gnarff

Julie's view on my latest adventure...

I am so organised that the first thing I did when I came back from my stay at my father's for Christmas was to store all the wrapping material back in its place in my bedroom, together with the gifts I have bought ahead of time for this or that person. A few days later I left again to go visit my mum this time only to realise that I was so intent on storing those things that they totally slipped my mind when packing !! I ended up leaving behind those beautiful butterflies that were meant to decorate the packages I was supposed to wrap this morning, as well as the gift for my boyfriend which was stored along those... ARGH ! Why the hell am I not so disorganised that it would have leaped in my face when packing !!

I just came back from the Christmas market on the Ladeuzeplein in Leuven and I was really disgusted: just as I was leaving, I saw a man putting back his 'thing' in his pants and zipping them back up. He had just - relieved - himself, against the entry to the parking lot... I did not know what to think, except that the Belgian are NOT the champions in outdoor behaviour nor in hygiene...

My father asked me this week-end the deadly question of the least-inspired person: what is on your list for Christmas ?! I hate that question. My answer would the save, always: something under the tree that surprises me !! But the problem is that with him, I am always negatively surprised... Last year, I wanted a Japanese bed (to lift my mattress from the floor where it is most likely deteriorating FAST !!) The 2000-Euro bed that I found was out of the price range, so it turned out that my father simply filled a whole in my finances (this does not really fit under the tree). This is why this year I decided to look at beds again and went to Bruxelles this time (rather than Paris... Transport from Bruxelles to Leuven is a bit easier than from Paris !!)

On the way there, I was worried by the traffic since my Christmas shopping held Arne and I back in Leuven until 17:45. The one thing I was not concerned with, however, was the parking. The Futon Design is a brilliant place with a parking lot at its rear !! We came there just before closing time and could discuss futons and tatamis to all my content... For those interested by my Christmas list, I shall most likely get a few tatamis only for now...

Around 19:10 (10 minutes after official closing time), we finally came out of the store... to find that a stupid Dutch guy (per looking at the car plates) had parked in the street in front of the exit of the parking lot !! Un-freaking-believable ! We went back inside the store to find that the girl was pissed off too: she had to close the parking before she could leave ! We saw a police car pass by and asked them to do something, to which we were kindly replied to go to the police station and file our complaint there first...

So we did. "A patrol will come to you in while". After 5 patrols passed by without stopping and one hour passed, Arne went to them to express our worry in Dutch this time... with no more success... After ANOTHER hour (it was thus 21:15, the girl had to go to Liege to celebrate her mother's birthday by the way...), the girl from the store went back to the police, to be told that the dispatch was so overloaded, they had not yet sent our request !!! Can anyone believe this !!

So after, the Dutch bastard came back to his freaking BMW. As soon as Arne saw that and mentioned it, the girl flew to the bastard's car and almost ripped the door from the car and started yelling at the guy. I did not hear it all, but it ended with something like "our evenings are ruined ! What will YOU do about that ?!" 40 Euros and 3 Dollars (???) later, we were on our separate ways...

Personally, this was a nice opportunity to try out some futons. I really recommend the one with layers of coco inside, they are just hard enough =]

Yep, yet another concert I am reporting about. This time, it was not as big a venue as Milk Inc. It was nevertheless a very important concert for me, where Les Douces performed live for a full concert for the first time. This was really great and I am really (and proud) to have been there.

For those of you who don't know (that is, probably every one), Iphigenie, my little sister, is one of the three girls that make up Les Douces. They write, play, sing. They did quite a nice show though my camera does not reveal it well. Anyway, for those of you who are interested in listening to them:

My Sunshine

Tu me saoules

Voila !

I went tonight to the Milk Inc. concert in the Sportpaleis, Antwerpen. It seems that very few of my friends outside Belgium know this band. I knew it before coming here, so I am surprised they are not known better than that. This is a band of dance music that was formed something like 10 years ago with Regi and Linda.... Maybe some of you have heard of that stupid show Regi's World but most likely that would be a Belgium-only show...

The concert was all you would expect from a dance band and more. All their classics, many voice couacs, terrible covers (pump-up the jam, nothing else matters, .... try and find the link !) but all in all a great atmosphere. The first part was on the stage only with two arms extending into the crowd but in the second half, they pushed it further with Regi singing from the crowd on the other side of Sportpaleis (his voice is shit...) then followed by few performances from a central podium which was eventually linked to the two arms by bridges that came from the ceiling... The rest of the concert was just all the way around. That was really cool and I am really glad I went (which is what matters to me in the end).

After having the worst student exchange ever in high-school for my first visit and after Andree got her wallet stolen at the second visit, my feelings for Barcelona were not as high as one would expect of this 'party-city'. My sister, however, always dreamed of going to Spain, and especially Barcelona.

That was her first mistake: Barcelona is Catalonia, not Spain. But anyway, she was just at the beginning of her disappointment. From the disgusting piss smell on the highway to the dirt on the buildings in the streets of Barcelona, from the rush on the Ramblas to the traffic downtown at 5pm, the feeling of Spain as a laid-back haven in the world was totally shattered.

As she was leaving from Barcelona the next day, we needed to find a proper hotel for her boss and herself first. We drove a bit around town and ended up sight-seeing most of the important stuff: Plaza Espanya, Montjuic, the port, the Ramblas, Plaza Catalunya, the Diagonal and we even reached the Park Guell (closed already though). The last was a bit of a mistake actually. We had found the hotel we wanted on top of Montjuic and while trying to get back there with no idea of the layout of the city nor any map, we got caught up in the traffic and went up and up and up, but on the wrong hill !! We eventually got back to Plaza Espanya, by chance, and just retraced our steps to the Montjuic.

The hotel was magnificent and well worth the trouble. I recommend the AC-MIRAMAR to anyone going there (who can afford 300 Euros per night). This was really great comfort, design, service, view, ... Great on all aspects. My sis' boss had bought for us a bottle of Chateau de Pommard 1989 (the best year, I bought the last bottle from the castle for my sis 18th birth, she was born in 1989...) and we shared it between the four of us (her boss, herself, my bf and myself) with some bread, cheese and chocolate. That was YUMMY ! A perfect appetizer followed by a perfect meal. We went to the restaurant of the hotel and that was amazing too. If you cannot afford to stay at the hotel, at least go to their restaurant. For as little as 75 Euros per person, you can have a magnificent meal... Humm... As little as... Well, that was worth every dime and more ! That was really fantastic. I am really glad I went !

And now I can say that I had finally a positive experience in Barcelona !!

.... or how to spend money you don't have !

With my sister around from Santa Fe, we decided to pass by the 'Route des Grands Crus' on our way to the south of France. This road follows all the great winery of Burgundy from Dijon to Macon via Chambolles-Musigny, Nuits-St-Georges, Beaune, Pommard, Vonay, ... and many other great wines you can find in special stores for very special prices !!

We first visited a 'negociant', a guy who buys the best grapes from all over and makes all the different wines you can get in the region. That was quite nice because they were of great quality and we could taste the difference between each part of the region, the 'terroir' of each wine. In the end, my sister was totally taken over by one of those and could not resist buying a bottle to bring home (on top of all those she had received at her birthday).

Later on, we passed by Pommard. To my sister, this is the best terroir there is in Burgundy. We went to the Chateau de Pommard, a castle at the entrance of the village. This is the only vineyard with the 'Chateau' appellation and it makes a difference in the sense that all the grapes come from the same place (the yard in the castle walls) and that the walls protect the grapes differently than in the rest from the village. In this place, we compared the same wine over different years. A different tasting from the previous one but it was stunning to see all the differences from one year to the next, as much in taste as in price !! I could not resist and I ended up buying 12 bottles !! 6 from 1997 and 6 from 2005. The idea is to open them up when I complete my Ph.D. At the KULeuven, in Unclear Physics, we first give a very scientific defense but then we have to perform a second public defense, in front of colleagues, friends and family, one that is followed by a reception. Mine shall be in the Castle Van Aarenberg, in the middle of the parc of the science campus... That will be so great ! I shall serve the Chateau de Pommard (they even offered me the glasses to go along) and some fresh-pressed orange juice; I have already asked my grand-ma to cook some 'gougere', a delicacy from Burgundy, and although she is not convinced yet, I have 2.5 years to work on that... Yes, that is right, I am already talking about defense but I still have 2.5 years to do. At least, I have my data set, so it is not like I am building on wind... rather on sand actually !

At around 50 Euros per bottle, you can quickly see how negative my account is at the moment =] But you all now that it is never as bad as it seems with me, all is fine and I did not prevent myself from buying some more wine when I reached Banyuls-sur-Mer !! You are now all welcome at my place near Langres to try one of the two gift bottle of Chateau de Pommard 1998 or of the sweet Banyuls. See you soon !

On a quite afternoon [as quite as the planes taking taking off permit] after a quite night shift [the most boring ever, like we want them to be], I had a revelation: In the song 'Magenta' of the Hooverphonic's album Blue water powder milk, there are actually lyrics in Dutch ! They  say 'Je kleurt de werelt magenta' [ ie. You colour the world magenta]. This is the first time I notice lyrics in Dutch in a song from that Flemish band.

In earlier times, I had even been confused by the fact that they had French lyrics in other songs, much more prominent than those in Dutch. The band is originally from Kortrijk though, close to the French border but definitely in Flanders.

But the worst thing is that this season is better than the previous one... We shall see what becomes of this show in the coming weeks.

Yeah ! Everybody cheers !

This is the story of my summer. CERN CERN CERN. At first, you consider this is like Disney World for physicists. This might be true, but then, let me tell you, never spend a full summer at Disney Land, you would get really tired of the place.

This time, I shall not be the one experimenting. I shall be lowly shift meat, just there to watch over the 200 knobs that I have no clue about and, of course, be the taxi for the people from Leuven and beyond. I shall most probably drive around a few hundreds km in the next few days, bringing people from hotel to apartment to experimental hall to shift to restaurant to..... Anyway, lots of fun ahead ! We are so far supposed to be 22 people to watch over the experiment, 16 of which have probably even less understanding of the setup than me. This is promising !

And as the beginning of the experiment grows near, so does the number of people and it becomes more and more complicated for me to play on my laptop to NWN... It is quite a hard life to be a physicist.

Before you can get on the road, you first have to wake up. On my way back from CERN, that was the first mishap. We had planed on leaving around 10am from CERN when my grand-ma woke me with a phone call, at 9:15. Ouch. We finished loading the van at 11:15...

I had prepared my papers through EDH, that wonderful CERN on-line signature system. I brought that paper, my equipment list and my biggest smile to the shipping/export services of CERN to get the final stamp that would allow me through the border. Or should I say, would have allowed me... There is no way I shall let you take your stuff through the border ! It is only for over-sized equipment. You will take your illegal car and smuggle yourself and your passenger through the tunnel under the border ! And if I have a problem with that, I should take it up with my supervisor... Beaten and totally outraged, I went to see the ISOLDE secretary who tried her best to give me a rightful access to the tunnel, but she could not find the guy who had to give the final EDH signature... I thus resorted in contacting a colleague who could do it for me. We exchange cars, so that I could go with the car and my summer student through the border and find the van waiting for us on the other side.

Naturally, I needed a final stamp from the French side of CERN to conclude my departure procedure. The shipping service on the Prevessin site are unfortunately closed during lunch time, from noon till 1pm. I arrived at their office a 12:05, and realised that they are quite on time when it comes to closing. Maybe some Swiss influence diffusing through the border ? It was good finally, because I had also forgot a bag with my wallets, passport, ... in my colleagues car. Eventually, we got the final stamp and left the place altogether.

We went from traffic jam to traffic jam, surrounded by evil people coming back from holidays. Why the hell is everybody on holidays in August ?! Can't they be like every scientist and take their holidays when the accelerators are under maintenance !! We made it in the end to Leuven around 11pm... Quite a day, I tell you, and not much rest until I have to go back !

I am now in the middle-end of my experiment. 7 days of pure madness, lack of sleep when any... I started with 36 hours straight to make sure that I got all under control until my prof very nearly boxed me to bed ! Now that the night linger, I start to feel the pain of climbing a 3250m mountain last Sunday less while the pressure of the experiment increases.

Moreover, since my boss left, another visiting prof decided he was the senior member of the collaboration. This FORTRAN-PAW addict has no clue about ROOT, CERN, C++ nor my setup and that starts to piss me up quite bad. Moreover, I am surrounded by half a dozen Russian (including that guy) with no regard for the fact that English is the language of the collaboration. Considering me, my Belgian prof and our colleagues from Orsay (Universite Paris-Sud), we could speak in French in their faces (although one of them speaks French too...) but we never do, unless we are really really really alone... Anyway, one of the French colleague is originally Flemish, so we usually switch rather to Dutch, in which case my prof claims it is good for me to practice !

Altogether, my experiment is going well and I already have more data than I planned to collect. After only 1.5 years into my Ph.D., I am extremely lucky to have that. There are tones of students that hit the third year with not even a scheduled experiment. Not me, at least. I know have around 50 000 spectra to analyse, correct, re-analyse, re-correct, rere-analyse, rere-correct... You all know the drill, I am sure.

I have now to return to watching my spectra grow for another hour or so...

I just had a revelation I want to share with the world on a beautiful quote. It took me 5.5 years to understand it (although it is one of my favorite quotes...) so you may laugh at me all your might...


Beyond being geeky because it talks about basic cases you over explore in physics, it is deep of meaning for relationship, considering you are either single or in a relationship (whatever the number of dimensions of the oscillator) with highs and downs... I had totally missed the relationship part of it until the light came to me (Euraka) in the toilet a few seconds ago.

Now, I got your attention. And the funniest is that it is true ! I have my French driver's license no more...

In order to drive the car from my institute with passengers, the insurance company requires a stamp be placed on your license attesting of your visibility. Don't laugh, several colleagues of mine failed that eye test !! They can still drive the car, just not with passengers... Don't ask.

Anyway, to get the stamp is not a direct process. First, I had to get the eye test (done long before I failed my first driving exam...) and then, at the city hall, they told me that for the French, there now was a special policy. You require a special piece of paper from the Prefecture, one of those administration that deals with car stuff in France. I eventually got to call mine and the girl there was very upset:

But that is personal information! They have NO right to ask that from you. Tell them that and go ahead.

Heu.... They can also tell me to fuck off and never give me my stamp... Anyway. The girl told me nonetheless that the paper I wanted was a releve d'information and that I could get it from any Prefecture in France, not only the one where I got my original papers. I thus went today to Valenciennes, the closest French sub-Prefecture to Belgium.

Once I found the sub-Prefecture (and a parking spot, what a nightmare), I realised that I had to go the other building around the building where they dealt with car stuff... I took my number, they scrolled through 10 with no one answering and it was my turn. Sorry Sir, for licenses you have to go on the second floor... Up on the second floor and there the lady made my paper without saying a word... Whatever.

Back in Leuven, the lady at the city hall was happy to have someone with all the required paperwork and 16€ later, I had a Belgian driver's license, in Dutch, still in pink (although less pink that the French one). I asked her what would happen to the one that cost me so dearly and she told me that she was to send it back to France, to a big agency that centralises those. If I ever need the French license over any other, I should go to the Prefecture and they could return it to me, in exchange for another European one, within administrative delays....

That is the story of the life and death of my French driver's license. May she rest in peace, till I leave Belgium...

I was supposed to manage to do everything this summer. Starting with an experiment in Louvain-La-Neuve, then my experiment in CERN and finally a week with my boyfriend and my sister on the French Mediterranean coast. It was all calculated and matched with the CERN schedule... until Luis decided to redo the schedule (last week).

Now, the week I was supposed to go and do nothing on the beach is the week for MY experiment, that one week that shall determine my 4-year Ph.D. I still have the experiment in LLN and with those two, nothing can happen in July. The only other dates that could work for my sister and the apartment in Banyuls were the last two weeks of August: one is the other experiment I really could not miss this year (CoulEx on Hg at REX) while the second is the Euroschool on Exotic Beams in Houlgate... OK, I know there are worse ways to spend a summer than a few weeks in Geneva and a week in Normandy, but those won't be holidays nonetheless.

As of late, I keep on having weird dreams at night. Even stranger, I remember those. As if it was not enough that they were weird...

My boyfriend's mum's phone call

The first one that stroke me was a phone call. My boyfriend is on his cell phone, calling his mother like he does every now and then (he is a really good boy). I never listen to what they say, he often goes in another room but even if he did not, he speaks in Dutch very fast and I cannot make out what they chat about. Eventually he turns over to me and hands me the phone. Strange enough, I take it (although I have never talked to nor seen his parents) and then she speaks to me:
You know, it is about time you come visit us, Thomas !


My institute is moving

Today's dream was also quite freaky. Everything is packed and we are all ready to board a plain. It is raining hard, it is the middle of the night. I turn to Jeroen, a colleague. He is in charge.
Jeoen, why did you chose Rovaniemi !
No answer. I just look at everybody going up in the plane. We are leaving everything behind and the weather is really shitty. I feel excitement at the same time at the idea of setting up in a new place, but then I start wondering what the hell I will do in the North of Finland... and why the hell we are going so far away from the labs, when we should actually get closer.

As for those means, I have no idea. The shitty weather is surely representative of the night (it rained continuously and my gutter has a weird shapes that results in a annoying sound right next to my bed...) As for leaving everything behind, I can only imagine that I was inspired by the latest Doctor Who episode ([2005] 3.11) Apart from that, I have no clue why Jeroen was in charge, why Rovaniemi, Finland, or why the hell my boyfriend's mother was talking to me. If those inspire you, let me know !

or could also be named

On my way from New York to Las Vegas, I flew with the worst crew I ever had. It was a US Airways flight with a crew from America West. A sample of their performance:

I just noticed recently that the new episodes of Doctor Who (I won't even try to number them for I would killed on the spot by the hard-cores) are made in collaboration between BBC Wales and CBC. Considering this is one of the best show airing at the moment, I wanted to congratulate the Canadian contribution, whatever it may be, and add in the end that a show does NOT have to be some Hollywood-sponsored Vancouver-filmed super production to be a successful scifi series !