Absent for too long…

I’m so sorry, I have been absent for so long, but lately I have been incredibly busy with managing my work-phd-life.

After my trip to Romania, which has been great by the way (see the pictures in this post), I decided to change my dissertation topic back to film studies. Attending a conference on adaptations made it clear that I like talking and researching on film much more than on art history. Keeping in mind that I would be working on my topic for a few years, changing it to something I love just made sense.

After the conference we visited some monasteries which were so pretty that I truly regret not bringing my camera and having to take pictures with my cell phone.

Beautiful Lago di Garda

Again, here are some pictures from this year’s trip to Bardolino. I went there for a friend’s wedding which was also a great opportunity to bring along my Nikon D5100 and take some nice pictures. I have been going to Bardolino for what feels like my whole life, I still remember spending time there with my family and friends  when I was maybe 5.

We mostly stayed in Bardolino then and even today I make sure to be close to it. It’s a cute little town that has kept its quiet spots. Some semesters ago, I was even able to do a seminar and presentation on murals in one of Bardolino’s churches.
Getting there from southern Germany is relatively easy, it usually takes around 4-5hrs by car or 7 by train and bus. Bardolino offers a range of nice hotels, B&Bs and camping sites, so that you almost all the time are able to get a room.
This year we stayed in a nice B&B that had two stars. It is located only a few minutes away from the town center and very quiet. Although the rooms are simple and there is no pool area, it was very convenient to stay there for three nights.

Enjoy some pictures from this trip. I actually realized that I like taking pictures of animals a lot!

What’s to come…

 

I’m honestly quite nervous about the next few weeks to come. In May, I applied to go to a conference in Iasi, Romania to present a paper I thought I would write in an instant since it is based on my Magister thesis. I had worked on that thing for almost 9 months, so what could possibly go wrong?

When I was accepted to present my paper, I was thrilled to go to Romania and booked my flight and living arrangements right away. Since then, due to work, uni duties and sickness, I’m struggling to write my paper. Adding to that, is my excitement to go to Romania and especially to Iasi.

Iasi is, as I have found out after some research, a really old and beautiful city. The university seems to be famous, as is the area it is located in. Transilvania, Dracula’s home. Did I say that I am going there during Halloween?! I must make sure to take along some garlic, I guess.

My flight is booked with Tarom, which is apparently part of KLM and Air France. Or at least a partner of those airlines. I thought that sounded good, plus I am taking part in their mileage program and am hoping to receive some miles for my trip. To maybe spend on some extra luggage, next time I go to the US. Did you know they stopped allowing you to take 2 pieces of luggage?! I was shocked and I probably need to do some research on how to get my stuff back next May (more on that in another post).

Unfortunately, I have absolutely no idea so far where I will be living during the conference. Since they (the organizers) offered to organize some rooms in student apartments near the university, I reluctantly agreed to that. It sounded cheap and convenient to live next to the university building. I probably should send an email and ask about that, but I keep putting that off due to my bad conscience about not being done with my paper…

The picture looks great though and I do hope there will be either snow or the last sunny days when I get there so that I can maybe take some nice photos, too.