academic adventurer

Wrapping Up, and Looking Ahead

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:07:00 +0000

Been writing up a little reflection on my experiences with the Campus Europae exchange studies in Latvia: http://www.positive-ecology.org/cv/CampusEuropae-Latvia.html

Also, inquired about accreditation of courses for English. Went better than expected; with a little luck, it will go pretty well.

Out of the one China application that was futile, another opportunity has opened up. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but at least it is one more chance.

Between Times

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:29:00 +0000

So, two of my three applications for going to East Asia have amounted to nothing; the decision on the last one will only become known mid-August. I'm not really hopeful anymore, but still waiting.

Meanwhile, this week I have started organizing accreditation of the courses I took in Latvia, and also of former lectures in biology for a potential teacher training in biology at University of Salzburg. I've been finding that I need to have biology, not only (but along with) languages and associated cultural issues be part of my work even in teacher training/teaching.
Should I really not make it to East Asia, the application for the second year abroad with Campus Europae will be handed in this summer... and I should have the money necessary for a little research trip in Europe.

Work is progressing with writing, both where publications and where my (planned, started, and immediately "resting") professional blogs are concerned. Planned timeframe: Finishing the first of these things this month. Let's see if I really manage that. Sure would be good to finally get a sense of progress... I've recently not felt like a researcher, even though I did some research and have been working on writing it up. It would be a lot better if I had a job (i.e., earned money) with that, but getting something published would be a step to breaking through my impasse, too.

Where training is concerned... that's another post today.

Recovery Week

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:20:00 +0000

The (lower) legs were pretty sore from the mountain marathon / Bergmarathon on July 5, and that for quite a while. Still, time to continue training - and blogging it.

July 8: on the bike - 00:53:34 - 13.82 km - avg. HR 106 - TE 1.5
Cross-training like that was very nice, I'm doing something this way, getting a low training effect for once, and still not abusing my legs.

7/11: running again - 00:50:30 - 8.44 km - avg. HR 138 - TE 2.5
Running early in the morning to stay out of the heat (and to get in training before almost everything else), and it seems to have been very nice and easy. The legs are still a little heavy, but almost back to normal; I do wonder, though, if the heart rate is low because I'm doing better or because of some effect of overtraining...

7/12: biking - 01:09:05 - 20.78 km - avg. HR 109 - TE 1.4another nice and easy ride, not least, to keep doing something
7/13: and back to running yet again - 01:22:57 - 13.89 km - avg. HR 148 - TE 3.3Looking, and feeling, good.

I am starting to think I really ought to find another event to train towards, and soon ;-)

Bergmarathon 2008 Report

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:05:00 +0000

By the organizers' description, Europe's most beautiful mountain run,
according to many participants, the hardest event...

70 km, 4300 meters of ascent are quite something, after all.
My GPS-POD actually recorded a distance of 85 km, but it jumped around like crazy...also, according to my Suunto t6c's analysis, I burnt nearly 10500 kcal.
A normal day's worth is 2000-3000 kilocalories.

It took me 14 hours and 10 minutes.
And yes, indeed, it is beautiful. And hard. - Just check out the altitude profile:

... read on and see more here.

Bergmarathon

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:35:00 +0000

Report is coming soon; posts while on the move (which were never finished) have been deleted

blog rename

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:28:00 +0000

An old friend of my father's came by for a visit. His comment to my life so far - studies, sojourns abroad, plans and proposals: "an academic adventurer."

I've realized something.
Talking about the things I'm doing as manyfold - as "me, myself, and I" (the old title of my blog) - fits with the outside view. The view of those same kinds of people who were amazed when I started studying and was an adventurous student - dedicated, but to the connection between some fields rather than to single-field specialization. And who now see my success with that, but either choose to complain that I did not yet finish more, or denigrate it by arguing that a person would only follow so many interests if he did not really know what he wanted.
The one is nothing I can change right now; the latter, simply wrong.

I know what I want, and I am following that with all dedication.
If detours such as into school teaching are necessary, then so be it. (I'll still be a more interesting and interested teacher than those who only want it as an easy job.)
It may look as if I were interested in too many unrelated things, but they all come from the same source and feed the same purpose: understanding the human condition as a part of this world, and influencing our move towards sustainability.

In honor of an awareness of this, to fit my own view, and in honor of Eddie, my dad's long-time friend, former colleague, and an adventurous person himself, I've decided to rename my blog.

Always being right...

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:31:00 +0000

It's a real curse to always be right.
As expected, I got a letter informing me that I would not be receiving the Monbukagakusho scholarship.

I'm still a bit mad about the committee and what it focused on (such as, my not focusing only and exclusively on Japan), and my own failure to explain my plans and motivations better.

And I'm really mad at those rejection letters: You are supposed to learn from your mistakes, but you are never told what motivates a rejection.
Then again, I met a former classmate recently. She is now also studying (or rather, soon finishing) teacher training in one of the subjects in which she had earlier received her master's. Why the switch to a different kind of career? She had been working unsatisfactory jobs, applying for a research project, only to be told that she were a woman, and the persons responsible thought they shouldn't pick a woman for that project since it were in Sicily. - Wow, a case in which you know what was the fault. Very helpful knowledge, that.

I still haven't learnt about the China application I should already know something about. In the meantime, I'm getting older, soon I won't be in a position to apply for another post-doc scholarship because too much time will have passed between then and when I received my doctorate, and if I applied, I guess they would tell me that I didn't have enough research experience. Still, I'll be trying.

Now - well, tomorrow, actually - off to Altmünster for the Bergmarathon. As I said before: Something that (also) takes stamina and perseverance, but at least is not contingent on what other people think of you, but on yourself. Let's see how far I get there...

Bergmarathon - 1 Week To Go

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:24:00 +0000

That time's upon us... just one more week.

Like before Stockholm Marathon, I'm vacillating between feeling quite confident, and thinking it's quite too much I want to do there.

At least, I much prefer being nervous about this to being nervous about the decision on the Monbukagakusho application (which, as I forgot to mention yesterday, we will learn about already next week). After all, it's my own physical and psychological capabilities which are decisive here, not what a committee thinks of what I wrote and said and seemed like.

Still, when I remember that one or another of my posts announcing that I'll participate in that event comes among the first results when looking for info on the Bergmarathon... OMG... Well, as with so many things, I'll just have to see how it goes. And first of all, to hope that the weather will be all right.

Bad Vibe about Monbu Application

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:07:00 +0000

Yesterday, I had language test(s) for the Monbukagakusho scholarship application.

My English test results, as I learned today, were very good.
Not a surprise... it included texts like I always deal with, and tests like these I wrote myself. You get 60 minutes to take the test, I was finished after 30.
Japanese was a different matter. Or would have been, if it counted as part of the application (it's only for seeing how much the applicant already knows).

Funny thing happened after that: I walked past a group of Spanish, and one commented: "Que guapo." A little later, I went past some people sitting outdoors, and one said basically the same thing, in English: "Now, there's a good looking guy."
First off, I don't see myself as particularly good-looking. And secondly, why was it guys who said that? There, I prefer the Latvian girl who wolf-whistled after me ;-)

Today's talk with the commission deciding who'll actually get the scholarship feels like it didn't go too well.

I never thought I'd say that in any context involving Japanese, but I felt that it, and I, was all too cool and rational. I could have explained some things, like for how long I have wanted to get to Japan, a lot better, I fear.

Then again, things have to - and can only - be as good as they can be "now," at the moment they are happening. Afterwards, it's over. Draw a lesson, but more importantly, remember to go on.
Maybe my feeling is wrong and they'll still pick me. If so, I would be surprised, but pleasantly so. If not, I can't change it.

Honestly, I just don't feel like projecting youthful enthusiasm anymore. I do that naturally when I can give a talk about something that fascinates me, but in a situation like applications, it's become a survival skill to be able to remain cool and have a Plan B (and C, and D, preferably).
Maybe that's not the best thing, but it's not the best world, either.

It's nice in hell...

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 07:01:00 +0000

… and there was snow there, in the Höllengebirge ("Hell Mountains").
I let my dad drive me to the place where I wanted to start, went over the first (small) mountain, and then up onto the Feuerkogel. The Traunsee-Bergmarathon (mountain marathon) will take the same route down from the Feuerkogel and towards Grasberg and Gmundnerberg (where I had been running the day before).

Rather unexpectedly, it took me only a bit more than three hours to make my way up. Encountered some runners (many more than hikers) on the way, probably some I'll meet again at the Bergmarathon.
Nice, sometimes adventurous, paths up the mountain, through the forest, over rocks, oftentimes having to climb fallen trees or make the way through underbrush that's rather close together.
Doesn't look like a path to run, but that's not the plan for the Bergmarathon, anyways.

Having gotten up so quickly, I decided to go on and hiked to the Grosser Höllkogel ("Big Hell Mountain/Summit," sort of). Another three-and-a-half hours to and back, much of the way across left-over snow fields. Well, it's only mid-June, and this is a high alpine area already…

View Larger Map

Anyways, I'm happy to have made it up there, finally hiking in the mountains, with my trusty old backpack (which I've had for a long time, always use in my travels, and never yet used for real backpacking!).

Today is the third day after that little adventure, and my soreness is passing. Since yesterday, it's been extremely hot and humid here, back in the East of Austria. Seeking to advance with writing that's to be done lest I never publish anything, anymore.
The day after tomorrow, the tests and then the talks that are part of the Monbukagakusho application will be taking place.
I don't usually dream, but with some nervosity about both this application (and I should learn about the application as lecturer for China soon) and the Bergmarathon mounting, I've had some pretty weird dreams. The heat did its part. And last night, some beeping kept on waking me - took me until this morning to realize it was my mobile phone's "low battery"-warning...

Back in Austria, In the Alps

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 04:34:00 +0000

Last Thursday, went to Altmünster (in Upper Austria, quite close to Salzburg) to our apartment there, with my dad. A change of scenery to something more like what people would think of when thinking of Austria, and a chance to get in some mountain training…

With all that was and is to be done to get organized again and ready for the next escapade, having just come back from Latvia, and not knowing what will be next, there's lots of errands to run.
Just before leaving, I checked the plant pots in the greenhouse, for example, to see which of last year's chile peppers did, after all, survive over-wintering. (Actually, quite a few did, and quite a few for which I would not have expected it.)

Training has been rather less consistent, with days passing in a rush and me not noticing some times when two days pass without any sports (except for re-arranging my book cases or the like, which actually does have some likeness to weight lifting…).

Still, there where some nice runs.

June 14, for example. To the north of Parndorf:

View Larger Map

Time: 03:13:25; 30.39 km; avg. speed 6.4 min/km; avg. HR 154 bpm; TE 4.2
Ascent/descent: 112 / 105 m

Or yesterday, at the Traunsee/Altmünster:

View Larger Map

Time: 02:09:20; 16.93 km (?; I think the leaf cover on forested passages disturbed the GPS-POD quite a bit at times); avg. speed 7.6 min/km; avg. HR 152 bpm; TE 4.5
Ascent/descent: 522 / 514 m. Yep, I'm in the mountains now.

Today, it's 14 days to the Bergmarathon.
And I'm going to hell… the Höllengebirge ("Hell Mountains").

I am so back home...

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:05:00 +0000

Temperatures have gone down, wind is up. I'm definitely back home.

Vienna felt absolutely grand. Not only is it - or certainly seems, not least
as my favorite haunts are spread out a bit - quite a bit bigger than Riga, I
also noticed how much more international it is. Stockholm already was a lot
more international, but Vienna, now more than ever, feels truly
cosmopolitan. I heard more different tongues, both of varieties of German
and of truly other languages here in a few hours, than ever in Latvia.

Being recognized and welcomed back by some many people in Parndorf (which is
40 km from Vienna, but the way many people from here work in Vienna, as I
studied and study in Vienna, to me it's like a suburb), I once again feel
more at home here than I did before.
Already, it had a great side-effect: The local branch of the Raiffeisen-Bank
will be getting my bank account, for they actually have something that is
customer service, whereas the Bank Austria where I had my account for all of
12 years now proved to be totally inflexible, as if I couldn't be trusted to
pay up. Well, fortunately I can still change without having too many set
payments. My luck, and the local bank's.

Currently, I'm watching a TV program (on German station 3Sat, which is quite
like the American PBS) about the Viennese Ringstrasse, the grand street
encircling the inner city, built on the area where the city walls used to
be. As always after being abroad for a while, I notice how many places I
have actually never been (inside the Opera, for example), and how much
history we have here.
Riga got me to realize how much I am used to places having Roman roots (Riga
was only founded after 1200). In the USA, I don't have problems with it
being different, I don't think that it's "all so new, without history" as
some always say - but to have that in Europe...

Well, I'd still love to go abroad again after this summer, finally make it
to East Asia.
Still, if I knew this would be the case, I think I should try to do some
Vienna tourism.
Then again, I also haven't yet managed to make it to Paris, for example...

Back in Austria

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:27:00 +0000

I came back last Friday. Since then, I've been busy trying to get organized. It's pretty strange not knowing whether I'll be in Austria after this summer, or gone yet again.

Crazy how some things can go:

On the flight back, I met one girl who I had not managed to say Goodbye to. Turned out the reason she had been to Vienna before was that she has a boyfriend here. The day before, she had decided to go to Vienna again, on the same flight I was on... Chatting, that was a two-hour flight that seemed more like 15 minutes.

Blogging may be less useful now, since I don't know if anybody's reading, but I do want to continue putting up some things.

It's a little more difficult right now, not just because I seem to be trying to catch up with all the sleep I didn't get in Latvia, but also because my notebook doesn't talk to the modem anymore. My mobile phone, however, decided to let me connect the PC to it, and go online this way... So, I'm back to feeding the blog by way of e-mails, hoping it works.

Austria, actually, is not as much further along (vegetation-wise) as I had expected.

Rather, Latvia's early summer seems more compressed: Lilac and chestnuts were still flowering, and berries already flowering. Here, lilac and chestnuts flowered a longish time ago, but berries are only starting to flower.

I guess it's the difference in length of daylight: Sunrise and sunset times are pretty different, making for quite a bit shorter days here and now. Also, I think I still haven't quite realized that it's only June.

As I had mentioned, I had gone for a last run in Riga on Thursday:

6/5/2008: 01:20:27.9, ~13km, 5.9 min/km, HR avg 151, TE 3.8

Saturday, I found the road running shoes I had left here and went on a usual course to the north of Parndorf (the village/small town where I usually live):

6/7/2008: 00:54:01,3, ~8 km, 6.1 min/km, HR avg 147, TE 3.3

Also went out in the evening, and although it was quite cloudy, rain and thunderstorm clouds moving around, the sun was stinging. It seems stronger, and to be hotter, than it was in Latvia.

Today, another run, mainly through the military training grounds to the Southwest of Parndorf (I got lucky and it was allowed to get onto it today - not that I always mind if it's not allowed, but I do mind when training with live munition is on ;-) :

6/9/2008: 02:02:17,2, ~20 km, 6 min/km, HR avg. 157, TE 4.7

I have never before seen the - forested - training grounds as wet, humid, and muddy, and even with a lot more erosion on the paths than ever before.

(It has been raining a lot. A while ago in Latvia, we said that you just had to wait for a little while if you didn't like the weather, it will change in a few minutes. For the last months, however, I have noticed that the weather in Austria, with many influences coming together and the Alps adding another element of disturbance, is highly changeable. Some of the rain I have already seen since I came back has been very strong - but fortunately almost only occurred during the night.)

Even many of the fields and paths in the open were still muddy. I was trying out the Cooper's Hill shoes again, and they worked well. This time, with the soil high in clay (rather than Latvia's sand) the mud did accumulate, but it also dropped off rather nicely. And those shoes, although not quite made for stability, felt great. (In contrast to the old road running shoes which, after coming back from the run two days ago, I had thrown away immediately because they proved to be awful.)

Tomorrow, trying to run a lot of errands in Vienna.

Will be fun to be around there again. Or so I hope, as there is a lot of trouble (traffic disturbances, tons of people) because of the Euro 2008.

Already, I have to say that - going running, moving around in it - I have come to like the local landscape a lot: Pretty flat, but not totally - at least some places; wide open... I'll put up a picture.

The two last notes that seem necessary:

Around the time of my return, I received the invitation for the language test and talk which are a part of the application process for the Monbukagakusho scholarship I applied for. One more (and final, actually) step before there is a decision about that...
And, the Bergmarathon 2008 is barely a month away.

Let's call it a stay

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:27:00 +0000

Last day.

In the morning, I went to Agenskalna gimnazija one last time, finishing off some duties, getting a nice book on Latvia as a parting present, and saying good-bye to some of the colleagues. Then, went for a little walk and took some last pictures.

In the evening, I almost had myself convinced that I should just go the airport already today and wait there. Then, I called the taxi for tomorrow morning, went for one last run in Riga, and got some pastries for dinner and maybe breakfast.

Now, for finishing off my packing. I'm pretty sure it's going to be in excess of the 20 kg allowance, even having taken out the books and trying to sneak those in as part of my carry-on.

The Finish

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:31:00 +0000

The high note on which I had hoped to finish my stay in Latvia did come through:

Last weekend, I went to Stockholm to participate in the 30th edition of the Stockholm Marathon - in my 30th year - and I did it.
Okay, it did take me very nearly five hours to finish, but I was able to run the whole time, without any cramps or any such problems, even though it was pretty hot. In fact, I still had the stamina to increase my pace on the last kilometers.

Beautiful. Finishing successfully, seeing the city while running, being able to get through it so nicely... the way things are looking, I'll be out for a slow, light run again today.

Next up: the Bergmarathon (mountain marathon) around the Traunsee. Quite something else, actually (a lot of climbing, a certain need for water and energy to be carried along, and definitely no other intent than to see how far I really get on that course).

Last Days

Yesterday, I came back from Stockholm, and my roommate was packing - he left this morning.

Today, I've just cleaned up, started to pack - checking what should come with me, what might not fit, and trying not to think too much about the excess weight it might entail. Also went and closed my local bank account.

Tomorrow, off to get the confirmation of my stay (necessary for the ERASMUS scholarship) and having Spanish (oral) test. (I wonder how I did on the written one - Russian was hardly glorious, but quite all right, especially considering how intensely I had been studying, not! Spanish should be better, but I don't really know.)

Thursday, a last visit to Agenskalna gimnazija for work feedback and confirmation, and early on Friday, I'm on the flight back home.

Now, I'm wondering if I should go to the beach once more; probably going to try and take some more pictures here and there, but otherwise, I'm trying just to relax. I'm almost at the point of wanting to get into a work routine for the summer, anyways. So much I wanted to get on with didn't really progress a lot...

The e-mail server on which my main mail accounts run is down, just now that a fellow ecology student had written and suggested meeting... (dr.gerald.schmidt[at]gmail.com would also work, if you happened to read this - though it's probably too late for a meeting by now) . Computers...

School's Out

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Tue, 27 May 2008 12:35:00 +0000

Yes, that's it with my teaching in Latvia - final grades are given, normal lessons are over.

Next weekend: Stockholm.

In 10 days I'll already be back home. It was originally planned that I'd also be in Latvia in June, but as it turned out, that exam time is really summer break already, most exams are earlier (my last will be on June 4 - oral Spanish exam).

Strange as always:
On the one hand, I am more than happy to get back to Austria. On the other hand, I feel as if I had only just come here recently, and could happily return soon. Should the applications for going to East Asia work out, I'll be more than happy to leave Austria again, too.

Still, except for the Bergmarathon (and the things I'm working on, as usual), I don't yet know what I'll be doing this summer, let alone after that - it depends on the lecturer/scholarship applications, first of all...

Getting back there

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Fri, 23 May 2008 05:12:00 +0000

My sojourn in Latvia is, slowly but steadily, drawing to a close...

Health and Running

The cold that prevented me from running in the Riga Marathon is still with me, but losing its grip on me ever more. So, I'm getting back into running - and actually, except for its effect, feeling better than I had before the forced time-out. I'd certainly like to be in top shape for Stockholm...

University and "my work"

Yesterday, I had the written Spanish test (oral will be early in June). No idea how it went ;-) Still, shouldn't I get to East Asia, I'll enjoy going on with that.
Russian test will be on Monday, and it will certainly not go all that well... and I don't care quite that much; I want to learn more of the language, but now it just didn't work out well enough.

Considering how things are going in the world - oil hitting $135 a barrel, food becoming ever more expensive - I feel that I really need to get back into and on with my sustainability/positive ecology work. This had recently been in a time-out too, as school in Latvia also winds down, and lots of work have had to be done.

Work - Teaching and Jobs

In that context:
Yesterday I also signed the paper that the school needs to make the end of my teaching there official. Sounds like I could easily go on, but "No, thank you..."

The Latvian phrase used in that amused me a lot, though: atbriivot mani no darba - translating it literally, it would be "free me from that work"... I certainly did not hate the teaching, but I do feel like I'm being set free. At least until it gets essential that I find my next job...

Recently, I saw a sort-of prediction that the present generation will have 10-14 different jobs during their lifetime. It depends on how I count, but I think I'm at job number 5 or 6 already (and that's counting them so as to get a lower number).

Tough luck - Riga's off

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Sat, 17 May 2008 07:37:00 +0000

Riga Marathon would be tomorrow.

Except, three days ago my throat started scratching again, since two days ago it's quite a serious cold. So, even though I hate having to do that, I'll leave it be and rather not run (or run, but only for training, not in the marathon).
Before I go crazy and try to run anyway, I'm rather saying that now already. That way, it's off my back, official, out of mind... Reminds me of why I dislike such events. - It makes it necessary that everything is all good at exactly that time, as if you couldn't have a bad day, run into trouble, or some such...

There's still Stockholm, which was a lot more costly and somewhat difficult to organize, so I'll switch my sights to that now.

The end of the week (yes, those same days I started getting sick) was the Students' Research Conference at the Pedagogical and Psychological Faculty:
Presentations of the research done for the course in Academic Writing, and by students from other places (Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Turkey - and I'm forgetting something). Quite nice as an introduction to what scientific conferences are like, very nice socially.
Finally, I could give a presentation again... I still love doing that, and apparently it shows (feedback was typically along the lines of "there's a good presenter" - I'm not totally happy with how it went, of course ;-)

So, I've been getting my credits for several things - those same things credit points for which seemed rather unsure - and will also be getting the second semester of research writing done.

Next up, Spanish test: next week already; Russian, the week after.
This second week from now is also the last week of teaching; and on the weekend, it's over to Stockholm for the marathon there. I seriously hope not to run into trouble with that, but to run in it!!!

Thoughts on Portugal

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:56:00 +0000

After having come back, I must say that Riga has also become very familiar.
There is something somewhat less homely about it, though.

Photos are still to follow; but I am currently in no mood to write. Quite a bit to do, and psyched about the upcoming marathon(s), so I am taking a time-out from blogging until after the Riga Marathon (May 18).

I wrote the following May 8, the second day in Portugal:

May 7: airports, flights, and the same again… Riga to London Stansted to Porto
In 2000, I traveled for a few weeks along the Mediterranean coast from Milano to Granada; this day, I did the same thing in a single day, along the North Sea and Atlantic coasts of Europe.
Somehow, it makes me realize that Europe - not necessarily if you compare it only in area, but certainly if thinking of cultural diversity - is not all that small.

It's interesting what you can already notice from the air:
Lots of forest in Latvia, comparatively few fields; lots of small fields, trees along just about all the roads, many spread-out settlements or single houses among the fields, in England; densely settled areas in/of Portugal, many woods, but also quite a few fields, shaped to follow the many hills.

Porto (and the area as we approached it) looked nice already approaching. I had not realized how much I had missed hilly to mountainous areas, and the way Southern villages and towns meander along them.

The light rail in Oporto proved very nice, too, and the entire city felt rather familiar (including, or in spite of?, the drunk who was at the stop where I had to wait for the train to change to).
I had some idea how to get to the Youth Hostel where I would be staying the night, and there were city maps at all the bus stops, and the information on the web had said that it would be three kilometers from my metro stop. So, I thought that I'd walk.
And I did. Oh boy, did I.
The roads are definitely meandering… It took me a while to really get my bearings, and for a while I thought I would be joining some bum in a doorway. In the end, I did find the hostel (and still in time to check in), had a quick shower, and dropped into bed. And still, I thought that what I saw of the city was very nice, walking along the Rio Douro in particular.

May 8

The next morning, I decided to walk again. Along the Rio Douro, then the road along the Atlantic coast. I just had to walk down to the water, too - I think I had never before been on the coast of the Atlantic at the edge of Europe. A very different beach from the Baltic sea: many more pebbles in the sand, many rock outcroppings, tidal pools, sea life on the rocks. Plus, it was quite windy, with waves breaking, and the salty sea air in the face. This smell of it alone, and especially, is very different from the Baltic Sea; and another thing I had not noticed I might be missing - but actually it felt that way. Then, through the Parque de Cidade (city park) all along the road leading back to Casa de Musica and the metro. I was exhausted enough by then that I decided to immediately go to the train station and to Aveiro.

In Aveiro, a similar situation: Looking to find the hotel, I got a little sidetracked and ended up seeing a lot of the city (in this case, especially of the university campus) - a lot more, still carrying my "doctor's bag"-style suitcase, than I wanted to walk today.
Of course, after finding it, dropping off my bag, checking out my room (having a shower again), I went out again and went at least as far as I had walked when I was looking for the hotel. At least this time, I found the way back easily ;-)

Portugal is somehow strange. Or rather, what's strange is how familiar much of it is. Admittedly, more familiar and more comfortable than Latvia. Being able to use the Euro again, by itself, is a nice touch. The language issue continues to confound me, though. On the one hand, it is very familiar - especially in writing, much of it is or seems understandable. The spoken language, however, is very different from Italian or Spanish.
Anyways, I'd almost think that I shouldn't have gone to Latvia - except that I don't do regrets like that, and I'm too aware of the problems that also, always, appear. Going to Spain or Portugal if I do the second year with Campus Europae does seem like a very good idea again, though.

Two nights in a single, nicely quiet, room in a hotel now… I'll have to see if I get up early and go out running here, or if I need to set an alarm to make sure I get up before noon...

[As it turned out, it was something between those two: I had walked so much, my legs hurt anyways; I still didn't sleep longer than 7 or 8 - which I consider rather long, actually (although I was usually up until 11 or 12, since we had late dinners and continued to talk in the group).]

Back from Portugal

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Sun, 11 May 2008 19:36:00 +0000

Just a quick note: I was in Portugal the last few days for a Campus Europae (PR) meeting; I think it was productive, all the walking I did was rather exhausting (for miles, and much of it with my pack in my hand), the food was great, the country is very interesting, bla bla, and so on, and so forth...

A real blog post about it, and an upload of pictures from there, will follow soon(-ish).

Latvia's Independence Day

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Tue, 06 May 2008 18:52:00 +0000

May 4 was "Latvijas Republikas Neatkarības deklarācijas pasludināšanas diena."
On May 4, 1990, Latvia was declared an independent republic. Again, actually.

It was a holiday, with the accompanying celebrations. A bit of choral music at the Freedom Monument is what I had gone out to experience - not quite my thing, but there is some nice singing. Watching people is great, too: Some were joking about that republic and anthem and the whole issue, some were probably just out for the walk, quite a few looked like they would gladly take the music as reason to dance, a few sang along with the choir.

I don't usually care much about national celebrations, but this did get me thinking:
My pupils at school have only lived in this independent republic, but had I been born a Latvian, I would have spent my childhood and school years in one of the USSR's republics...

Moreover, I have some memory of how it was when the Eastern bloc collapsed, we suddenly got many Eastern Europeans (with pretty bad cars, most noticeably) on our streets - I grew up only a few kilometers from the Iron Curtain, so all that was close.
Yet, I still had some of the Iron Curtain/Eastern Bloc-mentality in myself (of how they would have to be backwards, still struggling, whatever...). That was around the same time that Latvia declared itself independent.

For breaking through this alone, as I had intended, coming to Latvia was a good thing.

Today, I was back at school; now, I need to finish packing.
Leaving for Portugal - Campus Europae PR task force meeting - tomorrow.

I can't say how it will go with blogging, I'll only be taking my old subnotebook which does not have WiFi and don't know if I'll (want to) have much time which to spend with the internet. Going cold turkey for at least a few days may do me good, actually...

Training Update

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Sun, 04 May 2008 11:18:00 +0000

In two weeks, the Riga Marathon is on...

4/29: On sick leave from school because of my sore throat, just went out for a walk to take some pictures and get some fresh air while not having to talk... and to record it so I could have it in the training analysis and see what it does:
Well, I suppose it was some 8 km (didn't measure the indoors parts), two hours, an average HR 0f 98, and a training effect of 1.3.
(I think I recently measured my HR while working on the PC and lying in bed and it got a similar training effect ;-)

5/1/2008: Parkour Jam session
I did not do too much - or so it seemed in comparison - but some muscles were pretty sore the next day(s). Parkour does that to you... it's much less like running, more like strength training, plus climbing, crawling, jumping.
Time recorded: 2:24.37,9 - then the memory was full because I had not deleted recent data.
HR avg: 122 - values between 44 (that's because the belt often lost signal) and 204 (that's when I was really doing something).
Training Effect: 2.3 - "maintaining"

5/2/2008: 01:01.02,5 - 9.62 km - 6'21 min/km - HR avg. 153 - TE 3.2

5/4/2008: 01:55.15,9 - 18.81 km - 6'08 min/km - HR avg. 162 - TE 4.1

Beach Panorama

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Sat, 03 May 2008 14:42:00 +0000

Come, stand on the beach with me...

(but careful, please: the image is 1.3 MB big!)

(Click on the image above to view the full-size version)

View Larger Map

May 1

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Fri, 02 May 2008 04:25:00 +0000

Still going to bed late, when I'm already very tired, but getting up around five in the morning. 8am may have been the latest I got up so far this year, usually it's with sunrise and early morning birds. I am sure I should work on going to bed earlier, but there's just so much to be done. Getting up that early, I like that all too much, and usually I am up by then even when I do not set an alarm. Whatever....

Yesterday, May 1, I went out with a number of Latvian traceurs (and similar people, it seems). Went to Mangalsala, at the estuary of the Daugava. For one, to some rather destroyed military fortifications, and secondly to the beach. Practicing flips, let alone on sand, seems a great idea, but isn't quite my thing (with contact lenses? - the day before, it was very windy after warm and dry days, dust was blowing everywhere... fortunately, I only did some quick shopping and came back, but even so it was not good for my eyes.)
Took some photographs to stitch together into panorama views of the Daugava where it meets the Baltic sea, and of the sea's beach close-by. Will be online soon, I hope.

Wandering the sand beach barefooted, running a little on the beach and the dunes at its inland edge was extremely beautiful.
I got some more photographs for my series of sports self-portraits, and I think they turned out very nicely. This "Move Free"-series is starting to really become a series, and I am pretty happy with how it is progressing...
It's one of those things, aside of the academic work that needs doing, that I love doing (like sports, also) because it gives you a more immediate feedback on your action; writing seemingly takes forever, getting stuff to a publisher or into a journal takes its time again... it is psychologically more exhausting than a marathon is physically.
Or so I think, and I'll see soon enough.

B1 level

noreply@blogger.com (Gerald Schmidt) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:18:00 +0000

Catching up, publishing this on 5/2/2008

Well, after a flurry of e-mails, my Campus Europae coordinator and I found that the Latvian language course I had taken last semester actually does include (or at least reach into) B1/intermediate language level.
So, that's all right already. And how easy it eventually turned out, too ;)

The pharyngitis (sore throat) has been getting better and better, fortunately. I went out just for some errands, and to see if I can finally get some photography for a(nother) little project of mine done.