Week 2

I sat here and read for a bit today.
It was actually really stunningly beautiful and I was surprised at how understated the Miramare castle is as a tourist attraction. It's really beautiful and maybe its beauty comes from the fact that it's not overly touristy. So you can just go and sit there and read a book, listen to the sea, or just look out either at the beautiful scenery or the castle itself which is really stunning.

It's so quiet and calm, and just genuine that you can almost imagine what it would be like to have been one of the people who lived there. So yes if you are ever in Trieste, be sure not to miss it. I plan on taking a picnic up there (hopefully the weather will still be nice, although I doubt it will be as hot) when Maisie comes out in two weeks.

So I was out near Miramare cause I had gone to the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) for a workshop on modified gravity. It was really cool because there was an impromptu lecture by the people who have discovered the superluminal neutrino! Below a link to a New Scientist article about it:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20957-dimensionhop-may-allow-neutrinos-to-cheat-light-speed.html?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=dn20957
And arXiv article:
http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1109/1109.4897.pdf
After the guy gave his presentation there was quite a heated round of questions where the poor guy obviously turned on defense mode, as the question were all (obviously) trying to pick out errors in their experiment. However as someone pointed out, the questions are provocative as the result itself is provocative!

I went to Venice over the weekend to visit a friend, and we walked around Venice for most of Saturday. It's really pretty although its major downside is the amount of people. San Marco square is a bit too showy for my liking, and I much preferred the smaller, more colorful and quieter squares that seemed to be more local. Being a tourist there myself I shouldn't complain, but there are too many tourists in Venice. I don't even want to imagine what happens in the months of July and August!

So Trieste is rubbing off on me, so far it's been two weeks of impeccable weather (apart from the out-of-nowhere storm on the first night I arrived) and the decision of whether I should stay or not is turning into a tough one. A list of pros and cons is definitely in order...

Day 5 of Pasta and Pizza

So... This is a blog created in order to make me feel more wholesome about my trip I think. Plus it seems to be the thing to do these days, so why not.

I'm spending a month in Trieste, Italy, taking in the city and attending SISSA which is an International Researach Institute. This one month in Italy could possibly turn into three years, depending on whether I decide (and the people at the research institute decide) to go on and do a PhD (in cosmology) here.

So far it's been really quite nice. The weather went a bit crazy on me the first day I got here, but since then it's been lovely and sunny. The city is nice and calm, although I must admit, I don't feel like I've seen the city properly yet. However the scenery in general is beautiful. Going to SISSA every morning by bus, is quite a treat, as you have to climb a very steep hill to get there. This means that you get an amazing view of Trieste, and the port.

Unfortunately my camera's memory card broke as soon as I got here, so I don't have any of my own photos to post. However I'll post a photo from the internet so you can get an idea.

A funny story which reeks of Italian stereotype: I went into a small local grocery shop the other day, just as it was about to close, to buy some olive oil. Sidenote, I've been living in Barcelona for the past two years, and thought that I could get away with  not speaking Italian by speaking Spanish. Apparently not. So I enter apologetically saying I will only be a second, however the shop owner was having none of it and told me to tell him what I wanted. So I did the old "say it in Spanish but with an Italian accent, it's probably fine" trick, but it didn't work. "Aceite" I said, and made a movement with my hands to suggest that I'm pouring oil on a salad (as this is what I wanted the oil for) . They look at me confused and ask me whether what I want is wine. I said no and went on to say "Aceite de oliva" at which point they all joyfully cry "aaaa olivas!!". Sad to disappoint them I say no, and repeat the pouring on top of salad motion, at which the son of the shop owner goes "...mm.. olio?" Bingo! "yes!" I shout "olio!", at which point all of the Italians in the shop (I believe it was an entire family and the grocers was their family business) join fingers in that oh so Italian way, and start wildly waving their hands around shouting "ahhhhh! oooolioooo". It was like a scene taken out of a movie.

So yes, Italians are very amusing people, I must admit. Although politically they're very messed up..Although I won't go into that as the only politics conversation I've joined in on so far took place when I had drunken almost a bottle of sparkling wine, so I don't think my recount of it would be very accurate...

Arriverdeci!