Scenes from my daily life:


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It is almost like the tenuous plot of a philosophical novel: the Pope cannot speak. The pathos of the situation is quite obvious, although Curia pedants have been quick to point out that the Holy Father doesn't need to speak to govern. He can do so by nods or by scraps of paper, and besides, is governing only about speaking - they point out. One ( Read more... )

Happened to surf onto the new European Commission's website this afternoon, and couldn't help noticing a few things:

1) There are a lot of bald men in this Commission. And they all seem more bald than usual, at least on the mugshots on the website - they look extra shiny. Perhaps its the fault of the Commission's photographer. Look at this:


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Yes, that is how I spend my tuesday nights nowadays. In fact, he was one of the keynote speakers at this evening's celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Bologna Center. To be fair, the whole ceremony had something a bit contrived and stilted about it. Despite the fact that it was the 50th anniversary of the school, there was ( Read more... )

Last night, general madness descended upon SAIS Bologna as we celebrated an auction to raise money for our swanky "Austrian Ball" in April. The combination of friday night excitement, huge amounts of Long Island Ice Tea (the most treacherous of cocktails) gave rise to scenes of hilarity and shock as people spent tons of money on buying the most ( Read more... )

There is something clearly, even obviously adult about dark chocolate. As a child I used to feel disappointed if I had been given anything that wasn't milk chocolate. Now I can't stand the stuff. Perhaps the bitter, paradoxical, swirling tastes of cocoa slowly dissolving in my mouth are the counterpart of an adult outlook on life, just like the ( Read more... )

or rather, in Verona. This is where my flatmate and I went today, on a very jolly day out, to celebrate the end of our respective exams ( Read more... )

... a much-abused friend, nonetheless, one of those which you ignore for ages, but then you rediscover why you loved the guy in the first place ( Read more... )

Well the entry into 2005 was indeed carried out in Edinburgh, but in much better conditions than last year. The decision to have an intimate, indoor celebration with friends paid off nicely. Our end of year dinner, though hectic to organize, was ultimately very successful, quite cozy (roaring fireplace and all)... although in the end I did get ( Read more... )

Back from the frenzied carnival of family, food and some fun that was Barcelona, only to leave tomorrow for hogmanay in Edinburgh... Christmas back in my nominal home, Barcelona, was more fun than other years, mostly because dear old Xue was visiting us during the period. Fears re questions from relatives re my relationship with Xue and hence ( Read more... )