I'm about to catch a train and head to Venice. I have this evening in Venice and all of Saturday and Sunday. Originally it looked like there would be rain this weekend, but it has fallen off the forecast now. It has been an incredibly busy week, so I haven't succeeded in planning any aspect of the trip (other than hotel and train). I have an hour before I head to the train station, so I now will "cram" from my guide book.
My trip to Italy is drawing to a close, which is a strange feeling (and which my mind sets to the song "Gethsemane (I only want to say)" from Jesus Christ Superstar). 2 weeks would be a long time for a vacation, but 2 weeks from a major move is not a long time! This feels much more like the second situation: I need to eat the food stored up in the fridge and cabinets, figure out packing, and wrap up projects at work. I had my last Italian lesson this morning, and this trip to Venice will be my last big trip. I might do a day trip next weekend, but I think I will have too much to wrap up to attempt more.
Obviously I'm excited about Venice, but my mind is largely on work right now. I made some great progress on my primary project over the past few days, but I am still a few simulations from seeing whether everything is working very well or only somewhat working. My other collaboration has reached the point of a paper draft - I plan to work on my section on the train to Venice. In addition to these two projects (near the end stages), there are 2 more simulation project for me to get started on!
My Italian collaborator is now back at the hospital and we had an incredibly productive conversation this week. It turns out that he and I have both had an interest in the same (very specific) idea for some time. It would be completely novel, and we both had some specific suggestions for different things to try. I've written an (unsuccessful) grant application on it before, but in our conversation we ended up on a modified idea that I am fairly excited about. I'm eager to get started on the simulations - the Monte Carlo data would serve as the initial data in a future grant application.
I won't be taking my laptop to Venice (in order to work on simulations...) since past trips have shown me that I do stop thinking about work once I get on the train to somewhere exciting. But it is nice to have research going so well. Not only do I think I can have a second paper submitted before I leave Italy, but we have 2 major collaborative projects going where my simulations will be paired with experiments done in Italy. Along the way we've encountered some interesting questions that I'd like to explore in more detail. One would be a stand-alone simulation project that would certainly yield a paper - and that could be really good for an undergraduate student to work on!
It is nice to have so much promising science to think about, but I better start planning my Venice trip... poor me! (-:
My trip to Italy is drawing to a close, which is a strange feeling (and which my mind sets to the song "Gethsemane (I only want to say)" from Jesus Christ Superstar). 2 weeks would be a long time for a vacation, but 2 weeks from a major move is not a long time! This feels much more like the second situation: I need to eat the food stored up in the fridge and cabinets, figure out packing, and wrap up projects at work. I had my last Italian lesson this morning, and this trip to Venice will be my last big trip. I might do a day trip next weekend, but I think I will have too much to wrap up to attempt more.
Obviously I'm excited about Venice, but my mind is largely on work right now. I made some great progress on my primary project over the past few days, but I am still a few simulations from seeing whether everything is working very well or only somewhat working. My other collaboration has reached the point of a paper draft - I plan to work on my section on the train to Venice. In addition to these two projects (near the end stages), there are 2 more simulation project for me to get started on!
My Italian collaborator is now back at the hospital and we had an incredibly productive conversation this week. It turns out that he and I have both had an interest in the same (very specific) idea for some time. It would be completely novel, and we both had some specific suggestions for different things to try. I've written an (unsuccessful) grant application on it before, but in our conversation we ended up on a modified idea that I am fairly excited about. I'm eager to get started on the simulations - the Monte Carlo data would serve as the initial data in a future grant application.
I won't be taking my laptop to Venice (in order to work on simulations...) since past trips have shown me that I do stop thinking about work once I get on the train to somewhere exciting. But it is nice to have research going so well. Not only do I think I can have a second paper submitted before I leave Italy, but we have 2 major collaborative projects going where my simulations will be paired with experiments done in Italy. Along the way we've encountered some interesting questions that I'd like to explore in more detail. One would be a stand-alone simulation project that would certainly yield a paper - and that could be really good for an undergraduate student to work on!
It is nice to have so much promising science to think about, but I better start planning my Venice trip... poor me! (-:
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