Holidays, finally

Holidays! Yes, really holidays!

This year has been particularly difficult and hard for many people and I am no exception. With the moving to Maastricht, the need to familiarise with a new working and living environment, the lockdown measures, the new teaching and administrative tasks, and mnay other little things, I arrived at the end of the academic year almost annihilated. Luckily, I am now on annual leave and back in Italy with my family who I really missed throughout the past year. Begin together in flesh and blood is a really nice feeling, somehting that online calls cannot replace. I really needed a break from the usual routine and this vacation is just perfect in order to recover my energies and be ready for the upcoming academic year. I was also lucky enough to received both my vaccinations before leaving the Netherlands as otherwise I could have troubles when traveling between countries.

So, not mush to say apart that I will be taking these holidays as a chance to put togehter some research ideas for next year. From thinking about how to plan a new grant application, to prepare myself for attending future courses in relation to learning Dutch, new teaching modules, the teaching qualification certificate, and of course some nice research papers. Speaking of the devil, I falsh out my most recently published paper in MDM in the area of partitioned surivival CUA modelling, which has now been officially released. If you are interested in the topic, check it out!

Finally, I would also like to give a brief review of a textbook which I really enjoyed reading. I consider this the masterpiece of one of my top philosophical authors, David Hume. It is entitled Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion and is one of the latest works of the Scottish philosopher written, as the title suggests, in the form of dialogues among three people who talk about many interesting and general concepts. From the nature of God’s existence, good and evil, and the role of religion in society. It is truly one of the most incredible and fascinating philosophical debate I have ever read in that it touches subjects in which I am really interested. This was the first “real” philosophy textbook I read after my high school readings and it was stuck in my mind for a long time due to its well-done structure and reasoning. It can be hard to follow at times, especially if you are not used to how these types of texts are written, but I can surely say that it is worth it. Perhaps, I will refer to some of my other top philosophy readings in my future posts, just in case someone might be intrigued by them and would like to give them a chance.

Anyway, that is all from me for now. Now time for some vacation and relax in my warm, humid and very polluted “Pianura Padana” in Italy which, however, I love very much and I am super happy to see again. Tot Septmeber folks!