Denmark

Hello friends!

So my European adventures during my PhD are officially over! I went to the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) to attend a conference. The conference went great and I am now back in Baltimore. Here are some pictures!

Joe and the juice became one of my favorite spots! haha

I heard someone calling me in the middle of Copenhagen! It was one of my colleagues, Paul!

The little mermaid never seizes to disappoint! hahaha

My favorite coffee shop in Copenhagen! 

Someone cited us in their presentation! This is always really exciting :D 

Reception at the city hall.

The conference dinner.

Nice decor at the conference dinner.

Participants at the conference dinner.

More of Iceland

Hello friends and family! Today was our last day in Iceland.

It has been an epic journey! We decided to drive today towards the plane wreck, a famous spot to visit in Iceland. We stopped in an amazing waterfall on the way there. And then we went to the city and tried some of their local beers. We are now waiting a couple of hours at our favorite gas station before heading over to the airport. We will be in Copenhagen tomorrow.

Some fun facts about our trip:
We stayed at an AirBnB and it was nice.
We did not have the right equipment to visit Iceland. Hiking shoes and a jacket are strongly recommended.
We had a discount card from Olis. This is a gas station which serves Quiznos sandwiches and gives us free coffee with the card. We spent too much money here on gas and food haha.
It never gets dark here during the summer.

In summary, we have had an amazing time in Iceland and would recommend to anyone thinking about it to go for it!

The AirBnB we stayed at in Iceland.

A nice waterfall (Skogafoss).

Joel at the waterfall.

Me at the waterfall.

The cool kids taking a selfie at the waterfall.

Touching the water from the waterfall.

The plane wreck!

Selfie at the plane crash!

I had never seen black sand before. It is real!

I touched the water in the south of Iceland (Atlantic Ocean)!

Olis - our favorite gas station.

A local beer with the beer master Joel.

New Trip!

Hello friends and family!

I have embarked on a new adventure for the next couple of days. As many of you know, I have completed my PhD and this will be my last trip during my time at Johns Hopkins University. Most of my trips during my PhD have been a part of an amazing NSF grant which supports research in wind energy and collaborations between the US and the rest of the world. As part of this last trip I will be attending a conference in Copenhagen. I decided to do a layover in Iceland for a couple of days and check it out. My good friend Joel is joining me this time for the adventure.

One thing to know is: we were not well equipped for this trip. I did not bring a jacket and hiking shoes are a must. Because of this, we have been running in most trails just to keep ourselves warm. haha

First thing is packing, and as usual, I like traveling with only carry-ons!

We rented a car in Iceland!

Nothing brings more excitement to a foreigner than a familiar store. Our first stop: Krispy Kreme! hahaha

A nice church in the capital. The tallest building in Iceland.

There was a nice organ inside the church.

We saw some nice street art in the city.

 First hike was a '45min' hike. It took us 45 min to get to this point.

We crossed the water this way.

There was only one way to get through.

And after another hour we got to this point!

We then crossed the water and got to the other side. Total time was about 4 hours of hiking. hahaha

Day 2! We did a tour and stopped at 5 different locations. First stop: an ex-volcano. 

I touched the water!

Band-aids: an essential part of this trip.

 Second stop: An amazing waterfall!

Just the waterfall.

 Third stop: Geysers!

Temperatures 80-100deg Celsius.

You could see them blow up too!

This one blew up 3 seconds before I got the selfie, haha.

Stop 4: Another amazing waterfall.

Stop 5: A national park with an amazing view. 

The trip has been fun so far! One more day to go and we are off to Copenhagen.

Oktoberfest

Hello friends!

I am back home in Baltimore, MD. These last couple of weeks have been amazing! I went to Oktoberfest and then to a conference in Munich. I went with some good friends and had a great time. Here are some pictures of the fun times in Munich.

For those of you interested in the scientific aspect of my visit (yes, there is a scientific purpose to my visits! :D) here is the paper we published as part of the conference. The Torque 2016 conference was amazing! One of the best conferences I've been to!

This is the right way.

First day!

At one of the beer tents in Oktoberfest.

Beer is by the liter.

Random people stand on the tables and drink a whole L of beer and the crowd cheers.

Making new friends.

The JHU/KULeuven crew!

The night was still young!

We made it to the Torque 2016 conference!

Conference dinner.

Juliaan presenting at the conference.

Me presenting at the conference.

:)

Last picture of the crew on the way back.

There is this nice spot in Munich were people surf in the river.