With the move to the new host and domain (saminverso.com) I also changed blogging software from Drupal to Wordpress. Until I move all the old posts into the new system (if ever) you can still access them here. Commenting is disabled, but feel free to email me.

The old site contains:

• My first experiences in Australia
• Travel log from my four month backpacking trip through Europe. Starting from Venice and ending in Prague. Itineraries: part one and two.
• Random netscrap I found interesting.
• And much more!

All new posts will be made to the new site.

Enjoy!,
-Sam

I just accepted a PhD position at the Australian National University! I will be in the Research School of Biological Sciences in the Human Brain Dynamics group for the next three years.

It's a relief to know where I'm living for a time span measured in more than months. And, it's great that I just have to do research, I don’t need take or teach classes, so I can finish in three to four years instead of the five to seven a PhD in the US requires.

Now I just need to figure out, "What is the Thesis?"

I took a three hour bus trip from Canberra to Sydney last Tuesday. The bus ride was nice, passing beside rolling hills, farms, and ravines. While in Sydney I spent three hours in some interesting meetings (at least they were for me), and then two hours walking from the University of Sydney to Cockle Bay and back to the bus station.

Here are some pictures from the walk.

(p.s. After a month in Australia, and a six hour bus trip through the country side, I’ve only seen one kangaroo. I’m starting to think kangaroos are about as real as jackalopes.)

Last Wednesday the Canberra sky was perfectly clear and blue. It was like looking up at a matte painting.

I felt like I was on the Truman Show (Inverso Show?), and watched fixated, waiting for a spot light to crash to the ground.

After a bit, I was distracted by this huge footed bird. It was nice enough to pose for me:

There are a few birds in the tree outside my window whose singing at sun-down sounds like seven-year old girls screaming for help. It’s impossible to convey the eeriness of it.

I don’t have a picture, but there’s an annoying black fly that resides around sidewalks. It picks a spot to land on your face -- cheek, upper-lip, eyeball -- and once chosen it will incessantly go back to that spot. No amount of swatting, fuffing, or shaking will dissuade it until you exit its designated span of sidewalk. At which time another of its kind will pick a new facial spot and continue the torment.

Luckily, No sign of the drop bears yet.

I left Newark, NJ on October 30th and after 23 hours of flying, with layovers in Los Angeles and Sydney, I arrived in Canberra, Australia on November 1st. I spent most of the time sleeping, reading, watching movies, and setting my watch backwards an hour whenever we crossed a time zone. I can say the most exciting part of the flight was jumping forward a full day when we crossed the international dateline. Yes, the flight was that uneventful.

By crossing the international dateline I lost an entire day of my life, and not just any day Halloween! In protest, I've moved my birthday forward a day. From now on I'm celebrating on June 21st instead of June 20th. It might sound strange, but on your deathbed how much would you give to have an extra day?

Obliviously I'm still a bit jetlagged, incoherent, and melodramatic, so I'll be brief.

The last week has been great. I'm settling pretty well in my dorm room, with undergrads swarming all around me. The Australian National Universitie's campus is in the city, but still its own segmented area. The campus and city is very green, with 10,000 hectares of grass and trees (New York’s Central Park is 341 hectares).

I arrived the same day as the Melbourne Cup, Australia's version of the Kentucky Derby. The whole campus shutdown to drink beer and watch the horse race. It was a crazy two minutes.

Everyone's been very nice so far. I've got a desk in a room I share with a PhD student, and I've spent the last week reading through papers, and learning the software and equipment they have here. Looks like there are a lot of different potential projects I can do in the next three months.

I’ve posted some pictures of the campus and dorm here. Enjoy!