Well I am sitting on the floor in Los Angeles airport writing this - with a 5 hour stopover!
Flight to Detroit on time! I cant believe my luck – I am not experiencing any problems with UA. Karen and husband Tom met me and off to a Turkish restaurant – lovely fresh food – Detroit an interesting city – I didn’t realise the depth of their economic despair – lots of unoccupied buildings with graffiti and empty lots where buildings torn down even in the center of the city.
Spent about 5 hours talking about my work and Karen’s – really valuable – then we went for a brief drive – didn’t realise Canada was the width of the river away- just over a bridge! to Windsor, CA. T and K live in a “Bauhaus” style townhouse in an enclave that is really pretty and close to the city. Went to the Hubbard Street Dance grou pin the old Detroit Opera Theater on Sat night – really nea
t! Had a brief stop at the Detroit art museum to see the Rivera murals – reflecting Detroit history in the motor industry. Apparently Henry Ford was not a good employer – if people were striking he just brought in labour from some part of the world where they needed jobs – accounts for the very wide range of ethnicities in Detroit.
Then off to Seattle. – again uneventful flights. Stayed at Silver Cloud Inn, nice hotel next to University Village shopping center which has gone very upmarket compared to 16 years ago. Beautiful campus with magnificent old buildings, lots of trees still with autumn colours- and dominated by views of Mt Rainier ( on a clear day) and the Huskies stadium by the lake.
Kaya and I spent election day morning at Pike Place Market and went out for dinner that evening to Ivar’s Salmon house – which is built and decorated by Native American infl
uences. Election raised amazement everywhere – no one could believe it had been accomplished seemingly without incident and with a clear majority. I like Obama – his style, sincerity, eloquence and focus on unity. I do hope he can stand up to the expectations being placed upon him. Emotions running very high around the university.
Got my second paper in to JEE and it is under review. After hearing that many of the people I admire did not get their papers accepted I am not going to hold my breath!
After meeting with some really competent insightful researchers I alternate between
inspiration and frustration that I don’t have a mandate to develop stuff back home – but I will hopefully return back to my optimism and plan what I can do, and do a report with recommendations that will reflect all I have learned on this trip.
Somewhat sad and definitely a feeling of physical exhaustion on this my last day in USA. My visa expires today so I need to go!
But what a wonderful experience and the year is not yet over!
Hard to believe my nine and a half weeks is almost over. Been a wonderful experience.
Spent four days at Purdue University – chatting with lots of people both staff and grad students, gave a seminar – mostly to the graduate students,
attended a couple of classes, worked in the office they lent me. Superbly looked after, Loretta was incredibly helpful to make my stay easy. David R showed me around campus, a campus full of tradition… and I got the opportunity to go to an Advisory Boad dinner and see the status of their alumni! Real powerhouses of industry! Amazing campus and so well supported by their alumni.
Took an airport coach across the plains to Chicago – all cornfields – mostly stubble at this time, with lots of people with homes decorated for Halloween – they take this festival very seriously round here – people even came in to the uni dressed up!
attended a couple of classes, worked in the office they lent me. Superbly looked after, Loretta was incredibly helpful to make my stay easy. David R showed me around campus, a campus full of tradition… and I got the opportunity to go to an Advisory Boad dinner and see the status of their alumni! Real powerhouses of industry! Amazing campus and so well supported by their alumni.Took an airport coach across the plains to Chicago – all cornfields – mostly stubble at this time, with lots of people with homes decorated for Halloween – they take this festival very seriously round here – people even came in to the uni dressed up!
Flight to Detroit on time! I cant believe my luck – I am not experiencing any problems with UA. Karen and husband Tom met me and off to a Turkish restaurant – lovely fresh food – Detroit an interesting city – I didn’t realise the depth of their economic despair – lots of unoccupied buildings with graffiti and empty lots where buildings torn down even in the center of the city.
Spent about 5 hours talking about my work and Karen’s – really valuable – then we went for a brief drive – didn’t realise Canada was the width of the river away- just over a bridge! to Windsor, CA. T and K live in a “Bauhaus” style townhouse in an enclave that is really pretty and close to the city. Went to the Hubbard Street Dance grou pin the old Detroit Opera Theater on Sat night – really nea
t! Had a brief stop at the Detroit art museum to see the Rivera murals – reflecting Detroit history in the motor industry. Apparently Henry Ford was not a good employer – if people were striking he just brought in labour from some part of the world where they needed jobs – accounts for the very wide range of ethnicities in Detroit.Then off to Seattle. – again uneventful flights. Stayed at Silver Cloud Inn, nice hotel next to University Village shopping center which has gone very upmarket compared to 16 years ago. Beautiful campus with magnificent old buildings, lots of trees still with autumn colours- and dominated by views of Mt Rainier ( on a clear day) and the Huskies stadium by the lake.
Kaya and I spent election day morning at Pike Place Market and went out for dinner that evening to Ivar’s Salmon house – which is built and decorated by Native American infl
uences. Election raised amazement everywhere – no one could believe it had been accomplished seemingly without incident and with a clear majority. I like Obama – his style, sincerity, eloquence and focus on unity. I do hope he can stand up to the expectations being placed upon him. Emotions running very high around the university.Got my second paper in to JEE and it is under review. After hearing that many of the people I admire did not get their papers accepted I am not going to hold my breath!
After meeting with some really competent insightful researchers I alternate between
inspiration and frustration that I don’t have a mandate to develop stuff back home – but I will hopefully return back to my optimism and plan what I can do, and do a report with recommendations that will reflect all I have learned on this trip.
Somewhat sad and definitely a feeling of physical exhaustion on this my last day in USA. My visa expires today so I need to go!
But what a wonderful experience and the year is not yet over!
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