Today was one of the best days ever.
I went to Cadarache, a research center for nuclear energy. They are working with zebrafish there and for a moment (well, actually it was for several moments), I really wanted to work with the zebrafish too! I met some of the most capable and intelligent research scientists in Europe that took time out of their day to share their research with me and invite me into their labs.
I had to wait 1 month to get through the security and upon arrival, I had to have my picture taken and a special badge made before I could be driven through the gates into the facility. They also held my passport during the time that I was within the borders of the facility. It was top security, let me tell you. Before entering the labs, I got to dress up in the special clothes for working with radioactive substances. I also got to wear cool shoes. The labs and work done in them were AWESOME. Upon leaving, I had to get scanned by a special radioactivity detector to make sure that I did not get contaminated. It was all very new to me and very interesting.
Tom Hinton is a very good scientist and a very nice man. He told me today that women are smarter than men although men are not too far behind. (I told you that he was a good scientist; he figured out the most important thing- women are smarter than men.) I like him a lot! He also wears an earing in one of his ears that is really cool. On the drive back from Cadarache we talked about research, research, research and dissected all of the reasons for why we love it. It was an amazing conversation and I realized that I really cannot live without research as a part of my life.
The Scientists:
Tom Hinton, already mentioned above.
Stanislav Geras'kin is a Doctor of Sciences, Professor Head of Laboratory of Plant Ecotoxicology at the Russian Institute of Agricultural Radiology and Agroecology. He is a visiting scientist at Cadarache. One thing (out of the many!) that he is doing is studying the effects that Chernobyl has had on the environment. Listening to this was interesting to me since I was born only 100km (~60mi) south of there 2 years after it happened. Our conversation was spoken in 4 languages!! Russian, Ukrainian, English, and French. I am happy to say that learning all of these languages has finally proven to be of some use.
Karin Beaugelin is a french woman that had a wonderful, extremely colorful and well organized poster from which she presented her current project. She is modeling dose of radionuclides to plants and animals and it sounded extremely complicated. She spoke only french so my brain was overwhelmed with the science vocabulary. I learned that uranium is both chemically toxic and radiologically hazardous. I never knew that but I wrote it down so that I will always remember that from now on.
Arnaud Martin is a soil chemist and I understood his work the most because of the work/projects that I have been involved in recently concerning earthworms behavior in nano-spiked soils. Speaking with Arnaud was more like review and I'm glad it was because after Karin fried my brains with dose response curves and radionuclides, I really needed something more... mellow. Along with studying soils and nanoparticles, Arnaud studies plants and the atmospheric environment surrounding the plants. He also synthesizes Selenium nanoparticles and makes them radioactive. The labs that he took me into were really innovative and there was one in particular that when I stepped into, I felt like I was stepping into a top-science lab from a movie (or something of equivalence). However, it wasn't in a movie; it was real and it was cool.
The most inspiring scientist that I spoke with was Christelle Adam. She is extremely intelligent and is doing numerous experiments all involving zebrafish. She has looked at how radionucleotides effect reproduction, olfaction, BBB, motility, etc, etc.. Her research focuses mainly on uranium uptake; 3H and gamma effects to zebrafish. She has various and numerous ideas for future studies and experiments and is collaborating with other scientists all across Europe. He work is absolutely fascinating!! I did not want to stop hearing about it and I exchanged contact information with her asking her to send me more info on her work. It was that interesting. At this point, her work is more interesting than rocket science!
I also had an opportunity to speak with a PhD student by the name of Starr-light Augustine. She was born in the US but her family moved to France when she was young. She's french/american. She is working on a theory called Debit Energy Budget Theory in zebrafish. It has both biology and chemistry in it and even include the laws of thermodynamics. It was so fun to talk to someone who is more into biology talk about how important chemistry is in her work. She tied biology and chemistry together very nicely. She let me look at her recently hatched zebrafish under the microscope and try to determine the stage that they were at. It was so much fun because they glowed like diamonds in the sun under the microscope and reflected the light. It was the coolest thing ever. I could not stop looking at them. Also, I guessed the right stage at which they were at and got so excited over it I almost forgot everything that I had learned that day. It is so fascinating what she and Christelle are doing with the zebrafish...
I know that for some of you this doesn't sound like something to be super excited about. But for me, radioecology is something I have never experienced before and I'm so fortunate to have had the privelege of making the aquaintance of it.
Concluding one of the best days of my life and wishing you all the best,
Oksana.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Paris
Hello everybody,
This weekend I went to Paris and I am sooo glad that I did! Thank you Jason and Armand for really pushing me forward and encouraging me to venture out and do so.
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Well, that is it for now. The internet is extremely slow and it is extremely late here... I hope that you enjoy the pictures!
I will post one or two more times, concluding this blog as my internship concludes here...
A demain.
Oksana
This weekend I went to Paris and I am sooo glad that I did! Thank you Jason and Armand for really pushing me forward and encouraging me to venture out and do so.
Hotel de Ville, Paris. House of the Mayor of Paris.
Cathedrale de Notre Dame.
Musee d'Orsay.
Arc de Triomphe du Carousel
Le Louvre.
Le Louvre Fountains.
Me in front of Arc de Triomphe du Carousel. (This is NOT the Arc de Triomphe, this is the other one in front of Le Louvre.)
Seine River.
Me and Eiffel Tower across the Seine.
Tour Eiffel.
Me and Eiffel. :)
Arc de Triomphe. (I do not know why this picture looks stretched out but I had some troubles incorporating it into the post. I apologize and may try to post another one that looks somewhat more proportional..)
Modern Paris.
More of modern Paris.
This is a fun picture! Me in front of Montemarte, my second favorite thing to see in Paris. The Eiffel Tower taking first place, bien sur!
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Montemarte.
Touresty street beneath Montemarte.
Versailles Palace.
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Versailles Palace.
Metro.
Me beneath Eiffel Tower.
I will post one or two more times, concluding this blog as my internship concludes here...
A demain.
Oksana
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Avignon
Bonjour all,
I forgot to write about Avignon...
Several weeks ago, Armand and Chelle were wonderful and took me to see the city of Avignon.
About the city: Avignon is a city of many different faces. For over a century it was home for the papacy and has been forever crowned by the medieval Palais des Papes and encircled by an ancient city wall and filled in moats. It was a centre of scholarships and artistic excellence. Today this city is very artistic and has a lot of theatre, music, exhibitions, festivals, etc, throughout the year.
Sometime around/after 1370, Gregory XI was pestered by St. Catherine of Siena (who has her own crazy story which I am not going to recite but will say that it is rather interesting and full of soft drama) to move the papacy back to Rome. Shortly after he moved back to Rome, he died and the Romans elected a Roman pope. The French were not about to lose their hold on the reins of power and elected Clement VII asap in Avignon. Now there were 2 popes!! They excommunicated eachother, sparking the Great Schism which lasted for 40 years! The Great Schism ended when all sides agreed on one pope, Martin V, in 1417.
I forgot to write about Avignon...
Several weeks ago, Armand and Chelle were wonderful and took me to see the city of Avignon.
About the city: Avignon is a city of many different faces. For over a century it was home for the papacy and has been forever crowned by the medieval Palais des Papes and encircled by an ancient city wall and filled in moats. It was a centre of scholarships and artistic excellence. Today this city is very artistic and has a lot of theatre, music, exhibitions, festivals, etc, throughout the year.
History: Avignon was born during the dying phases of the Neolithic period (9000-8000 b.c.). It was a settlement, really, laying in the cradle of the Rocher des Doms. Rocher des Doms is a tall rocky clif that falls steeply into the Rhone River. I did not get a picture of the cliff, but I was on top of it. The view is gorgeous!
Anyway, under Roman rule, Avignon was a port city and then in the 12th century it began to think BIG. Towers were built, a Romanesque catherdral, and the St. Benezet bridge across the Rhone River, along with an ancient wall around the city and moats. In 1306, Clement V (a french pope) moved his court from a turbulent Rome to the quiet and safety of the independent, vatican-owned region around Avignon. This region was called Comtat Venaissin. After Clement V died, the following 6 popes saw no reason to relocate to Rome. The Italians called this the "Babylonian Captivity" and it lasted for 68 years. Scholars, artists, architects, jewellers, weavers.. all flocked to Avignon to find commerce and trade... while Petrarch* sniffed and called it "a sewer". Personally, I think he was wrong.
*Francesco Petrarch was an Italian Renaissance humanist. He is called the Father of Humanism.
*Francesco Petrarch was an Italian Renaissance humanist. He is called the Father of Humanism.
Sometime around/after 1370, Gregory XI was pestered by St. Catherine of Siena (who has her own crazy story which I am not going to recite but will say that it is rather interesting and full of soft drama) to move the papacy back to Rome. Shortly after he moved back to Rome, he died and the Romans elected a Roman pope. The French were not about to lose their hold on the reins of power and elected Clement VII asap in Avignon. Now there were 2 popes!! They excommunicated eachother, sparking the Great Schism which lasted for 40 years! The Great Schism ended when all sides agreed on one pope, Martin V, in 1417.
Avignon was papal territory even after the popes returned to Rome. It was far enough away from Rome to escape the Vatican checks and was not under French censorship so it flourished greatly becoming an artistic, religious and great publishing center. It wasn't until 1791 that Avignon was returned to France.
Below are some pictures:
This is the Palais des Papes and to the left is the Cathedrale Notre-Dame-des-Doms (12th century) with its golden statue of the Virgin Mary on the top.
The other half of Palais des Papes. It was too big to fit into one picture.
This is the courtyard from within the Palais des Papes.
This is what used to be the Pope's dining hall.
The Palais is full of all sorts of statues. This is one.
Avignon is a city laden with artistic treasures. This is the Municipal Theatre.
This is a street view..
This is cathedrale in Avignon. Unfortunately I forgot the name of it.
This is the interior of the Cathedrale. All of the other cathedrales that I have visited in France look just as elegant as this one on the inside. Most of them have organs that cover an entire wall!!! The organ is not visibile in the picture, just an FYI.
This is the 12th century bridge across the Rhone River. Only part of it remains. It is called Pont Saint-Benezet.
That is all for now, as my internet is extremely slow and uploading pictures is pain in its purest form. As I wrap up my last two weeks in France, I will try to post at least once or twice more about Paris, the nuclear research facility in Cadarache, and my conclusions on the research (maybe).
Once again with tired typing fingers and extremely heavy eyelids, au revoir.
Oksana
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Marseille
Hello everyone,
Yesterday I went to Marseille, the oldest city in France. According to Wikipedia, it was founded by the Greeks in 600 BC. The story goes like this:
The day that the band of Phocaean Greeks sailed into the harbor 2600 years ago, was the day that Gyptis (the local chiefs daughter) was supposed to choose a husband. The sea-faring Greeks arrived under the command of a dashing man by the name of Protis and they were invited inland for the feast that was given in honor of Gyptis. Protis apparently fit Gyptis's bill because during the feast she chose him to become her husband. Gyptis, the bride, came with a dowry of land (a hill) close to the Rhone river and that is where the Greeks founded a trading post which later became the port. It was called Massalia. Today it is called Marseille and it is the second most populous city in France after Paris.
In 49 BC, Massalia was beseiged by Julius Caesar. Sometime during this time it is said that Christianity was introduced to Marseille (because of the obvious catacombs and records of Roman martyrs). Credit for evangelisation of Marseille is given to Mary Magdelen and her brother Lazarus. Anyway, over the years it became France's leading port and in 1720, a ship from Syria arrived in port carrying with it the plague (The Black Death). The plague wiped out ~45,000 citizens of Marseille! Later, Marseille supported the French Revolution and marched on Paris. It was monarchist under the First Empire and then republican under the Second Empire. Under Napoleon III, Algeria became a french department and many Algerians moved to Marseille. New ports were built and shipping increased significantly. The Suez Canal opened up in 1869 and immigrants from Spain, Italy, and Greece poured in abundantly! Marseille still maintains this cosmopolitan population. Life revolves around the Vieux Port (old port) and although Marseille is a coastal city, it is not touristy but on the contrary remains a year-round, hard-working, city that has an extremely lively cultural scene!
Below are some pictures with descriptions. Enjoy!
These are fishing boats in Vieux Port.
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More fishing boats and view from the port.
Below is another image of Vieux Port.. it is HUGE and has THOUSANDS of boats.
View of Marseille from Chateau d'If. The body of water is the Mediterranean Sea. I dipped my feet into it!!
This is me with my skirt flying in the wind. Behind me is Marseille and I am standing at the top of Chateau d'If.
Yesterday I went to Marseille, the oldest city in France. According to Wikipedia, it was founded by the Greeks in 600 BC. The story goes like this:
The day that the band of Phocaean Greeks sailed into the harbor 2600 years ago, was the day that Gyptis (the local chiefs daughter) was supposed to choose a husband. The sea-faring Greeks arrived under the command of a dashing man by the name of Protis and they were invited inland for the feast that was given in honor of Gyptis. Protis apparently fit Gyptis's bill because during the feast she chose him to become her husband. Gyptis, the bride, came with a dowry of land (a hill) close to the Rhone river and that is where the Greeks founded a trading post which later became the port. It was called Massalia. Today it is called Marseille and it is the second most populous city in France after Paris.
In 49 BC, Massalia was beseiged by Julius Caesar. Sometime during this time it is said that Christianity was introduced to Marseille (because of the obvious catacombs and records of Roman martyrs). Credit for evangelisation of Marseille is given to Mary Magdelen and her brother Lazarus. Anyway, over the years it became France's leading port and in 1720, a ship from Syria arrived in port carrying with it the plague (The Black Death). The plague wiped out ~45,000 citizens of Marseille! Later, Marseille supported the French Revolution and marched on Paris. It was monarchist under the First Empire and then republican under the Second Empire. Under Napoleon III, Algeria became a french department and many Algerians moved to Marseille. New ports were built and shipping increased significantly. The Suez Canal opened up in 1869 and immigrants from Spain, Italy, and Greece poured in abundantly! Marseille still maintains this cosmopolitan population. Life revolves around the Vieux Port (old port) and although Marseille is a coastal city, it is not touristy but on the contrary remains a year-round, hard-working, city that has an extremely lively cultural scene!
Below are some pictures with descriptions. Enjoy!
These are fishing boats in Vieux Port.
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More fishing boats and view from the port.
On a ferry ride to Il d'If, this is the Chateau d'If, the prison where Monte Cristo was imprisoned from the story, The Count of Monte Cristo. Yes, it is real.
View of Marseille from Chateau d'If. The body of water is the Mediterranean Sea. I dipped my feet into it!!
This is me with my skirt flying in the wind. Behind me is Marseille and I am standing at the top of Chateau d'If.Below is my Algerian friend, Fouzia, and me on the Med. Sea.
Mediterranean Sea. What can I say? It's gorgeous!
Sailboat and Marseille.
Sailboat and Marseille.I had to put this picture of the Seagull up because I had to wait like 10 minutes for the Seagull to cooperate and appear photogenic (without hiding it's head under it's wing).
This is Fouzia at the Pizza joint that we ate at.
C'est moi!
This is me strolling along...
That's all for now! I apologize if the captions are off from the pictures but I am unable to control the formatting... eh, computers!
Always,
Oksana
Saturday, July 3, 2010
FRIENDS at LAST!!
Bonjour, all!
This past week has flown by at the speed of light!! (That is 299,792,458 m/s!) I have met so many new people and made some great friends. I feel as if I have also fallen in love with Aix-en-Provence. It is a wonderful feeling and with each passing day, I do not want to leave this place. With a car and AC, I would stay here without a second thought to it! The only drawback is that Aix-en-Provence is the most expensive city to live in after Paris. We all know how that can go...
Each and every person that I have befriended (or has befriended me) has greatly enriched my life through sharing knowledge and sharing their life experiences with me. I would like to tell you about each one of these people.
My friends: One of the first people that befriended me was a young man by the name of Fabrice. He is an engineering student who is finishing his Ph.D here at the lab that I am in. He is fun and outgoing and loves to ask millions of questions about the U.S. and the culture and the food and the movies and the music. He has had many opportunities to go to different countries for various internships and he has shared a lot of his experiences with me. He has even been to New Zealand! How cool is that? His girlfriend is dutch and lives in Amsterdam, Holland, so he goes there every weekend to spend time with her. He has widened my horizons by answering all of my questions about the countries that he has been too. He has also brought me back some sweets from Holland just so I can broaden my scope of gastronomie. I went hiking up the big Montagne St. Victoire with him this past week. It was a huffer and a puffer hike, let me tell you! But the views were gorgeous!!
Fouzia is a girl that I met at the bus stop where I wait for my bus to CEREGE every morning. One day I was sitting at the bus stop, reading a book and waiting for the bus when she walked up and sat down next to me. She was reading a newspaper with a screaming headline about the World Cup. She pointed to the headlines started talking to me in french about the French football (soccer) team. I kind of nodded and smiled and said an occasional "oui, oui" or simply "aaha.. oui" just to be polite and because I only understood like every 3rd word. So that is how we met and our first discussion was about the World Cup. There was something unique about this encounter because where in the world do you find two GIRLS talking about the WORLD CUP? We have become really good friends and she greets me with the french kiss on both cheeks every morning. I feel rather french when I am greeted in this authentic french fashion. She is from Algeria and she is finishing her masters in computer sciences. She has shared with me the story of her religion and her home country, both of which are fascinating because they are so different from what I am used to.
Filip de la Pologne (as I like to call him) is a young man that I met at the bus stop next to my apartment. We had both waited for approximately half an hour and the bus still hadn't come. I knew that it would come eventually because it always comes sooner or later. However, he had just arrived in Aix and had no idea so he spoke first and asked when in the world it would come. I answered with "hopefully today". I discovered that he is from Poland and is doing historical research in the Aix-in-Provence library in centre ville. He is finishing his masters in history and is also working on his second bachelors degree in Arabic. He wears black-rimmed glasses and seems to be the artsy-fartsy kind of person. I do not mean that in any deragatory manner. He can speak polish, english, french, arabic and UKRAINIAN!!! Today I had a conversation with him in which we utilized 3 of those languages. It never ceases to amaze me how the human brain can grasp so many different languages all at the same time. The entire time I was trasitioning from one to the second to the third (and grasping the fourth, Polish), I felt as if it were just one language. A part of me now wants to devote my life to studying the two major areas of the brain that are responsible for linguistic skills: Broca's area & Wernicke's area. But that is biology, a topic I prefer not to associate myself with.
My most recent friend I made this past week. I met him on the bus on my way to CEREGE. Usually, on my bus rides to CEREGE, I either read books (all of the books that I have not been able to read during the past 3 years of my life because of school, school, school!) or talk to Fouzia. A lot of the people read books on the bus, and I (because I am somewhat nosy) always try to read the title of the book and see if it matches the person. It's weird, I know, but I do it anyway. Over the past few weeks I have noticed that everyone who was reading a book, was reading it in french except for one young man. I had sat within close proximity to see that he was reading an english novel, like me. This past week, Fouzia and I were not able to find seats next to eachother so I sat down in the first seat that was open. I opened up my book and began to read. I glanced over at the book that the young man was reading next to me when lo and behold, it was the english reader! We struck up a conversation about english books and have become friends since then. I wish I could tell you his name, but I don't know it. It escapes my mind. He is, however, one of the smartest boys that I have ever met in my life. He lived in Ireland for one year, working in the hospital, and learning how to speak english while doing an internship. Then he lived in Germany for one year studying physics and doing research and learning the German language. Impressive. Now he is finishing his masters in physical engineering, here in France. When he inquired about what kind of research I do, I briefly summarized and explained about the TiO2 nanoparticles in cements. He listened and then dissected the mechanisms and distinct properties of TiO2 and how photocatalysis occurs. He basically summarized what I had spent 3 days reading in scientific articles and various journals. I was thoroughly impressed. He then proceeded to cross disciplines and tie in the dreaded biological perspective of my research project. I told him that I don't specialize in biology and that in my universe, biology just doesn't exist. And if it does, then I avoid it as best as I can; like the bubonic plague (which I must say, is caused by a gram negative bacterium that is called Yersinia pestis). So he brought in my beloved chemistry and asked complex and intelligent questions pertaining to it, like the physicochemical aspects of the research. I knew there were smart people in the world, but he is probably the smartest person my age that I have ever met!! I am honored to have crossed paths with someone who will no doubt accomplish something great in the future. With extremely bright young people like him blossoming today, we have nothing to worry about concerning tomorrow.
Christine Hendren is a Ph.D student that I met very briefly this past week. She is a student from DUKE University. She just got married and she and her husband touched base at CEREGE for a couple of days before heading to the beautiful Alpes for their honeymoon. Ooohlala! Although our meeting was very brief, I am super excited about having met her. We have exchanged contact details for potential future collaboration as she has done some work with sediments and silver and her results looked promising and would be great to continue with in future research studies.
I have many more "friends" that I work with, but as they are all my seniors and are well advanced in their careers, I like to think of them as my mentors. Marie-Ange is the Ph.D student with whom I am working on the cement research. She is tall and thin and beautiful and is a very logical girl. Perrine is an engineer/research scientist who has helped me in numerous ways and has pointed me in the right direction many times throughout my experiments. Jerome is the research scientist whom I like to think of as the Thinking Cap. He is petit in size but his brain contains massive amounts of knowledge in it. He has been wonderful in helping me see the big picture of my research and in providing intellectual advice. And Armand has been extremely nice to me, as always. I thank him the most for being like a father (in all aspects) away from home and for letting me use his office.
There are so many more people that I can think of and would like to share with you but my eyelids are extremely heavy and I am rather sleep deprived today. I shall try to put up a post tomorrow with some pictures. However, no promises, as I have yet to discover what sort of adventure awaits for me in the day of tomorrow!
Au revoir,
Oksana.
This past week has flown by at the speed of light!! (That is 299,792,458 m/s!) I have met so many new people and made some great friends. I feel as if I have also fallen in love with Aix-en-Provence. It is a wonderful feeling and with each passing day, I do not want to leave this place. With a car and AC, I would stay here without a second thought to it! The only drawback is that Aix-en-Provence is the most expensive city to live in after Paris. We all know how that can go...
Each and every person that I have befriended (or has befriended me) has greatly enriched my life through sharing knowledge and sharing their life experiences with me. I would like to tell you about each one of these people.
My friends: One of the first people that befriended me was a young man by the name of Fabrice. He is an engineering student who is finishing his Ph.D here at the lab that I am in. He is fun and outgoing and loves to ask millions of questions about the U.S. and the culture and the food and the movies and the music. He has had many opportunities to go to different countries for various internships and he has shared a lot of his experiences with me. He has even been to New Zealand! How cool is that? His girlfriend is dutch and lives in Amsterdam, Holland, so he goes there every weekend to spend time with her. He has widened my horizons by answering all of my questions about the countries that he has been too. He has also brought me back some sweets from Holland just so I can broaden my scope of gastronomie. I went hiking up the big Montagne St. Victoire with him this past week. It was a huffer and a puffer hike, let me tell you! But the views were gorgeous!!
Fouzia is a girl that I met at the bus stop where I wait for my bus to CEREGE every morning. One day I was sitting at the bus stop, reading a book and waiting for the bus when she walked up and sat down next to me. She was reading a newspaper with a screaming headline about the World Cup. She pointed to the headlines started talking to me in french about the French football (soccer) team. I kind of nodded and smiled and said an occasional "oui, oui" or simply "aaha.. oui" just to be polite and because I only understood like every 3rd word. So that is how we met and our first discussion was about the World Cup. There was something unique about this encounter because where in the world do you find two GIRLS talking about the WORLD CUP? We have become really good friends and she greets me with the french kiss on both cheeks every morning. I feel rather french when I am greeted in this authentic french fashion. She is from Algeria and she is finishing her masters in computer sciences. She has shared with me the story of her religion and her home country, both of which are fascinating because they are so different from what I am used to.
Filip de la Pologne (as I like to call him) is a young man that I met at the bus stop next to my apartment. We had both waited for approximately half an hour and the bus still hadn't come. I knew that it would come eventually because it always comes sooner or later. However, he had just arrived in Aix and had no idea so he spoke first and asked when in the world it would come. I answered with "hopefully today". I discovered that he is from Poland and is doing historical research in the Aix-in-Provence library in centre ville. He is finishing his masters in history and is also working on his second bachelors degree in Arabic. He wears black-rimmed glasses and seems to be the artsy-fartsy kind of person. I do not mean that in any deragatory manner. He can speak polish, english, french, arabic and UKRAINIAN!!! Today I had a conversation with him in which we utilized 3 of those languages. It never ceases to amaze me how the human brain can grasp so many different languages all at the same time. The entire time I was trasitioning from one to the second to the third (and grasping the fourth, Polish), I felt as if it were just one language. A part of me now wants to devote my life to studying the two major areas of the brain that are responsible for linguistic skills: Broca's area & Wernicke's area. But that is biology, a topic I prefer not to associate myself with.
My most recent friend I made this past week. I met him on the bus on my way to CEREGE. Usually, on my bus rides to CEREGE, I either read books (all of the books that I have not been able to read during the past 3 years of my life because of school, school, school!) or talk to Fouzia. A lot of the people read books on the bus, and I (because I am somewhat nosy) always try to read the title of the book and see if it matches the person. It's weird, I know, but I do it anyway. Over the past few weeks I have noticed that everyone who was reading a book, was reading it in french except for one young man. I had sat within close proximity to see that he was reading an english novel, like me. This past week, Fouzia and I were not able to find seats next to eachother so I sat down in the first seat that was open. I opened up my book and began to read. I glanced over at the book that the young man was reading next to me when lo and behold, it was the english reader! We struck up a conversation about english books and have become friends since then. I wish I could tell you his name, but I don't know it. It escapes my mind. He is, however, one of the smartest boys that I have ever met in my life. He lived in Ireland for one year, working in the hospital, and learning how to speak english while doing an internship. Then he lived in Germany for one year studying physics and doing research and learning the German language. Impressive. Now he is finishing his masters in physical engineering, here in France. When he inquired about what kind of research I do, I briefly summarized and explained about the TiO2 nanoparticles in cements. He listened and then dissected the mechanisms and distinct properties of TiO2 and how photocatalysis occurs. He basically summarized what I had spent 3 days reading in scientific articles and various journals. I was thoroughly impressed. He then proceeded to cross disciplines and tie in the dreaded biological perspective of my research project. I told him that I don't specialize in biology and that in my universe, biology just doesn't exist. And if it does, then I avoid it as best as I can; like the bubonic plague (which I must say, is caused by a gram negative bacterium that is called Yersinia pestis). So he brought in my beloved chemistry and asked complex and intelligent questions pertaining to it, like the physicochemical aspects of the research. I knew there were smart people in the world, but he is probably the smartest person my age that I have ever met!! I am honored to have crossed paths with someone who will no doubt accomplish something great in the future. With extremely bright young people like him blossoming today, we have nothing to worry about concerning tomorrow.
Christine Hendren is a Ph.D student that I met very briefly this past week. She is a student from DUKE University. She just got married and she and her husband touched base at CEREGE for a couple of days before heading to the beautiful Alpes for their honeymoon. Ooohlala! Although our meeting was very brief, I am super excited about having met her. We have exchanged contact details for potential future collaboration as she has done some work with sediments and silver and her results looked promising and would be great to continue with in future research studies.
I have many more "friends" that I work with, but as they are all my seniors and are well advanced in their careers, I like to think of them as my mentors. Marie-Ange is the Ph.D student with whom I am working on the cement research. She is tall and thin and beautiful and is a very logical girl. Perrine is an engineer/research scientist who has helped me in numerous ways and has pointed me in the right direction many times throughout my experiments. Jerome is the research scientist whom I like to think of as the Thinking Cap. He is petit in size but his brain contains massive amounts of knowledge in it. He has been wonderful in helping me see the big picture of my research and in providing intellectual advice. And Armand has been extremely nice to me, as always. I thank him the most for being like a father (in all aspects) away from home and for letting me use his office.
There are so many more people that I can think of and would like to share with you but my eyelids are extremely heavy and I am rather sleep deprived today. I shall try to put up a post tomorrow with some pictures. However, no promises, as I have yet to discover what sort of adventure awaits for me in the day of tomorrow!
Au revoir,
Oksana.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Post 2: Titanium dioxide Nanoparticles and Cement
Hello everyone,
As promised, I remain true in my endeavor to keep you updated!
I would like to start off by telling you about my "first day" at the lab. Or rather, about my adventure of getting to work on that day and then expound upon the research that I have undertaken over here. Those of you who have already heard this story, you can skip it and read the other stuff.
Getting to work on the first day: Four weeks ago, on a Tuesday, I woke up to a new beginning. It was supposed to be my very first day at the lab and I was excited! I knew that from my apartment I had to take Bus#4 into centre ville and then take bus #17 out of centre ville to CEREGE, the research facility where the labs are. So, that's exactly what I did. I hopped onto bus #4, and hopped off in centre ville, crossed the street and hopped onto bus #17. I managed to find a seat before it became completely and totally filled to its holding capacity. The ride was supposed to be ~30-45 minutes long and after everyone boarded, we were on our way!
I watched as people got on and off at the various bus stops along the way... and as we neared the final destination, I noticed that there were fewer people getting on and more people getting off. Upon reaching the turn-around point where the bus turns around and goes back to centre ville, I realized that I was the only one left on the bus. There were no more stops left and I still had not reached CEREGE despite the fact that I had been anxiously watching out the windows to make sure that I wouldn't miss CEREGE and that I wouldn't miss my stop.
We reached the turn-around point and the bus driver apparently thought that the bus was empty, because he got off and had himself a nice 10 minute smoking break. He walked around, stretching his legs and then finally decided that it was time to get back on. That is when he saw that his bus wasn't quite as empty as he assumed it to be. I was still sitting on the bus quiet as a mouse and confused half-way to death!
He came up to me and asked me where I was trying to go, so I pulled out my map and pointed to where I was supposed to be. He tilted his head back and laughed (for real) telling me that I was supposed to take the other #17 bus, which comes approximately 5 min after his bus. He said that "his" bus doesn't go to CEREGE, it goes the opposite way. I had no idea that there were two #17 buses that went in opposite ways.
Anyway, so this is what he did: he dropped me off at a remote little bus station out in the middle of nowhere and told me to cross the street and go accross the "field" and that the building that I am looking for is somewhere that way. I did as I was told: crossed the street and crossed the "field".
However, this "field" turned out to be something, let me tell you! It was followed by a rocky mountain that first went up, then down, with a road down below, a fence, then a forest, then CEREGE. With my heavy backpack (that had my laptop, charger, converter, books, and map in it) on my shoulders and flimsy little ballet flats on my feet, I climbed up a mountain, then slid down its rocky other side, climbed over the fence, and got onto the only road in sight. I walked about 2 miles (sweating like crazy because I was carrying about 10 pounds in my backpack and wearing a black t-shirt that was attracting the sun like a duck on a June bug!) and came to a forest through which I could faintly see something that looked like the white CEREGE building. As the road seemed to curve away from what I presumed to be my final destination, I went straight through the brush and bramble of the forest!
Instead of the 30 minutes that it was supposed to take me to get to work, it took me 1.5 hours!! However, I made it!! Before I crawled out of that forest, I took out my hair brush, brushed my hair, picked off the thorns that attached themselves to my jeans, cleaned off my flats from the dust and removed the pebbles out of them, and walked out of that forest as if I had just stepped out of an air conditioned bus. Cool as a cucumber. I strolled into Armand's office and apologized for being late, saying that I got off at the wrong stop and had to walk a little ways. Armand is my "boss" over here and I wasn't about to tell him that I had to climb an entire mountain on my way to work. No need to give a bad first impression, especially on the first day.
So that is how I made it to the lab on my first day. It has been easier since then though because I get onto the second #17 bus which drops me off directly in front of CEREGE, eliminating the need to climb any mountains. Ironically enough, I do still walk through that "forest" from one lab to the other but I have discovered that it has paths on it, and choosing to remain civilized, I take those paths instead of tearing through the forest like a mad-woman.
Fundamental background for the research: Did you know that cement is actually more than just cement? Yes, I am talking about the cement that buildings, pavements, patios, reservoir linings etc, etc, etc are made out of. That dull, gray, hard surface that nobody ever thinks about. Or so I thought. Apparently, there is much, much more to cement than meets the eye and that is mainly the reason for why I am here: to acquaint myself with cement chemistry with the addition of nanoparticles, of course.
The chemistry of cement is very complex. Summarily, cement consists of a raw mixture of limestone (calcium carbonate) and clay (or various other materials that have almost the same overall composition and similar reactivities) that is heated to ~ 1450 degrees centigrade. Upon calefaction, some fusion occurs resulting in lumps of incombustible matter known as clinker. Calcium sulfate is then added to the clinker material in the form of gypsum and the mixture is finely crushed. This makes the cement. Sometimes there are other materials that are added during the crushing stage but it depends upon the specifications which are then based on things like chemical composition and/or physical properties.
Below is a link to a great video on how cement is made. It is approximately 5 minutes long and it originally aired on the Discovery Channel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-Pr1KTVSXo*
* Reference: "Cement, how it is made.." YouTube. Web. 27 Jun 2010..
The clinker is primarily composed of: CaO (calcium oxide), SiO2 (silicon dioxide), some Al2O3 (aluminum oxide), some Fe2O3 (iron oxide) and also some other minor components. Clinker has four major phases (alite, belite, aluminate and ferrite) that play a very important roll in the hardening of cement. Cement hardens because of the chemical reactions that take place between these four major phases when they react with water.*
*Reference: Taylor, H.F.W. Cement Chemistry. 2nd. Heron Quay, London: Thomas Telford Publishing, 1997. 459. Print.
Sometime in the last decade, groups such as Italcementi have produced a cement that removes pollution out of the air thanks to the addition of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NP's). One of the most intriguing properties of TiO2 is its capability of photocatalysis. Photocatalysis is when a sufficient amount of sunlight (aka energy) is absorbed by TiO2 causing the electrons in the full valence band to be excited into the almost always empty conduction band. When this happens, the electron leaves a "hole" in the valence band that can be used as a current, flowing like a charged physical particle. This is termed the electron-hole-pair, and it generates free-radicals that have unpaired electrons/open shell configurations making them highly reactive. BUT... I'm not going to get into this right now. The important thing to know is that groups like Italcementi are incorporating nanomaterials into cements that are used in the construction of buildings, pavements, linings for reservoirs, roads, sidewalks, etc. The building that houses the headquarters of Air France's airlines at the Charles DeGaulle airport in Paris is constructed out of this very same Italcementi cement as well as The Church of the Year 2000 (aka Rome's Dives in Misericordia Church).*
* Note: For the Uky Pentecostal people reading this, did you guys know that the architect who designed our new church on Clays Mill and Brannon Crossing actually went to the Dives in Misericordia Church in Rome to draw forth some ideas for our new church? Of course most of his wonderful ideas were smashed straight into the ground by our very traditional people. No offense to absolutely anyone.
Volatile organic compounds and air pollutants, NO (nitrogen monoxide) and NO2 (nitrogen dioxide), are key players in the depletion of the ozone layer and they come from smoking cigarettes, car exhaust, etc. They are the bad guys. However, when photocatalytic TiO2 is activated by sunlight, it has the power to absorb and transform these harmful compounds through various chemical reactions into harmless compounds like NO3- (nitrate ion) which can then be washed away with water or bind to the cement making a stable compound. This is the concept that makes this cement so popular today; cement gone GREEN eliminating the pollution from the air as soon as it comes out of the source (as in a car-exhuast pipe and a TiO2 NP containing pavement).
The nanoparticles and the research: When TiO2 is added into the cement as a nanoparticle it has a greater surface area to volume ratio which ultimately means that there is more space for the reactions to occur on. As the term nano implies, these nanoparticles are extremely small and therefore a greater amount of them can be incorporated into the cement. The only known to date factual downside to this is the cost. Cement containing TiO2 as a nanoparticle costs approximately 10 times as much as normal cement. As in the majority of situations, there are the benefits and then there are the drawbacks.
There is also the question of the environmental fate of these nanoparticles. If these particles are released from the cement that is used for general construction, then what are the potential harmful effects of these particles on the environment and ultimately on human health? And that, mes amis, is what I am trying to figure out. Or, at least play a minor role in part of a larger group that is devoted to answering those questions: are nanoparticles being released from this cement into the environment and what are the environmental effects and impacts on human health?
As promised, I remain true in my endeavor to keep you updated!
I would like to start off by telling you about my "first day" at the lab. Or rather, about my adventure of getting to work on that day and then expound upon the research that I have undertaken over here. Those of you who have already heard this story, you can skip it and read the other stuff.
Getting to work on the first day: Four weeks ago, on a Tuesday, I woke up to a new beginning. It was supposed to be my very first day at the lab and I was excited! I knew that from my apartment I had to take Bus#4 into centre ville and then take bus #17 out of centre ville to CEREGE, the research facility where the labs are. So, that's exactly what I did. I hopped onto bus #4, and hopped off in centre ville, crossed the street and hopped onto bus #17. I managed to find a seat before it became completely and totally filled to its holding capacity. The ride was supposed to be ~30-45 minutes long and after everyone boarded, we were on our way!
I watched as people got on and off at the various bus stops along the way... and as we neared the final destination, I noticed that there were fewer people getting on and more people getting off. Upon reaching the turn-around point where the bus turns around and goes back to centre ville, I realized that I was the only one left on the bus. There were no more stops left and I still had not reached CEREGE despite the fact that I had been anxiously watching out the windows to make sure that I wouldn't miss CEREGE and that I wouldn't miss my stop.
We reached the turn-around point and the bus driver apparently thought that the bus was empty, because he got off and had himself a nice 10 minute smoking break. He walked around, stretching his legs and then finally decided that it was time to get back on. That is when he saw that his bus wasn't quite as empty as he assumed it to be. I was still sitting on the bus quiet as a mouse and confused half-way to death!
He came up to me and asked me where I was trying to go, so I pulled out my map and pointed to where I was supposed to be. He tilted his head back and laughed (for real) telling me that I was supposed to take the other #17 bus, which comes approximately 5 min after his bus. He said that "his" bus doesn't go to CEREGE, it goes the opposite way. I had no idea that there were two #17 buses that went in opposite ways.
Anyway, so this is what he did: he dropped me off at a remote little bus station out in the middle of nowhere and told me to cross the street and go accross the "field" and that the building that I am looking for is somewhere that way. I did as I was told: crossed the street and crossed the "field".
However, this "field" turned out to be something, let me tell you! It was followed by a rocky mountain that first went up, then down, with a road down below, a fence, then a forest, then CEREGE. With my heavy backpack (that had my laptop, charger, converter, books, and map in it) on my shoulders and flimsy little ballet flats on my feet, I climbed up a mountain, then slid down its rocky other side, climbed over the fence, and got onto the only road in sight. I walked about 2 miles (sweating like crazy because I was carrying about 10 pounds in my backpack and wearing a black t-shirt that was attracting the sun like a duck on a June bug!) and came to a forest through which I could faintly see something that looked like the white CEREGE building. As the road seemed to curve away from what I presumed to be my final destination, I went straight through the brush and bramble of the forest!
Instead of the 30 minutes that it was supposed to take me to get to work, it took me 1.5 hours!! However, I made it!! Before I crawled out of that forest, I took out my hair brush, brushed my hair, picked off the thorns that attached themselves to my jeans, cleaned off my flats from the dust and removed the pebbles out of them, and walked out of that forest as if I had just stepped out of an air conditioned bus. Cool as a cucumber. I strolled into Armand's office and apologized for being late, saying that I got off at the wrong stop and had to walk a little ways. Armand is my "boss" over here and I wasn't about to tell him that I had to climb an entire mountain on my way to work. No need to give a bad first impression, especially on the first day.
So that is how I made it to the lab on my first day. It has been easier since then though because I get onto the second #17 bus which drops me off directly in front of CEREGE, eliminating the need to climb any mountains. Ironically enough, I do still walk through that "forest" from one lab to the other but I have discovered that it has paths on it, and choosing to remain civilized, I take those paths instead of tearing through the forest like a mad-woman.
Fundamental background for the research: Did you know that cement is actually more than just cement? Yes, I am talking about the cement that buildings, pavements, patios, reservoir linings etc, etc, etc are made out of. That dull, gray, hard surface that nobody ever thinks about. Or so I thought. Apparently, there is much, much more to cement than meets the eye and that is mainly the reason for why I am here: to acquaint myself with cement chemistry with the addition of nanoparticles, of course.
The chemistry of cement is very complex. Summarily, cement consists of a raw mixture of limestone (calcium carbonate) and clay (or various other materials that have almost the same overall composition and similar reactivities) that is heated to ~ 1450 degrees centigrade. Upon calefaction, some fusion occurs resulting in lumps of incombustible matter known as clinker. Calcium sulfate is then added to the clinker material in the form of gypsum and the mixture is finely crushed. This makes the cement. Sometimes there are other materials that are added during the crushing stage but it depends upon the specifications which are then based on things like chemical composition and/or physical properties.
Below is a link to a great video on how cement is made. It is approximately 5 minutes long and it originally aired on the Discovery Channel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-Pr1KTVSXo*
* Reference: "Cement, how it is made.." YouTube. Web. 27 Jun 2010.
The clinker is primarily composed of: CaO (calcium oxide), SiO2 (silicon dioxide), some Al2O3 (aluminum oxide), some Fe2O3 (iron oxide) and also some other minor components. Clinker has four major phases (alite, belite, aluminate and ferrite) that play a very important roll in the hardening of cement. Cement hardens because of the chemical reactions that take place between these four major phases when they react with water.*
*Reference: Taylor, H.F.W. Cement Chemistry. 2nd. Heron Quay, London: Thomas Telford Publishing, 1997. 459. Print.
Sometime in the last decade, groups such as Italcementi have produced a cement that removes pollution out of the air thanks to the addition of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NP's). One of the most intriguing properties of TiO2 is its capability of photocatalysis. Photocatalysis is when a sufficient amount of sunlight (aka energy) is absorbed by TiO2 causing the electrons in the full valence band to be excited into the almost always empty conduction band. When this happens, the electron leaves a "hole" in the valence band that can be used as a current, flowing like a charged physical particle. This is termed the electron-hole-pair, and it generates free-radicals that have unpaired electrons/open shell configurations making them highly reactive. BUT... I'm not going to get into this right now. The important thing to know is that groups like Italcementi are incorporating nanomaterials into cements that are used in the construction of buildings, pavements, linings for reservoirs, roads, sidewalks, etc. The building that houses the headquarters of Air France's airlines at the Charles DeGaulle airport in Paris is constructed out of this very same Italcementi cement as well as The Church of the Year 2000 (aka Rome's Dives in Misericordia Church).*
* Note: For the Uky Pentecostal people reading this, did you guys know that the architect who designed our new church on Clays Mill and Brannon Crossing actually went to the Dives in Misericordia Church in Rome to draw forth some ideas for our new church? Of course most of his wonderful ideas were smashed straight into the ground by our very traditional people. No offense to absolutely anyone.
Volatile organic compounds and air pollutants, NO (nitrogen monoxide) and NO2 (nitrogen dioxide), are key players in the depletion of the ozone layer and they come from smoking cigarettes, car exhaust, etc. They are the bad guys. However, when photocatalytic TiO2 is activated by sunlight, it has the power to absorb and transform these harmful compounds through various chemical reactions into harmless compounds like NO3- (nitrate ion) which can then be washed away with water or bind to the cement making a stable compound. This is the concept that makes this cement so popular today; cement gone GREEN eliminating the pollution from the air as soon as it comes out of the source (as in a car-exhuast pipe and a TiO2 NP containing pavement).
The nanoparticles and the research: When TiO2 is added into the cement as a nanoparticle it has a greater surface area to volume ratio which ultimately means that there is more space for the reactions to occur on. As the term nano implies, these nanoparticles are extremely small and therefore a greater amount of them can be incorporated into the cement. The only known to date factual downside to this is the cost. Cement containing TiO2 as a nanoparticle costs approximately 10 times as much as normal cement. As in the majority of situations, there are the benefits and then there are the drawbacks.
There is also the question of the environmental fate of these nanoparticles. If these particles are released from the cement that is used for general construction, then what are the potential harmful effects of these particles on the environment and ultimately on human health? And that, mes amis, is what I am trying to figure out. Or, at least play a minor role in part of a larger group that is devoted to answering those questions: are nanoparticles being released from this cement into the environment and what are the environmental effects and impacts on human health?
In order to answer this question, I am working with cement samples that come specifically from the Italcementi group. The cement samples that I have contain TiO2 NP's and although I cannot reveal the amount of TiO2 in them, I can say that I am in the process of "leaching out" the nanoparticles. In other words, attempting to wash out the nanoparticles out of the cements under simulated conditions which mimic real conditions of aging, rain, wind, weathering on the cement over time. The ultimate goal is to identify, characterize and quantify the nanoparticles that have been leached out of the cement IF they actually do come out of the cement. This brings up an interesting topic of discussion, if the nanoparticles do come out of the cement then we want to know how soon they come out and are they bound to other compounds. Do the pollution-minimizing benefits of the use of nanoparticles in cement outweigh the drawbacks?
Conclusion: There are so many questions and so few answers. However, we can be sure of one thing: with the rate at which nanomaterials are being incorporated into various different products ranging from sports-wear pants and sunscreens to cements and paints, then there will inevitably be a release of these nanomaterials into the environment that we live in.
How many years will pass before we see the effects of these nanomaterials in our environment? Will they be harmful to humans? What are the consequences? What can we do today to make a better tomorrow? There are many questions and to find all of the answers, massive amounts of research needs to be done. We must remember, though, that the answers begin with the questions.
"The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he's one who asks the right questions."
Claude Lévi-Strauss, Le Cru et le cuit, 1964
Nanotechnology is a fairly new area in science and it brings along with it both benefits as well as many new challenges. Quite frankly, we create problems and then we turn around and try to solve them; this is what makes the world spin around!!
Conclusion: There are so many questions and so few answers. However, we can be sure of one thing: with the rate at which nanomaterials are being incorporated into various different products ranging from sports-wear pants and sunscreens to cements and paints, then there will inevitably be a release of these nanomaterials into the environment that we live in.
How many years will pass before we see the effects of these nanomaterials in our environment? Will they be harmful to humans? What are the consequences? What can we do today to make a better tomorrow? There are many questions and to find all of the answers, massive amounts of research needs to be done. We must remember, though, that the answers begin with the questions.
"The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he's one who asks the right questions."
Claude Lévi-Strauss, Le Cru et le cuit, 1964
Nanotechnology is a fairly new area in science and it brings along with it both benefits as well as many new challenges. Quite frankly, we create problems and then we turn around and try to solve them; this is what makes the world spin around!!
This is a picture that I took of one type of experiment that I am running. These two contraptions are called Soxhlets and they are used for extraction purposes. The concept is extremely simple and I will explain it as simply as possible without too many details. There is a sample of cement in the big chamber on the right (the one on the elevated white hotplate) and as the water flows over this sample it carries away everything that comes out of the cement (in this specific experiment, we are seeing if the TiO2 NP's will dislodge from the cement). This leachate, or, run-off from the cement, flows through the tubes then through an overflow (really hard to see in the picture) and then into the glass extraction balloon that is sitting in the other hotplate. When heated, some of the water evaporates and goes up the brown duck-taped tube (the distillation path) and then condenses back into water as it travels through the cooled water condenser which is the horizontal glass tube at the very top. This water then drips back into the chamber where the sample is and the process starts all over again. Every day for the first two weeks, I have been taking a sample out of the extraction balloon to do ICP analysis on. ICP stands for Inductively Coupled Plasma analysis and it is a way to determine the concentration of metals, or in our case, the concentration of the TiO2 NP's.
I shall conclude here as this post is way too long and jam-packed with informatin on cement chemistry. Have a great and wonderful new week and I will be writing about the city of Avignon in my next post. Talk to you all soon,
Oksana
Friday, May 21, 2010
First Post: Bringing you up to date
Bonjour, all!
The first 4 weeks of pure fun and adventure have come and gone and I am finally getting my long awaited blog up. My excitement is dimmed only by the fact that I have to recall from memory what happened in the beginning. I regret not writing sooner. Ach! Such is the life of a procrastinator.
In this post I will try to cover the flight across the Atlantic, the first day, and all the other days. For the sake of your eyes and my typing fingers, this post will be super condensed and rather lacking of details. Future posts (which I promise to be diligent in updating at least once a week) will delve deeper into specific topics and other areas of interest.
Hope you enjoy!
The flight and first day: I had the privelege of traveling with one of the nicest and most intelligent men that I know, Paul Bertsch. For those of you that do not know who he is, let me introduce you. Dr. Bertsch is past president of the Soil Society of America, current Chair of the U.S. National Committee for Soil Science (National Academy of Sciences), Professor of Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology, and Director of the Tracy Farmer Institute for Sustainability and the Environment. The most awesome thing is that we can find him in the heart of central Kentucky, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at the University of Kentucky!
While I am on the topic of introductions, let me introduce to you two other very important people, Armand and Chelle Masion. Armand is a research scientist over here in France and I met him last year after a presentation that he gave back in KY. Chelle, his wife, I met once I arrived in France. She is one awesome woman! Chelle and Armand met in the U.S. when Armand was doing his post-doctoral research in Paul's lab. It was either a chemical reaction that took place between them, or love. Either way, they got married and Chelle moved to live in France with Armand. If I am not mistaken, she has been here for 13 years.
Anyway, the flight across the Atlantic was okay, but very tiring. They played 3 movies on the airplane: Leap Year, Crazy Heart, and Bride Wars. I was planning on watching only one and trying to catch some sleep the rest of the way, but that never happened. I ended up watching all 3 movies and by the time they were finished, we were almost to France. Even though the excitement of going to France for the first time in my life was huge, I was beginning to feel tired when we were nearing Paris. We arrived at the Charles-de-Gaulle airport at 6:10am local time. That was 12:10am our time. After running across the ariport in a frantic and anxious rush we reached a 300 person line in which we were told to wait in. We didn't think we would make it onto our next flight, as it departed in like half an hour. Then, miracle of miracles, they let us and some others go through some back security entrance, by-passing the massive line. At the security entrance, my bag got searched and Paul got thoroughly patted down. My carry-on deserved to be searched because I had liquids in it, but Paul had absolutely nothing and he got the ultimate pat-down. It was pretty funny!
We made it onto the plane and flew into the airport in Marseille, where Armand picked us up and drove us to CEREGE. CEREGE stands for Centre Européen de Recherche et d’Enseignement des Géosciences de l’Environnement and is a branch of the Universite de Aix-Marseille. CEREGE is a research facility where Armand is stationed and where I have been assigned to work. It is a gorgeous campus about 20 minutes outside of the city of Aix, surrounded by trees and mountains (although here they are only called hills because compared to the Alpes in the northeast, they aren't mountains at all).
Around noon, Chelle joined us and we went out to a really nice restaurant called Auberge Bourrelly. This was my very first time at a real french restaurant and I am sad to say that all I remember was that I had a dish called Dos de daurade royale roti sur sa fondue de fenouil, petit jus aux aromates et tomates confites and that I was trying so incredibly hard to stay awake. My eyelids felt like a thousand tons. The dish, however, was a really, really good tomato and fennel sauce stuffed fish. The french have this way of presenting and serving food with such incredible airs that it tastes one hundred times better than you can ever imagine.
After lunch Armand, Chelle, and Paul drove me to my Aparthotel in Aix-en-Provence, where I checked in. The four of us did a thorough examination of the apartment that I will be staying in to make sure that it was equipped with all things necessary. It was, plus some. The balcony had a gorgeous view of Montagne St. Victoire, a mountain inextricably linked to the famous french artist, Paul Cezanne.* I was invited to wine and dine with the three of them later that evening, but as the only thing that I wanted at that time was sleep, I declined the invitation. After they left, I set myself upon the task of unpacking and putting things more or less away. Then, sweet sweet sleep.
*[Note: The famous french post-impressionist artist, Paul Cezanne, was born in Aix-en-Provence. When he was a schoolboy, he used to go on walks on the mountain. The wild landscapes, rugged villages, and the motley collection of colors were what captivated and so obsessed Cezanne, appearing in over 60 of his canvas works and countless watercolors. The spanish artist, Pablo Picasso, bought an estate (called Chateau de Vauvenarges) on the northern flanks of this mountain, saying that he had bought himself Cezanne's mountains. Picasso is buried at the foot of this mountain, while Cezanne rests in peace in the local Saint-Pierre Cemetery. ]
All of the other days: On Thursday Armand and Paul departed for Il de Porquerolles, (an island in the Hyeres Gulf) for a nanotechnology conference, while I used this time to get acclimated to Aix. As I had not the slightest idea of which way to go from my Aparthotel, Chelle became my saving grace. She came by bus, picked me up, and showed me how to get to centre ville (center of the city of Aix-en-Provence). This was my first time using mass transit in France and let me tell you, I've had some adventures since then! More on those in a later post.
You know you are in Aix if your bus stops in front of the bus stop called Rotonde and you see a huge fountain in the middle of a round-about. You also know you are in Aix if you see waves of people flowing towards a promenade called le cours Mirabeau. These are the two things that absolutely everyone in Aix is familiar with: an enormous fountain called La Rotonde, and the previously mentioned plane-tree lined street called le cours Mirabeau. The fountain is an elaborate 19th centurty marble fountain that has lions at its base and three figures of Justice, Agriculture and Fine Art on the top. La Rotonde is at the center and all of the streets "flow" in all directions away from it; Analogous to the rays beaming from the Sun. One of these streets is le cours Mirabeau lined gracefully with elaborate mansions (built by the local nobility of the 1600's) and buzzing with small bistros, cafes and shops. The very epicenter of Aix's cafe society.
That first day I walked around the city in a daze, gulping down the sights and smells and sounds ravenously. If it wasn't for Chelle with her head on her shoulders, I think that I would have stood there open-mouthed and stared all day. The place is just so.... alive. So much to hear, so much to see all at once. However, I did manage to buy my first groceries, attain a monthly bus pass and a french sim card for my phone. But that was only because Chelle was there. If it weren't for her, I do believe that it would have taken me a while to recollect my senses.
The following 3 days I spent exploring the city and going to les marches, the open-air markets. There are three of them: at the first market, vendors at stalls sell fresh fruits, veggies, cheeses, fish, fish, fish, bread, etc. At the second market, the vendors specialize in selling strictly flowers and little trees. Then there is a third which I call the "everything" market because here you can buy everything imaginable underneath the sun. You want a bracelot? We've got hundreds! A chicken or two? We've got a whole cage of live ones! Some provencal olives? Here's a baguette to go with them and don't forget the cheese! Going to these markets on Saturday mornings is exactly what I do.
On Tuesday, I started my research assignment. Since then, my weekdays have been filled with the nanotechnology project in the lab. Saturdays consist of a multitude of various things such as: exploration of Aix-en-Provence, rummaging through les marches, scouting out new patisseries (this one results in extra long pilates sessions and longer jogging routes later on), sightseeing, browsing french shops and stores, or simply thumbing through the dusty books in la librarie (bookstore, not a library). Sundays are spent mostly in solitude: planning out a schedule for the following week, reflection, meditation, etc, etc.
There is was, all in a nutshell. This post is long enough (if you have even bothered to read thus far) and I shall conclude here with a handful of pictures:
This is a picture of me that I asked an old man to take, who sat down on a bench next to me while I was drinking my Haagen-dazz fraise et banana smoothie. I asked him to take a picture of me and showed him which button to press, but he kept pressing the off button so I couldn't figure out why there were no pictures, then I finally saw the lense close every time that he tried to take a picture. SO, I had to show him the right button and he finally got a picture of me. I am standing on le Cours Mirabeau. While this was going on, there was an ambulance (or maybe a fire hydrant) that was rescuing another old man that was sitting on a bench across le cours mirabeu (the street) who apparently wasn't feeling too well. It was funny because the truck said Pompiers, firemen, but they carted out a wheel chair and took this man to the hospital. I was a bit confused but later I asked somebody and they explained to me that it's a 2-in-1 deal where the firemen are also les safeurs, savers (like lifesavers). This is completely different from l'ambulance, which functions only to transport sick persons to clinics and doctors, and does not partake in the transport of extremely ill or emergency patients.
This is France's all new two-in-one Firetruck & Lifesavers, at your service! This is the Pompiers-Safeurs truck that took in the old man who wasn't feeling so well, as I mentioned earlier.
This is a vegetable vendor at la marche on a Saturday morning. That's all organic.
This is une Madame carefully picking out her flowers at the flower market.
The first 4 weeks of pure fun and adventure have come and gone and I am finally getting my long awaited blog up. My excitement is dimmed only by the fact that I have to recall from memory what happened in the beginning. I regret not writing sooner. Ach! Such is the life of a procrastinator.
In this post I will try to cover the flight across the Atlantic, the first day, and all the other days. For the sake of your eyes and my typing fingers, this post will be super condensed and rather lacking of details. Future posts (which I promise to be diligent in updating at least once a week) will delve deeper into specific topics and other areas of interest.
Hope you enjoy!
The flight and first day: I had the privelege of traveling with one of the nicest and most intelligent men that I know, Paul Bertsch. For those of you that do not know who he is, let me introduce you. Dr. Bertsch is past president of the Soil Society of America, current Chair of the U.S. National Committee for Soil Science (National Academy of Sciences), Professor of Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology, and Director of the Tracy Farmer Institute for Sustainability and the Environment. The most awesome thing is that we can find him in the heart of central Kentucky, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at the University of Kentucky!
While I am on the topic of introductions, let me introduce to you two other very important people, Armand and Chelle Masion. Armand is a research scientist over here in France and I met him last year after a presentation that he gave back in KY. Chelle, his wife, I met once I arrived in France. She is one awesome woman! Chelle and Armand met in the U.S. when Armand was doing his post-doctoral research in Paul's lab. It was either a chemical reaction that took place between them, or love. Either way, they got married and Chelle moved to live in France with Armand. If I am not mistaken, she has been here for 13 years.
Anyway, the flight across the Atlantic was okay, but very tiring. They played 3 movies on the airplane: Leap Year, Crazy Heart, and Bride Wars. I was planning on watching only one and trying to catch some sleep the rest of the way, but that never happened. I ended up watching all 3 movies and by the time they were finished, we were almost to France. Even though the excitement of going to France for the first time in my life was huge, I was beginning to feel tired when we were nearing Paris. We arrived at the Charles-de-Gaulle airport at 6:10am local time. That was 12:10am our time. After running across the ariport in a frantic and anxious rush we reached a 300 person line in which we were told to wait in. We didn't think we would make it onto our next flight, as it departed in like half an hour. Then, miracle of miracles, they let us and some others go through some back security entrance, by-passing the massive line. At the security entrance, my bag got searched and Paul got thoroughly patted down. My carry-on deserved to be searched because I had liquids in it, but Paul had absolutely nothing and he got the ultimate pat-down. It was pretty funny!
We made it onto the plane and flew into the airport in Marseille, where Armand picked us up and drove us to CEREGE. CEREGE stands for Centre Européen de Recherche et d’Enseignement des Géosciences de l’Environnement and is a branch of the Universite de Aix-Marseille. CEREGE is a research facility where Armand is stationed and where I have been assigned to work. It is a gorgeous campus about 20 minutes outside of the city of Aix, surrounded by trees and mountains (although here they are only called hills because compared to the Alpes in the northeast, they aren't mountains at all).
Around noon, Chelle joined us and we went out to a really nice restaurant called Auberge Bourrelly. This was my very first time at a real french restaurant and I am sad to say that all I remember was that I had a dish called Dos de daurade royale roti sur sa fondue de fenouil, petit jus aux aromates et tomates confites and that I was trying so incredibly hard to stay awake. My eyelids felt like a thousand tons. The dish, however, was a really, really good tomato and fennel sauce stuffed fish. The french have this way of presenting and serving food with such incredible airs that it tastes one hundred times better than you can ever imagine.
After lunch Armand, Chelle, and Paul drove me to my Aparthotel in Aix-en-Provence, where I checked in. The four of us did a thorough examination of the apartment that I will be staying in to make sure that it was equipped with all things necessary. It was, plus some. The balcony had a gorgeous view of Montagne St. Victoire, a mountain inextricably linked to the famous french artist, Paul Cezanne.* I was invited to wine and dine with the three of them later that evening, but as the only thing that I wanted at that time was sleep, I declined the invitation. After they left, I set myself upon the task of unpacking and putting things more or less away. Then, sweet sweet sleep.
*[Note: The famous french post-impressionist artist, Paul Cezanne, was born in Aix-en-Provence. When he was a schoolboy, he used to go on walks on the mountain. The wild landscapes, rugged villages, and the motley collection of colors were what captivated and so obsessed Cezanne, appearing in over 60 of his canvas works and countless watercolors. The spanish artist, Pablo Picasso, bought an estate (called Chateau de Vauvenarges) on the northern flanks of this mountain, saying that he had bought himself Cezanne's mountains. Picasso is buried at the foot of this mountain, while Cezanne rests in peace in the local Saint-Pierre Cemetery. ]
All of the other days: On Thursday Armand and Paul departed for Il de Porquerolles, (an island in the Hyeres Gulf) for a nanotechnology conference, while I used this time to get acclimated to Aix. As I had not the slightest idea of which way to go from my Aparthotel, Chelle became my saving grace. She came by bus, picked me up, and showed me how to get to centre ville (center of the city of Aix-en-Provence). This was my first time using mass transit in France and let me tell you, I've had some adventures since then! More on those in a later post.
You know you are in Aix if your bus stops in front of the bus stop called Rotonde and you see a huge fountain in the middle of a round-about. You also know you are in Aix if you see waves of people flowing towards a promenade called le cours Mirabeau. These are the two things that absolutely everyone in Aix is familiar with: an enormous fountain called La Rotonde, and the previously mentioned plane-tree lined street called le cours Mirabeau. The fountain is an elaborate 19th centurty marble fountain that has lions at its base and three figures of Justice, Agriculture and Fine Art on the top. La Rotonde is at the center and all of the streets "flow" in all directions away from it; Analogous to the rays beaming from the Sun. One of these streets is le cours Mirabeau lined gracefully with elaborate mansions (built by the local nobility of the 1600's) and buzzing with small bistros, cafes and shops. The very epicenter of Aix's cafe society.
That first day I walked around the city in a daze, gulping down the sights and smells and sounds ravenously. If it wasn't for Chelle with her head on her shoulders, I think that I would have stood there open-mouthed and stared all day. The place is just so.... alive. So much to hear, so much to see all at once. However, I did manage to buy my first groceries, attain a monthly bus pass and a french sim card for my phone. But that was only because Chelle was there. If it weren't for her, I do believe that it would have taken me a while to recollect my senses.
The following 3 days I spent exploring the city and going to les marches, the open-air markets. There are three of them: at the first market, vendors at stalls sell fresh fruits, veggies, cheeses, fish, fish, fish, bread, etc. At the second market, the vendors specialize in selling strictly flowers and little trees. Then there is a third which I call the "everything" market because here you can buy everything imaginable underneath the sun. You want a bracelot? We've got hundreds! A chicken or two? We've got a whole cage of live ones! Some provencal olives? Here's a baguette to go with them and don't forget the cheese! Going to these markets on Saturday mornings is exactly what I do.
On Tuesday, I started my research assignment. Since then, my weekdays have been filled with the nanotechnology project in the lab. Saturdays consist of a multitude of various things such as: exploration of Aix-en-Provence, rummaging through les marches, scouting out new patisseries (this one results in extra long pilates sessions and longer jogging routes later on), sightseeing, browsing french shops and stores, or simply thumbing through the dusty books in la librarie (bookstore, not a library). Sundays are spent mostly in solitude: planning out a schedule for the following week, reflection, meditation, etc, etc.
There is was, all in a nutshell. This post is long enough (if you have even bothered to read thus far) and I shall conclude here with a handful of pictures:
This is my first picture of France; The Genesis, as I like to call it.
This is the veiw from my balcony, Montagne St. Victoire.
La Rotonde fountain.
This is a picture of me that I asked an old man to take, who sat down on a bench next to me while I was drinking my Haagen-dazz fraise et banana smoothie. I asked him to take a picture of me and showed him which button to press, but he kept pressing the off button so I couldn't figure out why there were no pictures, then I finally saw the lense close every time that he tried to take a picture. SO, I had to show him the right button and he finally got a picture of me. I am standing on le Cours Mirabeau. While this was going on, there was an ambulance (or maybe a fire hydrant) that was rescuing another old man that was sitting on a bench across le cours mirabeu (the street) who apparently wasn't feeling too well. It was funny because the truck said Pompiers, firemen, but they carted out a wheel chair and took this man to the hospital. I was a bit confused but later I asked somebody and they explained to me that it's a 2-in-1 deal where the firemen are also les safeurs, savers (like lifesavers). This is completely different from l'ambulance, which functions only to transport sick persons to clinics and doctors, and does not partake in the transport of extremely ill or emergency patients.This is France's all new two-in-one Firetruck & Lifesavers, at your service! This is the Pompiers-Safeurs truck that took in the old man who wasn't feeling so well, as I mentioned earlier.This is a vegetable vendor at la marche on a Saturday morning. That's all organic.This is une Madame carefully picking out her flowers at the flower market. That is all for now. Stay tuned for my next post, as it will be on the topic of my research.
With tired typing fingers and heavy eyelids, Au revoir.
Oksana
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