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| Salut! mes amis,
I am in my 12th day in Bordeaux, out of the two month research collaboration. I am happy to report that it has been one of the most eye opening experience I've ever had. The language (of which I still working hard on the basics), the city, and the people have been, in most parts, are just so beautiful! Things are also supposedly more relaxed here than Paris, though I would have to make the comparison myself when I make the excursion to Paris next month  . The buildings are quite old here, some going back to 17th century, but I really appreciate the feel of culture here compared to the rather stale and indifferent buildings in most of southern California. People here really do care more about their appearances, but not in a vacuous way that you would think. I feel that people here are very much more expressive, not just in words, but also in body language, and they appreciate people who make effort to be pleasing and sociable. However, it does baffle me that they would be so neat in that way, yet they could careless about the cleanliness of the streets: for example, I can't ever take my eyes off the ground for fear of stepping on a pile of doggy poo.
The professor and the students of his lab have treated me very well so far. Sometimes, when we spend too long discussing about the model at the lab, the professor would take us out for a nice meal where we would continue the discussion. Lol!, because of that I haven't had to pay much for my meals so far, and I have been able try many local specialties (sometimes costing more than 40 euro a person  ). They have lots of exotic ways of preparing and eating the many parts of a duck. Here in Bordeaux, duck steak is considered much better than regular steak by at least a factor of two, and fatty duck liver is considered even higher than that. To eat them correctly, and more healthily, you 'd have to eat them with wine, and Bordeaux is most famous for its wine. Unfortunately, all the names and functions of the wines eluded me, but perhaps before I leave, I will checkout the wineries and take a crash course about the wines.
This week, hopefully I will have a chance to play some football (soccer) with the locals. I made friends with people from Ivory coast, Algeria, and Reunion
island: all were once colonies of France where football are just as
popular. I've been dying to see just how good the standard of play is here in Europe, and whether I could keep up with them. I've been feeling a bit rusty since I haven't had the chance to exercise after I arrived, and it has been raining at least half of time.
In the middle of June, I will also be making a trip to Barcelona, Spain to visit a very good friend of mine from the Master program. After which, I might be sent by the professor here to meet another student working on similar project in Berlin, Germany... Those that know me well, know that I probably wouldn't have the energy or will to travel around Europe if it was up to me. So this really is the opportunity of the lifetime for me. Sometimes I would pinch myself to see if I'm dreaming  .
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| I'd been feeling pretty lazy the last couple of years since I got my masters degree. Doing the same type of work everyday-- reading paper, trying out different equations for simulations, analyse results, etc. As a result, I feel completely deprived of energy most of the time, and wonder to myself where is the excitement for research I had before graduate school? I had also become less sociable, often prefer a quiet evening at the spa with few close friends than to spend the energy to meet new people. The only spark in life came from playing pickup soccer two to three times a week.
Then lately, I met quite a few international students through intramural soccer, and being with them reminded me that I once wished to do an exchange abroad as well. In some ways I had completely missed the point of doing research by becoming a secluded hermit. What I really need is to interact with more people, finding out how they think and figuring out how I could present my ideas to them. Amazingly, just when I was about to ask my professors about the possibility of going abroad, they asked to fly me out to France for a few month, and possibly followed by a few month of time in Japan and Taiwan for research collaborations. I feel kindof scared that the chance came to me so effortlessly (plus I know not a word of French), but I am optimistic about the opportunity and will try to make the most of it... :)
Btw, does anyone have tips about traveling in Europe and Asia?
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| Testing... 1...2...3... anyone listening?
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