Bastille Day

I am in Paris, France. I am working at ENS Ulm (paris) doing applied math research (or neroscience research - whichever you prefer). I am living in the 14th district near Montsouris park.

I am really enjoying the work - the research - and my co-workers and newly found friends. They are all very helpful and understanding (I don't speak French, but hope to learn a little while I am here).

The other weekend I went with some friends that I had meant in Uppsala University to their hometown Caen in Normandy. I was taken all over and was shown the beaches, calvados, little cute villages and a ton of cows. It only rained for about two hours once... I am enjoying the area a lot! I really like my friends and am happy to have met them (the new ones here in France and the ones I meant in Uppsala). It seems that a large part of life is about connecting to others and networking. I enjoy participating in this part quite a bit!

The other day I went to see the fireworks from the Pantheon. You have a straight view of the tour eiffel and the show was nice. - as many French friends would say too costly, but eh... c'est la vie when you have a president like sarkozy :-D

Oh yeah, today after work I had a Swedish workout and played futbol!

That's all for now... more later!

au revoir.

In Paris working

Hi everyone! So I probably owe another post by now. I've been to Morocco for a week after my trip to Norway (loved the trip to Morocco). Now I am in Paris living near Montsouris Park and going to work five days a week! Pictures for later!

Best,

Joe

Finals are over and trip to Lofoten, Narvik Norway

So finals are over and I am soo happy that I am done with the semester! I will be getting 13 math credits in Advanced Linear Algebra, Number Theory (should be algebraic number theory at the graduate level :-( ), and Complex Analysis (cute course - didn't find it too interesting)...

Afterwards, my friend Kristen and I met up (she flew over to Sweden to eventually continue on to France) to travel a bit. We decided that Lofoten Islands would be a great place to see. They are apparently voted in the top three islands to visit by National Geographic Travel magazine. And I am not suprised.

To get here we took a 17 hour train ride from Uppsala to Narvik, Norway. We stayed there the night and continued on to Lofoten Islands (specifically Svolvaer) via a 4 hour bus.

Once there I rested a bit and the view from everywhere was simply amazing - some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. We continued on to see the trollfjords and some seahawks and fed seagulls (they out of my hand - almost from my hand). The fjords were simply breathtaking - some of the most fake looking mountains ever.

In a couple of days I will be heading on over to Morocco....

That's my update for now.

here are some pictures of the area (don't look at me - I look bad in these pictures - but the scenery is splendid as I have already stated multiple times)...

http://picasaweb.google.com/ksmark87/Europe200902# (this is Kristen's european picture archive so not all of them pertain to me or trips that I have been/will be on)

Finals!

So I am taking some finals - already found out I passed one course and am just waiting for another...

For some more updates I am getting ready for a trip to northern Norway... Afterwards, I have hopes to travel to Morocco. 

In July and August I start work at École normale supérieure doing math research... more on that later...

That's all for now....

Politically, I have nothing much to say...

Helsinki Cruise!

Yes, well the other day I managed to find myself on a boat full of drunk people wandering around.

But as the cruise was so long ago I find myself having trouble recalling the events too clearly myself....

In all it was a very pleasant experience seeing this capital - a capital of only ~600,000 reisdents and one that has a history of being under Swedish rule (not sure of the politics there, and how much antagonism was present, and under Russian rule and within the last 100 years or so independence.

Helsinki is still the smallest city to have held an olympics....

Well in any case in recent events the pirate bay trial is big news here and after dishing out a terrible sentence some of the pirate bay owner's lawyers are petitioning for a retrial.

http://www.thelocal.se/19028/20090423/

Till next time.

Hejda

My trip to Eastern Europe

I just came back from a booze cruise on Viking line. But that is another post...

Last week I traveled to Prague, Vienna and then Budapest. I took a flight with 6 corridor mates to Prague. In Prague I stayed with the one other guy out of our group of 7. We ate massive hot dogs and saw all of the main attractions including the national musuem, the astronomical clock, and the old Jewish quarter. I took a guided tour throughout the entire city and learned much about the fascinating history that began in the 9th century. Too much to actually write about.

Two days later, early in the morning, we took off via train to our next destination minus my friend Trent from my corridor. Arriving

in Vienna, we set out to take the clean and highly organized / efficient public transportation to our youth hostel. In Vienna I left the five girls and met up with my friend Alexander Olti - a highschool friend from Budapest, but studying in Vienna. He gave me another wonderful tour - not knowing as much about the history - but still I was able to learn much about the city and see a clear distinction between Vienna and Prague. Later that night I had some of the original world-famous Sacher torte and went to the Opera (I saw the Romeo and Juliet ballet). After another day of touring around I made sure to hang out with the camera crazy girls and we went around seeing the sites we had missed - and eating the traditional schnizel (DELICIOUS!!!). The morning after we took another early train to our final destination - Budapest.

As my friend was from Budapest he was able to give us a list of the must sees and dos. We went to the Parliament, Chain bridge, the fortress, and some other neat places including the largest synagogue in Europe. We ran into some interesting things along the way and enjoyed ourselves. After all this fun a couple of us felt that we needed to get in a couple more ounces of fun in so we went out to a nightclub my friend recommended. We chose not to party too much though as we had a flight the next day back home.

I truly enjoyed the different cities. Prague and its architecture, Vienna and the theaters, and Budapest and its lively feel. I hope to visit each of the cities again and partake in the joys that I enjoyed there once more.

Sorry I have so little time I can't fully describe everything in detail, but each city and site is amazing!

Next post will talk about the cruise!

Till then,

Adios

Quick Update

Quick update of all that's been going on.

I recently went to Prague, Vienna and Budapest in 6 days.

It was amazing. I loved the cities and will describe in my next post all that took place.

Unfortunately I can't write about the experience now as my two week easter break just started... meaning I am leaving for Helsinki in a couple of hours and haven't packed yet. 

During the break I will undoubtably study and not travel that much to catch up!

Well until the next post, see you in Helsinki!

PS. Take a look at the clocks in the background ;-) (any guesses where this is?)