Goodbye party. Fiesta de despedida

Uno de nuestros ultimos dias en Evanston organizamos una fiesta de despedida con todos nuestros compañeros, los "Stupps" y los "Grzybowskis". Cada uno preparo y trajo un plato distinto y pasamos una agradable noche de despedida, disfrutando de nuestros amigos y de la comida que tan generosamente prepararon.

Quisimos fotografiarnos con todos por ultima vez, ya que tenemos fotos de muchisimos momentos buenos que hemos pasado con ellos. 

Aunque fue una noche relajada y divertida, nosotros estabamos un poco tristes por cerrar esta etapa y por separarnos de gente con la que nos hemos sentido tan comodos.
Podeis ver algunas fotos de la cena y quiero hacer un pequeño repaso de las fotos con mis queridos colegas.
One of our last days in Evanston we organized a goodbye party with all our colleagues from both groups, the "Stupps" and the "Grzybowskies". The plan was to have a pot luck dinner and everyone brought a different dish.
We took pictures with everyone, even though we have tons of pics with all of them, but now we can also have the official goodbye pictures. We enjoyed a lot our time with them and felt really like at home.
Here you can see some pictures of that dinner and I also want to go through the pictures with all my great colleagues.

Diferentes platos traidos por todos nuestros compañeros: tacos, chilli, polenta, tostadas, tarta tres leches, macarons, falafel, empanada de carne, pates de atun y mejillones, croquetas de lentejas (plato turco), tortilla de patatas...

Different dishes brougth by all our colleagues: tacos, chilli, polenta, tostadas, tres leches cake, macarons, falafel, meat pie, tuna and mossels pate, lentil croquets (Turkish dish), Spanish tortilla...

Aqui estoy con Monica, Victoria y Jared, todos compañeros de Thomas. Jared siempre tiene unas bonitas palabras sobre el vestuarion de Thomas, segun su opinion su ropa es completamente "gay". Ya sabeis chicos, cuellos de pico en USA, son solo para europeos o gays...ayyy!!

Here I am with Monica, Victoria and Jared. They're all Thomas' colleagues. Jared always has some kind words to describe Thomas' outfits. According to his opinion his clothes are for gays. So guys, you should know that "V-neck" t-shirts are only for Europeans or gays in the USA...ay!

Estos son Carson y Annie. Ambos forman una de las parejas mas especiales que conozco. Carson es mi compañero y es el mejor quimico sintetico que conozco. Trabaja siempre muy eficientemente y no para! Es capaz de hacer maravillas con la quimica, es muy inteligente. Le cncanta llevar ropa de colores brillantes, incluso fluorescentes en zapatos, pantalones, lo que sea. Siempre es original. Annie es su mujer y tambien es como un rayo de sol. Son una pareja super divertida.

These are Carson and Annie. They are one of the most special couples I know. Carson is my colleague, he is the best synthetic chemist I've ever met. He is a hard worker, he is able of doing wonderful things with chemistry, he is awesome and very smart. He loves wearing shinny clothes, flashy pants and sweaters, even shoes and he is always original. Annie is his wife and she is also a ray of light. Being with them is a lot of fun.

Aqui estoy con Roman y Jane. Roman es otro de mis compañeros. A pesar de lo joven que es, solo 25, ya esta en su cuarto año de doctorado y no es por nada, pero un Science paper va a ver la luz pronto, estoy segura. Ademas es un fiestero y nosotros hemos ido a su casa a un par de fiestas con gente muy joven, jeje! Pero lo hemos pasado genial. Jane ya es doctora, es interesante hablar con ella de neurociencia. Es una chica genial.

Here I am with Roman and Jane. He is also one of my colleagues. Even though he is only 25, he is already a 4th year grad student and a great Science paper is about to come, I'm sure! He is a party animal and we've been invited to some of the parties in their house. We were the oldest people there, but it was still a lot of fun. Jane is already a doctor and it is very interesting talking to her about neuroscience. She is also great!

Thomas y yo estamos aqui acompañados de Derek y Kalina. Derek era el "undergrad" de Adam y Roman y demostro ser un excelente estudiante trabajando en proyectos de energia. Ambos son unos enamorados de España y aun mas de Barcelona, su español y catalan son bastante buenos. Solo tienen un defecto, son del Barcelona, noooooo!! Lo cierto es que lo pasamos en grande viendo los Real Madrid-Barcelona. Les perdono, jeje!

Thomas and I are here surrounded by Derek and Kalina. Derek used to be Adam and Roman's undergrad and he demonstrated to be a great student working in solar fuel projects. They both love Spain and particularly Barcelona. Their Spanish and Catalan are pretty good. They only have one defect since they are both Barcelona fans, noooo!! The truth is that we had a lot of fun watching the games Real Madrid-Barcelona, so I think I can forgive them :)

Esta cosita que tengo aqui es Dinara, la hija de Ahmet, un compañero de Thomas. He decidido incluir esta foto en homenaje a nuestros compañeros con niños, que vienen desde todos los paises del mundo y afrontan la paternidad con valentia en un mundo que no da tregua, el mundo de la investigacion, que no entiende de horarios, dias, noches o domingos. La vida de un padre investigador es dura y hacen muchos sacrificios para compaginar familia y trabajo. Esto ultimo conlleva, visa, recomendaciones, futuros trabajos y futuro familiar al fin y al cabo.

This little thing in the picture with me is Dinara, Ahmet's daughter. He is a colleague of Thomas. I've decided to include this picture just to express the big effort many of our colleagues do here. They come from all over the world and become parents in a different country. Moreover, having kids and working in science y a country like USA is not an easy thing. This job doesn't respect schedules, days, nights, holidays or Sundays. It is a hard life to be with your family and work at the same time. This work also means having a visa and recommendations for future jobs, which is at the end of the day what can change your life.

Aqui estamos con Yun, uno de nuestros compis chinos mas graciosos. Es un as del ping pong y de vez en cuando nos adiestra en nuestros conocimientos del lenguage chino :)

This is Yun, one of our funniest Chinese colleagues. He is a master of ping pong and from time to time he teaches us some Chinese ;)

Aqui estoy con Taner, es de Turquia y es mi colaborador mas proximo. Durante estos años he trabajado codo con codo con el. Es intelingente, decidido y piensa todo muy bien antes de hacerlo. Somos muy buenos amigos y espero que todo nuestro esfuerzo se vea recompensado con publicaciones cientificas buenas. Le deseo todo lo mejor en su doctorado, aun le quedan un par de años ;)

This is Taner, from Turkey and my closest collaborator and partner in crime. We've been working together during all this time. He is very smart, decided and he thinks everything thoroughly before doing it. We became great friends and I hope all our effort is awarded with nice results published in good quality scientific journals.

Aqui estoy con mis españolas y galleguiñas favoritas: Elena y Paula. Elena llego a Chicago a principios de noviembre y desde entonces hemos hecho muchas cosas juntas, es una pana que hayamos coincidido solo los ultimos meses :(

Paula es la mujer de Ricardo, mi compañero portugues y ella tambien trabaja en Evanston. Me encantan nuestras citas cafetiles un par de dias a la semana. Ella es super divertida :)

Here I am with my Spanish mafia: Elena and Paula. They are both from Galicia, the part of Spain just on top of Porgugal. Elena arrived in Chicago at the beginning of November and we've done a lot of things together. It's a pity we could only be in the group at the same time in the last months :(

Paula is Ricardos's wife (he is my Portuguese colleague) and she also works in Evanston. I love our coffee dates during the week. She is so funny :)

Y aqui estoy con Ricardo, el marido de Paula. Otra de mis parejas favoritas ;) Su siguiente destino es Eindhoven, nuestro antiguo grupo de investigacion con Bert Meijer! Estoy segura de que le ira de lujo.

Here I am with Ricardo, Paula's husband. They are another of my favorite couples :) His next destintion will be Eindhoven. He'll work in our old research group with Bert Meijer. I'm sure he'll have a great time there.

Esta es Allycia, la persona mas dulce de nuestro laboratorio y oficina. Me ha encantado conocerla y le deseo lo mejor terminando su master. Nuestra despedida fue triste, pero gracias a las redes sociales y al telefono, no hay por que perderd contacto!

This is Allycia, the sweetest person in the lab and in the office. Meeting her was great and I wish her all the best to finish her masters. Our goodbye was sad, but now we have the social networks and the phone, we don't really have to say goodbye!

Este es Jose, el mexicano :) porque tambien tenemos al puertorriqueño. Trabaja en el grupo de Chad Mirkin, pero antes nuestras oficinas y laboratorios estaban juntos y ademas, es un buen amigo de Leonel.

This is Jose, "the Mexican". We have another Jose, from Puerto Rico :) He works for Chad Mirkin and we used to have our labs and offices next to each other. He is also a good friend of Leonel and ours.

Aqui estoy con Leonel. El estudiante del que tuve el honor de ser mentora. He cogido tal confianza con el que soy capaz de pasar del odio al amor en un minuto. Reconozco que le he metido mucha caña, pero es que tiene que aprender, jeje! Espero que su doctorado sea un exito y que le vaya todo como se merece.

This is Leonel and I had the pleasure of mentoring him when he joined the group. We've spent a lot of time together and we can go from love to hate in just a couple of minutes. I've been hard to him but it was only in his benefit :) I hope he finishes his PhD with lots of success and results happen as he deserves.

Here I am with Adam Weingarte. He is my favorite person in the lab. We've become very good friends and we have shared many interesting conversation. He is very loyal, he takes care of friends and he is a great scientist. I was very sad when I had to say goodbye to him, but we've been already talking during these days so I hope it continues like this.

Este es Adam Weingarten, mi persona favorita en el laboratorio. Nos hemos hecho muy buenos amigos y hemos compartido muchisimas conversaciones interesantes. Es una persona muy leal, se preocupa por los demas y sobre todo es un estupendo cientifico. Me dio mucha tristeza despedirme de el, pero hemos seguido teniendo contacto durante estos dias, asi que espero que continue asi.

Esta pareja son Tarik y Bilge, de Turquia tambien. Dos maravillosos compañeros de Thomas. Cientificamente no tienen igual, la calidad de sus publicaciones es altisima y ellos son dos de las mejores personas que hemos encontrado.

This couple are Tarik and Bilge, from Turkey also. They are great colleagues of Thomas. They are incredible scientists and the quality of their projects is very hight. Furthermore, they are two of the best persons we've ever met.

Aqui estoy con Adam Preslar, mas conocido como "Pepito". Yo le bautice con ese nombre y desde enconces, su nombre autentico ha desaparecido. Divertirse con el es muy facil, su mesa en la oficina es un desastre y siempre nos reimos de el por su acento sureño :)

Here I am with Adam Preslar, aka "Pepito". I gave him that name and since then his original name disappeared. It is very easy to have fun with him, his desk in the office is a huge mess, but we still survived :) He is so funny, especially for his Southern accent.

Esta belleza que esta entre nosotros es Jiwon :) Una guapa koreana compañera de Thomas. Hemos compartido muchos momentos con ella y fue tan amable de dejarnos celebrar la fiesta de despedida en su edificio.

This Korean beauty is Jiwon :) a great colleague of Thomas and friend of mine. We've shared many nice moments with her and she was very kind to let us celebrate the goodbye party in the building where she lives.

Aqui estoy con DJ, uno de los mas jovenes estudiantes del grupo. Tiene mucho camino por delante, asi que le deseo lo mejor!

This is DJ, one of the youngest students in the group. He still has many years ahead so I wish him all the best in this long way!

Esta es Helen. Ella trabaja en Chicago y yo en Evanston, por lo que no hemos compartido mucho tiempo juntas, pero es divertida y tiene un caracter bastante fuerte, como debe ser!

This is Hellen. She works in Chicago and I work in the Evanston campus so I couldn't share too many moments with her but she is full of life and has a strong temper, as it should be!

Aqui estoy con Olga, nuestra hija adoptiva holandesa. Cuando llego a Chicago tuvo algunos problemas para encontrar apartamento y se quedo con nosotros varios dias en casa. Ella estaba muy estresada y lloraba de puro estres, pero nosotros estabamos encantados de que se quedase con nosotros. Solo va a estar unos meses en Chicago visitando el grupo de Chad Mirkin antes de volver a Holanda.

Here I am with Olga, our Dutch adopted daughter. She had a hard time trying to find an apartment so she stayed with us in our place. She was pretty stressed about finding a place, but we were pleased to have her with us. She is only visiting Chad Mirkin's lab for some months before going back to NL.

Esta parejita son Christina y Lyle, nuestros mejores amigos en Chicago. Hemos compartido infinidad de cenas, dias de "Accion de gracias", restaurantes buenos, bebidas ricas y mucho tiempo juntos. Les voy a echar tanto de menos!!!!

This cute couple are Christina and Lyle, our best friends in Chicago. We've shared hundreds of great moments with them, like Thanksigiving dinners, good restaurants, good drinks and a lot of time together. I'll miss them sooooo much!!!

Para terminar, la foto de Super Tomate, uno de mis chistes favoritos y con los que bombardeo a todos mis compañeros en diferentes idiomas :) Todos habeis sido increibles y nos costara mucho encontrar compañeros como vosotros. Os echaremos de menos!!

I'm leaving the "Super Tomato" picture for the end. The joke of super tomato is one of my favorite ones and everyone is fed up of hearing it hundreds of times in different languages :) You guys have all been great colleagues and it will be difficult to find people like you again. We'll miss you!!

Campus

Nunca he escrito en condiciones sobre el bonito campus de Northwestern en Evanston, aunque he incluido alguna foto que otra. Hoy estaba recordando algunas fotos y me he quedado sonriendo pensando en lo bonito que es y lo cuidado que esta (mucho mas que los edificios del campus por dentro). Me gustan los arboles, las flores, la vegetacion, la decoracion en honor a Northwestern lleno de color morado. Lo echare de menos...

I've never written anything good about the Northwestern campus in Evanston even though I've posted some pictures in the past. Today I was looking at some old pictures and I kept on smiling while thinking how nice it is and how well maintained it is (a lot more than the campus buildings inside). I love the trees, flowers and purple Northwestern decoration. I'll miss it...

Lunch time. Hora de la comida

Algo que echare mucho de menos son las comidas con mis compañeros. Al principio ibamos al centro Norris, despues a la sala comun del grupo hast que la renovaron, cuando hace buen tiempo salimos fuera  intentando pilla una mesa libre o simplemente echando a alguna persona que se sienta sola :) y otros dias, como hoy, comemos tristemente en la oficina, jaja! Lo mejor es la compañia :) aunque faltan varias personas en este grupo.

I'll miss lunch time with my colleagues! We used to go to Norris center at the beginning, then to group space until it was renewed, when the weather is nice we go outside trying to find a free table or just kicking out someone who is sitting alone :) other days like today, we sadly eat inside the office, hehe! The best thing is eating with them all, even though there are some people missing in this pic.

Fiesta sorpresa de Thomas. Surprise party for Thomas

El 30 cumpleaños de Thomas era algo que habia que celebrar por todo lo alto, asi que prepare una fiestecita sorpresa en la Universidad con la ayuda de uno de sus compañeros, David. 

La idea era sencilla, hacer algo con la gente de mi grupo y del suyo aprovechando el buen tiempo. Encargue pizzas por la mañana, bebidas y David y yo fuimos en su coche a comprar mas cervecita. Menos mal que pude contar con el!! Ademas, fue tan generoso de comprar toda la cerveza, una tarta de limon y cosas de picoteo. 

Ademas, cuando fuimos al supermercado tambien compramos gorritos de fiesta :) en una tienda tipica americana "The Dollar Store", la version americana del todo a 100 :)

Mande el email de quedada a las 5 y media de la tarde en el patio que hay en el edificio donde trabajamos. Elegi un complice, Sabil, que hablo con Thomas para reunirse y hablar sobre un articulo que estan escribiendo, jeje! Todo mentira, todos los dias se reunen, pero no ese dia!! jaja! Thomas no sospecho nada :)

Un poco mas tarde de las 5:30 estabamos todos alli con nuestros gorros de fiesta y las trompetitas, esperando al cumpleañero. Yo creo que se sorprendio gratamente, esa era la intencion, al menos :) Podeis ver las fotos abajo. Adios!!

Thomas' 30th birthday needed a nice celebration so I decided to prepare a small surprise party at University with the help of one of Thomas' colleagues, David.

It was a simple idea, just having some food and drinks with all our colleagues. I ordered some pizzas in the morning and soft drinks and David was very kind to drive me to the supermarket to buy the drinks. He was amazing and took care of all the drinks, a nice cake and snacks. Afterwards we got party hats and trumpets at a "Dollar store" :) I went there for the first time, hehe! Similar to some Spanish stores with the same concept.

I sent an email to both groups to meet in the court yard of our building at 5:30. I asked one of Thomas' colleagues, Sabil, to help me bringing Thomas to the celebration. They are writing a review paper together so I asked him to "schedule a meeting to talk about the review" with Thomas :) It wasn't true!!! hehehe!

At around 5:40 everyone was at the court yard waiting for Thomas, who hasn't heard anything about it. I think he really liked it, he was surprised and he didn't expect anything at all :) We had a very nice time preparing the party and having fun with our colleagues. You can see the pictures below. Bye!!

Jared, David and Jiwon

Masatomo, Gary, Monica and Ozge

Thomasito con su sombrerito de fiesta :) Thomasito and his party hat

Thomas y yo. Thomas and me

 Adam

Leonel, Jose, Jessica, Andrew, Pepito and Adam W.

Lemon pie :)

Blowing the candles. Soplando las velas.

Christina y yo

Open house

Estos dias los estudiantes que quieren empezar el doctorado estan visitando los diferentes grupos de investigacion para poder elegir el grupo que les gusta y ver si tienen posibilidades de entrar. Para ello, cada grupo de investigacion organiza una o varias jornadas de puertas abiertas, donde varios miembros del grupo exponen de modo general los proyectos de investigacion del grupo. Al mismo tiempo se ofrece comida y bebida a los estudiantes. Aqui os muestro algunos de los carteles que hay por toda la Universidad para llamar la atencion de los estudiantes:
These days the first year students can visit different research groups and choose the ones they like in order to apply for a position. Every group organizes one or more open house days where several group members show in a general way the research projects they are working on. At the same time, food and drinks are arranged for the students. Here I show you some of the "open house" posters that research groups make to attract the attention of new students:



Por supuesto, no podia faltar el poster de nuestro grupo. Un par de compeneros los prepararon y aqui os enseno el censurado, jeje!! de puertas afuera hay uno mucho mas normal, este lo mantenemos para nosotros :))
Of course, there is also a poster of our group. A couple of my colleagues made them and here I show you the "censored one" hehe!! They finally hung on the walls a normal poster and this one we keep it in our offices :))