Exam+the beginning of the end…

Today we’ve had the “final” exam. It wasn’t really important for the course as we had already got the certificates, but it did foster my will to study and that’s a good thing. I didn’t go into detail trhough all the proofs and demonstrations which I guess were beyond my both interest and level but I do think it made me learn more, which was the main point of coming to Rome.
Now I’ll be here untill thursday (the exams were supposed to take place until wed but for some reason compressed to only today), then I’ll fly back to Zgz but just for a short layover before I get on a bus straight down to Madrid where my good friend jorge will host me the night from thursday to friday. Friday morning visa interview, a bit of walk around and I guess I’ll stay there till sat that I’ll definitely get back home. DreamEssence’s on the move baby, yeah!!!

On a monday night walk…

Tonight, we’ve had a really nice dinner to celebrate one of the student’s birthday. It’s taken place at another group of student’s place, which turned out to be a really nice apartment in a peaceful and really italian district nearby the university. We ate outside at the terrace tomato and mozarella cheese and chatted for a while. Then I walked by myself back home through the streets of central Rome thinking how nice this opportunity is for me. Not only have I learnt (I still am, indeed) a lot of spatial stuff, but also I’ve had the chance to meet different people whose only common point is a very rare and specialized field in social science. And whenever very different people meet, there’s a huge lot to learn, both about what you like and what you don’t like from them; about what you’d like to become and what you’d not. All along this time here, that quote from My blueberry nights has come to me over and over again, and I think I couldn’t put it better myself…

“Sometimes, we depend on other people as a mirror to define us and tell us who we are, and each reflection make me like myself a little more.“

Lizz (Norah Jones).

Update: week 2

First update after a week without passing by this place… Time here is turning great and almost everyday there’s something new to tell about. Anway, I’ll try to zoom out and just put down the most relevant highlights of the week. For now, just two of them…

Certainly, I’ve cut down my amount of walks and pictures, I guess it has to do with the fact I feel more comfortable. Once a friend of mine told me the first days are always somewhat more sad because one tends to feel more lone but they are also those you usually learn the most from. I guess I’ve already get used to San Lorenzo and somehow Rome and don’t feel anymore the need to go out in the street, walk while listening to music and shoot pictures to fill that “empty space”…

Last week, we had Harry Kelejian for the theoretical part. I did learn a lot about spatial econometrics but specially it was the non-tangible part the best. As we say in Spain, “más sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo” (it’d go something like “devil is wiser because of his age than because of his status as devil”): he is very young in mind but full of experience and I believe that’s what really makes the difference when it comes to teaching. Analytical stuff and models themselves can be found in a book or a .pdf (of course it’s far better if someone shows you the key parts) but I’m pretty sure the most important and interesting thing I’ll keep from the week with Kelejian will be the last one hour and a half he started by saying: “you know, this stuff I’m gonna tell you about is not in the lecture notes, nor in any book, so you can take it as an extra for your own human capital…“

Night walk+Street Art

After a hard and dense day at class, there’re very little things better than a night walk once the rain is over, encompassed by CC’s Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings. Enjoy a glimpse…

[Rome'08]Night walk around “La Sapienza”

By the way, the district I’m living in (San Lorenzo) is very lively and people seem to be very active in many ways. For sure a good index for that is the huge amount of street art that makes the area more human and let the pedestrian know there’re real people living aroung. I couldn’t but start shooting my camera, and here is a good bunch of examples of what you find when walking around (to be increased as I dicover more…)

[Rome'08]StreetArt…

Apart from that, today I had my first very serious class on spatial statistics by G. Arbia. Though it’s really hard stuff for me (last class on econometrics was 6 days ago, but on statistics was 6 years ago…), I do feel it’s a good chance to get an interesting background and understand where some things one usually assume as given when doing econometrics come from. But for that, i really need o review my notes, which i’m jumpin’ into right now…

The “spatial” Jazz??

One of the things I like the most about going for a month to a city, not specially for tourism, is the possibility to: first, get to know locals in a better way (not only taking one as a touristic target to exploit); second, to have the freedom to do things you’d probably never do if you were in the city because they belong to that group of things you may do everywhere. Another nice point of the course I’m attending this month is the social event, which takes place once a week. Today it was turn for Jazz@Alexander Platz Jazz Club, the oldest one in Italy. Here I drop the pix, not many this time as I was more focused on the music. As a jazz-lover, I enjoyed it very much

[Rome'08]“Social” Jazz

main Rome!

Since there was a change in the schedule and Jean Paeling couldn’t come to Rome (great pity…), we don’t have much to study yet. Moreover, the weather in Rome these days is gorgeous. All together, my flatmates and I felt like we had to go out for a tour around the main Rome. Since the main Rome means the touristic Rome, we dressed up (honestly, a japanese with a digital camera, a french with a guide from Michelin in his hands and a spaniard taking pictures all around do look like tourists…) as for the occassion and headed downtown. Nice weather, nice ambiance and amazing ice-cream… main Rome!

[Rome'08]Touristic walk…

First day of course+walk around…

Today I started the course by having the presentation, then a couple of hours of spatial statistics and finally 3 hours of location theory. Apart from the academic side (not that much so far as it was only the begining, so still tracktable), we got to know lunch and dinner is covered by the course fee, which will cut down the food expenditure and will allow us to go luxury when it comes to ice-creams…

By 7:00pm we were done with classes had already had dinner. My flatmates wanted to go home but, since the day was just perfect, I felt the call of Rome. So I dropped the class-stuff, plugged my ears to my headphones, where a blended mix of “My Blueberry Nights’” OST, CC’s “Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings” and Maria Callas’ “Best of” was spinning around, grabbed my camera and went for a walk which ended up (as usual) in getting lost then found thanks to the kindness of people and to a bus this time. Here are the results you can see (the more important outcome of the walk cannot be shown as it’s only in my mind, much more peaceful now I guess…). Enjoy them.

[Rome'08]First walk around…

Last day+Rome

I’m finally in Rome. I got here today after a crazy and really fast friday fixing everything for the US visa, a farewell dinner with my friends from the uni, party night, shower (notice i didn’t mention sleep) and a 2 hours plane-sleep. Ago picked me up@the airport (thanks god) and took me “home” where I dropped the luggage and headed for a slide of pizza (Italian food rules).

So far, really good weather and a nice area next to the uni, not much more. More to come after I get a real sleep, rest and puzzle out all the feelings and thoughts running around right now… it’s been too much in too little time.

Rome’08

I finally was accepted to La Sapienza’s SEAI‘08, to be held from May 25th. to June 25th in Rome (Italy). This is something really cool because, though it might feel like really boring (it actually is if one’s not interested in the topic), it has three nice points:

1. First and most important, it was the best excuse to spend one month in the italian capital, a city where I still keep very good friends fom Sweden and where I’ve been a couple of times but never really get to know well. I hope by late june I can’t stand for the latter
2. Second, the stuff I’m gonna learn is really important for my PhD. and not that easy to pick up at my department, since there’s no one working on it, so you need to read by yourself (as I’ve been doing all over this year).
3. Last and by far the least important, there’s also something to do with my little honour: when I applied in winter, we were all required to send some more info about our academic background and perspectives in order to make a little bit of selection, as there were only 30 vacancies and 100 applications. I wasn’t accepted. Instead, I received the typical “you are on a list, just un case someone fails, we’ll take you into account, next year…”. I never thought that was gonna be true: a couple of months later I received another mail from the guy at La Sapienza saying I could go. Yeah!

So, once I was in, it started the process of looking for a place to stay. Not that easy, provided I was in Spain and had no idea of how to look for an appartment there. Luckily, I found two partners attending the SEAI as well and in something like a week we were done (the process of looking for it was kind of funny as they both live in the States right now and me in Spain). So if anyone is thinking of coming around Rome next June and feels like sharing a coffee (capuccino, of course), just let me know