A Great Year, It’s Been

A year ago, I started working at Heinrich-Heine University. On my way to the HR, I remember being very anxious, as it was the first time in almost 10 years that I changed my work place. “What is it going to be like? Will my family be able to handle it? Am I the right person for this job? What are the people that I’ll work with like? Am I going to be happy here?”

It turned out, it was a great decision to apply for this job (thank you, Maria, for forwarding the job posting to me!). Not only do I enjoy the work as it is, I also enjoy working with these incredibly nice and intelligent people. Now, with the first paper and the first conference with new data underway, I think I’m getting there.

And, yeah, I totally should be writing (c) 🙂

Strawberry Cheesecake

No, I’m not going to write a recipe of a strawberry cheesecake. Not because I don’t want to –I would love to – but because I am horrible in the kitchen. That is, I am basically useless. My talents, as you already know, lie somewhere else. For example, next to the sewing machine… or to a stitching kit… or next to electroencephalography. But today, we won’t be talking about brains, though some people might have gotten the color metaphor. We’ll be talking about stitching and embellishing instead.

 

Well, guys, if you are stressed out I’d highly recommend some knitting or stitching to you. Did you know that monotonous work decreases the stress level? It does! I checked it tw… lots of times! You should really try it. But then again, if stitching or knitting stresses you out, I’d suggest you should really focus on watching the fish. 🙂

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Technorama Winterthur

Who knew that science could be so much fun? Of course, I did! But a friend of mine told me that in Winterthur, Switzerland, you could touch the science. I mean actually touch it! The land of innovation found a great way to further the research interest und scientific talent of its young generation: they opened a Swiss Science Center Technorama. Here, the children can have a hands-on experience in biology, chemistry, physics; they can participate in various workshops, and watch shows about the earth, gas, and lightning.

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Lead is the Color of this Season

Was it sunny today? No, it wasn’t. Was it warm? No, it wasn’t. It was cloudy, windy, and it was snowing by the end of the walk. But the sky and the lake were amazing!
When you have a child, the only reason not to go for a walk is if it’s downpouring. Sure, you can try and get him/her exhausted at home – good luck with that! – but I’d rather let him burn off his energy outside.

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Shift Dress

The spring is almost there. Apart from the bright sun and trees in bloom, it brings along the need to strip away the layers of the heavy winter clothing and to jump into something light. Personally, I prefer to follow the change of season with the change of my clothing colors. It’s not the light reflection/ light absorbtion thingy but my deliberate act of season distinction: It’s spring! – I put on fair colors to celebrate it. Here comes my first spring tribute: a cream-colored shift dress.

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Our First Trip to America: Part 1

All of our trips to America were in connection with conferences that I was attending. The first trip to America was planned in the end of 2010, when I applied to attend two conferences: CUNY in Stanford in March and CNS in San Francisco in April. The conferences were a week apart, which gave us the opportunity to visit a couple of interesting places in California. And we went to Vegas!

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Sequins and Skirts

The times of sequins as a party attribute are long over. Nowadays, a woman can wear sequins to the office… and I don’t only mean the office of a fashion magazine. Yes, ladies, you can wear sequins in a less glamorous environment, for example, in an EEG laboratory. I especially love sequins on skirts. This way, I can easily dress it up and down.

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Pink Mood

I suddenly realized that I haven’t written ANYTHING here in quite a time! The last post farewell concert thus actually looked like an actual farewell. I’m here guys! Still alive and kicking 🙂 And to show off my lively kickingness I’ll even show you my groomed visage. In all Lanister pink colors. These two guys will star in this blog post (apart from your lovely hostess, of course :)).

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Farewell Concert

It was such a pleasure to have Vassilis Christopoulos here in Konstanz. He is a great conductor and will definitely be missed. For his farewell concert on June, 21, Vassilis chose two pieces that one would never even dream to hear in combination: Beethoven’s Symphony Nr.6 F-major op.68 “Pastorale” and Berlioz’s Symphony Fantastique op.14. The first piece is all about country life – cheerful mood on arrival in the countryside, scenes from a brook, thunder and storm, singing shepherds – pure nature. The second piece, on the other hand, is based on the autobiography of Hector Berlioz and reflects his love affair with the actress Harriet Smithson. At least, the first three scenes. The last two scenes describe his dreams under the influence of opium: his own execution and a witches’ Sabbath featuring his lover. Quite an impressive mixture, isn’t it?
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My June

I know, it’s not over yet. Though I’ve got quite a lot to tell you and I’m afraid I won’t if don’t do it right away.

#1 The most important one

I did it! I submitted my doctoral thesis! It took me almost 5 years to run those 11 EEG experiments, to write them up, and in the meantime to have a child. This thesis is thus a summary of my recent professional life. It’s a  milestone and the end of an era. I am excited and, at the same time, scared like hell to move on.

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This thesis was possible only because two wonderful people decided to put their trust in me. Dear Carsten Eulitz and Aditi Lahiri, you are the BEST scientific supervisors and mentors one could wish for! I am grateful for your time and advice. It’s been an honor to work with you! And we still have three papers to publish together 🙂

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