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Year: 2009

Back in autumnal Tromsø

Back in autumnal Tromsø

Paul and I both came back to Tromsø last Friday – Paul from the Arctic winter and me from the Dutch Summer… straight into very autumnal weather in Tromsø! We had rain, rain, rain all weekend. Paul really wanted to go for a walk in spite of this, so we put on our waterproofs and braved the weather!

The landscape is really beautiful now, with all the trees yellow and the blueberry bushes a bright red. It would be stunning in sunny weather, but it was impressive in the rain too. This is a panorama Paul took on our way up. Note how it’s white in the foreground – snow!

We were trying to reach the top of Grønnlibruna, at 401 m high. This would be my 7th “Ti på Topp” which is enough to get a reward (a mug). Unfortunately we never made it there. The rain changed into snow when we got out of the shelter of the forest. I started to be cold, I later found out that my waterproofs were no good and I was soaked underneath. I think the photos below say enough 😉

After taking these photos, we turned around and went back to the car to enjoy some hot chocolate and drive home to a warm bath 🙂 Too bad I didn’t make it to my last top, but I think I can live without the mug 😉

The next day I joined Sevim for a walk close to Tromsø. We were lucky, it was sunny! We went at sunset though, so we walked in the almost-dark most of the time, but I did manage to take a few photos of the autumn landscape – very pretty!

Life is getting back to normal, Paul is back at work and I should start working on my corrections soon. We’re going to Oslo for the weekend, I have a job interview there on Monday! The job would be in Tromsø, but the head office is in Oslo, that’s why they asked me to come there. Paul has still not been to Oslo, so we decided to use this opportunity to do some sightseeing.

I’ll try to post some photos of my time in the Netherlands soon… stay tuned 🙂

Almost Dr. Hanneke :)

Almost Dr. Hanneke :)

I passed my viva (PhD defense) yesterday!! I was questioned for about 2.5 hours before they asked me to leave the room so they could make their decision. It wasn’t a bad experience, but it was quite tough. Fortunately I got away with minor corrections 🙂 I have 3 months to finish them, but I estimate it’s about a month of fulltime work, so that’s not so bad. This is quite a normal outcome here in the UK, but it does make it a bit of an anticlimax. You come out feeling quite criticised and overwhelmed by how much work you still have to do. It took a while before I was in a festive mood, but in the end I realised that I have a clear list with 16 issues (which are all quite reasonable). Once I have addressed all these issues, I email my examinors and they will check if they approve of the corrections, and that’s IT – then I just have to print and bind it. Doesn’t sound that bad, does it? 🙂

In the evening we went for drinks and a meal. It was Nem’s birthday as well, and another PhD student had just submitted, so we had plenty of reasons to celebrate! I really enjoyed the evening 🙂 Here’s a photo of me with Karel (on the left) and with birthday girl Nem (on the right).

I had a great time being back at my old university, and seeing my friends here. I lived in Norwich for over 3 years and have so many good memories 🙂 I went for a last walk around the lake and took this photo of the “ziggurat” student accommodation.

I’m flying back to Amsterdam tomorrow and will spend another 2 weeks in the Netherlands.

I would like to thank everybody for their support before (and after) my viva! I got so many emails, text messages, phone calls, blog comments, etc etc, from all over the world (seriously ranging from Brazil and New Zealand to the Arctic… wow!), and it was wonderful to know how many people were thinking of me and wishing me luck 🙂 it means a lot to me!

A Sunday walk with Mare

A Sunday walk with Mare

This afternoon I joined Bart, Kaya and Mare (team Kriebevel) on a walk/geocache hunt through Vijfhuizen. Mare is at a very fun age now, she walks and starts to talk, which is a lot of fun! She also starts dancing as soon as she hears music. Today she was dancing to Boney M – that’s my girl 😉 As I know some of you really enjoy pictures of Mare, here are some from today 🙂