Goodbye Switzerland and Hello to Madrid, Spain

It was bitter sweet to leave Switzerland. It was an excellent experience both in terms of research and culturally.  I had a marvelous time working with our research collaborators at UZH and meeting new people. My roommates were sweet girls and very welcoming. I enjoyed the public transportation and the gorgeous scenery. I hope to be back next summer.

Madrid is beautiful and the people very friendly. The weather is hot and the climate dry. The landscape reminds me of Texas. I am looking forward to IUCr congress and meeting lots of interesting people.

Dinner with some UZH people

A friend of mine who works with Tony Linden  in the crystallography lab at UZH, Rangana from Sri Lanka and his roommate Timm from Germany who works in Kim Baldridge's theoretical chemistry group invited us over for dinner. My roommate Gerladine and I went.  They live just one level below us. Timm spent a long time cooking and making things perfect. The food was good and it was fun visting. We had curry and spicy food made by Rangana as well as stir fried veggies from Timm. For dessert Timm made a quark cream (quark is a German cheese somewhat similar to cream cheese) with vineyard peaches and mango banna sauce with passion fruit. 

Zürich Street Parade

Today was the 20th anniversay of the Zürich Street Parade.  For more information check out this website:
http://www.streetparade.com/history/history?lang=en-us&content=31&main=31
Everyone dresses if funky and sexy outfits and parades through the streets. I went for just about an hour before heading to get my groceries and do my laundry and took some interesting photos. They play electronic music and dance and party. Everyone loved having their picture taken. There was this group of guys dancing in pink bunny outfits that were quite funny. I tried to take video with my camera but it is not that great getting the sound.

Resting

Above is a picture of exactly what I am going to do tonight. That is my gray Holland mini lop mix Brady sleeping. He sleeps like a person all the time. I miss that little guy and my other two rabbits and last but not least my husband (pictures below). :-)  Ok so I am getting a little sappy with pics of the bunnies but couldn't resist.

The 2-D code is almost finished (just have to add the ADPs) and tomorrow I will do a practice run of my talk for Madrid. I need to add one more section of results to my paper and then write the introduction and conclusion. I will be working on these things for the rest of this week and next. My work is not finished but I can relax a little now that things are gettning to the end.

Rainbow Outside My Appartment

I ran home today because it was storming on the way back from UZH. The weather was cool and cloudy in the morning and then by mid afternoon it was sunny.  Then by evening it was cloudy again and starting to thunder so I rushed to catch the bus home. I made it to the bus right as it was about to leave. As soon as  I got to my apartment the sun came out again and right outside the entrance was this gorgeous rainbow. I took a picture because I thought it would be nice to share. 

Calloborative Research

Trying to make the most out of my time here at UZH has made for quite a busy work week and working weekends.  It has been quite enjoyable though and the day goes by quickly, before I realize it I have been there ten hours or more.  I have learned so much from our collaborators here and have come a long way on my 2-D code.  The Monte Carlo crystal optimizer, correlation pair statistics (up to fourth nearest neighbors) and neutron diffraction intensities portions have been written. The paper I am writing has also progressed significantly with lots of helpful editing and suggestions. It is nice to spend so much time with people who are not just experts but also great to work with.  I have taken some pictures in Michal's office, which he has been kind enough to share with me for these past couple of weeks. They show Michal  who is a post doc from Poland and very good at theoretical crystallography and author of the general disorder simulation and structure solution software ZODS for the project and Hans-Beat who is well established and well known crystallographer and retired professor working and discussing things with me.  Today Hans-Beat went over my outline for my talk in Madrid at the IUCr. He has lots of experience giving talks and was really helpful. It makes me feel more confident that I will be prepared to give the invited talk in my session.  The last picture below shows all three of us looking at an occupational disorder simulation visualization from ZODS.

Swiss National Day (August 1)

Some general information on Swiss National Day: " More than 700 years ago, the inhabitants of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden signed a contract of mutual aid and protection, the Federal Charter, now considered to be Switzerland’s deed of foundation. This oath, said to be taken on August 1, 1291 on the Rütli meadow overlooking Lake Lucerne, was mainly an act of rebellion against the ruling Habsburgs.

The National Day on August 1 was, however, only instituted in 1891 to commemorate the 600th anniversary of the Swiss Confederation. The annual celebration was introduced in 1899, mainly at the insistence of the Swiss living abroad who, seeing the national days already celebrated in other countries, also wanted a special day.

For decades after that, the national day, however, was just an ordinary holiday and only some cantons declared the afternoon or the whole day as an official national holiday. A popular vote – with 83.3% approval - in 1993 made the event an official national holiday.

Celebrations are now held across the country, in which the anthem is sung. It exists in four versions: German, French, Italian and Romansh. " from http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Fireworks_and_food_feature_on_Swiss_national_day.html?cid=30808642

After finishing up at UZH, my roommate Geraldine and I went down town to see the fireworks and look at Fraumünster built 853 and Grossmünster meaning "great minister" inaugurated around 1220. (pictures below).  I have also included a video I took with the bells of the churches chiming together.  The first picture is Grossmünster and the second is me in front of Fraumünster's doors.

We went down by the Zürich lake which is beautiful and has a population of white swans (picture above). We sat on the grass and watched fireworks all around the lake.  Some people we letting off their own fireworks which made things exciting because all of the sudden one would go off right near where you were walking, making both of us jump. There was lots of live music and entertainment, including face painting, food, and alcohol.  Most people had brought a picnic to eat by the lake. My roommate is pictured with the lake behind her.  She was a lot of fun to go with and kept jumping at the fireworks people let off in the street.