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The air and water show

El domingo pasado fuimos a Chicago de nuevo para ver el "Air and water show". Es una demostracion que hace el ejercito americano, los marines, la armada, etc, con sus helicopteros y sus aviones supersonicos.
El espectaculo comenzo a las 11 de la manana y termino sobre las 4 de la tarde, todo ello en la playa de Chicago, junto al lago Michigan, asi que la gente paso alli el dia dandose un banito, mientras veian el espectaculo.
La verdad es que fue impresionante y aunque hizo mucho calor, nos lo pasamos muy bien.
Hice varios videos, el primero y el segundo son de un piloto que hizo toda clase de piruetas con su avion, una locura, impresionante. Al mismo tiempo hablaba por la radio y decia cosas como: "Oh yeah, baby, que Dios bendiga a America" jaja!! fue muy divertido.
El ultimo son los "Angeles azules" de la marina americana y son la "crem de la crem". El sonido era alucinante y fue sorprendente como iban a esa velocidad entre los rascacielos de Chicago.
Last Sunday we went to Chicago again to see the "Air and water show". The US army and navy fly over the city with their incredible choppers and supersonic planes. The show started at 11 am and finished around 16. Everyone is in the beach spending the day while looking at the loopings and movements of the planes. It was quite impressive and even though it was really warm, we could still enjoy the show. I made some movies for you, the first and the second are about a crazy pilot who made all kind of crazy and fast things while talking through the radio: "Oh yeah baby, God bless America" and things like that. It was hilarious. The third is a video showing the planes of the "Blue angels" from the US Navy. These ones were really impressive and the way they flew between the skyscrapers was absolutely breathtaking.

Inspirational Stupp. Charla de mi jefe en espanol, motivante

Hola a todos! Hoy hemos tenido reunion de grupo. Aqui en Chicago son mas o menos una vez a la semana, hay dos personas que presentan y muestran su trabajo de los ultimos meses en una presentacion bastante formal, con preguntas, etc. Cada presentacion lleva mas o menos 1,5 horas.
Hoy despues de la presentacion de uno de mis companeros, mi jefe queria hablar sobre cosas importantes para el grupo, requisitos para obtener el doctorado, etc. Otro dia me gustaria hablar sobre esto, aunque parezca duro, al menos la gente que acaba aqui el doctorado tiene una estupenda base cientifica y un curriculum que sirve para encontrar un buen trabajo despues y sinceramente, me gustaria decir todo lo que siento sobre este asunto y lo decepcionada que puedo llegar a estar con mi doctorado en mi grupo...no voy a decir en Espana porque no quiero generalizar, pero este tema me dara seguramente para otro texto.
Despues de hablar de estos asuntos, el Prof. Stupp nos ha ensenado un video de una charla que dio en Costa Rica, su pais de origen y que iba dirigida a un publico general, no cientifico. Aqui os dejo el link, la charla esta en espanol y asi, todos mis amigos y familia que no estan en el mundo de la ciencia, podreis ver y entender algunas de las cosas preciosas que se hacen en este grupo. Desafortunadamente, yo no trabajo en este area :) por lo que no creo que sea yo la que descubra el remedio contra el parkinson o el alzheimer. Otro dia, os explicare un poco en que consisten mis proyectos :) Espero que os de tiempo a ver la charla, merece la pena. Yo ya conocia este trabajo, porque en el mundo cientifico la reputacion de este grupo es muy buena y por cierto, bien merecida, pero ahora vosotros tambien podreis conocer este trabajo :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-u7y3Uygwo

Hi everyone! Today we had the weekly big group meeting, this time in Chicago campus. Normally there are two speakers who present the work they've been doing in the last months in a very formal presentation. Including questions, each contribution can take around 1.5 hours.
Today after the presentation of one of my colleagues, my boss wanted to talk about some important issues for the group, such as the requirements to get your PhD, etc. I would like to talk also about this issue. Even though it seems to be hard to get your PhD here, once you finish, everyone has a great scientific background and a nice CV to help you find a good job and to be honest, I'd like to talk about how disappointed I can be when I think about my PhD in my group, I'm not going to say in Spain because generalizing wouldn't be fair.
After finishing with this, Prof. Stupp has shown us a video about a talk he gave recently in Costa Rica, his country of origin. It is directed to a non scientific public, so it is very easy to understand and see the nice work that is being done in the group. It is in Spanish, hehe! but probably you can follow it and also, for the ones in science, you'll probably know everything about it. I hope my friends and family that are far from the scientific world can understand more in detail what can be done about illnesses such as alzheimer or parkinson. Unfortunately, this is not the field where I'm currently working, so I don't think I'll be the person who discovers the final clues to solve these illnesses.
Anyway, I hope you find some time to watch the talk, it is worth it.

Chicago stuffed pizza

Este fin de semana ha sido probablemente el unico en el que tengamos sabado y domingo libre Thomas y yo, asi que queriamos aprovecharlo para hace un monton de cosas aqui en Chicago. Desafortunadamente, Thomas tiene una infeccion de oido y el medico le ha mandado antibioticos y con ellos, evitar el sol. Esto parecia limitarnos las actividades que queriamos hacer: ir al lago, a la piscina, una excursion en bus y en barco en Chicago, subir a los edificios mas altos, etc. Pero pensadolo bien, aun teniamos un monton de cosas que hacer "indoor".
This weekend has been probably one of the few weekends that we are going to be free in the whole year and we wanted to do as many things as possible here in Chicago. Unfortunately, Thomas has an ear infection and he is taking antibiotics to treat it. The doctor also told him to avoid the sun while taking this medication. This wasn't cool for all the activities we were planning: go to the lake, the swimming pool, bus and boat tour in Chicago, go to the top of the highest buildings, etc, but thinking it again, we still had many things to do indoor.
El sabado me levante de buen humor :) y me fui directamente al gimnasio, despues hicimos un estupendo "brunch" y nos fuimos en autobus a "The old orchard" in Skokie, un centro comercial gigante, al mas puro estilo americano. La idea era pasar el dia alli, mas bien la tarde y al volver, ir a "Giordano's" , el sitio que mis companeros nos recomendaron para probar la pizza rellena estilo Chicago.
On Saturday I got up in a very good mood, I went to the gym for one hour and then we prepared a really nice brunch. After that, we took the bus to "The old orchard" a giant shopping mall in Skoki, real Amercian style. The idea was spending there the afternoon and in our way back, stop at "Giordano's", a place my colleagues recommended us to try the stuffed pizza Chicago style.

Esta pizza es de unos 3-4 dedos de grosor, es una especie de tarta, con los bordes de masa gruesos y lleva mucho queso y es como a capas, masa, queso, ingredientes, etc.
Pensaba que no me iba a gustar y creia que iba a ser grasienta y pringosa, pero no fue asi, seguramente tenga mucha grasa, pero al menos, cuando la comes no lo parece :). Pedimos la pizza mas pequena de la carta para los dos (para una o dos raciones) y fue mas que suficiente. Nos pedimos la pizza especial de la casa, llevaba toda clase de verduras y salchicha. Al principio, no me hizo mucha gracia lo de la salchicha, pero los trozos eran tan pequenos que ni siquiera me di cuenta de que habia salchicha y la verdad es que la pizza me parecio muy, pero que muy rica, aunque no creo que la coma con mucha asiduidad.

This pizza is about 3-4 fingers wide, kind of cake with thick dough sides and it is loaded with cheese. It is prepared in a multilayer structure, dough, cheese, ingredients and so on. I thought I wouldn't like it because I pictured it in my mind as greasy, but it was not like that at all. I'm sure it has a lot of fat, but at least it doesn't look like that when you ear it or taste it :) We ordered the smallest pizza on the menu cart for the two of us (suggested for one or two servings) and it was more than enough. It was the special pizza of the house, with all kind of veggies and sausages. At the beginning, I didn't like much the idea of the sausages, but the pieces were so small that I couldn't even notice it. To be honest, I really liked the pizza, I thought it was delicious, even though I don't think I'm going to eat if very often.

Thomas se comio la pizza tres veces mas rapido que yo. El encontro la tecnica correcta para comersela usando cuchillo y tenedor. Yo me lo pase mucho mejor tirando de las interminables tiras de queso, un trozo, corta, tira, intenta morderlo, se alarga, tira y asi varias veces, jeje!!
Nos fuimos a casa con la tripita llena y nos relajamos viendo una peli. Domingo, sin pensarlo mucho, nos fuimos al acuario Shedd de Chicago, todo ello en el proximo texto :)
Thomas ate the pizza three times faster than me. He found the correct technique to eat it using fork and knife. I had a lot more fun pulling the endless threads of cheese, taking a piece, pulling, trying to cut it, it becomes longer, you eat it and pull it again, hehe!!
We went back home with our bellies really full and we watched a nice movie. Today, Sunday without thinking it much, we've been in Shedd aquarium in Chicago, everything in the next post :)

Thomas cogiendo la pizza y yo tirando del queso :)
Thomas trying to get the piece of pizza and me pulling the threads of cheese

The Cheesecake factory :)

Voy muy retrasada escribiendo todas las miles de cosas que he hecho y he visto desde que he llegado a USA, pero aunque lo ire haciendo poco a poco, hoy os voy a contar lo que hice el viernes pasado para cenar, realmente una experiencia americana ;)I'm really delayed writing all the things I've done and seen since I'm here in the US, but even though I'll do it soon, today I'll tell you what we did last Friday for dinner, a real American experiences.Mis companeros me hablaron de un sitio llamado "The Cheesecake factory", un restaurante cuya especialidad son las tartas de queso con todo tipo de cosas, tartas de al menos 25 cm de altura, con cremas, mantequilla de cacahuete, caramelo, brownie, etc. My lab colleagues told me about a place called "The Cheesecake factory", a restaurant specialized in cheese cakes with all kind of flavours. The cakes are around 25 cm high with cream, peanut butter, brownie, etc.

Habiamos hablado sobre este sitio durante la semana y finalmente el viernes, mi companera Jessica propuso ir alli a cenar. Jessica e Yves, mi compi frances, nos iban contando a Thomas y a mi como eran las raciones en este sitio y la gran cantidad de comida, por lo que pedir un menu entero mas la tarta de queso, es casi imposible.We've been talking during the week about this place and finally, on Friday my lab mate Jessica suggested going there for dinner. Jessica and Yves, my French colleague told us about the portions of this place and the huge amounts of food, so ordering a whole menu there is almost impossible.
Llegamos a este sitio que esta a unos 10 minutos de Evanston, en un centro comercial enorme. Habia mucha gente y entre ellos, algunas personas de grandes dimensiones :) y al llegar, pude ver en un mostrador las clases de tartas que tenian (foto).
The restaurant is in a huge shopping mall 10 minutes driving far from Evanston. There were a lot of people there, some of them really big :) and when we arrived there, I could see the different kinds of cake they have (picture).
Thomas pidio una hamburguesa, yo un plato de pasta con verdura, gambas y pollo, el plato era gigante y solo me pude comer una pequena parte. El resto me lo lleve a casa en una "doggie bag" un concepto que realmente me gusta. Mi otro companero, Yves, solo pidio un pequeno entrante, haciendo hueco para el trozo de tarta, el sabia muy bien como funcionaba el asunto, jeje!
Thomas ordered a burger and I ordered pasta with veggies, shrimp and chickent. It was huge and I couldn't eat everything, so I took the rest in a doggie bag, a concept I really like. My other colleague, Yves, ordered a small appetizer because he knew how big the pieces of cake were, hehe!

Yo lo estaba flipando cada vez que veia al camarero traer y llevar esos trozos de tarta gigante, como podeis ver en la foto, por no mencionar los enormes vasos de bebida que incluyen un segundo vaso gratis. Solo pude beber el primero y fue bastante, jeje!
Thomas pidio un trozo de tarta llamado "Reese's cheese cake" que tenia mantequilla de cacahuete, tarta de queso, chocolate, etc en varias capas. Era pesadisimo y nos reimos un monton. Yo me pedi un "Brownie Sundae Cheesecake" con una guinda encima y crema de chocolate por si era poco dulce, madre mia! Antonia e Yves optaron por algo mas ligero, las variedades de crema de vainilla y tiramisu. Jessica pidio tarta de queso con crema de coco, estaba muy bueno. I was freaking out every time I saw the waiters bringing those huge pieces of cake as you can see in the picture and also when I saw the giant glasses of cola or other drinks. A refill is included in the price, but I didn't ask for it, it was already too much for me, hehe! Thomas ordered a piece of cake called "Reese's cheesecake" with peanut butter, cheese cake and chocolate in layers. It was really heavy and we laughed a lot. I took a "Brownie Sundae Cheesecake" with a cherry on top and chocolate sauce just in case it didn't have enough sugar :) Oh my God! Antonia and Yves chose something lighter, the vanilla cheesecake and the tiramisu option. Jessica took a cake with coconut cream, really delicious.

La experiencia estuvo genial, lo pase muy bien, nos reimos mucho y comimos y bebimos aun mas!! Al final de la cena de broma pensamos que nos deberian haber ofrecido un chupito de insulina para metabolizar todo el azucar que habiamos consumido, jajajajaja!! Fue una noche muy dulce, en coclusion. Al llegar a casa, Thomas y yo nos fuimos una hora al gimnasio...se puede hacer todo en esta vida, no?
The experience was great, I had a nice time there, we laughed a lot and we drank and ate even more!! At the end of the night we joked about having an insuline shot to metabolize the big amount of sugar we consumed, hahaha!! It was a very sweet night. When we arrived home, Thomas and I did one hour sport in the gym of our building...you can do everything in life, right? Lo cierto es que me lo pase genial y como experiencia americana me gusto bastante, hoy he terminado de comerme el trozo de tarta que tenia en casa.

Finally in Evanston

Despues de mas de un ano y medio pensandolo, por fin estoy en Chicago!! bueno, en Evanston, una ciudad al norte de Chicago. Parecia que no iba a llegar nunca, decidirse, buscar grupo, pedir becas, atreverse a venir a un sitio tan lejos de tu familia, arreglar los papeles...muchas cosas! lo veia tan lejos, pero por fin estamos aqui!!
After more than one and a half years thinking about it, I'm finally in Chicago!! In Evanston actually, a small city in the North of Chicago. I thought it would never happen, first you have to decide it, look for a group, apply for fellowships, dare to come somewhere so far from your family, arrange all kind of paper work...many things! but finally we are here!!
El viaje fue largo pero bueno y las primeras impresiones tambien fueron buenas.
Vivimos en un apartamento en el piso 14 de un edificio bastante grande y desde nuestra ventana se ven los rascacielos de Chicago, genial!La Universidad esta a solo 10 minutos andando y el campus es precioso, las fotos estan a punto de llegar.
Por supuesto, dedicadre varios textos a contaros como es la Universidad, mi casa, la ciudad, Chicago, la cultura, la comida, etc...Esto acaba de empezar!!
The trip was long but with perfect timing and my first impressions were good. We live in an apartment on the 14th floor of a very big building and you can see Chicago's skyline from our window! University is only 10 minutes far if you walk to go there and the campus is really beautiful, I'll post pictures soon.
Of course, I'll write some posts about University, the city, our house, Chicago, culture and food :). This is just getting started!!

CAMPEONES DEL MUNDO!!!!

Hola a todos!! A solo dos dias de mi gran viaje (perdon otra vez por los acentos, etc...no puedo ponerlos con este ordenador), me ha dado tiempo a celebrar algo historico y que espero poder volverlo a ver, si, si, si, ESPANA ES CAMPEONA DEL MUNDO!!!!!!!!!Hello everyone!! It is only two days for my big trip, but before I had time to celebrate something historical that I hope to see many times in the future, yessss, SPAIN IS THE WORL CHAMPION!!!
Ha sido muy interesante jugar la final contra Holanda, mi segundo pais :), lo siento mucho por toda mi familia holandesa y amigos, pero ESPANA ES LA MEJOR!!!!Playing the final against The Netherlands was very interesting, against my second country :), but I'm very sorry WE ARE THE BEST!!!!
La pena ha sido no poder verlo con Thomas, un holandes de acogida, una espanola y no podemos ver el partido juntos, pero bueno, hubiese sido muy gracioso, asi Thomas no tuvo que aguantar mis chinchorreos durante el partido.I was a bit sad because I couldn't watch the game with Thomas, but this way he didn't have to suffer all my comments during the game :)La pena fue que no esperaba ver un partido en el que el equipo holandes jugase tan sucio, no me gusto nada mis queridos amigos holandeses, que yo os adoro, pero ayer no teniais justificacion. En una final del campeonato del mundo de futbol, deberia verse una leccion de deportividad y sinceramente, ellos ayer no la dieron. Esa fue la parte amarga de la noche, aunque les perdonaremos :)The truth is that I didn't expect a game like this, I mean the "not so nice" way of playing of the Dutch team. Sorry, dear Dutch friends, I really adore you, but there is not an excuse to play like this. I think we should see a lesson of fair play in the final of the world cup and sincerely, I don't think that happened yeserday. That was the part I didn't like yesterday, but we'll forgive them :)La final se vivio al maximo en mi casa, todo el dia esperando el gran momento, pasamos muuuchos nervios, sudamos, gritamos mucho (mi voz lo nota hoy), casi matamos al arbitro, a mi me bajo la tension en mitad del partido, pero finalmente descorchamos unas buenas botellas de champan para celebrarlo.We lived the final with all the passion you can imagine, we were the whole day waiting for the great moment, we were very nervous, we sweated a lot and screamed even more (my voice can feel it today), we almost killed the referee, I even had a drop in my blood pressure, but finally we could open some nice bottles of champaign to celebrate it.

Acto seguido nos fuimos a la calle a celebrarlo, la fiesta era enorme y es que estas cosas solo pasan una vez en la vida y estamos muy felices de haberlo visto!! Me alegra haber estado aqui para ver esta final y ahora ire super orgullosa a Chicago, presumiedo de equipo de futbol :)

After the game we headed to the center to celebrate the victory, the party was huge because things like these only happen once in a life time, even though we hope to see again. I'm very happy I could enjoy the victory before leaving to the US and now I'll go there feeling very proud of our national soccer team ;)

VIVA ESPANA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aun tengo muchas cosas que contar sobre Holanda y Espana, vienen en camino en los siguientes textos :) Ahora Thomasito tambien tiene un blog: thomashermans.blogspot.com Nos vemos!! See you all!!