This section is about my time in Vancouver after I returned from California - just three weeks. It's written in one go in hindsight (on December, 11th, 2002). Correspondingly, it's really short, although tons of things happened !
First of all, I was asked rather often why the hell I'd come back to Vancouver so quickly and why at that time of the year instead of the boarding season. The answer is really unspectacular - I had an open ticket "home" from San Francisco to Vancouver and "home home" from Vancouver to Frankfurt.
When I returned "home" to Vancouver I was delighted to see that things hadn't changed too much. Mel fetched me from the airport and again I had the great pleasure to stay in the 23rd Avenue's guest room on a part-time basis. Great thanks to my friendly hosts and dear friends Dave, Eric, Hendrik and Eddy at this point!
Believe it or not, again, I worked quite a lot (too much?)! On the other hand,
I wasn't particularly stressed in California, so it wasn't to bad ;-)
In the second week I had in Vancouver there was the CP conference, the conference
I had a paper on with Dave Tompkins and Holger. They both couldn't go, so I
went to Ithaca, NY, on a paid 5-day trip to present the paper.
Good good times there. Having a rental car to save about 1000 dollar by driving
the last three hours. Thus seeing a lot of the Fingerlake region upstate NY.
After the conference seeing the Niagara falls. Meeting Ellen from NASA Ames
who studies in Rochester. Great !
Oh, driving along the Cayuga lake reminds of an oddity I really associate with the US: some of the most beautiful, romantic & peaceful scenery I've ever seen - a HUGE lake on one side of the street, dreamily homes and bigger pieces of land on the other side. And then, all of a sudden, striking my attention: a big weapon's store. WHY DO THESE PEOPLE NEED GUNS ? It could be such a nice countryside, but no ... what shall I say - that's the US.
Workwise, in the first week I was busy preparing my talk at CP and in the third week went on to leave ongoing projects in a clean state, where my team members pretty much knew what I had done - wrapping up things. Already knowing how little I'd be able to contribute once I'm back in Darmstadt, dealing with undergraduate studies, moving business and much more. How right have I been :-(
But oh well, work isn't everything and I sure did enjoy this last extension
I got in Vancouver ! I met dozens of old friends, sadly with all the internationals
having left :( However, I met other international students - namely the next
generation of Darmstadt students ;-) Even five of them this time: Diana, Claus,
Mathias, Roland and Markus. Together with Holger and Kai Renz who happened to
be there, too, we had a great Darmstadt gathering. Good food, good beer, good
times :-))
Later, Diana, Claus, Mathias and Roland came over to the 23rd Avenue house and
Karin, another German also dropped by. Nobody at home in the 23rd house, but
at least I had my camera. And here's the result: check out the Germans in the
23rd Ave house ;-)
After this, we went down to Granville Island, looking for a pub, but being coordinated too badly we didn't manage to decide on where to go. So, we were sitting on the waterfront and dancing to the super-loud music from a nearby pub. Good times !
Well, I said before that there are tons of things I could be telling about, but here and now I'll refrain from that and just show more pictures ;-) This time from a hiking trip up to Mount Seymour with Diana, Eddy, Dave and Amie. It was one of the most gorgeous days I've experienced in Vancouver. Still: note the little bit of snow that lasted all through the summer till late September !!
I guess that's it for now, there's a lot more to write about, but after all this is a mere spotlight in hindsight.
Undoubtedly, I had a great time once more ! Thanks to the good friends I had and keep.