the "186" runner is Anke from our Governance team). It was a lot of fun - 185km, 25 runners, 16 hours of relay running, that ended with a big party at the University of Twente campus. Personally, it meant a lot more because I practised running almost every week (had to stop for two weeks when I sprained my ankle) with a few others two months before the race. I also managed a longer route (6.1km instead of 3.5km) because one girl hurt her calf in a hockey match.
Last Friday was a long day in the "east", i.e. The Hague and Amsterdam. I managed to make the most out of my visit by arranging three meetings with: a housing market researcher at the Dutch Central Planning Bureau, a labour economist and potential supervisor at UvA (University of Amsterdam), and an Italian PhD student at UvA who is working on neighbourhood effects on school outcomes (I got to know her through one of our Italian lecturers). They were helpful in some ways or the other but in the end, I couldn't help but feel that I've obtained more new questions than answers to my original questions. Nevertheless, the trip has already paid off - the labour economist wrote to me this morning agreeing to be my supervisor. It is still a long way to go in a PhD career, but at least I have passed the "supervisor" hurdle, which indirectly vouches for the viability of my proposed research. This will definitely bolster my proposal defence on May 13th (I hope that I don't share the luck with our nation with "May 13"s). *fingers-crossed*
Anyway, I will call by the end of the week when all the commotion is over. I am currently rushing to finalise my proposal for submission this week.
Some random pictures from the website as I was unable to open those sent by Cheng:
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