The cathedral in Novi Sad and my favorite Balkans pivo :)
I really enjoyed relaxing around Novi Sad, with a chance to drink mojitos by the Danube, hike up the fortress, have some wonderful dark beer in the old city, and to hang out with friends old and new. After a chance to recover from sleep and travel Dragan and I headed to Belgrade to collect the rest of the folks for the site visit. While going to and from the airport we enjoyed some fantastic hipster food in the old city and had a chance to chat with folks before getting hard to work the next day.
Belgrade from Brankov Most, with the modelers Dragan and Elke modeling on the bridge :P
The site visit and meeting planning session went fantastically! The location for the next YES meeting is at a wonderful science center for high school students called Petnica. The facilities are brand new and the staff at the Center were great to share ideas with. I know the meeting will go really well and will be a good opportunity to try some new things thanks to the infrastructure of equipment at Petnica as well as the great ideas generated during our face-to-face discussions.
While busy with meeting planning, we made some new friends ;), had some fantastic foods, enjoyed the lovely facilities at Petnica (including the view), and I even gave a short lecture on toxicology to high school students :o
From Petnica Dragan and I made a short trip to the nearby national park of Đerdap. The park was absolutely beautiful! I loved driving the winding roads along the Danube and seeing the gorgeous rocks and cliffs all around. We also went to a really nice archaeological museum, did an epic hike, and stayed at a cute hotel right next to a giant fortress. The week in Serbia absolutely flew by and I am eager to come back for the site visit again next year :D
Fantastic view of the Danube and of Romania from the top of the hike :D
After an amazing week I headed up to Liverpool to meet with a professor about a potential post-doc position. I really enjoyed meeting the group, talking one-on-one with Falciani, and seeing the city first-hand. I am feeling good about this chance and hope things will work out-it would be perfect in so many ways! More details on that as things progress this semester ;)
Liverpool from the bay
I'm also glad that I had the chance to hang out with one of my friends from my trip to Japan who happens to live just a two hour train ride from Liverpool. We met up in York and borrowed his parent's car and enjoyed a weekend of exploring the English countryside. The Lake District was gorgeous and we had a fantastic afternoon hike there. It was so fun to see the beautiful landscape of the UK first-hand and to have a proper catch-up with Peter after 2 years of not seeing each other. A fantastic weekend of driving on the wrong side of the road, scones (pronounced 'skons'), fish and chips, fantastic wines, and experiencing British culture through hilarious movies and TV shows! At the end of my weekend with Peter I headed to London for one night and spent some time exploring new areas on my own. It was a nice relaxing way to end the trip and gave me a chance to think about everything before heading back home across the pond.
Scones at Bettys, a 'stately' home, Parliament, and breakfast on the Thames
I am loving the landscapes in the UK :)
I am so thankful for these trips and for the friends both old and new that I get to share them with :) Now just a few more weeks of dissertation prep and finishing things up in the lab before it's time to get excited for the next science adventure at the SETAC meeting in Nashville :D
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