The Adventures of Stephanie

Browsing Archive: September, 2011

space space space

Posted by Stephanie Finnvik on Friday, September 30, 2011,
Check out this cool video that Carthage made about our Microgravity Team's involvement in the SEED (Systems Engineering Educational Discovery) Program.  It's so cool!  I always find myself not being able to do anything but smile with so much excitement about the program and how awesome it is. 
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hello cape town! (and stroopwafels!)

Posted by Stephanie Finnvik on Thursday, September 29, 2011,
Please excuse my lack of blogging for the last week.  My final days in Paris have been beyond hectic getting ready to leave for Cape Town and prepare for the IAC.  Nonetheless, I left Tuesday morning and arrived in Cape Town Wednesday morning.  Fun fact - by the end of next Sunday, since May 21, 2011, I'll have flown about 1.3 times around the Earth... I think I should get some sky miles for that!

Anyhow, let me just say that Cape Town is AWESOME.  It's a beautiful country geographically and f...
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the eiffel tower, antique market and versailles

Posted by Stephanie Finnvik on Sunday, September 25, 2011,
There's this bakery just one block from where I work.  They have the best chocolate croissants that I've had since here.  I love their stuff so much I try to get Pif to go get me one if I give him money (and for something for himself) so I wouldn't have to be in the bakery for the second (third) time in one day.  His response is - "Pretend it's for colleagues!"  It's the same lady, and I'm pretty sure when I walk in with exact change she knows it's mine...  Anyways - just to share with you th...
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techno parade, the french minister's office and giovanni cassini

Posted by Stephanie Finnvik on Saturday, September 17, 2011,
First, I forgot to take note that when we went shopping last week, I spotted one of these!  An angled moving sidewalk!!  The last time I saw one of these was in Spain.  I just think it's such an odd thing!
 
 

Saturday was the Techno Parade.  It was absolutely insane but awesome all at the same time.  I have to say that I have grown to become rather fond of 'European' pop and techno music.  It is not something that I really liked that much at home, but it is just fitting here.  I was just waitin...
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what do I look like, an intern?!

Posted by Stephanie Finnvik on Friday, September 16, 2011,
Yesterday I rode the velib bike home about a third of the way and then was too terrified to continue and walked the rest of the way.  For the record, biking in Paris is not the same as biking in the Netherlands.  It is in fact a very convenient way to get around because one, I'm never really leaving Paris, and two, I hate the metro and the masses of people that squish like sardines just to get to work on time, making a bike ride to work much more enjoyable with the good weather.

I guess I've k...
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that's not a euro!

Posted by Stephanie Finnvik on Thursday, September 15, 2011,
At lunch today, when I went to pay, the lady told me that I didn't give her the right money.  I was utterly confused until I was explained that it wasn't a euro but a franc - which they don't use anymore.  I had to have gotten it as change sometime and just didn't notice, until now at least.

We were getting coffee after lunch and when we got in the elevator, we didn't press the button in time and ended up stopping at a few other floors of where the other people in the elevator were heading.

Tha...
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a construction worker and a woman's shoe

Posted by Stephanie Finnvik on Wednesday, September 14, 2011,
The other day we were walking to lunch and there is some small construction going on outside of a building we pass.  Ironically, a construction worker was using his hammer to nail back in a woman-passerby's shoe.  It was quite an interesting site.  I don't think this happens too often!

I think we can all tell that the Congress is fast approaching and that everyone seems to be losing it a little in the office.  Sometimes the loss of thought, per-say, causes a few good laughs.  I am equally gett...
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french toast, chocolate croissants and the cinema

Posted by Stephanie Finnvik on Tuesday, September 13, 2011,
This last weekend went by very quickly!  Friday, as we were all still at work fairly late, a few of us went to the corner restaurant for a break.  Very oddly, three girls came up to us dressed in lab coats with printouts of rabbit anatomy.  Oddly enough, Philippe and Juliane each gave them a euro in exchange for these papers.  Since they were talking in French, I was completely confused watching this exchange.  After they left, I had to ask what just happened.  Turns out, they're joining a ve...
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no rhinestones for you!

Posted by Stephanie Finnvik on Friday, September 9, 2011,
I sometimes fall into the American girl stereotype, or so according to the people in the office here.  I say this because they don't want to share my rhinestones to put on your nails (I always like to have my nails done) and they've noticed that I have a liking to pink...  These people have no idea just how much pink I actually wear either.  Every time I do laundry, I typically do a load of darks, whites, brights, ....and pink. 

Have you ever talked to an Italian on the phone?  "I'm FANTASTIC!...
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it's not winter yet people

Posted by Stephanie Finnvik on Friday, September 9, 2011,

Here's an awesome link that a friend showed me.  It's totally true.  One of the biggest challenges is condensing your experiment, research, or project into 25 words or less.  It's a very tough skill that I know few have come to accomplish.  I'd say that it is extra difficult for me, given that I can barely say just about anything in a short amount of time.  I'm not sure if I'm necessarily proud of it, but I think that I am safe to say that I am famous for my 'stories', turning simple discussi...


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shift keys and french translations

Posted by Stephanie Finnvik on Wednesday, September 7, 2011,
The other day I learned something magical.  To understand, first you need to know that on French computer keyboards, the numbers are like capital letters - you have to press 'shift' then the number to have it appear.  The magic part - when you have 'caps lock' on, it also includes those top number keys so they show up!  Who knew?!  To my knowledge, I have never encountered an English keyboard that when having 'caps lock' on also includes those keys.  

Coming home today from work I just about f...
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leiden how i love you so

Posted by Stephanie Finnvik on Monday, September 5, 2011,
This past weekend I ventured to Leiden and I had so much fun.  I sometimes think that I maybe should have gone somewhere that I haven't visited before, but I couldn't pass up seeing some of the friends I've made during my time there, as I unfortunately probably won't be seeing them for a long time now.

Let's start off my trip - I left for the train from work, of which I had to run to catch because I maybe pushed my time limit a little bit too far.  As I was leaving too, Juliane gave me some ni...
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The fridge?

Posted by Stephanie Finnvik on Thursday, September 1, 2011,
So sorry for my slow work on my blog recently.  I do appreciate those who stop in a ton!

It has been very very very busy recently.

Last week, I had to talk to a Parliamentarian's secretary from Uruguay. It was a lot more challenging than I remember than the last 'formal' conversation I've had in Spanish.  I first had to spend two minutes explaining to her that she needed to stop talking in French to me (even though she was calling Paris) and that she needed to talk in Spanish to me in order to ...
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