A Short Tally.

On the train from Leiden I began trying to put the last 27 months in context for myself. It occurred to me that since graduating from Berkeley in May 2007, I have:

Been in over 65 cities with over 45 of them new to me including but not limited to Berkeley, San Francisco, Oakland, Jackson Hole, Gardener (MT), Rapid City (SD), Omaha, St. Louis, Lexington (KY), Durham, Winston-Salem, Chapel Hill, Auckland, Sydney, Canberra, Shannon (Ireland), Baltimore, DC, New York City, Philadelphia, Newark, Boston, Rochester (NY), Albuquerque, LA, Ponca City, Norman, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Fort Myers (FL), St. Petersburg (FL), Cincinnati, Bonn, Cologne, Essen, Dusseldorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Munich, Heidelberg, Berlin, Hamburg, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Dachau, Catania, Caltagirone, Siracusa, Bilbao, Nantes, Nice, Paris, Bruges, Brussels, Tybee Island (GA), Savannah (GA), Prague, Banff, Calgary and Leiden;

Spent time in 13 countries including the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Ireland, Austria, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands;

Set foot in 30 US States including California, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Massachussetts, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio, New Mexico;

AND

Traveled a total of more than 70,000 miles.

Here are some awards I could give out, though certainly all the places (or at least the people I was with in them) listed have left a noteworthy impression on me:

Places I would most like to live someday: Berlin and Paris.
Best food: Shawnee, Norman, SF, NYC, Paris, Bilbao, Nice, Waiheke Island, Canberra and somewhat surprisingly Prague.
Best places to collaborate: MSRI and IHP.
Best coffee, bread and cheese: Anywhere in France.
Best honey and fruit: New Zealand.
Best Cathedrals: Cologne, Paris.
Best buildings: Paris, Prague, Berlin, Leiden.
Best alcoves: Bruges.
Best bridges: SF, Sydney and Bilbao.
Best games: Bonn.
Best rivers: Bonn, Bilbao, Prague, Banff, Tahlequah.
Best place to paddle down the river: Tahlequah with Bob Coozie River Tours.
Best museums: SF, NYC.
Best cheap live jazz: NYC and Paris.
Best birds: Canberra hands down.
Best place to have distant family and collaborators: Berkeley, Nice.
Best pickpocketing story ever: Nantes.
Best place to wear a black wool tux for a summer wedding: Tulsa.
Best beach wedding: Fort Myers.
Best place to catch up with old friends: Garmisch.
Best place for Christmas Kolache: Catania.
Best place for Lamb and Scene-It: Venice Beach.
Best academic setting: Bonn, Chapel Hill, Heidelberg and Leiden.
Best view of the Mediterranean: Siracusa.
Best gourmet popsicles: Durham.
Best scenery: Yellowstone, Banff, Prague, Paris, Sydney.
Best places to drink Guinness after your plane catches fire: Shannon.
Best sky: Ponca City.
Best model ships: Hamburg.

It has been an amazing ride, but I am so ready to have a home again and spend less time feeling like I am in flux in one way or another.