New blog

Voici l'adresse de mon nouveau blog, qui portera sur mon année à venir à Édimbourg, Écosse: emilie-ecosse.blogspot.com


Here is the address of my new blog, which will cover my year to come in Edinburgh, Scotland: emilie-ecosse.blogspot.com

The Story of Stuff

Hors de contexte pour ce blog, mais très pertinent dans la vie de tous les jours! Jetez un coup d'oeil à ce vidéo qu'un ami m'a envoyé: www.storyofstuff.com


Out of context for this blog, but very relevant in your everyday life! Check out this video that a friend sent me: www.storyofstuff.com

3e et dernière visite au CERN

ATLAS, originellement un acronyme pour "A Toroidal LHC ApparatuS" (ce qui fait douter duquel est venu avant l'autre), est une des 6 expériences du LHC. ATLAS est constitué de plusieurs détecteurs et aimants entourant une section de l'anneau dans lequel les particules circuleront et entreront en collision, une fois le LHC remit en marche. Je n'entrerai pas dans les détails du fonctionnement et des buts de l'expérience (si vous êtes curieux, voir le site officiel, et si vous êtes encore plus curieux, je peux toujours vous envoyer une présentation power point que j'ai faite sur le sujet pour un cours à Genève), mais voici quelques photos et images du site.



ATLAS, originally an acronym for "A Toroidal LHC ApparatuS" (which makes you wonder which one came before the other), is one of the 6 experiments at the LHC. ATLAS consists of many detectors and magnets surrounding a section of the LHC tunnel, in which particles will circulate and collide, once the LHC starts running. I won't say more here about the how it works and what are the goals (if you are curious, check out the official website, and if you are even more curious, I can always send you a power point presentation I did on the subject for a course at Geneva - in French though), but here are some pictures and images of the site.



Détecteur entier et ses constituants / Whole detector and its constituents



Salle de contrôle / Control Centre



Le trou immense creusé pour descendre les parties du détecteur dans le tunnel. Si vous avez vu le film Anges et Démons, cette image devrait vous être familière. / The huge hole which was dug in order to descend the detector's parts in the tunnel. If you saw the movie Angels & Demons, this image should be familiar.



L'équipe / The crew



Vue des 8 aimants toroïdaux / View of the 8 toroid magnets



Simulation: traces que laisseraient des particules variées dans différents détecteurs / Simulation: traces that various particles would leave in different detectors

Home-sweet-home

So I am back home, St-Jacques, New Brunswick, Canada, since July 3rd. Prior to that date, I have been pretty busy with exams, packing, partying, etc. After a 23h trip (Geneva - Francfort - Montreal Airport - Montreal Centre Station - Ste-Foi - Rivière-du-Loup - St-Jacques, by plane then bus then mom and dad's car), I finally arrived home with all the family (my sister and her family, who live in Halifax, were visiting).
I am now off the jet-lag, off the daily-cheese&bread and on the mom's-food&desert regime (but got myself a gym subscription) and enjoying the rain and cold weather of my northern country. Ok, we did have about 2 nice days during which we hurried to the new pool at my parent's new house (the only thing ready about it is the pool; my dad knows how to set priorities).
It is good to be back home, it kinda seems like I never left, but at the same time it feels so quiet and makes me a bit nostalgic...Hopefully, I have something to look foward too; my future plans; a 1 year master's degree in Edinburgh, Scotland (if I can get my Visa in time)!
I'll certainly try to continue my blog over there, but for now, I'll try to finalize this one by adding a couple of texts about my visit at ATLAS and other things I haven't talked about yet.
Oh and I haven't said it, it's not official yet (should receive my diploma in September), but I'M DONE MY BACHELOR!

Random Stuff - just to take a study break

Threatening Swiss guards at the Vatican [Rome]



A swan, hatching her eggs [Bains des Paquis, Geneva]



n scoops of ice cream for n+1 euros, 1 <= n <= 9 [Chamonix, France]



A 'toufu' dog, too cute, that seemed lost :-( [Chamonix, France]



A convertible taxi [island of Capri, Italy]

HOME - the movie

You might've heard about it already, if not, here are the links (thx Fred):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL33hii4Y9U&feature=related
http://www.home-2009.com/fr/index.html
There is also a Facebook group that you can join: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=80398094297
Spread the word and make a note in your agenda for June 5th!

What's happened lately ?

Well, my first dip in the lake. It had been over 30 degrees for a couple of days, so one night we decided to go for a swim. At 9 o’clock pm, it was still around 28 degrees outside, but the water much much much colder… quite refreshing.

Then, my second “vineyard crawl”; a day in the country side of Geneva. Drinking, eating, walking… then running for the train. And forgetting our just bought bottle on a table (we eventually got it back). It was a great day tho!

And just 2 hours ago, attended to the (hopefully) last class of my bachelor!

To come: my visit to ATLAS, one of the CERN detectors, featured in the movie Angels & Demons!