Being a tourist....

So.. The program being at an end, I spent about 12 days going around parts of Europe.. Well, actually 5 of those days were spent on the important business of attending a conference in Belfast - that was kinda interesting, met one really influential and famous author called Peter Jarvis, who was quite taken with me and encouraged me to stay in touch with him.. I gave a poster presentation for the first time in my life - but the conference guys hadn't organised that too well - all the same, I will try to present another poster soon and see what the experience is like... Otherwise the outcome of the conference for me, among other things, was the areas of research that I was definetely not interested in pursuing - a very valuable outcome!

Additionally, on one of the cultural tours associated with the conference, I found out alot about the historical and present tensions between Catholics and Protestants, and some of those tales were simply unbelievable!! Northern Ireland however seems to have found its legs again, and there is a lot of investment in the area.. Much more peaceful and prosperous.

Northern Holland
So, Bram and I having resolved our differences, I decided to take him up on his invitation to visit with his family - that was a really nice visit - his family is so hospitable, and his mother is such a good cook!! After I had been there a few hours though, I begun to miss our old closeness, ofcourse I understood that this distance was inevitable after the decision we made to just be friends but still.... Moreover, in the wake of that came some feelings of resentment towards him because I felt he could have been more consistent with his position that things were unlikely to work out - instead, he acted more like we were really exploring the possibility of a relationship, and many times consciously encouraged our getting to know one another more intimately..

The last night I was there I told him about my misgivings, and told him that it was difficult to trust him as a friend because I felt he had behaved very carelessly with me - and perhaps even taken advantage of me.. At first he reacted with anger and frustration to me saying that I had difficulty trusting him - saying that he had done everything in his power to assure me of his regard for me - and tried to separate that from the issue of the practical impossibility of a relationship at the present time - and he didn't know what else to do .. finally though, after he had calmed down and we could talk more rationally (and tearfully at times) - we really ironed out the issue - and he acknowlegded that he could have been more responsible but that he was also pulled in both directions - should we or shouldn't we.. That ended on a really good note!!

Dublin
So, after the conference in Belfast, I headed south and visited with Dee - now she really did a great job hosting me - picking me up, explaining all sorts of things to me, taking me to parties and vegeterian restaurants, paying for my train tickets to the West of Ireland, preparing energy snacks, making me a sumptous irish breakfast - generally!!! I thoroughly enjoyed myself there - and I have to say I rather liked Dublin as a city too!!

Clifden
On to Clifden to visit Agnes and Anders - Clifden is in the far west of Ireland and is right on the Atlantic Ocean coast - they took me to see some really spectacular scenery, an old monastry, and some really beautiful countryside.. (although Agnes and I got car sickness from the winding and undulating roads that Anders, because he knows them so well, drives at the terrific speed of 70k.p.h - speed limit is 100k.p.h - crazy Irish!!) And the weather - for once, cooperated and was nice and sunny (it rained the entire time I was in Belfast!! I doubt Europe has ever seen this kind of summer)

We took time out to visit a real irish pub and I was initiated in the rituals of drinking a pint of Guiness - apparently it has to be poured carefully and stored according to very strict regulations - inspectors actually visit pubs to ensure this!! All in all a really nice visit - Agnes and Anders are such a wonderful couple - so playful and mischievious!! And ofcourse, great hosts!!!

A small village in the French Alps
Right - next stop - Geneva airport.. Mark Wilson kindly picked me up on the french side of the airport - not very easily done as it adds almost an hour to driving time compared to driving to the swiss side of the airport - and then it is very difficult to actually locate which end is the french immigration when you are in the airport itself - all the same, we managed to find one another...

They have the loveliest, loveliest cabin in the alps - the view from my bedroom window (or what would have been my bedroom window had I not been invaded by workmen installing a fireplace) was simply stunning!! The entire time I was there I was awed by the sheer scale and majesty of these mountains - not to speak of the beauty and mystery and silence.. (I found out that our appreciation of rocky and, frankly, inhospitable places like these mountains is thanks to an an english(?) Scotish(?) author 2 or so centuries ago who decided to romanticise the bareen moorlands of some place etc.)

Anyway, that first afternoon, after I had a short rest, Mark took me on a short tour of the village and the surrounding areas, including a short climb, and then made us a lovely lamb dinner - kudos to him.. Poor Ulrike was suffering from a terrific cough, and was also just recovering from a sprained ankle. At this point actually I was also nursing a nagging cough, and adding the rain and low temperatures in the Alps (sometimes as low as 6 degrees) the cough got progressively worse!! Basically Mark had to take care of all of us, and what a job he did!!

Anyway, on my second day (after I slept most of the morning - I really felt sick from that cough!) Mark took me to the town of chamonix - to view the Mont Blanc!! What a marvel!! We went up the side of the mountain to get closer to a glacier called 'Mer de glace' - quite spectactular!! Mark very vigilantly filled me in on the whole glacier phenomenon, and showed me several others along the way as we drove.. I have to say I hand't ever fully grasped the shaping forces that glaciers possess, or how wide and deep they can be, or how treacherous to the unsuspecting skier or walker.. Incredible!!

End of tours
On Thur 12th July, I travelled back to Belgium via Amsterdam , met with Zhanara one last time - she accompanied me on a shopping trip to IKEA, I had a near miss with police when I took a train without buying a ticket first - one can buy a ticket on the train but then they have to pay a small fine - little did I know that the fine was 35 Euros or 6hours in the police station!! Luckily I managed to convince the conductor that I really had not known how serious this was (OK, I pretended I knew nothing at all about it - mbu only just having landed from uganda!!) - anyway, he let me off at the nearest station and I have to tell you I breathed a large sigh of relief!! That is the last time I am going to pull such a stunt!!

I spent the night in a monastry outside Brussels - really nicely located and very cheap - though with a really lumpy mattress - not that that stopped me from sleeping like a log all night!! The flight back was quite taxing as there were long delays in the Brussels airport, on account of it being the bussiest day of the year, and then some luggage weighing machines broke down and added to the chaos!! Then on the plane - with my cough, that was agonising!! Infact after I arrived home I had two days of continous coughing, so much so that Mom came to sleep in my bed to minitor me through the second night!! Anyway, finally I saw a doctor and as we speak, the cough is slowly dissappearing..

And so that saw the end of my two and a half months in Europe!! Pretty exciting on the whole!