End of a Chapter

Masters Hydrogeology Office, Photo by Liza Bourchtein.

Back in Utrecht here! Was just thinking how crazy that two years have flown by and come 24 September I will have a master's degree in my hand. All my grades are in and approved and next week I have an appointment with Immigration for a new Dutch visa since I am no longer studying, ack! 

Side note: Here is a link to my masters thesis in case anyone wanted to read or just skim through it. It is by no means perfect (always room for improvement in terms of analysis), but I learned so much this past year about planning, fieldwork, lab analysis, writing and just science research in general.

Alright, having just been back in the US and Canada, many of my friends and family have asked me what my plans are, so here it goes for anyone else interested:

I am planning to stay in the Netherlands while job searching (water/hydrology/geology/geochemistry fields) until at least the winter holiday season. Plus my internship at Deltares got extended for another month to the end of September. For jobs I am searching in the following countries: the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. There is a bit of a range for choice but I figure this is the best time to take a chance and see what is out there. Plus I do not want to limit myself and not take advantage of obtaining experience from the best opportunities. At least I know I don't need visas for the US and Canada, whew. 

Spanish Banks Beach Park looking towards Vancouver

Now if nothing comes up, then I plan to head back to New Jersey, pack up my car and drive on out to British Columbia, get a waitress job or something in Vancouver area and continue on my job search! Not that I don't love New Jersey, which is honestly a wonderful state to be from and live in (to all you haters!), but I want to try living in a province that I really only love more and more each time I have been there from when I was really young taking the BC ferry to Victoria to see my grandparents (and totally freaking out when the horn blew), celebrating Canada Day with family along the river in Kelowna when I was 10, to discovering interior BC and the Cariboo Mountains while collecting samples last fall for my thesis. There is so much I still want to discover there and never have enough time to do, like going to the Queen Charlotte Islands, continue driving north up Highway 97 to the Yukon and Alaska and kayaking besides wild orcas along the coast. So yeah...tentative plans, but who knows, everything could always all go down the drain and I will come up with something else that is just as grand instead!

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To now backtrack to talk about the past as opposed to the future - my trip back to the US/Canada was really wonderful and a much-needed break from all the thesis and internship report writing and conducting groundwater experiments. Definitely needed that breather. There were a number of reasons for the timing of my trip back, some of which included celebrating my mother's 60th birthday, a sea burial for my Oma and Opa, meeting my dad out and seeing the BC branch of his family (remind me I should draw out a family tree for you all, I think I have it down now...), and getting to view firsthand how my mom's new house is coming along!

SeaWorld Dolphin Interaction, CA

Oceanside Harbor, CA

While the weather really was not the best in Encinitas this time around, it was good to see my cousins, aunt and uncle again on top of my mom and sister. My aunt put together a lovely birthday surprise for my mom where she, Gillian and I got to swim with a dolphin at SeaWorld! The dolphin we interacted with was a 25 year old dominant female with a bit of a silly side to her personality. We also had a very nice sea burial ceremony for my mother's parents, both of whom passed away while I was studying the past two years in the Netherlands. It was a gorgeous evening, we left the harbor and saw a rainbow and it was nice to be out on the water as my first memories of them are of playing in their pool or at the beach in Florida!

Deep Cove, North Vancouver, BC

The next stop was North Vancouver where Gillian and I stayed with my Aunt Lynell (my dad's youngest sibling and only sister) and her family. She hosted one evening a nice dinner where my Uncle Warren (my dad's younger brother) and his wife came out from ...well I forget where they live now since they sold their last place, oops! My aunt also has a new dog named Kyla, a 6 month old female who really is adorable! Haha. As a surprise, it turned out my Aunt Marilyn (wife of my dad's oldest brother Roy) and their daughter Courtney were passing through with their 3 Samoyeds and 2 puppies that one had just had. So it was nice to catch up with everyone!

Wells, BC

Those days there we spent visiting the University of BC campus (got to keep PhD in mind!), going sea kayaking (well more like bay), going downtown, and taking a hike along Deep Cove. I then left to head up to interior BC and thus parted with my sister as I will not see her again until at least October. I flew up to north to Prince George, rented a car and headed on down to Wells (in Cariboo mountains more north of where I was last year in Likely/Horsefly) with a good friend for a music festival, which was unlike all the other music festivals/concerts I had been to earlier this summer. Some of the artists I ended up really liking were: Samson's Delilah (husband and wife from Robson, BC), Corin Raymond (man from Ontario) and Tanya Tagaq (contemporary Inuit throat singer). 

This is Corin Raymond singing "Don't Spend it Honey" written about saving and spending Canadian Tire "money" (for non-Canadians - think coupons in the form of bills but only very small denominations that people tend to save for years). He was actually able to pay for all the costs of his album with this money that people sent him. (Skip to 1:39 if you want to listen to the song).

He also did an autobiographical play called "Bookworm" and if you love books and reading, definitely find an hour of your time and watch it HERE.

This is a live improv performance of Tanya Tagaq - just to warn you, if you have never heard throat singing before it is quite different and this is by no means the traditional way as it was normally a vocal exercise between two Inuit women and Tanya takes things to a whole different level. It was amazing listening to and watching her though, she had performed with a violinist and a harpist and imitates many different sounds and emotions, i.e. howling like a wolf (go to 4:26 in this video).

The ArtsWells festival was amazing, and I loved being able to look up at the stars and wake up in the morning, taking a dip in the nearby river, and spend the day volunteering my time and listening to some wonderful musicians. Upon arriving back to Prince George, I got the chance to finally see the University of Northern BC campus and say hello to the two Canadian professors who were able to help fund the fieldwork I did last year for my masters thesis. In a way it brought everything full circle as I had finished the thesis a few weeks earlier and was in the Cariboo region when one year early I had driven out there to start the whole process! What a year! The campus was small but actually quite charming and I have only been hearing and reading good things about the university so was glad to have the opportunity to walk around and explore a bit (again...PhD?? My mind is always buzzing with ideas.)

QRTT Photo Op!

After a 1.5 day process of getting back to Vancouver (took a 13 hr Greyhound and slept for the first time at an airport), I started my journey back east with a small stop in New Jersey. I was able to see both of my parents again, tour around the basically finished with renovated house of my mom's and catch up with my hometown friends! This included another QRTT dinner (QRTT standing for quartet, aka my 3 good girl friends and I) and photo op. :P They also got to shop around all my old stuff as I was trying really hard to recycle donate and get rid of my things I had accumulated over the years. Books though are hard for me to part with, apparently my mom and sister filled a whole car of them to take to storage (mind you there is a good bunch that are science textbooks).

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Well I suppose this will be my last post as a masters student as I will be officially no longer a university student come end of August! Scary...makes me feel older, also knowing that when I go back to New Jersey, it will not be to my childhood home! I will still continue to blog about my travels as I haven't left Europe yet and there is still so much to see and do besides...internship, jobs, Irish dance classes, and any other projects/activities I land myself in :P TTFN!

Weekend Trips to Barcelona, Rome & London

In May I ended up booking three weekend trips in a row for June/July! I originally thought I would be done editing my thesis and would only have my internship to worry about...of course I was wrong considering my tendency to procrastinate. Besides the constant worry in the back of my head of "however will I get things done in time", I had a wonderful time in all of these cities. As I had been to all of them at least two times, I did not have to be the tourist, therefore relax, wander and enjoy.

Barcelona

I had the pleasure of having Cleo and Liza join me for yet another little European trip. Unfortunately I did have lots of experiments to run, but it worked out that the computer was malfunctioning and devices not working properly giving me a bit more time to spend with them!  We had wanted to go to a warm European city and had decided on Barcelona! Booking an awesome apartment with a terrace via AirBNB, we stayed in El Raval, a few blocks a way from La Rambla and the famous Boqueria market.

As you most likely have heard or seen photos of, Barcelona is home to the La Sagrada Familia, designed by Gaudi and still in construction. This church is one of my top favorite buildings of all time (and probably everyone else who has seen it). As I had seen it December 2011, there weren't quite as many changes like in 2008, but the towers were a bit bigger, some more work was being done on the Passion facade and there were more stained glass windows put in.

While Cleo and Liza went to see more of Gaudi's work, I did a day trip to Montserrat (mountains outside of Barcelona) and Sitges (village on the coast) with a group recommended by a Dutch acquaintance. I had a lovely hike in Montserrat with a gorgeous view and then a nice swim in the Mediterranean at Sitges. That night Cleo, Liza and I went to Razzmatazz (finally, three times a charm!) - this a popular club with several rooms of mainly club/dance music and sometimes experimental. We were having a nice time, but sadly the gypsies came and spirited Cleo's phone away to Morocco.

This particular weekend we went happened to also be the same time as the Festival of Saint Joan, which celebrates the start of summer with lots of parties and fireworks! It seems like all the young people descend to the beach at Barceloneta in droves, so we joined of course. We walked up the beach while dancing, drinking and enjoying all the festivities...I particularly enjoyed Cleo's and Liza's reactions to all the fireworks (this would never happen in American cities) and to be fair, I was also a bit startled during New Year's in the Netherlands with the fireworks going off in all directions.

We also made another fish dinner like we did in Bodrum, Turkey last year by going to the local market picking up a fish and other produce and putting together a nice dinner. The fish is always quite good thanks to Cleo and Liza - that is something I still need to learn.

Well Cleo and Liza both came back with me to Utrecht, they got to see where I live and work, we slept in my room like a pack of sardines (still comfortable), biked to a nice pancake house outside of the city and got them hooked on Agricola (awesome board game...you should all play)!

Rome

Cleo and Liza left on a Thursday morning and the following evening I left for Rome to eventually meet up with a college friend of mine. Upon checking into the Yellow Hostel, I was told that I was randomly selected for one night's free stay and then given a free shot of limoncello - what a greeting!

Saturday I went to the coastal town of Sperlonga, an ancient Roman resort that has some of the nicest beaches a day trip out of Rome. The lunch I had right on the beach was honestly one of the best - a huge plate full of spaghetti, mussels and clams along with some house white wine, yummy! The water was of course wonderful and it was relaxing to be a town with few tourists and mostly locals. 

That evening I met up with my friend, Pisei, and her boyfriend and wandered around the old town and naturally eating some gelato. On Sunday went again to the old town for gelato and then Trastavere, had some 7€ orange juice (still refreshing) then on to the Catacombs of St Callixtus right off of Appian Way (the old road that led to Rome). These catacombs were pretty cool to see as I hadn't had a chance to see them earlier. This particular set occupies 15 hectacres, is almost 20 km long, was where 16 popes and 50 martyrs were buried among many other Christians mostly from the 2nd to 4th centuries. After the catacombs tour we went back to Trastavere and had pizza for dinner followed by yet more gelato! 

It was really nice to catch up with Pisei as the last time I saw her was in Paris as well as to enjoy good Italian food and sun!

London

Again left Friday evening for the weekend. The main reason of going to London was to see the Mumford & Sons concert at the new Olympic Park that Saturday. Friday night I planned to meet up with some Australian friends I met on my ski trip to Austria. To kill some time I wandered around Covent Garden and discovered that it was the opening day for Shake Shack. And as I hadn't had a decent hamburger in a good time I figured...well this 1 hour line doesn't look too bad. While standing and waiting, ended up talking with a brother and sister behind me as well as the owner of Shake Shack. The hamburger, custard and ginger beer (imported from Louisiana) were definitely worth it and I left fully satisfied that more people would be exposed to what a burger should be like! In the Netherlands I just make them from scratch otherwise it is not up to my standards, therefore inedible :P

That night I was able to catch up with my friends, James and Mez, and see how they have been doing in London or where they have been traveling to within Europe. Both are on Youth Mobility Visas, which allows one to stay and work in the UK for up to 2 years. Often people use the visa as a way to thorough explore Europe in addition to not breaking your bank account and working in between trips. As I have a Canadian citizenship, I could also apply for this visa after my masters - the only catch is I must apply from within Canada, bummer! At least I know it can be a good backup option if I find a company I can work for in the UK, but it is easier to get the Youth Mobility Visa vs getting a visa through them.

Saturday I spent the morning walking along the banks of the Thames River and stopping off at the Borough Market before heading off to the concert at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The park is yet to be officially opened, but they have been holding musical events throughout the summer and has plenty of space in order to do so. This particular event was headlined and set up by Mumford & Sons, who handpicked bands from the US and UK that they wanted to play with in their "Gentleman of the Road" 2013 concert series. The bands playing that day (in order) were Bear's Den (UK), Haim (3 awesome girls from LA), Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros (very chill, laidback 11 person band from the US), Ben Howard, Vampire Weekend (from NYC and hadn't seen since a free 2007 concert in Central Park), and lastly Mumford & Sons. 

Really all the lineup was amazing, as the day progressed the music and atmosphere just got better and better and made me want to dance all the more. Two sisters sitting next to me were also in the dancing mood so we had a good time together having ciders, singing at the top of our lungs and just dancing for the shear joy of it. As the weather in London was also splendid (warm and not a cloud in the sky) on top of excellent music...I'd say it will be hard to top a concert like this. I shall have to make a note of going to more Mumford & Sons concerts in the future because of the good mood I was in for many days following...and in all honesty relaxed me so much that I was able to really sit down and want to finish my thesis.

That night I still had the energy to go out to a club with James and his friends and dance until 3 am! Naturally I slept very well that night :) I met up with my dad's cousin, Susannah, in Chiswick (west London by Heathrow) and had a nice lunch on the banks of the Thames. Was able to see firsthand how far-reaching the tides affect the Thames! Afterwards, headed back into London to see my Welsh friend, Kathryn, who just arrived into town for some job interviews (fingers crossed!). We caught up and also ate at a Jamie Oliver restaurant (UK chief that I only really heard of this past year, but has some really nice recipes!) before I left for Utrecht via Heathrow. 

So how is that for a whirlwind of weekend trips? Kept me sane after so many weekends of not traveling and internship/thesis work, which had made me restless and unproductive! 

Next post should be up about my summer vacation to California, British Columbia and New Jersey (Preview: activities include riding a dolphin at Seaworld, sea kayaking or going to a music festival in the middle of nowhere).