My last week was busy with work, except for Monday. On Monday, cables were cut in Maryland. This shut off PPPL (in New Jersey) from the outside world, internetly-speaking. This meant that I (in Germany) could not remotely access all of my work on their servers. It was fixed only after I gave up and left IPP around 4:30 with the blessing of my supervisor. :) I biked directly downtown, hung out in yet another bookstore for a while (bought a German New Testament, refrained from buying 2349 German novels), picked up some Döner for dinner, and bought some fresh bread for breakfast.
Tuesday was much more productive. :) Before work, I ran. After work, I visited Elisen Park for the last time and loaded up on chocolate. Yessss.
Wednesday night, I attended an organ concert in Dom St. Nikolai with Gabi and Macro. Someone from the university performed several pieces on the gorgeous instrument:
The music was lovely, but the ambiance was amazing. As the sun set, the cathedral darkened and the twinkling candles became more noticeable. It was peaceful.
We walked over to the main market square to zum Alten Fritz, what several people told me is the best place to get good, real German food and beer. I had the most delicious Schnitzel and Bratkartoffeln I've ever had. Sooo goooood. I also had their house-brewed Schwarzbier. Love it. Karla, Amro, and Sebastien joined us. It was a lovely little goodbye gathering. :)
On Thursday, we were rather productive. We even made two plots! :D I had a good goodbye chat with P. We didn't get all that we planned finished, but we made progress. I said goodbye to the grad student friends and hope I meet them again someday. On the way out, I took pictures! Now, if you've ever been to the UW physics buildings, YOU CAN SEE HOW MUCH IPP RESEMBLES THEM.
The lovely Stellaratortheorie department:
The beautiful, sunny, clean main hall:
And the jazz paintings:
Now, I have problems with "push" and "pull" doors. I often choose the wrong action. Don't judge me. Just sympathize with how hard it was in GERMAN! Karla told me the trick, though, which was probably obvious. "Ziehen" in RED means "stop and pull":
"Drücken" in GREEN means "keep going! Just push!" ;)
I spent Thursday night packing, finishing food and wine, and watching German TV. I miss German TV. Sort of.
I'll leave you in this post (there will be one more in this series) with a picture of my dear, beloved, trusty bike, with its beautiful pink duct tape gear fix:
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