I’ve been to the EIBIR Winter School that took place from January 17 – 22, 2010 in Viladrau, Spain to learn a lot about biomedical imaging research focused on the two leading causes of death worldwide: cardiovascular and oncologic diseases. During the five days, there were a lot of intense lectures hosted in the Hostal de la Gloria, Viladrau. To break the week, we also had a very nice excursion: a walk through the forest with a guide that took us to the house of one of the most famous bandits: Serrallonga. After the heavy week of studying, we finished our stay in Viladrau and went up into the Turo de l’Home ( ‘mountain man’ in Castilian), which is the highest mountain in the Montseny massif with a height of 1712 meters.
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I went to Norway to experience my first Norwegian Christmas with my girlfriend. The hectic Christmas shopping spree is about the same as here. Also decorating a Christmas tree is common here. But on the country side there are some other special tradions, like drinking special Christmas beer “Juleøl”; traditional pork dishes as “ribbe” are made; an enormous amount of small cakes (rosettes, christmas cookies, etc), and “julekake”, a Christmas bread filled with raisins. Keeping the fireplace burning. On Christmas Eve we have put a bowl of porridge in the barn for the “nisse”, a mythical creature that protects the farm. Also mounting the “julenek” on poles for the birds (a stalk of oats, corn) is a tradition that takes place on Christmas Eve. And on the first Christmas day it’s quite common to not sit at home, but go outside skiing which I did too with my new skies I got from my parents in law.
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