There and back again

For the sake of my international readership - German would only be understood by a hand few, and Portuguese pretty much rules out all my native-European friends - here's to you an English post. I've been writing seldomly in Shakespeare's language, so it may be worth to exercise it more often.

I've been across the pound, and back again. I've met some interesting people there, had great conversations with closest friends, and a few spectacular bike rides to top it off. And then I flew back - and upon arriving I felt, perhaps even more strongly than after my year-long stay, how much I in a certain sense belong in my home away from home - or simply put, how much Nürnberg and region has become a home to me.

Tomorrow it'll be a week since I returned; so far I've been focused on doing (finishing) what has to be done, enjoying the remaining time with my friends, and keeping the focus of being back soon - only this time, 'back' means the Old Continent.

(In this paragraph) I'll avoid a detailed week review, rather just listing the facts (as in the "Isoladas" post): Arrived on Tuesday, picked up by my Dad and Vitorio, put the bike together, had mom-cooked food for dinner. Synchronized on Wednesday, short AM ride, small tasks in the afternoon, Vitorio's birthday at Mulligan's pub in the evening. First ride with my new Cervélo on Thursday, went to campus only to find out that my advisor had extended her absence leave for another month (ah, the joys of student-advisor communication!) First French class of the semester (felt funny on the ears after two weeks of full-on German). Friday had a double training load, then dinner out with my Physics labmates. Saturday with Chimarrão on the park, a visit to my Oma (Grandma) to show her some of the photos, then pizza with some friends in the evening while doing some USFIRST volunteer work.

Then Sunday (returning to the more usual, detailed writing style) I went to Estancia Velha (some 60km from Porto Alegre) for the 4th stage of Gatorade/Union's Cup. I had some expectations regarding my performance, as I had missed some workouts during my trip to Germany, and had spent most of the week leading up to this race experimenting with my time trial bike. I'm quite satisfied with how it (I) turned out, launching some attacks and driving the winning break pretty much all the way into the final lap. Unfortunately some other riders weren't as willing to let their legs take an even share of the load, so after launching the sprint I braked hard and avoided coming into the first positions, therefore denying myself of a podium spot - my way of protesting about the entirely legal, but mostly unethical way some decided to race. All in all I was satisfied about how I and the team rode, which is undoubtedly more important than some small prize money or yet another medal on the stack. Back home, met some friends at the park again to enjoy the nice, warm evening with a mixed fruit juice from the traditional "Lancheria do Parque".

And at last, but definitively not least, this Monday I got started on my diss. Configured the main LaTeX structure and set placeholders for each of the chapters and sections I intend to write, making notes of content and references which are to come. There are still some calculations to be done, assuming, of course, we'll take these results as definitive. Goal is to be around 60-70 pages, so I still have quite a way ahead. Nevertheless, it felt very good to have it actually started.

"And miles to go before I sleep" (Robert Frost) - so off I go!