My adventure in the Middle East came to an end. After a short stay at home, I took off for Peru for a few weeks of holidays (full travel report and pictures coming up later), before heading to Denmark for the start of my "real life". (I shouldn't forget the few days in between in Belgium, where I greatly enjoyed being back in Leuven and seeing Wina beat Atmosphere in the 24-hour running competition - just for the record.) From the first of November and for three years onwards, I am employed as a PhD student at the Stellar Astrophysics Centre at Aarhus Universitet. And so, the wonderful few months between my graduation as Master in Astronomy and my first real "job", came to an end.
It was with somewhat mixed feelings and a high level of déja vu that, with my parents in the car, I drove off to Denmark. I enjoyed the long drive in my father's car, and after about eight hours the radio started to produce Danish voices. Certainly, it felt good to hear those again, even though it seems that it will still take some more months before I can actually understand them.
The university had provided me with a new temporary place to stay, but that was only available from November 1. We dropped off all my stuff at Sandra's place, my friend from last year, where I could stay for my first week. I enjoyed a last dinner together with my parents, as well as a fancy cocktail at Fidel's. One last time, I didn't have to care about Denmark's expensiveness.
After a night at their hotel, and a breakfast together, it was time to say goodbye. As they drove home, I reunited with Sandra. It became a great lazy Sunday, with a wonderful friend I hadn't seen for a long time. Even the Danish weather decided to be nice to us, and allowed us to enjoy a sunny beach walk.
Monday and Tuesday, I dived into astronomy again. With our research group (the Stellar Astrophysics Centre or SAC), we had a two-day retreat which took place in a hotel near Aarhus. Some of the people from the international nodes or research collaborations attended as well, and so the large group from Aarhus was accompanied by a number of other researchers from the rest of Europe, the US and Australia. For me, it was the perfect occasion to meet all of them, and get acquainted with everyone's research. Apart from the social and scientific opportunity, the immense hotel had wonderful food and great wine, and it is safe to say that we all enjoyed its bowling alley.
After this great start of my "research", Wednesday it was time to go to the Physics building at the university. We handled some paperwork and I got a desk in a room with three others. I had the first meeting with my supervisor, to discuss the possible subjects for my work in the coming three years. At the SAC, people work in the realms of asteroseismology (star pulsations) or exoplanets. This information will have to do for now, as we are still in the process of discussing my possibilities. To be continued.
The first of November then finally arrived on Thursday. Instead of actually working on my official first day, this day was filled with practicalities such as taking care of my residence permit and visiting the Danish tax office (Belgium is certainly not the only country with high tax rates). More importantly, I also picked up my key and moved out of Sandra's place. My own place is in a lot of ways comparable to where I lived last year: an old house shared with international students, a few hundred meters from where I lived last year, sharing kitchen and shower while having a cosy, small room. While I've very much enjoyed living in these kind of places for the last years, now that I am working Monday until Friday, it is probably soon time to move on to a more "real" place to live.
The place is good enough to live for a while, and the introduction to university has been great. While a lot of my friends from my Erasmus year have left, it's still been very nice to say hello again to some others. And talking about the Erasmus life, this weekend I'll be in Prague, for a great reunion!
It was with somewhat mixed feelings and a high level of déja vu that, with my parents in the car, I drove off to Denmark. I enjoyed the long drive in my father's car, and after about eight hours the radio started to produce Danish voices. Certainly, it felt good to hear those again, even though it seems that it will still take some more months before I can actually understand them.
The university had provided me with a new temporary place to stay, but that was only available from November 1. We dropped off all my stuff at Sandra's place, my friend from last year, where I could stay for my first week. I enjoyed a last dinner together with my parents, as well as a fancy cocktail at Fidel's. One last time, I didn't have to care about Denmark's expensiveness.
After a night at their hotel, and a breakfast together, it was time to say goodbye. As they drove home, I reunited with Sandra. It became a great lazy Sunday, with a wonderful friend I hadn't seen for a long time. Even the Danish weather decided to be nice to us, and allowed us to enjoy a sunny beach walk.
Monday and Tuesday, I dived into astronomy again. With our research group (the Stellar Astrophysics Centre or SAC), we had a two-day retreat which took place in a hotel near Aarhus. Some of the people from the international nodes or research collaborations attended as well, and so the large group from Aarhus was accompanied by a number of other researchers from the rest of Europe, the US and Australia. For me, it was the perfect occasion to meet all of them, and get acquainted with everyone's research. Apart from the social and scientific opportunity, the immense hotel had wonderful food and great wine, and it is safe to say that we all enjoyed its bowling alley.
After this great start of my "research", Wednesday it was time to go to the Physics building at the university. We handled some paperwork and I got a desk in a room with three others. I had the first meeting with my supervisor, to discuss the possible subjects for my work in the coming three years. At the SAC, people work in the realms of asteroseismology (star pulsations) or exoplanets. This information will have to do for now, as we are still in the process of discussing my possibilities. To be continued.
The first of November then finally arrived on Thursday. Instead of actually working on my official first day, this day was filled with practicalities such as taking care of my residence permit and visiting the Danish tax office (Belgium is certainly not the only country with high tax rates). More importantly, I also picked up my key and moved out of Sandra's place. My own place is in a lot of ways comparable to where I lived last year: an old house shared with international students, a few hundred meters from where I lived last year, sharing kitchen and shower while having a cosy, small room. While I've very much enjoyed living in these kind of places for the last years, now that I am working Monday until Friday, it is probably soon time to move on to a more "real" place to live.
The place is good enough to live for a while, and the introduction to university has been great. While a lot of my friends from my Erasmus year have left, it's still been very nice to say hello again to some others. And talking about the Erasmus life, this weekend I'll be in Prague, for a great reunion!
