Battery Recharger

After two intense weeks of nonstop research, I definitely needed a break.  The fact that Pedro decided to come up to visit me, plus the fact that I didn't want to start the semester already tired, seemed like perfect excuses to take three days off.  And so did I!

My friends in ihouse didn't really believe I would literally take the entire three-day weekend off but I did it without feeling even a bit guilty.  In those three days, I went three times do the gym, I played tennis and soccer with some friends and watched Pedro practicing golf.  Pedro and I went out for dinner a couple of times too, on Friday to a nice Japanese restaurant and on Saturday to Villas-Boas' house.  We spent some quality time with our friends too (Pedro says he probably has more friends here than in LA), going to bars, taking them to the driving range or simply chilling in ihouse.  Most of them are finally back in town!

The best part of the weekend was our one-day journey to Napa Valley.  We went by ourselves, on a romantic trip, although Ludo moaned that we should have taken him too...  There, we took some of the lovely pictures posted below, we did a wine tour, some wine tasting and had lunch is a very cosy food market in Downtown Napa.  Before coming back to campus, we decided to watch the sunset from the Grizzly Peak, as our friend Kezia had suggested many months ago.

I might have recharged my batteries too much.  I had lots of work to do for my research but classes are just starting, and we didn't really have much to do this week.  It doesn't feel like Berkeley yet, if you know what I mean.

The perks of being a UC Berkeley researcher

As most of you already know, I'm doing research for Professor Jack Moehle in order to have a Master thesis done by October 2013.  Since I lost my flight back to Berkeley on Jan 3, that has been my main (not to say only) occupation.  I've been studying a lot, as well as slowly modeling my building.  Do you wanna see how it looks like so far?

The truth is that I will only learn most of the concepts I need to do this type of work throughout the following semester.  However, I've been lucky enough to have people like my Mom or some phD students helping me all the time.

One day after I got back to Berkeley, I decided to follow Professor Fillipou's advice and go to CSi (Computers and Structures, Inc. - the company that develops the software I'm using too) to buy a book called "Modeling for Structural Analysis.  Behavior and Basics" by Professor Powell.  That book should help me understanding those concepts quicker.  Professor Moehle, my advisor, told me he would pay for the book if I bought it for the research group, and not just for myself, so I went there and bought it.

The day after, I had to go back to CSi to extend the license for the software I'm using to model my building, PERFORM-3D.  As soon as I got there, Sied, the guy who helps me with the software and who gave it to me for free because I belong to Professor Moehle's research group, came welcome me.  He immediately complained about the fact that I bought the book the day before.  He wanted to give it to me for free too.  All in all, not only did he give me my money back, but he also gave me another copy of the book, this one for me, not for the research group.

Before I left CSi, Sied decided to introduce me to CSi CEO, Ashraf Habibullah, known to be a very friendly, smart and exuberant man.  He couldn't have been nicer and decided to present me with two more gifts:  Wilson's book "Statics and Analysis of Structures" (being Wilson the father of the Finite Element Method) and an invitation for the annual CSi party, usually hold for hundreds and hundreds of people.  Not bad, uh?

Before being a researcher in Berkeley, I dreamed about it thinking that it would be awesome enough to have that line on my CV.  Now I see that there are many more advantages.  Everything is much more easily reachable.  Lucky me!

My favorite movie ever

Credits to actor and director Ludo, and actors Luisa, Claudia and Ron.

Irreplaceable Lu

Yesterday, on my way to meet Luisa for a last goodbye before she went back home, I realized I've never properly described her on my blog.  I've mentioned her before (how could I have not if she was  one of my best friends here?!), but not enough.

Lu is the nicest / cutest / sweetest / greatest Brazilian girl I've ever met.  Actually, I could also take the "Brazilian" away and just say that she is the nicest / cutest / sweetest / greatest girl I've ever met.  She's probably the person I identified myself the most with here in iHouse.

We're both 22 years old, we're both hard workers, we're both responsible, we're both very close to our family, we're both Portuguese speakers*, we're both taken, we both love Brazilian food and we're both pretty good looking comparing to many other girls in iHouse.  Hahaha.

I still remember how we met.  I was having breakfast with Pedro in the dining hall and she came sit with us because she thought we looked Brazilian.  We ended up realizing we already had a friend in common although we were from such distant cultures: a Brazilian girl who lived in Lisbon for a year, Naná.  Pedro and I liked her right away.  From then on, we got closer and closer.  Lu, Yas and me, along with the guys, formed a great group.

There are plenty of other things I can tell about Luisa.  She's an architecture student, who decided to take interesting optional classes here in Berkeley, not necessarily related to her degree.  She's "carioca" and thus always very cool and smiley.  She's very organized and gets slightly anxious anytime things are not perfectly planned.  We kind of used to make fun of her whenever she got a little bit nervous and she would simply laugh about it.  I don't know how she does it but she's laughing all the time.  She's very easy to deal with.

I could keep saying good things about Luisa forever but I guess you guys already understood how I like her.  Saying goodbye to her was not too tough because I'm sure we're going to meet many times in the future.

See you soon Luzinha! <3

Oh, I forgot to mention her amazing musical skill!!!! Check it out.  Hahaha

Here I go again

These past three weeks in Portugal were (more than) great.  They helped me making sure that I live in the best country in the world, surrounded by great people.  See you in August.  I'll miss you all like crazy but I'm now ready to rock another semester in Berkeley!

Lot's of love,

Marta

January 3

January 3 is the day in which I was supposed to go back to Berkeley.  It is also the day after the day in which my Mom asked me if I had everything ready and if I had my passport with me (to which I answered "Yes, I do.").  However, it ended up being the day in which I lost my flight because I couldn't find my passport this morning, before leaving to the airport.

At 6 am in the morning, my Dad drove me to the airport so that I could try not to lose my flight. Meanwhile, my Mom "flew" to Azeitão to check if my passport was in our weekend house.  My Dad and I managed to change my flight to Tuesday/Wednesday, the first date available, "only" paying the regular fee to change reservations.  I called Pedro telling him what happened, and he called me back one minute later saying that my passport was in his bedroom, in Azeitão.  I still tried to catch the flight but all the three flights I was going to catch were overbooked and I lost my reservation.

I felt so guilty and ashamed about what happened that I worked like crazy on my research today.  And that's mostly all I'm going to do till I go back to Berkeley on January 9 (and also when I get there).  I already modeled the first frame of my building!

Besides all the bad consequences of losing today's flights, such as not being surrounded by people who are experts on PERFORM 3D, the software I am using to model my building, losing money and losing the opportunity to say goodbye to my dearest friend Luisa and meet her family and boyfriend, there are two good aspects about it.  On the one hand, I learnt the lesson and I will become the most responsible person in the world concerning traveling.  On the other, I will get to spend a few more days in the best country in the world, with my family and close friends.

Sorry Mom and Dad for what happened.

To finish this post, let me tell you a small curiosity:  I did not enter Pedro's bedroom this winter break.  He's always so miles away that he saw my passport in my bedroom in Lisbon and put it in his pocket to take it home, because he thought it was his...  Are we the most distracted couple in the world?  We're working on improving this aspect, we promise!

Sorry Mom and Dad again.  I know I shouldn't make fun of what happened but I couldn't help it!

Happy New Year everyone.

Love,

Marta