But my Erasmus exchange is almost over. Unfortunately, these kind of matters always bring along a lot of bureaucracy and administrative issues, so this together with my exams and general exhaustion from all the travelling and arranging matters and most importantly the beautiful weather begging me to be outside and meet people and talk in the sun render finding the mindset for writing for me impossible. And also, I had to somehow cram a whole semester of a tricky course for me into one week, as I had been so overly diligent with my duties this semester...
Anyway, how was my stay in Leiden?
Great.
Well, it wasn't a very good semester for me, for obvious reasons I could not study as much as I wanted, so frankly, I didn't get that much out of being at such an awesome place as Leiden. I refused to commute for courses so I missed some amazing opportunities to learn new stuff, but I think I still have some time to learn all that. But honestly, had I taken on more courses, it would have been too much for me in the end. So it was a good decision. And I know best how exhausted all the travelling (even commuting) makes me feel.
Also, I couldn't see as much from Holland as I would have loved to see, but again, this was neither my first nor last time in the Netherlands, so I am sure I will get to see all the places I want to visit. And all the lazy days on the beach and biking through the dunes and lovely strolls with my friends or my beloved one in Leiden, that was well worth skipping more famous and touristy places. And I did my fair share of sightseeing in my life, so I don't mind either.
I could have spoken more Dutch, but I learnt enough, I was able to conduct nearly-decent conversations occasionally, so that was not so bad. And considering the amount of stuff I had to learn learn with higher priority, for instance I finally learnt some class field theory I had been fantasizing about learning for several years now <3, I think I did enough.
Of course, I could have talked to people more. But those who know me and understand my shyness and the embarrassment I feel whenever I talk to someone smart (and there are many smart people in Leiden for sure), I am happy I managed to talk to several people I have dreamt about talking to. Surely many more will come, as I will become more relaxed and as I am resolute about doing maths more than twice a week and thus perhaps not forgetting everything before I get back to my studies. Childish naivety, you might object. But I believe in myself, I know that this time things will work out.
So, what next? My plan for the summer is simple: enjoy my well-earned holidays in July, that is, PCMI Summer Session in Utah and IMC in Blagoevgrad and, in August, finally revise my notes from this year and learn properly the things I was so discontinuously trying to study. Now that is naïve.
But I promised a thunderstorm in my title. So here is a video of the most beautiful thunderstorm I have ever seen, descending slowly on my home town Blansko this Monday, June 22nd 2015:
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