I didn’t write anything for a while… why?
I don’t know exactly, probably I was complitely absorbed by my new life here.
Then in two days I received three messages from different people that I knew in Vancouver and I remembered what I had promised: “I will tell you about my new life in Switzerland”.

So, here we are. I will try to tell you what’s going on.
Let’s do it like an horoscope 😉

Work (it’s the easiest chapter so let’s start from here): I started my phd one month ago. The subject is the following: we are trying to build an arsenic sensor using bacteria. In fact when there is the arsenic the bacteria (modified of course) start to produce a fluorescent protein that can be detected by a microscope. A biology lab “built” these bacteria, our lab is trying to build the environment (a microfluidic chip). Why people need an arsenic sensor? For example in Bangladesh they have a lot of problems with water contaminated by arsenic.
All the people in the lab are nice, they help me a lot. Actually there are a lot of italians but also some people from Poland and of course swiss-german and swiss-french people.

Tennis: I’m still playing a lot, and also I’m playing a league with a team. We arrived second in our group (each group is composed of four teams and each team plays against the others) and this weekend we are going to play the playoff (with a team that arrived first in her group).

Social/love life: ahahah you’re really thinking that I will write something about that? Nonono this is not your business 😉 Anyway it’s going veeeeery well 😉

City/apartement: now I live in Lausanne (during the week), so in the french part. There is the lake and the mountains… well the panorama is similar to the Vancouver one. Every weekend I come back to Ticino because… well a lot of reason: the weather is better, I play the tennis league there, … And it’s actually easy because now I have a car and in 3h30-4h I’m there.
I live in a nice apartment with a guy and a girl, they are really nice! And I have the biggest room 😉

Well… I will try to write again soon and to put some pictures 😉

Sometimes in some situations I think about the Vancouver people…
When I’m the cleanroom I remember when a Friday night I went with Jonas in the ubc cleanroom or when Vahid aligned BY EYES a PDMS channel of few micormeters with electrodes of few micrometers 😉
When I miss a volley I remember when Elena, in order to explain me how to play a good volley, was behind my racket and told me: “You won’t hit me, right?” (because in tennis to play a proper volley you have to hit the ball in front).
When Federer wins I remember Carl and our tennis matches.

Sometimes I just expect to see Tomas, or Edno, or Ana-Maria here… I mean… Sometimes I my brain mixes all, it’s weird, it’s fun and sad at the same time, …

Ognuno ha un proprio passato, composto di storie a volte tristi a volte felici, a volte banali a volte che mozzano il fiato. 

Alcune di esse non vogliamo ricordarle ma al contempo siamo terrorizzati dal dimenticarle. 

A volte crediamo di aver fatto pace con una certa storia finché qualcuno o qualcosa non risveglia in noi ricordi ormai assopiti, sensazioni che credevamo controllare. È sufficiente una parola, uno sguardo, una melodia, un odore. E ci rendiamo conto che, forse, col nostro passato non abbiamo mai fatto davvero pace.

Quel qualcuno o quel qualcosa possiamo ignorarlo, possiamo far in modo che non intralci il nostro (precario?) equilibrio. 

Oppure possiamo rimetterci in discussione  e cercare di nuovo le risposte a quelle domande che avevamo così abilmente cercato di evitare. 

Ma forse le risposte non ci sono.

“How you can think that something happens by chance?” wrote Baricco. 

The book “The music of chance” by Paul Auster (there is also the movie)  suggests that our lives can be dominated by the chance. It explores how one moment can forever alter, and perhaps destroy, lives. It also reinforces the old saying that luck is too capricious a force to trust.

In the movie “Match point” the luck has a major role. 

How much luck and chance influence our lifes?

When I was in Vancouver I often thought about life, about what’s right and what’s wrong, about my future. And often I wrote about that in this blog. 

Since I came back I just… didn’t think anymore. You know… I made some choices and I didn’t look back, I didn’t think about right or wrong. I just live, knowing that I did something important and I will start something else in one month. 

It is like if I switched on the button “pause” of my life.  

***

For sure now I’m more able than when I was 18 or 19 to appreciate people, to appreciate what I do. 

I know that playing tennis is a privilege that it has not to be taken for granted. I know that having people around you that help you it is important. 

Why I realize it now? Well… I did 4 years in Lausanne and I studied really really hard. I didn’t play tennis anymore, I didn’t go out often and so I “lost” some friends. I’m sure I will never do the same again. I was really the girl that wants to have good grades… like if it is the most important thing in the world. But it would be to easy to say now that it was wrong. If now I am where I am it is becasuse of the hard work I did.

***

It woud be “naïf” to say: since I came back I changed, I’m not the shy person of before and so on. But for sure I’m traying to be more open with other people (even if probably I will never speak about soccer with a barista), I can speak about my past (even if answering to the question: “And your father?” it will be always difficult). 

• … that time that I won an important match.
• … those times I woke up at 6am to practice at 7. 
• … I did it too many times.
• … this time I will do an ace (and for sure after the ball will go out).
• … I hope don’t do a double fault  (and for sure after the ball will go out).
• … this game changed my life and taught me so many stuffs (manage the stress, knowing myself and my limits, …).
• … all the player I knew and all the experiences I did. 
• … tennis world is crazy: I saw a father clap a double fault of her daughter’s opponent, two player’s mothers argue for a dubious ball (the two daughters were sitting on the bench and didn’t know what to do or to say), a player menace the opponent with a net peg, …

Some time ago I wrote that when you’re happy you don’t realize it and then you wake up one morning and you realize that  that was happiness. This happened to me several times… When I was in Vancouver at the beginning and I didn’t know anybody I realized that the summer I spent in Italy was something special. 

I was scared to come back, because during the seven months I spent in Vancouver I tried to “build something”, to know new people, … and I  didn’t know what to expect. 

Last two weeks were just crazy… So many people called me to play tennis (basically I play 2h a day and always with different players… one of them played with sunglasses in the inside tennis courts ;)), to go out, to go skiing, … I didn’t have the time to think. And… I’m happy and I realize it 🙂 Sometimes in order to appreciate some situation/people/… you have to go away for a while 😉

Probably the country in which you do the first experience away from home won’t be the country in which you will live forever but for sure it will change your life. 

***

In April I will play a mixed double tournament and in May a team tournament. 

The team is composed of: me, Giorgia (the captain)  and Cristina (the three old girls of the team ;)) and six other younger girls that I don’t know very well now (but we will go out next Friday for a pizza and I will know them better). 

***

I will start a phD in May at EPFL, so now I’m in holidays ahaha 😀 So basically I spend my days playing tennis, going out, reading, watching movies, facebooking, … It’s really nice because I know I finished something and I will start somtehing else in May so these holydays are “justified” 😉 

Probably I will also go to Isola Verde (Italy) 3 or 4 days.

 

 

Last days were quite busy because of “social stuffs”. A lot of people to see, a lot of  apéro to drink ;), … It was so nice! 

Today I went to EPFL to present my project. Now I live in Bellinzona (just for the next month), a town in the Italian part of Switzerland, and EPFL is in Lausanne, a city in the French part of Switzerland. So Bellinzona-Lausanne, because swiss mountains suck, is 5h by train. 

The swiss railway (FFS) is knew to be on time, safe and bla bla, but listen to that. Today I did Bellinzona – Luzern and then I had the connection in Luzern to Lausanne. I was in Luzern, on the train to Lausanne, but the train could not leave because of a problem (I don’t know exactly what kind of problem because the guy that explained spoke just swiss german and I understood nothing… We are in a country with four official languages and the announce was just in swiss German… I hate that!). So we waited on the train for 30 minutes and after we had to change the train. So basically I lost 1h because of that. During the 4 years I studied in Lausanne I never had a problem with the railway and today, because I had the presentation… But this is the so well known Murphy’s law. So I arrived at Lausanne station at 3.15pm and my presentation was at 4pm. I had to take a taxi to go to EPFL because I didn’t have time to take the metro. But well… 10 minutes and 25 CHF (1 CHF = 1 CAN $)  after I arrived at EPFL. 

The presentation went well and probably I will start a phD in May in Lausanne. I say “probably” because the prof. told me: “I will confirm you by the end of next week but 99.9% it is sure” (another guy that now work there told me: “Don’t  worry he told me the same!”). So let’s hope all is ok!

So now I have more than one month of holidays 🙂 So cool!

In less than 24 hours I passed from Dunbar Street to via Belsoggiorno. It’s fast, it’s weird. 

When the plane took off I was thinking about the people I knew in Vancouver and about the people I will meet again here. The faces mix… 

It’s weird if I think that tomorrow I will go to the tennis club Bellinzona and I won’t see Tomas, Ana-Maria, Elena, Carl, Min, Astrid or Brian but Ivan, Cristina, Gian, Marco, Giuliano… I don’t know if I’m sad or happy. Probably that’s not the right question.

It’s impossible that all the people you like live in the same place, and also it would not be fun. This situation is a good opportunity to travel, to always discover new “stuffs”, to speak different languages, … I should see it like a “plus” and not like something sad.

Ah… and… Honestly Air Canada sucks… You know the nice screens you have on the plane in which you can see the movies or play some stupid games? Well… mine didn’t work… I asked two times the hostess to restart it but it didn’t work… Now I know what does it mean be trapped in a plane without movies!

This week was not so easy… It is difficult to say goodbye. I was also thinking that is too bad that I knew some really nice people just at the end, but well… The world is not that big, we will se again 🙂 I really want to keep in touch with you guys, and if you come to Switzerland (or to Europe) just let me know, it would be sooooo nice to see you again. And well, for sure I will come back to visit you in Vancouver, this is a promise!

Yesterday I played the tournament with the UBC team. We won ;). I won the double with Melissa (6-1 6-1) and I won the the single too (but it was an hard match… 10-8 in the third set super tie-break). It was really nice and I really appreciated the team atmosphere 😉 

I will continue to write in this blog, so check it out sometimes 😉

The next post probably will be from Switzerland 😉