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April 23, 2005
Back home
I came back from Germany two days ago. It was a nice trip and quite refreshing after the pressure of the last quarter. The weather in Germany was great, and hanging out with my girlfriend and just going out and seeing places and shopping was fun.
I have a lot of work to catch-up with though, from Sanskrit to Old Norse and Medieval History! Plus the fact that next Saturday, there is a Seminar in Late Antiquity conference at the UCLA, and I have a paper to present about Mazdak and his Sexual Communism. I seriously have to work on this one.
Today and tomorrow, there is a "Festival of Books" at the UCLA. Judging from the set-up, it should be gigantic! I am indulging myself today, and if I manage to take pictures, I will post them off here.
Wish me luck!
Posted by Khodadad at 08:29 AM | Comments (6)
April 13, 2005
Slovenia
Well, I am back in one piece from Slovenia. I guess it would have been an interesting country if it was not constantly raining! I have had no luck with the weather this year. First the LA flood, then here!
Anyway, Slovenia was interesting. It is a country in central Europe, right south of Austria and north of Italy. It is a mixture of eastern Europe and the western one. Landscape and architecture is very much like Austria, as does the attitudes. The religion is Catholic, and "Austrialian" catholic for that matter, with over the top churches (so much guilding you cannot believe) and things of that nature.
The capital city, Ljubljana (Laibach in German) is architecturally interesting. It has benefited from the artistic renaissance of the late 19th century and has many Art Nouvaux buildings and sites. It also has a few archaeological sites from the cities passed status as a Roman provincial town.
Like many cities in central Europe, it is dominated by a castle and has many churches to see. We visited the castle, which is highly renovated and is more a cultural centre than a medieval archaological site.
We also visited a small town (Skofje Loka) which again had a castle, but since it was Monday (!!!), it was naturally closed (also naturally closed on Sunday, when everything is Europe is closed!).
Ljubljana has a large university with many students which makes the city a very young one. There were many student establishments and the university was quite prosperous. Also seeing the expensive shops that are usually seen in Oxford Street in London and other shopping districts in Western European countries shows the prosperity of the country and its fast advancement towards being a full member of the EU.
A side product of the "progress" was the constant appearance of the Swaistika on the walls of the city. Every street wall had some version of the cursed sign, accopmanied by the usual slurs. The recently "liberated" children of Tito and Principe and Karajorjovich are already considering themselves to be of the "superior" race! Apparently, ignorence is universal!
Posted by Khodadad at 03:22 AM | Comments (2)
April 08, 2005
On the road again...
Just a quick entry to let you all know that I am in Germany now, and that is the main reason for not having updated my weblog.
I will be here for ten days and then I will head back to LA again. Meanwhile, I am going to Slovenia (one of those former Yuguslav republics and apparently now a very prosperous member of the EU). It should be interesting to see.
I will try to update and maybe put a few pics of the trip as well.
Posted by Khodadad at 03:37 PM | Comments (1)