to perth

left athens to fly (to doha) to perth.  couldn't really believe that it was finally time to get to australia.  made it through immigration without the questioning like with the uk which was unexpected.  i did have to see 3 different people but that was because they were having a hard time scanning my older-no chip passport and apparently not because of any visa related issue.
even made it through the baggage collection and quarantine process.  i got shuffled into the line with the sniffing dog rather than the scanner and actually didn't need to take off my giant backpack for the dog.  the guys at the conference had told me i wouldn't need to declare the random tylenol medicine i had so i didn't tick yes to any of the questions which i'm sure got me at least partly into the dog lane as opposed to the others.

adrian and son were there to collect me and drove me to the hostel.  after finding it and dropping me off, i checked in to the weird looking hostel and didn't really know what to do.  i was reading the notice boards when another backpacker asked if i was a new arrival.   clearly he could tell from my assuredly dazed and confused look.  since i had no other plan than to walk somewhere to get a little something to eat we went out for the walk together.  having arrived the friday before, he knew his way around - which was nice and was friendly and talkative.  we walked through downtown in search of something other than the mcdonalds and kfc we passed but there wasn't much.  also downtown is incredibly small and apparently perth's size is made up from its massive amount of suburbs.  there are some free buses in the town other than the city ones and the trains and underground we passed as well.  thought we had found a deal at a pub ($20 for pizza and a pint - which sounded awfully high to my uk 5 pound ears) but it was the wrong day so we kept walking.  ended up back in east perth, in apparently an asian area of town, and had some chinese.  we walked a pretty big ambling loop in the end which at least took care of how i was going to spend the evening before going to bed at a time that would hopefully not hurt the jetlag.

still, as in greece, i was awake for the early hours of the morning without any explanation.  unfortunately.

tuesday 1 august
shortly past 930, there was a guy from curtin who came to the hostel and got me.  not used to driving in the rain, he was somewhat awkward but took me to see two places (and to drive by a third).

as this would be my first full day in perth, i've decided to make a new blog to represent the switch to phase two of my phd in australia.  so to continue the adventure, here's the link:

http://phdphasetwo.blogspot.com

athens

saturday 28 july
-easily got the metro from the airport to the stop for the hostel and after walking a short way the wrong way down the main road easily found the hostel.
-the air conditioning in the room was incredibly great.
-decided i had to pull myself out of the room and walk around though. had a long walk around and about the acropolis (decided not to go in) and then walked through the touristy trap of places next to it and down and around through town.

PHOTOS: http://blogographannex.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/athens-sat.html

sunday 29 july
-went on the free tour that the hostel told me about.  an english guy comes to a few of the hostels and gathers people for a tour he does.  george.  he was a great guide. we saw A LOT of the sights and he gave a bit of information --not an overwhelming amount, but definitely good facts.  We went by a lot of what i had walked by the evening before but then i had context and went in to some of the sights.
-it was really hot so we lost a few along the way but it finished in the early afternoon.  some of the people on the tour - 2 australians, and a mom and daughter from the states and i went together to the museum of the acropolis together.  it was nice to walk with some folks and have a bit of chat.  and i got into the museum for free with my student id so that was an unexpected welcome.  the museum was nice and air conditioned but small so it didn't take too long.  we parted ways there.
i went to go see if i could get a ticket for the opera for that evening but the box office was closed so i went back to the hostel and hung out for awhile before i could go back when it was open.  was a bit of a walk to do, but i got a ticket and then went to the corner restaurant to have a gyro.  knowing it was the cheapest place and would be tasty i had a chicken one that night and a beer before walking all the way back up to go to the opera.  so i saw tosca with a bunch of greeks in the ancient open air theare at the side of the acropolis.  that was cool.  however those rocks just keep all of the heat so it was hot.  so hot.

PHOTOS: http://blogographannex.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/athens-sun.html

monday 30 july
-walked to socrate's prison and that hill. but it was so hot that it was hard to climb that hill.  i had chosen that one instead of the big one which was a good choice, but didn't feel like i could do any.  did drag myself across to zeus' olympian temple or whatever but couldn't handle the heat.  did walk into the m&s for air con and had some frozen yogurt in attempt to be a bit cooler. so i went back and just sat around the hostel lobby.  it was still hot but at least i wasn't out in the hot sun.  and the tour with george had hit the other things i had wanted to see.  so i just kind of had to wait it out until going to the airport.  which i was going to do fairly early if for no other reason than air conditioning.  but there was a guy who noticed me gathering my bags and said he was going to go just a bit later than me so i waited for him.  only he was flying to rome and hadn't booked any accommodation so his 20 minutes turned into more than 45 --not that it was going to make me late or anything but i should have just gone because it wasn't like he was talkative or any real company on the metro ride or anything.  oh well. it worked out fine time wise in the end.
-points to qatar airline.  reminded me of emirates.  definitely much better than alitalia.

PHOTOS: http://blogographannex.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/athens-mon.html

thessaloniki

sunday 22 july - monday 23 july
-flew from chicago to rome to thessaloniki.

before the flight, dad drove me down to steph's house.  and then steph and i had brunch with jt and his girlfriend, jenny. it was nice.

PHOTOS: http://blogographannex.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/chicago-brunch.html

 flew on alitalia which felt like i was on a plane that was maybe top notch 30 years ago.  i didn't have a video screen, the food seemed off, and it just wasn't that great.  and while i thought i'd sleep a lot since i hadn't slept much the night before, that didn't really happen.  managed to sleep a bit on the rome to thessaloniki flight, but i have to say alitalia is not my favorite airline.

monday 23 july
-decided while waiting at the baggage claim carrousel that i would ask the girl standing with a poster tube if she was there for the ICMPC conference.  figuring it was a good bet that she was.  Yohana from france in fact was there for the conference and we then were able to travel the bus together to get to el greco hotel.
-yohana and i walked around town and looked around. it was hot.  i was wearing a U of MN tshirt and a woman came up to me and asked if i was american and asked if she could help or offer advice, as she was from MN and now lived there.  points to her. she was really nice and had great suggestions- i'm just sad i couldn't follow through on them with the conference activities.
-we rode the tourist bus around most of the loop but i was basically falling asleep sadly so that's slightly blurry.
-we went to the opening conference thing in the evening.  two speakers who we couldn't really hear and then a little reception.  it was alright but not knowing anyone was really a deficit.

tuesday 24 july
-moved my luggage across the street to where i'd be staying for the rest of the time. i couldn't check into my room but they held my stuff.
-then spent the day at the conference.  wasn't feeling great about it as there wasn't anything really that corresponded to my research interests.  although i found out lunch was included each day and while we had to wait in a long line, it was good and definitely a lot to eat.
-went with a group of students from london to a pub for a drink following the conference. we had a little tapas plate to eat.  it was nice. but i definitely felt out of place for not being connected to the lab or knowing anyone.

wednesday 25 july
-presented my ESM research in the first afternoon session block following john sloboda.
-the presentation definitely wasn't the best one i've done, and i rushed it and had lots of time for questions but i think it went okay.  i felt like i could answer the questions so at least that was something.  but i'm not happy with it overall.  was nice to have it finished and not looming in the future though.
-went with Yohana to try to go see a landmark in town before the evening concert but it wasn't open.  we had delicious gyros and then went to the concert.  i didn't like the modern greek stuff, but there was a group of women who sang acapella traditional songs (their arrangements) and that was awesome.

PHOTOS: http://blogographannex.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/thessalonki-wednesday.html

thursday 26 july
-conference presentations in the morning and then excursions in the afternoon.  a lot of the conference folks went to the beach but i went on the trip to the vineyard.  we first went to see these tombs which were pretty cool.  it seems somewhat crazy to build a huge structure to immediately and completely cover it with a hill of dirt, but i wasn't there at the time.  they built the museum basically around and in/over the tombs so it was really neat to see and they had displays of the stuff found inside as well.  from there we went to the vineyard where we got an abbreviated short little translated tour and then tasted 4 wines (2 white and 2 red) with a buffet dinner.

PHOTOS: http://blogographannex.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/thess-thurs.html

friday 27 july
-more conference during the day and then the gala dinner in the evening.  it seemed like none of the students were going to the gala which didn't make me inspired to go, but i did have a nice time.  sat at a table with some canadians and australians and one american.

PHOTOS: http://blogographannex.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/thess-fri.html

saturday 28 july
-i decided to skip the conference stuff in the morning and go and walk around the city.  the first hour or so was alright but the second it was getting later in the day and so hot.  ugh.  hot.  but i saw some more of the churches and ancient roman forum and whatnot.  it was better than going to the conference.  i then had to go back to the hotel and haul my stuff to the bus stop.  i had thought i could take two buses and not have to walk but apparently that wasn't a good plan according to the guy at the desk so i did walk through town a bit to get the bus.  that was rough but i got to the airport fine from there.  and at least it was cooler in the airport.

PHOTOS: http://blogographannex.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/thess-sat.html

-my flight was on a little prop plane and had nice scenery out the window but i was super tired that i just wanted sleep but it was a short flight down to athens.

PHOTOS: http://blogographannex.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/flight-to-athens.html

birthday-wedding

saturday 21 july

got to share my birthday with liz and brian's wedding.  which was super nice and a fun reception.

PHOTOS: http://blogographannex.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/wedding-birthday.html

july at home

with this crazy move, it meant that i got to spend basically 3 weeks at home in tosa. this was the longest time spent home since before moving to london.  it definitely pointed out american culture to me as i knew it would, but it was nice to get to spend a longer period of time at home.  plus it wasn't during the winter - although it was super hot and abnormally unpleasant for like half of the time.

although i had originally created a grand plan of getting a lot of school work done while home, i did not follow through on the plan.  and i became quickly okay with that.

i did a lot of great things while home. most of which don't have accompanying photographs (not that they're always necessary, but the lack of photos probably comes with the fact i was home, but is not representative of some of the cool things that happened).

-i saw two fireworks displays.  the ones on the third were awesome.  brian, liz, brian's parents, and i watched them from outside of summerfest out on the rocks which was a perfect view.  and this year's show seemed extra long and really good.  saw tosa's on the fourth from brian's apartment.  then went into hectors and ran into josh.  was really nice to catch up with him and spent some time hanging out with him then as well which was fun.

went to the zoo with mom one day.

went shopping and spent a lot of the time packing and re-packing and dealing with packing strategy for the move.

went to the dentist.

went to bastille days.

hung out with brian, his sister and cousin.

went to the art museum with dad and saw a fantastic exhibit.

went to a dave matthews concert at alpine with liz, brian, and brian's friend.  randy got the tickets but had to work so he didn't get to go.  that was a good way to throw myself back into an american culture - dave matthews tailgating at alpine.  good show.  enjoyable.

finished two more state fair entries.  experienced entering my entries and the judging. the judging is a process.  but luckily, i placed in my four categories.  and while my awesome, amazing cassette tape lamp didn't win, it did place in a large category.  so i'm a ribbon winner, but still haven't gotten a first place yet.  (will have to think of something for next year)

hung out with mandi a bunch.

had frozen custard. mmm.

went with mandi to eau claire to meet missi and had ourselves an overnight roommate reunion.  which was awesome.  we won that trip.  maybe not with eau claire, but we went to the leine's brewery, went in the hotel pool, had a good dinner, watch a movie, struggled to find brunch but eventually did and it was a nice little weekend.

had a family gathering in honor of parents anniversary and my birthday. and that was a good gathering of folks.

went to the gym some.  the weather was stupid hot for most of the time which was not pleasant, but seeing friends and family and being home was quite nice.

spent a day with steph which was a lot of fun.

then of course there was brian and liz's wedding. which was great.

and even managed to have lunch with steph and jt in chicago before getting on a plane to go to the conference.  awesome

PHOTOS:

11 july - http://blogographannex.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/zoo.html

15 july - http://blogographannex.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/roommate-reunion.html

15 july - http://blogographannex.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/family-gathering.html

dc

a return to the states

tuesday 26 june
-flew from london to dulles.  dave came and picked me up from the airport and dropped me with autumn who was at the mall.  we went and picked up the little one from day care and went home.  was really nice to catch up with autumn and hang out.  we played with annaleigh and whatnot. and took a trip to the park.

wednesday 27 june
-hung out during the day and then went into dc in the afternoon.  walked through part of the art museum and then met sara and monica to go to a concert on the mall as part of the folk life festival.  got to see george clinton which was pretty sweet.  although his voice was gone so it was all of the other folks up on stage doing most of the singing.  the other 2 groups including the neville brothers were good too.
photos: http://blogographannex.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/p-funk.html

thursday 28 june
-autumn and i traveled into the city to meet chauhan for lunch.  we had thai down in eastern market which was delicious and some baskin robbins ice cream.  although for it being crazy hot and sunny outside and the middle of the day, baskin robbins didn't have half of their (read: the good ones) flavours available.  it was odd.
-i then went to kipp to meet heimy.  she was re-organizing yet another classroom.  which was fine, because i had to finish my oxford university press blog post.  we then went to target and to have vietnamese soup for dinner.  pretty sure my last time with heimy involved being in her classroom and a trip to target, but that's all fine and fun. i hadn't been in a target since last being with heimy anyway.

friday 29 june
-went with heimy on a ridiculous bank/post office errand and with her to sign her new lease.  and then to lunch with tommy and an intern at a thai place that opened around the corner from where we lived.  a bunch of stuff had changed around there.  lunch was good and had we still lived there, we'd probably have eaten there a lot.  so much better than the chinese take away on the other corner - although i hesitate to even make a comparison between the two.
-in the afternoon i made my way back to autumn's so she could pick me up post-nap time.  another afternoon of hanging out and dinner prep.  after dinner, dave and autumn went to dq since i could be home and then shortly after they got back and dave's banter resumed, the power went out prompting us to go to bed.
photos: http://blogographannex.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/dc.html

saturday 30 june
-with awaking to still the loss of power and the news of how terrible and widespread the storm actually was, dave was off to make disaster plans.  autumn's college friend showed up and we hung out until it was not a distant alarm going off but one in their building.  opening their door, we found their neighbour at the end of the hall's water pipe had burst so he was drowning in water.  assisting him for awhile, while others just stood around and talked about it, it became obvious that with no power and no water and a baby, plans may to change.  so when dave came home with a hotel booked, we decided to pack up and drive to the hotel with the anticipation of air conditioning and power.  however, upon reaching the hotel, we found out that his reservation was not going to be accepted as they had no power either and weren't accepting guests.  as i was really the only person needing to stay in the area to get to the airport the next day, it became a crazy chase of seeing if chauhan could house me for the evening.  luckily after some major planning and a crazy cab ride, i was off to spend the night with chauhan and they were off to relatives in Pennsylvania.

sunday 1 july
-chauhan drove me to the airport, which was awesome of her. and i flew from reagan to milwaukee.