munich

worth watching!

I recommend it everyone. good film!

hope you all have a great weekend, and were more productive and active than I was!

good cop, bad cop!

Happy chinese new year everyone! its the year of the dog (bingxu)!

the chinese new year started off pretty eventful. Hu and Jhe arranged for a lovely chinese meal for all of us at school and we had lots of dumplings and yummy dishes as people do with their families on this day in china.

later on, as people do in europe, we migrated to a bar - called la lanterne in centre of strasbourg. I have to narate the series of events that followed - for one, cos its important to know in case you are thinking of bringing any foreign cars to strasbourg/france/elsewhere in Europe; and secondly, cos its hilarious!

and Chris fenton (you know, guy from bath uni, used to live with Auguste and is in Strasbourg along with me) had his car so was dropping some of us home - So, Matt, Chris and I go to find the car and we find his car, despite of being legally parked has been towed away or stolen! we find one of our classmates that speaks french and tread the 1hr's walking distance to the police station. And meet a bad cop!

Such a hassle that fella - anyhoo, it was really funny: Whilst we were explaining that we were legally parked and hence could not have been blocking another car - the cop suddenly asks: you think I am a liar?! (and not understanding this as its being said in French, Matt- 'the canadian', goes: YEs yes! lol) simple ending: we get chucked out of the police station into the dark cold again! Matt and I are talking to a nice cop fella having a smoke on his break outside in the cold who says that the grumpy cop is 'old school!' - which was funny!

and two hrs to walk through the red light district to get the car from the depository! but finally got home and today felt like my interiors had been bombarded! also got a cold in the 3 hrs in -7/-9 deg C!

another competition at school!

*The bird and the burger* (meant to be recited aloud with the theme music of Disney's beauty and the beast in the background) ...

A mission from the very able Group troi - this one fly in space and makes us money, we watch the bird and eat a burger! simple! who said its gotta be rocket science all the time,ey?

anywhoo, although none of us believed we were proposing this as a real mission to be carried on a microgravity space flight - we still won for the proposal that would make most profit (or rip off mc donald's the most! hee hee)

got to meet one of the russian astronauts who stayed in the Salyut space station for 8 months! I have to say this: although I think all astronauts are absolutely great - and infact equally great! cultural differences definitely show and reflect individual personalities- someone should really do a post-flight/flight + xxx years study on people who have flown in space

you meet any US astronaut - they are much more to talk to you as an astronaut. same stands for european astronauts - but this comes to the european astronauts from the reflection of the even smaller chance of being selected successfully fly in space. On the other hand.... Dr Atkov, forgot to mention to us in 3 whole days that he was one of the russians to have spent the longest time in space! so modest, its unreal.

Also, every russian I seem to meet through him has at some point spent a significant 'vacation' in space! and every time = each of them FORGETS to mention that they stand almost like the 'chosen' few who have seen earth in all its grandeur, without those borders and have been outside this cradle of ours in order to learn more about why and how we are dependent on Earth and how we can make it better - even if its just via radio broadcasting good will messages to troubled nations as you fly over them: some child of 3/5/15 in those countries is going to grow up, hoping for a better future for him/herself and their people and realize it.

One day when they look back after having found that cure to cancer, or to aids, or to have the 3rd world countries come out of their debt - they are going to remember how inspiring some totally foreign person's message - their smile on a television screen gave them the courage to stand against all odds and follow the message of peace and progress given by these envoys of mankind!

and I look at the Russian astronauts and the simplicity, their friendliness and their modesty moves me. I do have to say that this can be a 'regional' thing too (within Russia) or an individual things- as most of these astronauts were what we call 'civilian' astronauts and have taken to serve their countries for humanitarian tasks in their post-space flight careers. The american and european astronauts are just as cool and interesting, but Dr Atkov and his astronaut colleagues moved me I have to say.

hecticly mad!

sorry to all those who keep looking at my blog for any updates - and being disappointed! but I am currently trying to do two courses for this week - as the other 'science' classes are more relevant for the personal assignement work and realising that so much is packed within a week in the classes that something like 50 hrs extra to catch up on!

sorry about this little rubbishy note - but have to get to study more osteoblasts mechanisms. Can anyone help me?! online tutions for cytoskeleton biology - i ll pay you back in alsacian food and sugar apples!

the eve of republic day

ISU celebrates the eve of the 57th anniversary of the birth of the indian constitution with some authentic indian food and movies (including some masala popcorn! hmmm....popcorn!)

Bala reports:

Indians abroad celebrated the 57th Republic Day today by unfurling the national tri-colour, singing patriotic songs and listening to President A P J Abdul Kalam's message to the nation.

The Indian community in China enthusiastically celebrated the day with flag hoisting ceremonies in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Consul General, Vishnu Prakash hoisted the national flat within the precincts of Shanghai International Trade Centre, where the Consulate General is located.

After rendering the National Anthem, the Consul General read out the President's address to the members of the Indian community, who had assembled in large numbers along with their family members.

At International Space Univesity (ISU) ,Illkirch Graffenstaden, Strasbourg France, Bee celebrated with her Indian and International classmates with dinner and Indian Film ROJA!

preparations

Thinking of celebrating the eve of the indian republic day at school!

so, Amruta and Bala and I are going to cook tonnes of food and we went to shop for it!
Found this brilliant indian store in town! wooo hooo - it sells aloo parathas! and I can so see myself getting a loyalty card from it!

plus! everything is in Indian prices! Im in all praise for it!

yay!

some pictures...

I have finally updated some lovely pictures of Amsterdam/South of NL trip and Christmas photos from Strasbourg - please check them out at
http://beethakore.myphotoalbum.com/albums.php

Greek goddesses? which one, which one?

Forgot to say!:

This might count as cheating but,

My mentor Jim, mate Paul and I are trying to get a program going in developing countries where students from high schools and Universities can build their own nano satellite constellations and we would coordinate their mentoring, training and launch via the UN and our organisation. Paul and I have got a little competition on coming up with a name with which we can pilot this program.

I am currently studying some greek mythology in order to find out some cool legends that can be associated with it... I would like to have a popularity vote on it - please let me know which one you like.

so far, my options are:
1) EOS: The goddess of dawn. she was also the mother of the wind gods: Boreas, Euros, Notos and Zephyrus - for the different directions

2) Athena: the goddess of wisdom, justice and war (not too sure about the war bit though)- but was a great weaver [an idea that fits in neatly with the constellation concept]

hmm... I wonder which lady is more popular?

and yeh, do suggest any others you know from any other culture

Virus checks

Sorry about the slackness in writing on the blog! One of the main reasons I haven't updated this in a few days is the fact that I have a virus on my computer, and currently my hard drive is being wiped away - whilst I stay at university in order to type in all the work Im doing, I am back at home in what feels like 18th century - left to the mercy of a landline and (admitedly, sky) tv!

During what should have been an extremely frustrating virus scan, I was amused to find that some smart ass out there has decided to place a virus on my computer called the "H5N1"! [must be a funny geek!]

If anyone doesn't quite know what that is: H5N1 is the (biological) virus thats currently causing havoc in Turkey and other Eastern/European countries, and is the cause of Bird Flu! (yeh, and his contribution to my spyware problem was a hidden file called 'flu.exe'...)

so sad!....

uttarayan

thinking about whats happening in India today:

Today and tomorrow is the Indian festival of Uttarayan or Makar Sankranti.

Its the day when the sun starts its journey northward, so summer is here to come soon. We, especially people from very close to the tropics believe that the sun rays on this particular two days are very nourishing and (sometimes stated as 'magical' in scriptures). We spend the whole day on flat terraces sun bathing and flying kites (called 'patungs' in Gujarati & Hindi), some also take part in the international kite flying festival hosted in Ahmedabad - a city very close to where I come from.

we have kite flying battles and the hang chinese lanterns on the kites and fly them when the sun goes down. Its a really pretty sight, during the day time, the sky is full of colourful kites with lots of different artistic 'tails' and at nights people gather around near town lakes to watch the reflection of the stars and the lanterns in the water - if anyone of you happens to travel India nearer to new years in the coming years - please dont miss this!

So, although, there is much less sun here, more snow (!) and not many kites in the sky, I tried to get out and see the sun - well, got to see some glittery fog!

craziness!

Catching up with the new year and some 100 emails is hard! finally, I find myself just as reluctant to go to bed at nite and wake up again in the morning... so, new years chance things very little, and I continue with a regular caffeine overdose.

Been a busy week, albeit very fun! Also got my results... whilst I was scared I ll pass it with any decent marks, I am told I made the highest in the class - so q. chuffed! :-)
[86.5% as an average]

enough bragging...

Still have a long things to do list. Sorry for those who keep an eye out to the blog for the patchy updates: on this long things to do list is also wiping my computer in order to get ride of a stupid spyware virus! The snows re-appeared and is now a constant sight... :-) still not deep enought to get snowed in so I cant get to uni...would be fun tho!

magic speech

Remember, I was writing about my Indian friend who was in a coma in the hospital... recent blog enteries have been more to do with new year's and Chris' visit, etc but the visits to the hospital have been a part of the daily routine.

I couldn't go into his room to visit him since new year due to a nasty cold, soar throat and generally feeling poorly, but was present at the hospital outside to meet his wife, get updates and all that...

Today, I couldnt hold on: I had to go and see him! And I had so much to say to him: I am sure all of it was deep and meaningful... I entered the room and he was sat in a chair!!! I havent seen him upright like that since 12 weeks or so! It was wonderful.

And then, he utters: "its good to see you!" and I was spellbound! It was amazing to see him speak or more like whisper... his vocal cords havent been exercised for a long time, so he cant speak up. But AMAZING! I had an ear-to-ear smile and couldn't say anything more than 'Its so cool to see you like this!'

Outside, three other classmates waited for me and all of us were in big smiles - so happy to see him back in form! Seldom has the hospital a group of people walk out with such grins on their faces! it was great....:-D

Other highlights of the weekend have been talking to my parents on a conference call. Dad's injured his foot. On the phone call, he wanted to hear all about amsterdam, so I told him about new year's and asked how were celebrations back home...the conversation went like this:

Dad: not much, you know, a bit of a mild effort for partying round here
Mum: (giggles), Ask him what time he came home...
Me: What time did you come home Dad?
Dad: erm, must have been 6 in the morning!
and we all laugh!
I was in amsterdam, and even I slept at around 4am! [and I am around half his age!] Good work Dad!

Love my parents - hopefully, I will be like them when I grow up!

For those of you who now know of my friends here:
Also, Anna had a celebration for her birthday: We had a really jam/custard/sweets laden norwegian cake (awesome effort Hovard!) and Canadian breakfast at 5pm (delicious! courtesy Matt and Hovard!) and a good night in Club Seven [Trondy was really drunk - very funny/fun!] and Vlado returned back: So I had someone to brief about all the dirt from School!

Vlado and I also work out that Trondy s from the Santa family : He is actually Rudolp!! has to be one of the craziest chats I have had in a while!

finite window to come to strasbourg!

Alrightey!

Listen up dudes and dudettes - I am only in Strasbourg till the end of May, have spare sleeping place for 4 or 5 people at a time - so, no excuses: you all need to visit me pretty soon!

'Cuz after that I am off to SANTA MONICA in CALIFORNIA for the summer! :-D

yep, I accepted to go to X Prize Foundation.

the start of the year!

Rolling back into the year is kinda tough... I was just getting used to the 2 pm mornings and again its back to normal life! But its pretty cool to see everyone at school back!

The past two days have been cool: I returned from Leiden geared up to do something about the internships and having to find what I shall do after May! I finish my application and send it away, etc... 5 hrs later: I have a offer! The offer is from X-Prize Foundation! If you dont know what they are: they are the people who organised the private spaceflight cup/race which is what Burt Rutan and his Space - ship one won. (http://www.xpcup.com/index.cfm?goto=about_us.aboutansarixprize)

its pretty sharpish! Its a dream placement; but I tell myself not to get too excited as I also have an interview with a French company the very next day. Its a telephone interview, so I am just touching on what they do and finding more stuff about what they offer. Should anyone wish to know, the companys Air Liquide - they manufacture cryogenic gases to use for different applications including liquid rocket fuel.

Next day... I pick up phone for the interview and they are like: 'Miss Thakore, we are not going to actually ask you any questions' - my little heads going: O-Oh! what does that mean!? is that a 'no'? do I have to ask the questions? ... and they make an offer of placement!

hm, im not used to this. Now I am in trouble: I have to make a decision/ have to think! Both places are pretty different: X Prize foundation in California or Air Liquide in Grenoble in France...

*bee puts on her pensive face and tries to think*...

the south of NL

After leaving Chris at the airport, I made my way to visit a friend from the Summer, Boris in Leiden. Leiden is on the west coast of holland, south of Amsterdam and is a lovely place right by the sea, with a lot of the actual old and very traditional windmills and is the heart of tulip fields. Boris is also one of the chief managers at ESA (European Space Agency) so offered to kindly take me on a technical visit of ESTEC at Noordwijk near Leiden where is works, but is currently off work to apply finishing touches to his phd thesis.

Needless to say, that was Amazing! I got to see some really amazing facilities: large test space simulators, many satellites being tested (saw Herschel on the testbed!), etc plus the automated transport vehicle (ATV) which is the european automatic rocket that will take supplies to the International Space Station. I also saw some old soyuz capsules which have been in space. With Boris' commentry, it was a good mini-revision for my interviews this weekend!

Then, I headed to Boris' place near Leiden where I also had the pleasure to meet his girlfriend May (she is Chinese, but from French-Canada). We had a really large and delicious meal cooked by Boris and May after which plans to go and see Lieden failed to appeal due to the cold and rain. Luckily, Boris has a home-cinema and Star Wars 3, so we spent a long time with that! May got up early in the morning (bless her) and drove me to the station: I feel like a cold coming on now due to the lack of sleep!

luckily, Chris had put some 18 CDs worth of music on the mp3 for my journey back to Strasbourg which helped me to not go insane on the journey alone! The whole coach was full of Italians drinking Carlsberg and smoking continuously right next to the 'no-smoking' signs! Gosh, impressive as it was that they could still do that after most of them looked like they had spent the last 3 days stoned out of their heads!

Strasbourg is still cold, but the snow is gone: it did look like a winter wonderland! As I got on the tram from the coach, I sat rite next to the guy who is visiting to take my morning lecture: its official, ISU is EVERYWHERE!

which reminds me: I have to sleep some to get to classes tomorrow and concentrate. and was only writing this email to ask you guys: what did you get upto over new years and where are you!?

A-dam briefly

Pretty cool time in Amsterdam, we did the sights: took the boat rides in the canal (some of the canal was pretty frozen!), went to the Rijks museum - saw the night watch, went to the 3d night watch as well (thats pretty cool!), went to the 17th century lock house for lots of coffee and beverages! ate some dutch food, more italian and other food, went to the Anne Frank house, the homo-monument: which took some time to find as it is so arty!, crossed lots of bridges (! Chris was talking of a book he used to have as a kid where a cow goes to Amsterdam to visit the different bridges - there are some really old and cool bridges there!), I got a picture taken with a 'love and peace' van (!) and mingled with some locals on new year's day at some proper dutch pubs!

Chris had lots of fun clicking pictures - he got a new camera so still trying the 20 different modes of pictures he can take and getting well into it all with a portable tripod and everything! The only thing left to do was eating proper dutch cheese, but I guess you have to leave something to go back there.

It was really cool - a very fun time and pretty civilized [Chris has a proper job that he enjoyes! ;-)]

on the last day we did some more museums, and soaked some crispy sunshine that the morning had to offer (it is rare these days!) before heading off to schnipol airport. I was really bummed to see Chris go though... I ll see him soon tho.

THE CELEBRATIONS

We head up to leidesplein and check out some places for food. We have some delicious Chinese with some on-the-house champagne [thankyou mr. manager of tan-oh chinese at leidespleein - it was yum!] amongst some 10,000 firecrackers blasting rite next to us! :-) We head off to dam square, where we become one with the people with red hats and get armed with some heinekein!

The tunes vary from really fanstastic memories of 2005 to really dutch pop to tunes which were well beyond Chris and my time! but overall, it was good to watch the crowd, dance to the music and see random fireworks before the countdown. Nearer to midnight, the stage was taken over by a team of fire dancers who were pretty cool and did their stunts to chemical brokers- firestarter!

At midnight, the sky went red - scarletly bright and we were bathed in champagne and confetti, which I we were picking off our clothes for days! :-D

lots of fireworks went off, but this wasnt much of the organized fireworks you see in the UK. Here, you are allowed to buy as many fireworks as you possibly can and my highlight was indeed Chris saying: 'I have never been INSIDE a firework display!'

It was cool. We followed the loud sounds and bright colours of the fireworks as they progressed from street to street, canal to canal throught the different parts of the centruum, got confused at Nieuw Market(!) which looked riot-ish and went back to leidespleein.

The rest of the night was spent in Cafe Alto were we chilled out to some Jazz. We walked back to the hotel via the different streets again at around 3-4 am to get our early night! ;-)