had BBQ on the actual 4th and American brunch the Saturday. I wouldn't usually mention this, but I think its worth putting in a few reviews:
For BBQ on the 4th, we tried a new restaurant. I won't bother reviewing that as it wasn't anything special, but I would like to talk about World's End and their BBQ Shack. Let me just say- wow. It is a little piece of home, living in Brighton, London Road. I've found that A LOT of food here (especially food from the Americas) is a weak attempt at the real thing. And Brighton has a weird mix of weak attempts (SUPER bland for a white palate) or REALLY delicious. World's End falls under REALLY delicious. Its probably my second favorite BBQ ever... which is a big deal considering its in England (American BBQ isn't widespread over here).
For American breakfast, I was again let down by a weak attempt at legit food. I haven't yet found good American, or really Californian, breakfast here. And I'm starting to doubt I will. However, I've grown partial to the English fry up and there's a few good ones kicking around Brighton. First off, Mange Tout is THE best breakfast in Brighton. Lots of different option (not just variations on a cheap fry up) and a bit fancier than your typical greasy spoon. The best fry up lives at Bill's. But again, its fancier than your typical. If you want a typical and cheap English, go to Seven Bees. Its great and doesn't leave you feeling like a brick is in the pit of your stomach for hours afterwards. Another great breakfast place is Billie's. It doesn't fall under American, or English, or fancy. But they've got breakfast hashes that are AMAZING and I feel bad for anyone in Brighton who hasn't eaten there yet.
I really like reviews and I really like food. Each new city that I move to, I make a list of cafes, bars, and restaurants to go to. Two years living in Brighton, I've established a pretty good idea of what's good and what's not here. I've still got a bit of a list, but will definitely eat and drink my way through it by graduation.
Now back to me, for those who don't live in Brighton and don't care about the food scene here. About half way through July, Ben and I went to London for the day to go on some walking tours. Sadly, I only took one picture:
Ben and I have also been going on hiking/walking adventures around Brighton. The countryside around here is beautiful and occasionally the weather is really nice in the summertime!
That's it for July. I'll catch you up on August later.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
A wrap-up of June
Are you ready for a long haul of reading? Because this might be... in an attempt to catch you up on the happenings of my life.
June:
The first two weeks, I was in Italy. Literally the day after I turned in my big second year report (the only annual report we have to submit/ progress check we receive), I was on the plane to Rome.
As mentioned briefly in the previous picture post, the first week was spent in Cortona, Tuscany at the Neuroepigenetics course, put on by the Neuroscience School of Advanced Studies. It was INTENSE! Class from 9 to 7 (with a 3 hour break at lunch), lecture format with a lot of inter-class discussion. And everything was new to me, so that alone was tough. Not to mention that half of the class consisted of professors, so the level of teaching was at its highest. However, I learned SO much and had a great time. Lunch and dinner was prepared for us every day, which was nice because we got to try authentic Tuscan cuisine. One thing I have to say about it- Tuscan food is so salty! A friend I met there, who is also from the Tuscany region, said that it is because Tuscany is situated along the old Salt Trail. Salt was shipped throughout Italy on this path and the more salt you had, the wealthier you were! So salty food was very desirable and the traditions of the region have maintained in the cuisine today. It was nice to see a little town in Tuscany- during the day, there was a lot of tourism. However, after the tourists had gone, the town had medieval festivals running for the locals and it was very interesting to see the celebration of their culture.
However, 9 days in a little town gets to be a bit much after awhile. Half way through the course, we got a half day to explore so a few friends and I went to Arezzo, the "big" local town. Arezzo was nice as well and gave a great new town to discover after some cabin fever started to settle in Cortona.
By the end of the course, I was SO ready to see Ben and go on vacation. I met him in Rome, where we went off to our Air B&B stay (if you haven't used Air B&B, I highly recommend it as an alternative to hostels or cheap hotels). By the time we finally got settled, we didn't have too much of the day left so we grabbed some dinner (touristy and disappointing) and went to see the sights of the Colosseum. My impressions of Rome- not impressed. Actually, I REALLY wish Rome wasn't my first city (I flew into it) because it lowered my view of Italy for awhile. The people are rude and, while I realize Rome is a major city of the world, it doesn't maintain the majesty or culture as cities like Paris do. However, the next day Ben and I explored the Colosseum and Palantine Hill and I LOVED it. I would go back to this area of the world again and again. It was amazing. And the only thing worth doing in Rome, in my opinion. After that, we took a free walking tour where we saw the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, and Pantheon. I always enjoy the walking tours because you get to learn a lot about the city you are exploring and it helps bring some culture when it is otherwise difficult to see. As Rome is a big city and FULL of tourists, is easy to get lost in the not so pleasant aspects. If you visit Rome, and not just the Ancient Roman highlights, definitely put a lot of emphasis on local points of interest as opposed to tourist. Or else you will be disappointed.
The next day, we went to Vatican City. Again, I was very disappointed. The Vatican was... underwhelming. Ben agreed. After seeing other great churches in Italy, Notre Dame in Paris, and wonders in Portugal, Spain, and England, I just wasn't impressed. It was showy and had no intimate feel like all other churches I've been in have. We then raced through the Vatican Museums (which was a bit of a shame) as we were low on time but really wanted to see the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Again, it was underwhelming. I think the biggest problem with the entire trip was that there weren't any tour on offer. You could take a walking tour, which we didn't have time for. If you wanted a self-guided tour, you could only get the pilgrimage tour for Christians. All we wanted was the history and religious relevance of the buildings and items we had seen. But it was lost on us and that really was a shame.
I know this seems negative so far and I apologize for that. But I was SERIOUSLY bummed with how underwhelmed I was by Rome and Vatican City, especially since I had put Italy on such a high pedestal. After speeding through Vatican City to catch our train to Florence, my attitude seriously switched around.
Florence was AMAZING! And our hostel was AMAZING!!! Soggiorna Laura (that might be a little misspelled...) was great- the people were friendly, the breakfast was AMAZING, and since Florence is so little, we weren't too far from anything. All the food we had in Florence was great; that is a big thanks to the hostel since they gave us a great list of recommendations. Our full day in Florence was spent wandering around the city. And eating. But mostly wandering. You can see our highlights in the previous picture post. The next day, we visited the Tuscan cities Pisa and Siena. We knew Pisa would be a waste of time, but we had to see the Leaning Tower. Just to say we had been there. And Pisa was such crap haha. The tower really wasn't even that impressive. And when we went on to Siena, I still didn't see what all the fuss was about. Cortona and Arezzo were far better Tuscan cities. Lucca was one of our city options and I'm kicking myself a little bit for going to Pisa instead of Lucca. However, I'm sure I would've been kicking myself if we had missed the leaning tower. So....
After we sadly left Florence, a city with amazing people, amazing sights, amazing feel, and amazing food, we were off to Cinque Terre (an area on the Italian Riviera). We stayed at an Air B&B and it was AMAZING! We were actually in La Spezia, just outside of Cinque Terre and we stayed with a family on their farm. We had a homemade white wine welcome bottle and were fed an array of homemade jams with fresh breads and pastries each morning. It was great. We saw fireflies and wild pigs, surrounded by an environment similar to being in the Marin Headlands. There was nothing around but beautiful nature and we loved it.
In Cinque Terre, there are 5 towns on the cliff face, with different hiking paths connecting them (or a rail line). We visited all 5 and both agreed our favorite was Manarola. And we took a great hike between two of the towns, followed by a swim in the Mediterranean. Cinque Terre was great, if you can avoid the super touristy aspect of it. Luckily, the first town is the most touristy and it is easy enough to get away from all of that.
At the end of our stay, we left for Milan to grab our flight back to England. We had a little time to kill in Milan, but the Duomo was too far away to get to and back in time for our flight. And we weren't too impressed with the immediate area surrounding the station. So we just relaxed. I was SO tired (and bloated from all the food and salt) by the end of the trip that I was actually looking forward to going home.
Overall, the Italy trip was great. My travels definitely have changed the way I view countries and towns- for some reason, I always expected countries to ooze their stereotypical cultural qualities. And they don't. Especially the big cities. The smaller cities maintain more of this in-your-face-cultural-awesome, unless they are very tourist-y. You have to plan a bit more to experience the culture and you have to work hard to ignore the tourism surrounding you. Local is key to travel and if you want to get local, you've really got to do your research.
Once back, I jumped straight back into work. The majority of June was full of grant writing. I've applied for the F31 predoctoral fellowship through the NIH. It will be EXTREMELY difficult to get this grant and I'm really not expecting to get it. However, the experience was great and well worth the stress it induced. The grant application was huge. And it gave me a lot of practice for working on my scientific writing and articulation of my work. Now that the grant has been finished, I've got to finish writing my behavioral paper for publishing and my poster for the Postgraduate Colloquium in September. In the mean time, I'm also working on cloning and sequencing a gene in my model organism and finishing up my signaling pathway analysis. Hopefully, by the end of summer, I will have completed all (or most) of this work.
Next up is the post about July. Its way less exciting, but lets hope it doesn't take 3 months to finally get to writing it!
Now here's a picture from June since this has been ALL text:
BYE!
June:
The first two weeks, I was in Italy. Literally the day after I turned in my big second year report (the only annual report we have to submit/ progress check we receive), I was on the plane to Rome.
As mentioned briefly in the previous picture post, the first week was spent in Cortona, Tuscany at the Neuroepigenetics course, put on by the Neuroscience School of Advanced Studies. It was INTENSE! Class from 9 to 7 (with a 3 hour break at lunch), lecture format with a lot of inter-class discussion. And everything was new to me, so that alone was tough. Not to mention that half of the class consisted of professors, so the level of teaching was at its highest. However, I learned SO much and had a great time. Lunch and dinner was prepared for us every day, which was nice because we got to try authentic Tuscan cuisine. One thing I have to say about it- Tuscan food is so salty! A friend I met there, who is also from the Tuscany region, said that it is because Tuscany is situated along the old Salt Trail. Salt was shipped throughout Italy on this path and the more salt you had, the wealthier you were! So salty food was very desirable and the traditions of the region have maintained in the cuisine today. It was nice to see a little town in Tuscany- during the day, there was a lot of tourism. However, after the tourists had gone, the town had medieval festivals running for the locals and it was very interesting to see the celebration of their culture.
However, 9 days in a little town gets to be a bit much after awhile. Half way through the course, we got a half day to explore so a few friends and I went to Arezzo, the "big" local town. Arezzo was nice as well and gave a great new town to discover after some cabin fever started to settle in Cortona.
By the end of the course, I was SO ready to see Ben and go on vacation. I met him in Rome, where we went off to our Air B&B stay (if you haven't used Air B&B, I highly recommend it as an alternative to hostels or cheap hotels). By the time we finally got settled, we didn't have too much of the day left so we grabbed some dinner (touristy and disappointing) and went to see the sights of the Colosseum. My impressions of Rome- not impressed. Actually, I REALLY wish Rome wasn't my first city (I flew into it) because it lowered my view of Italy for awhile. The people are rude and, while I realize Rome is a major city of the world, it doesn't maintain the majesty or culture as cities like Paris do. However, the next day Ben and I explored the Colosseum and Palantine Hill and I LOVED it. I would go back to this area of the world again and again. It was amazing. And the only thing worth doing in Rome, in my opinion. After that, we took a free walking tour where we saw the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, and Pantheon. I always enjoy the walking tours because you get to learn a lot about the city you are exploring and it helps bring some culture when it is otherwise difficult to see. As Rome is a big city and FULL of tourists, is easy to get lost in the not so pleasant aspects. If you visit Rome, and not just the Ancient Roman highlights, definitely put a lot of emphasis on local points of interest as opposed to tourist. Or else you will be disappointed.
The next day, we went to Vatican City. Again, I was very disappointed. The Vatican was... underwhelming. Ben agreed. After seeing other great churches in Italy, Notre Dame in Paris, and wonders in Portugal, Spain, and England, I just wasn't impressed. It was showy and had no intimate feel like all other churches I've been in have. We then raced through the Vatican Museums (which was a bit of a shame) as we were low on time but really wanted to see the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Again, it was underwhelming. I think the biggest problem with the entire trip was that there weren't any tour on offer. You could take a walking tour, which we didn't have time for. If you wanted a self-guided tour, you could only get the pilgrimage tour for Christians. All we wanted was the history and religious relevance of the buildings and items we had seen. But it was lost on us and that really was a shame.
I know this seems negative so far and I apologize for that. But I was SERIOUSLY bummed with how underwhelmed I was by Rome and Vatican City, especially since I had put Italy on such a high pedestal. After speeding through Vatican City to catch our train to Florence, my attitude seriously switched around.
Florence was AMAZING! And our hostel was AMAZING!!! Soggiorna Laura (that might be a little misspelled...) was great- the people were friendly, the breakfast was AMAZING, and since Florence is so little, we weren't too far from anything. All the food we had in Florence was great; that is a big thanks to the hostel since they gave us a great list of recommendations. Our full day in Florence was spent wandering around the city. And eating. But mostly wandering. You can see our highlights in the previous picture post. The next day, we visited the Tuscan cities Pisa and Siena. We knew Pisa would be a waste of time, but we had to see the Leaning Tower. Just to say we had been there. And Pisa was such crap haha. The tower really wasn't even that impressive. And when we went on to Siena, I still didn't see what all the fuss was about. Cortona and Arezzo were far better Tuscan cities. Lucca was one of our city options and I'm kicking myself a little bit for going to Pisa instead of Lucca. However, I'm sure I would've been kicking myself if we had missed the leaning tower. So....
After we sadly left Florence, a city with amazing people, amazing sights, amazing feel, and amazing food, we were off to Cinque Terre (an area on the Italian Riviera). We stayed at an Air B&B and it was AMAZING! We were actually in La Spezia, just outside of Cinque Terre and we stayed with a family on their farm. We had a homemade white wine welcome bottle and were fed an array of homemade jams with fresh breads and pastries each morning. It was great. We saw fireflies and wild pigs, surrounded by an environment similar to being in the Marin Headlands. There was nothing around but beautiful nature and we loved it.
In Cinque Terre, there are 5 towns on the cliff face, with different hiking paths connecting them (or a rail line). We visited all 5 and both agreed our favorite was Manarola. And we took a great hike between two of the towns, followed by a swim in the Mediterranean. Cinque Terre was great, if you can avoid the super touristy aspect of it. Luckily, the first town is the most touristy and it is easy enough to get away from all of that.
At the end of our stay, we left for Milan to grab our flight back to England. We had a little time to kill in Milan, but the Duomo was too far away to get to and back in time for our flight. And we weren't too impressed with the immediate area surrounding the station. So we just relaxed. I was SO tired (and bloated from all the food and salt) by the end of the trip that I was actually looking forward to going home.
Overall, the Italy trip was great. My travels definitely have changed the way I view countries and towns- for some reason, I always expected countries to ooze their stereotypical cultural qualities. And they don't. Especially the big cities. The smaller cities maintain more of this in-your-face-cultural-awesome, unless they are very tourist-y. You have to plan a bit more to experience the culture and you have to work hard to ignore the tourism surrounding you. Local is key to travel and if you want to get local, you've really got to do your research.
Once back, I jumped straight back into work. The majority of June was full of grant writing. I've applied for the F31 predoctoral fellowship through the NIH. It will be EXTREMELY difficult to get this grant and I'm really not expecting to get it. However, the experience was great and well worth the stress it induced. The grant application was huge. And it gave me a lot of practice for working on my scientific writing and articulation of my work. Now that the grant has been finished, I've got to finish writing my behavioral paper for publishing and my poster for the Postgraduate Colloquium in September. In the mean time, I'm also working on cloning and sequencing a gene in my model organism and finishing up my signaling pathway analysis. Hopefully, by the end of summer, I will have completed all (or most) of this work.
Next up is the post about July. Its way less exciting, but lets hope it doesn't take 3 months to finally get to writing it!
Now here's a picture from June since this has been ALL text:
BYE!
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Lets just pretend my last post WASN'T three months ago...
I'm just going to jump right into what I know you are all waiting to see- the pictures from the Italy trip.
I'll catch you up on older posts that I've meant to write but haven't gotten around to (for three months) in a bit.
Cortona, Tuscany, Italy
Neuroscience School for Advanced Studies: Neuroepigenetics course (9 days)
Some of my friends and I took a day trip to Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy
Then Ben and I met in Rome to begin our adventure!
Rome and Vatican City:
Then we moved on to Florence:
And then Pisa and Siena, in Tuscany:
And finally, we went to Cinque Terre, a town on the Italian Riviera:
And now I just want to go back and explore the southern part of the country!!!
I'll catch you up on older posts that I've meant to write but haven't gotten around to (for three months) in a bit.
Cortona, Tuscany, Italy
Neuroscience School for Advanced Studies: Neuroepigenetics course (9 days)
Then Ben and I met in Rome to begin our adventure!
Rome and Vatican City:
Then we moved on to Florence:
And then Pisa and Siena, in Tuscany:
And finally, we went to Cinque Terre, a town on the Italian Riviera:
And now I just want to go back and explore the southern part of the country!!!
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