6 COUNTRIES UNDER 2 MONTHS!

Some define globalization as the compression of space and time. Technological development allows humanity to increase the speed of movement of goods, capital, information and… yes… me!!!!
It is quite true! I have been to 6 different countries in less than 2 months. Let us do a quick recap:
1 - I left the UK (which counts as the first country) raining as usual.
2 – Went to Copenhagen (Denmark) for 3 days for my conference. Lovely weather. Went with Kelly who had returned from her research cruise to the Arctic (i.e. North Pole). You may have seen Kelly in the previous post… (eheheh)

3 – Went to Portugal for some deserved vacations after having worked for about two months straight (mid-July to mid-September) non-stop to finish my first-year report (which was successfully accomplished), make my research progress and prepare the conference paper. So, these dearly-wanted vacations amounted to about 4 full days. Yes, only. The good news is that I’ll be coming back soon. Top moment?.. easy… the afternoon at the beach, in Arrábida, with my mum. We swam, had some food while looking at the sea,…it was really a relaxed time. And that was my second day of beach in the year (yes, this was in September).

4 – Then, it was straight to Vannes (France) to enjoy a few days with friends from Cambridge and Kelly. The weather was not great, but I still managed to have day 3 and 4 in the year of beach. And the friend who invited us had a sailing boat, which we took out for a ride…well… sail (eheh). I controlled the boat for a while. Tried to flip the boat without any real success. All in all, it was good and fun. Food, games and rest was all we did!

5 – Now it was Kelly’s turn to present a paper at a conference. And given that she went to mine to be with me, I went to hers. Plus, the hotel was paid for by the organization. This time was in Bologna (Italy). Not bad. Not the greatest of cities. Some nice old buildings, but nothing distinctive about it. I managed to work a bit (I took my laptop with me) and sneaked in the conference to watch Kelly’s presentation without her knowing. She was great. Plus, I got some evidence of that on film. (eheheh).

6 – Finally, tomorrow, there I go, yet again, for another tournament, this time in Barcelona. Some more beach. Although, I suppose the summer weather is now gone. Anyway, I have a big cold and I just want to get better so that I can play. I’ll revisit a few good friends from Lisbon who are also playing this fun tournament. News about it in a future post…

So, this was it… 6 countries and a lot of traveling. Still, for those who are wondering… I am working on my research, yes. And it is progressing well, amazingly (eheh).