[7] Yesterday, someone asked "is your lab dynamic?" Without doubt, Geoazur is dynamic! 120 permanent researchers/engineers and 80 non-permanent including PhD students. It is hard to be not dynamic. It's just that I should set priorities not to get too excited.

[6] In France EPOS-France meeting, which is like SAGE/GAGE meeting is completely free of charge. wow. And any ocean surrounding France is really nice !

[5] Normalement, which means "normally" in French, sounds like "Normal mode" to me, and I can't stop laughing whenever I hear this over somebody else's conversation. French is really difficult to learn.

[4] A strength of being part of Géoazur that is difficult to find elsewhere would be being able to do short fieldwork at the sea, thanks to the location! To maintain an offshore observatory or to test some newly developed sensors. And we can choose the best weather window. (back from high waves)

Is "Institution of Study" and "Country of study" asking where I got my most recent degree or where I am working now? Or the country that includes my study region...?

[3] I shared my feelings that it is already sad that I have to leave, and a colleague said such feelings are normal for any position. When we start to make friends and collaborations, it always gets sad thinking about leaving. That comment released me from the negative feelings! Socializing helps!

[2] There was a "Social Friday", which is just like Friday Beer back in ERI, Japan. The surprising difference is that in Japan it started at 7:30(i think..), but here it started at 5:00. I remember the Friday beer was my motivation to learn Japanese! Here, 4 pm coffee is affecting me similarly.

Here at Géoazur, perhaps because of its large size, I get a sense of a "cohort" with my colleagues like classmates back in grad school at UTokyo. Life feels better when you’re wishing success for your cohort members!

Wow! I didn't know that existed in the lab!

In Utah, the skies were blue almost every day, and here the oceans are so blue! I am looking forward to getting the most out of my journey in France!