It has been a wonderful week in Roma, a mix of pleasant work and enjoyable free-time! I gave the ABC advanced course for the second time in a month so it did not require much in terms of preparation and there was a good sized audience with attentive (if too silent!) students and friends as well. The addition of the R labs was a clear bonus and I will increase their volume when I give the course afresh, because it brings questions and understanding out of the students. (Having limitations with the use of my laptop on video-projectors does not help. I may have to switch to a non-Mac machine in the near future… or eventually adopt the Mac OS.) It was also great to have time to share with friends and discussing research as well as the absurdities of the Italian funding system, which includes a lottery for allocating funding!

On the touristy side, being withing jogging distance of every part of downtown Roma meant I could have a new (fleeting) glimpse of La Citta every morning while going to La Sapienza and even take (hundreds of) pictures on the go, thanks to a uniformly sunny weather that contrasted with the snow of three weeks ago. I also sampled great food (of course!) [and wine, of course too!], from the Roman carciofi a la giudia to Calabrese ‘nduja (which originates from the Norma andouille) and Sicilian pies and canolli…