Well, it's all over. In an hour and 19 minutes I'll head to the station and get on a train, three planes and then I'll be home. Unbelieveable. I did really well here, which I didn't expect. Proclamation yesterday was totally absurd, but also incredibly fun. Huge buffet, free booze (of course) and all the faculty that wouldn't talk to you the whole year suddenly clap you on the back and offer their congratulations. Marianne, Shane and I warmed up at my place with a bottle of Maker's Mark, which made the standing and waiting a lot easier. We were all pretty nervous, so we drank the rest of our bottle in the hall as they started to read out the Flemmish graduates. It was glorious when we heard our names, just glorious. Rocky made a speech with his usual wit and harried charm, he's one of the ones I'm really going to miss, even though we never really hung out. We didn't stick around for the rest of it, there was celebrating to do and "solemn" proclamations frown on hoopin' and hollerin'. In a truly bizarre moment, the string quartet played U2's "One" during one of the segues. This place is a trip.

Then we went and got our grades. I did so well on my thesis I had to sit down for a minute. I never thought I would do that well, but I worked damn hard, so it feels good. REALLY good.
I'm done here, and though I am certainly mangled, I think once everything heals I'll be just a little more solid than I have been. Marianne's going to the London School of Economics (where allegedly they have Bentham's head rolled out for meetings), Shane's going to Fordham (I'm insanely jealous) and I'm going to Syracuse, which I think may finally be my Shangri La. I am so proud of us, we did so well and it was such hard work.

Of course when the party thinned we all went to Libertad. To be honest, I don't remember much, but there was lots of laughing and hugging even though everybody was also a little sad. Apparently I took lots of pictures, so I'll post those soon. Everything's changing for most of us. I'm looking forward to my transition, I can't wait to be home, but I'm sure I'll get a little weepy on the plane.

Anyway, life is good. I'll see all of you stateside.


A.D.C. Cake, M.A.

I'm always talking about how I love feature length animated movies. One of the best guys out there is Brad Bird (the Iron Giant, the Incredibles) and this is a super awesome video tour of his work (via Boing Boing and Slate).

For all you Husserlians out there, I think this is pretty cool:

Sense of touch is crucial for empathy

Well, I'm leaving in two days. Of course it doesn't seem real, but my room is almost all packed. I've been walking around for weeks taking mental pictures, as soon as my camera charges up I'll put some of that in Jpeg. For now, I'm just enjoying being lazy, going to the happy place twice a day (pictures to follow as soon as Hemain gets off his duff) and generally not doing anything but pack and smoke and read and mess around on the internet.

Things I will miss:

1) The food. It doesn't get any fresher, though it's damned expensive.
2) The clothes. Fashion here is just so much better.
3) Rainy day sunshine. It thunderstormed three times yesterday, and you can just wait it out. The sunshine always reappears in ten minutes or so.
4) The architecture. The Stadhuis never gets old, neither do the backs of monastaries.
5) The beer. It makes me sick, unfortunately, but I don't think I'll ever enjoy any other beer after being here.
6) The Institute. Don't get me wrong, I don't ever want to study here again, but it's still a beautiful and eminent place. Nostalgia will ensue as soon as I get some distance.
7) The people. This should really be number one, but as I didn't really seem to mix with that many Europeans (with notable exceptions whom I will miss immensely) I hope to see most of my North American friends on the other side.
8) The markets. There's nothing like olive bread, theekoekes, fresh produce and aubergine spread. Not to mention americanos with Marianne on Fridays.
9) The Jimi thing. No I don't mean Dave Matthews. And that brings us to...
10) Maastricht. Besides Ithaca and Toronto, I've never loved another geographical space so much. I will live there someday, yes I will.
11) The chicken shack. I can't spell or pronounce the Dutch name. Stav, you make great chicken. I'm going back to being mostly vegan when I get back, so I think I'll have to eviscerate another poultry before I leave.
12) The smell. Leuven is a small place with a lot of food and greenery. Mixed with passing rainstorms and world cuisine, it just smells good all the time. Nevermind car exhaust, I try to stear clear of the thoroughfares.
13) Sidewalk culture. The Oude Markt booms with jovial voices whenever it's not totally freezing outside.
14) The concerts. Sooo much better than in the States. The acts come on like clockwork, the venues are small, beautiful and more or less affordable. Plus EVERYONE comes through here. I saw Badly Drawn Boy, The Decemberists, Sparklehorse, The Album Leaf, Sonic Youth, Do Make Say Think and Tortoise here and in Brussels. There were tons more I wanted to see, but you know... gotta make choices. Chris and Marianne went to see Motley Crue, which still strikes me as fabulous.
15) Copyright lassitude. These people don't bat an eyelash when you photocopy a whole book. Look, I'm a student. If I can't pirate, I can't do all the things I'm capable of doing. Besides, I more than make up for what I don't pay in word-of-mouth advertising if I like something.
16) The languages. I think this would be higher up on the list if I wasn't so utterly embarrassed by the failings of my American education. Yes, federal government, I'm pointing at you. There are a lot of other reasons too, but it really seems that it's a total liability to be an American academic in the Continental field. I still can't utter a sentence in Dutch. My French is only slightly improved in terms of reading comprehension (I got to put that sweet line in my thesis that "all English translations of this work are mine," but really I was just showing off and moreover couldn't ignore the source).
17) Erasmus. Mieke, Bart and Harry have been very good to me this year. Mieke never judges me when I ask for two coffees at once. I think she's possibly the best server I've ever witnessed in action.
18) Smoking in bars. I know, I know, but it's nice for smokers.

I'll add more later. I have to go drop stuff off at the dump.