What I've been doing outside of work.

Really, not much.

In these last few weeks before I return to Minnesota, I have been working a ton in an attempt to finish a project, start a paper, wrap up things so I can leave them for two months and get things set for my return in January. Needless to say, this has been a tall order, but I'm making steady progress. I'm out of the lab now and mostly working on writing a paper. Yay!

Getting all of this work done now will mean that my time in Minnesota can be spent writing a paper instead of in the lab, with more ability to focus on moving and seeing all of my dear family and friends before I leave again. Somewhat luckily, the weather hasn't been that great, so working more (including weekends) hasn't been as terrible a fate as it could have been.

However, last weekend I was able to take the weekend to see my dear friend Aurore in Strasbourg. She is a professor at the University of Strasbourg. It was so nice to hang out with her and to just relax for a weekend. We slept in, walked around Strasbourg for most of the day, cooked delicious meals together, watched movies, and generally had a lovely time. I also got to see her labs and university- I always think it is interesting to compare labs and universities between countries... The weather was super nice, and we even had a picnic outside in short sleeves on Sunday (right after Minneapolis got hit with a foot of snow...).

One of the funniest things of the weekend was that there was a Switzerland fair set up in the main square of Strasbourg, complete with alp horns and fondue! It was to promote winter tourism to Switzerland, and I found it funny that I couldn't even leave Switzerland behind for one weekend.

Welcome to the Switzerland fair!

This is my last week here (for now), and mostly life is going to be a whirlwind of packing and organizing and taking care of those little details that always come up. I am looking forward to going home and seeing my family, but I am also looking forward to my return here.

Picnic outside!

Strasbourg cathedral.

Strasbourg.