I'm getting in the Christmas mood.  Some friends from grad school visited this week, and we headed to Nuremberg for the Christmas market.  So much fun!  I am so ready for some snow!

It's autumn! A time for change...*

The leaves start to change

In the US and many other parts of the world, it is that time of year: the time when we postdocs start applying for professorships.  The CV is polished, the research and teaching statements sing with unabashed self-praise, and letters have been requested from the most prestigious people we know.  We scatter them about cyberspace, and they land in the hands of esteemed acquaintances or total strangers, and we hope for the best.  But we don't hope too hard, lest our ivory tower dreams come crashing down.

The same tree 2 weeks later

 So this fall, as the world outside started looking different, I thought it was time for a new perspective.  I've been reading "So What Are You Going to Do With That?", a book about exploring career possibilities outside of academia.   That's not to say I've decided to leave "the academy", but I'm starting to realize there are lots of possible directions that I haven't considered before.  Yes, any of these paths could lead me to a post-academic life, but they could also help shape new opportunities for more applied areas of research.

*Engaging in a soul-searching journey usually requires a little cliché, don't you think?

yum!

I gotta try this sometime soon. I made limoncello once, and it was sehr lecker... but how about a vanilla dark rum or a ginger and cucumber infused white rum for mojitos!  

Check out the E(a)tsy how-to: http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/eatsy-flavor-infusions-for-spring-12512/

Germany, France, and Austria with Mom

In July 2010, Mom and Stan came to visit.  They got to experience our one heat wave of the summer, Germany beating Argentina in the quarter finals of the World Cup at a beer garden (and the celebration that followed), riding in a Stocherkahn on the Neckar river, and probably the worst jet lag of their lives.                                              

The famous view of Tübingen

Germany wins!

At the Tübingen castle

Guess who we're rooting for...

After jetting off to Copenhagen to see cousin Kyle and family, Mom and Stan joined back up with us and we caught a 6:00am train to Paris (sadly, the picture of Stan and Devin snoring on the train is missing).  The same day, we joined a bike tour of the city that took us through the pyramids of the Louvre at sunset (à bicyclette), and ended with a boat tour on the Seine.  (Many more pics here!)

French picnic on the bridge by the Louvre.

The Metro

Notre Dame

The Seine

Pyramids at the Louvre.

The best way to tour a city!

From Paris, we drove through the French countryside for a little champagne tasting and a WWI history lesson.

From there, it was on to Füssen.  Our planned destination was the castle Neuschwanstein, but it was really the Alps that took our breath away.  We stayed in a lovely town just over the border in Austria and made our way from there to the highest point in Germany.

Heidelberg

In the middle of June 2010, we met up with my cousin, Alex, in Heidelberg.  Our Australian friends tagged along.  Alex was studying in Kaiserslautern last summer, and Heidelberg is about halfway between Tübingen and there. It was a beautiful day: the sun was shining, the trees were in full bloom, and the castle towered over the town as it has since the year 1214.

Walking up to the castle.

D and I in the castle.

 

Fuzzy flowers at the castle!

One of the old churches in the city.

The Altstadt and the old bridge.

The castle side yard.

Rhiannon and her camera on the bridge.

More photos here!

don't call it a comeback...

...but it sort of is.  I'm in the mood again to share some pictures and stories of my adventures around the world!  Check back soon for a whirlwind tour of all the places I've been since Copenhagen:

1. Heidelberg
2. Paris, French countryside, southern Germany, and Austria
3. Back in the USA (Illinois and Portland)
4. Greek islands and Athens
5. Hong Kong
6. US again (Illinois snow adventures and California beach adventures)
7. Constance (Konstanz am Bodensee)

and following soon after: Alpine Rendez-Vous, [a workshop on collaborative learning with multimedia and] skiing in the French Alps!