Potsdam to Portland

The 20th of October was my last day in Germany. A week before I took one last trip to Berlin in order to walk through some of my favorite neighborhoods. Naturally, this excursion included a stop at one of my favorite bakeries for a pastry.

I caught the train back to Potsdam from Friedrichstrasse, which has this nice view of the center of Berlin.
My last week in Germany was spent at the MATHEMATISCHES FORSCHUNGSINSTITUT OBERWOLFACH where I participated in a workshop on mathematical relativity. The institute is located in the hills of southwest Germany and is home to perhaps the best math library in Europe. There are no permanent scientific staff members, rather the institute hosts weekly workshops along with a few long-term researchers.

Here is the main institute building:
Here is the view looking down the valley from the Institute:
On Wednesday it is customary to take a long walk in the afternoon. We passed by this cute church along the way.
Following the workshop I returned to Potsdam, collected my belongings and got on a plane for the US. After an uneventful day of travel, I arrived in Portland. Apparently no on cleaned up my desk while I was gone:
I immediately set about ignoring the messy desk and instead focussed on re-assembling my bicycle.
Of course, the real highlight of arriving in Portland was being able to be with Iva once again - here she is among the fantastic fall colors on our street.
I'm now settling in to life in Portland and getting ready for my job at Lewis & Clark, which starts in January!