Back in the Netherlands

After my super-busy first semester of teaching, I’m quite happy that my teaching-free summer semester is here.

More than just not having classes, I’m also away from USFQ this summer, and spending time doing research in my good old research group in Delft (where I am currently a part-time researcher).

I’m finishing up parts of my PhD research, I’m using my expertise and the tools I developed during my PhD for other projects, and I’m setting up some new research lines.

And it feels great!

Having been away from Delft makes me appreciate being here more than ever.

It’s summer, we have many hours of daylight, and I’m biking a 12km commute through the lovely Dutch countryside (think wide rivers, cows and sheep in the pasture, biking routes, windmills and more cuteness). It’s a splendid way to start the day.

But there’s of course to being here than just enjoying the sight of windmills – I’m more than ever appreciating the fact that I’m in an environment of high-level research, with motivated people who live and breathe the love for research and the joy of figuring things out, and all in the non-hierarchical way that is so typical of the Netherlands.

It’s good to be back, and I’m looking forward to a month of digging into interesting concrete topics – old and new.