The Past Couple Weeks

Yes, yes, I know it's been a while since I've updated this thing, so here goes. I've mostly been working the past couple weeks, but have a couple of stories to tell. I also got to visit my relatives in Switzerland two weekends ago, which was great. We took some pictures, but I don't have them yet. In short, Switzerland is one of the most perfect places I have ever visited. Beautiful lakes and mountains everywhere! I really don't think I could ask for more as far as scenery and a great location, although it would make flying challenging. Meeting all of my relatives was really fun, and they were incredible hospitable and generous. I'm already planning how to get back there in a couple years.

Now, on to the stories. For this, we need to go back in time to last wednesday. Having missed the 4th of July, with the 14th of July on the horizon (Bastile Day), and the departing of two of my friends for holiday, we decided to go out for a couple beers. So, here's the situation. A Norwegian, a Romanian, and an American, drinking Belgium beer (delicious Leffe Brown and Kronenbourg) in an Irish pub, in France. In addition, we had live music played by a half scottish, half irish guitarist who, of course, spoke fluent french and english, both with an irish accent. He selections included tradition irish folk music, some french music I didn't understand (but that was good) and some good ole' American 70's classics. Priceless. I told the guy my last name and he seemed to appreciate that, and yelled across the bar to some of his scottish buddies that we had more scottish blood in the pub. So, after a couple beers we discussed politics (what else), health care, science, etc. You know, the basics. At the end of the night, our Norwegian friend started chatting with another group of people, who turned out to be French medical students who had just gotten the results of their final exam which ranked them for residency. Apparently, some hadn't done so well. But, they were off to some party and invited us to come along. So, we called up another of our coworkers and he and his fiance drove and met us at what turned out to be the end of the party. As the tram had now ceased operation he was nice enough to give me a ride home, and thus my evening ended. Happy birthday America, happy birthday France, and Lucian and Stian...it was fun! Keep in touch.

My second story isn't quite as entertaining as my first, but it was, none the less, a good time. Sunday the 14th was Bastile day, and Stian's last day in Grenoble. So, we decided that we woul get some dinner and then walk to the park for the festivities and fireworks. We had some very good (albeit expensive) Indian food, then some excellent Italian Gelato, and finally headed to some park on the edge of downtown for fireworks. Now, I've seen some good fireworks shows, but I have never seen them quite so "intimately" as this show. First, the show was one of the best I have seen in recent memory. It was set to music and had tons of shells. Secondly, and most importantly, we were so close to the fireworks that it ended up being a 20 minute heavy metal and shell shrapnel shower. (Talk about an insurance nightmare in the states!) The crowd was so close to the fireworks that some of the longer lasting shells actually caused sparks to hit the ground in the crowd. Pretty impressive and very cool! After the display, the streets were filled with people, and we walked and had a beer before I caught the tram back to my apartment.

Well that's all I've got for now. I wish I could report on live tour stages, but it just wasn't in the cards. Too much to do in lab coupled with difficulty in getting to the stages (the closest was about 100 miles away) was just too much hassle. The equipment is booked this weekend and mon-wed next week, so maybe I'll try to catch a stage in the Pyrenees, if I can figure out how to swing it. I'm pretty satisfied with what I have accomplished and have gotten through all of my samples (some twice to check the results) and made good progress on some things that I knew nothing about when I arrived. Until next time....