In October I am going to go to Italy to visit some universities or better said some scientists working at those universities. I will be there about 10 days and do a bit of criss-crossing through the north of that beautiful country. First I will fly from Munich to Milano (possibly via Zurich, Vienna or Amsterdam - haven’t bought the tickets yet). I will stay there for a night and visit La Scala and the dome before the ‘business’ part of the trip starts: First I will visit Pavia to spend two days with Ulissee Stefanelli (he recently received an ERC Starting grant and the Richard-von-Mises prize; I read a number of his articles and they contain some really deep thoughts and ideas). Afterwards I will travel to Brescia to talk with Riccarda Rossi. She also did some very interesting work and we already met in Prague and had a stimulating discussion together with Tomáš Roubíček in his office at Charles university. She is also the person who organizes most of my trip in Italy and invited me over. After staying there 3 nights I will go to Pisa and visit my good friend Matthias, who is spending a semester abroad with Erasmus. There I will also celebrate my birthday! And finally I will spend a few days in Torino with Vincenzo Recupero. I only recently came to know his work, which - as, of course, the work of the other scientists - is closely connected to my own research. Then it’s back to Milano and from their to Munich, most likely via Vienna - it seems direct flights are too expansive, so why not travel the world and feel a bit more important ;) Anyways it all seems a bit wild so Google Maps gives an overview, have a look. It actually seems that I will only visit north-west Italy.
I am really looking forward to going on this trip for three reasons: First, I get to meet great researchers and talk with them about stuff that I am interested in. Second, I spent all the summer in office and I am looking forward to getting out of it. And third, I just love being in Italy. It is one of my favourite countries and I haven’t been able to visit it for a while.
And having a birthday party in Pisa with two of my best mates (a guy called Andi is also comming) is not the worst way to celebrate my first quarter of a century on earth.
