My Whirlwind Semester Abroad

I am fortunate to have a sabbatical this fall semester – this is particularly welcome after a few years of intense service on our Faculty Council (kind-of like our Senate), where we had to deal with many internal and external crises. Thus as my colleagues are gearing up to start teaching in a week, I am focused on another type of preparation: planning for a semester spent touring Europe.

In 2011-12, my family spent a year living in Germany as I was on a fellowship, and it was one of the best years of both my professional and personal life. Now my kids are all in college or beyond, so my wife and I are taking the opportunity to live abroad again. Alas I did not get a fellowship, so we decided to pretend we’re 20 again with Eurorail passes and tour the continent! I’ve arranged presentations and workshops at a bunch of universities, so we’ll be hitting 12 countries in 3 months. I figured I’d share the rough outline of my schedule publicly for any friends or colleagues happen to be in the same place at the same time – reach out and hopefully you can make one of my presentations or we can otherwise connect!

Sept 2-13: Norway (Trondheim and Oslo)

Sept 13-20: Sweden (Gothenburg)

Sept 20-23: Netherlands (Amsterdam)

Sept 23 – Oct 19: France (Paris and Montpellier)

Oct 19 – Nov 1: Germany (Freiburg, Hannover, Essen, and Berlin)

Nov 2-8: Scotland (Glasgow & St. Andrews) 

Nov 8-16: England (Coventry, Reading, and London)

Nov 16-23: Switzerland / Italy (Lugano and Milan)

Nov 23-30: Czech Republic / Austria (Brno & Vienna)

Nov 30 – Dec 8: Spain (Madrid and Palma)