A few things that made my 2019 interesting..

UFOs and Bratislava

2019 is my best year so far, followed by 2017, 2015, and 2013. This post lists 30 things that made my 2019 interesting.

1. The finishing touches of my Ph.D.

Final moments of my terminal degree that lasted almost 5 years.

2. Successfully defending my thesis in ULisboa.
I got a Pass with Distinction.

3. UCLouvain Public Defense of my Ph.D.
As a double degree, I had to defend my thesis twice. My defense in Belgium officially concludes my Ph.D. of 5 years!

4. 10 Years of many things.
Time to reflect on the goods and bads of the 2010s, now with a little one.

 
5. Hosting a RIPE NCC Atlas Probe.
Fascinating to contribute to the Internet measurement community.

View from the Zugspitze Summit

6. Watching the Lunar Eclipse in Atlanta.
I was also present in Colombo during the Solar Eclipse. But did not dare to watch it.

7. Leuven twice - the second time was the charm.
Starbucks Leuven has also become my most favorite Starbucks.

8. Finding the Louvain-la-Neuve lake completely dry.
It was sad to see my favorite lake missing - although it was temporary.

9. Porto after exactly 6 years.
It was a magical experience, being in Porto on the same 3 days.

10. An overnight stay in Charleroi Sud, Belgium.
Realizing there is more than just a cheap airport in this region.

11. Time travel - Lisboa version.
The feeling of saudade was so real.

Panevėžys Train Station

12. Transcontinental boat ride in Istanbul.

Consistently chased by an army of seagulls.

13. Praia das Maçãs - The Apples Beach in Sintra.
A place where my favorite song from Romania was shot.

14. The bright and energetic Antwerp.
Probably the most random trip of the decade.

15. Random walks in Bratislava, Slovakia.
A cheap Ryan Air flight after a long time.

16. Getting a new passport.

For another decade, until 2029!

17. Hot summer days in Houston, Texas.
It was special as our first trip with our infant son.

The Hollywood Sign

18. My second GSoC Mentor Summit, after 8 years.
This year we successfully resurrected Emory BMI as a mentoring organization.

19. Cold evenings in Riga, Latvia.
Our first city from the former USSR.

20. A day in a "ghost town" in Estonia.
Pärnu, a summer resort that hibernates during autumn and winter.

21. Panevėžys, a way of travel.
Who guessed a boring town would influence us this much?

22. Zugspitze, on the top of Germany.
At 2950 meters, it is literally the highest point I have ever been in my life.

23. The majestic Salzburg.
It has this true European vibes.

Crowded Istanbul

24. Daily Duolingo lessons of Portuguese.
Because I don't want to forget the language.

25. Apple Picking in Ellijay.
It was an unexpectedly nice and refreshing activity.

26. Batu Caves, Malaysia.
It was also my first visit to Kuala Lumpur and South East Asia.

27. Long metro rides and walks in Los Angeles.
Evening rides to Santa Monica and Long Beach, and hikes in LA.

28. Postdoc life in Emory.
I presented my first conference paper as a Postdoctoral Researcher at BigData conference in LA.

29. Döner Kebab and Sahlep in Istanbul.
After some long walks during the Christmas vacation.

30. A "direct" flight via Male.
It was my first direct but not non-stop flight, from Istanbul to Colombo, via Male.

Every year, I have one new year's resolution - to outperform my previous years. :) I already have high expectations for 2020. I wish you a happy new year. Thanks for reading my list until the end. You may also read the blog posts of all the previous years as well.

My UCLouvain Ph.D. Defense - Software-Defined Systems for Network-Aware Service Composition and Workflow Placement

Copies of my Thesis book

I successfully defended my Ph.D. thesis AGAIN, but this time at UCLouvain - Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium (the 2nd university of my double degree) on the 23rd of August 2019. I passed successfully. My presentation slides are given below. You may find the abstract here.

Finally, my double degree is completed with this second defense! It was fun to defend the same Ph.D. research twice.

The UCLouvain Public Defense of my EMJD-DC Double Doctorate Ph.D. degree from Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.

My EMJD-DC Erasmus Mundus Journey

View from my apartment in Rijeka, Croatia

My Ph.D. started 19 days before my MSc. defense. :) I got the happy news that I had received the Category "A" EMJD-DC Erasmus Mundus Scholarship, while I was attending the EMDC Winter Event in Evora. I started with IST, ULisboa, Portugal, as my first university. I continued with my MSc supervisor as my Ph.D. advisor also, as he is really a great supervisor and mentor.

Following my MSc defense, my Ph.D. started smoothly. I finished all my course requirements for the first year. I also went to the University of Rijeka, Croatia, for a short-term scientific mission (STSM). It was fun, spending the summer in Rijeka. I also had the chance to visit nearby countries (Italy, Slovenia, and Serbia) by bus, for a very low price. On the other hand, my stay in Croatia was also very productive. My research work there became a core of my thesis.

Night walk from KAUST

I did 2 Google Summer of Code (GSoC) from Portugal. Once during my MSc (2014) and the other during my Ph.D. (2015). I also did an OpenDaylight internship. Then I moved to Atlanta for 7 months for an extended internship at Emory University, as a continuation of my GSoCs. When I returned from Atlanta to Lisbon, I had to apply for the Belgium visa quick since I was already in my third year and I must move to my second university (UCLouvain) in Belgium. After a short period of 4 months in Lisboa, we moved to Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium in February 2017. Later in 2017, I also spent 2 months in KAUST, Saudi Arabia, the 5th university of my Ph.D. Finally, I returned to Portugal for my 4th-year 2nd semester, December 2017. In the next 6 months, I made sure to satisfy all the thesis requirements of IST and UCLouvain, including the UCLouvain Thesis Confirmation and IST CAT. I also finished the thesis draft and moved to Emory University again before the defense. 

Évora, Portugal

I should have finished my Ph.D. before leaving Portugal last year. However, it dragged a bit longer than what I anticipated due to administrative tasks and journal acceptances that were arriving at the last minute. Consequently, in early 2019 I submitted the CRC of the last journal of my Ph.D. and also submitted the final-final version of my thesis to both universities to print.

I came back to Portugal to defend my thesis. My defense went very well, and I passed with a distinction! With the successful defense of my PhD in IST, I was already a Ph.D. (Dr. Pradeeban Kathiravelu ;) ). But as far as UCLouvain is concerned, I still had to do my public defense in Belgium. That intermittent period of almost 2 months (July - August 2019): it was complex to explain people where I stand in my Ph.D. - as both a Ph.D. student (as far as UCLouvain/Belgium is concerned) as well as a Postdoc (elsewhere). Especially an interesting conversation to those outside the EU who were not familiar with double degree programs such as Erasmus Mundus.

Brussels: Fiesta Latina with friends

Yes, EMJD-DC is a double degree. I had to defend my thesis in Portugal and Belgium.

This year, I visited Belgium twice, for my Ph.D. defenses. For my IST/ULisboa defense, I visited Belgium first before flying to Portugal (June - July). Then, of course, I visited Belgium for my UCLouvain defense (August). My time in Belgium was like time-traveling to 2017 - meeting the familiar faces after quite some time and visiting the same places all over again. My 2nd defense (i.e., the UCLouvain public defense) was on the 23rd of August 2019, exactly 7 years since my arrival to Lisbon on the 23rd of August 2012 for my MSc. A pleasant coincidence.

Since I already had the Ph.D. degree from IST, I was more relaxed during this second one. I also had ordered to print the thesis book, as per UCLouvain requirements, prior to my arrival in Belgium. I had to go and collect the printed books from the printing shop, in an extreme corner of the Louvain-la-Neuve village. A neighborhood that I had never visited before. In fact, I wasn't even aware of the existence of those neighborhoods. My UCLouvain public defense also marked the end of my life as an Erasmus Mundus student. An interesting coincidence was, I first arrived in Portugal on August 23rd, 2012 as an EMDC Erasmus Mundus masters student. I defended my thesis at UCLouvain on the very same day, after 7 years. Is the universe sending me signals already? :D

Lullwater Park, Atlanta, GA, USA

There are a few things I could have done better. For instance, looking back, I feel I should have defended the thesis before moving out of the EU. It was just defense pending, and moving away from the EU made the process much longer. Similarly, I also think I should have started writing the thesis early on, making sure the LaTex variables across my various papers do not have naming conflicts. That would have helped me when I consolidated the content from my various papers to the thesis document. But I am still happy with how everything went. During my two trips to the EU for my defenses, I also had to practice my presentation. I still managed to explore the cities a bit. It was a happy moment. But that also made me miss the EU, as my student life attached to the EU came to an end with my Ph.D. defense. Somewhat bittersweet indeed.

Memories of Belgium

Our beautiful apartment

I spent most of my 2017 in Belgium, specifically a university town named Louvain-la-Neuve in Wallonia, the French region of Belgium. We had a 2-floor 2-room apartment all for ourselves, for just 750 Euro with water bill included. Until this date, that is the best apartment I have lived. Thanks to UCLouvain for the accommodation. Initially, I was worried that living in Belgium with the same amount of money I received in Portugal would be challenging. But it turned out quite ok. We, of course, were a bit more careful with money while in Louvain-la-Neuve. We witnessed snowfall in Louvain-la-Nueve in early March. Feeding the ducks and geese across the lake was also quite fun.

Thanks to the central location of Belgium and its competitive coverage by different airlines, flights from Brussels were quite cheap, throughout Europe. During the long weekends, we flew to different cities and countries. This made 2017 to be the year with most countries visited ever for me, so far. We left very early in the morning to catch the train to the nearby countries (Luxembourg and the Netherlands) or to the Brussels airport (Romania and Hungary). A long walk with a suitcase to enjoy yet another country or a city (Ghent, Bruges, and Ostende). I also attended my one and only Erasmus Mundus Association General Assembly (EMA GA), while I have been an EMA program representative for EMDC and EMJD-DC a few times.

View from our apartment

My apartment was quite far from the lab. Nearly a 30 minutes walk. But it was fun. Also, the roads were entirely for pedestrians as the vehicles always go underground. We had a shopping mall called L'Esplanade with a Delhaize supermarket. We always visited there to buy our groceries. Vegetables and fruits were very expensive there. But it was convenient. Once we went to ALDI but figured that it is quite too far for walking. We still loved walking around the lake in the summer. It was pleasant. Belgium chocolates, Belgium beers, and Belgium desserts - all were the best! We often bought fresh sashimi and sushi from the Delhaize.

My new suitcase in my lab

When we left Belgium to return to Portugal in 2017 August, I did not realize that I would return soon. But I had to, as my funding for the last 4 months of 2017 was from Belgium. I had back-and-forth 2 return trips from Belgium to Portugal. Eventually, I moved to Saudi Arabia for 2 months from Belgium. The Saudi visa did not take much time. During these days of back-and-forth travels between Portuguese airports (Lisboa and Faro) and Belgium airports (BRU and CRL), I stayed overnights in the 2 airports of Belgium, in my lab, in friends' homes, and also slept on a cat bed for 2 nights in an Airbnb-gone-wrong! Then I came back to Belgium and returned to Portugal in 4 days in December.

I also had 2 remarkable return trips to Belgium from Atlanta in 2019. First, was to fly to Portugal via Belgium, for my first defense in Portugal. I stayed in Leuven first, to meet my supervisor in Louvain-la-Neuve. Then, stayed in Antwerp before returning to Atlanta. I loved my stay in Antwerp. It was very pleasant. Then, I came back from Atlanta to defend my thesis once more (for the second and the last time!) at UCLouvain. This time, I stayed in Charleroi and Leuven. On the 23rd of August, after 7 years since my arrival to Lisboa, I completed my Ph.D. with my final Ph.D. defense. It was a remarkable journey of 7 years. Thanks Portugal and EU.

While I did not spend as much as time in Belgium, compared to I did in Portugal, Belgium still left me with very positive memories. I leave with positive memories of EU. I loved every bit of my stay in Europe. And goodbye, Belgium too.

My UCLouvain Public Defense and my 7 years in EU

With the 2nd defense of my Ph.D. double degree around the corner, my 2nd university has announced it in the UCLouvain website. You are welcome to join me in Louvain-la-Neuve on the 23rd of August.

I arrived in Belgium in the same week as my defense and stayed in Charleroi for the first night of my travel. My double degree is finally coming to an end soon. Interestingly, I arrived in Lisbon, Portugal, for my MSc (EMDC double degree) on the 23rd of August, 2012. The final defense of my EMJD-DC Ph.D. double degree from UCLouvain Belgium is set for the 23rd of August, 2019. My European life comes to an end after precisely 7 years.

Unplanned Destinations - Antwerp Edition

A beautiful mall in Antwerp

After completing my Ph.D. defense successfully in Lisboa, I returned to Brussels. I decided to stay overnight at the airport since my flight arrived late in the night and I felt it is meaningless attempting to catch the last train and reaching the hotel on a late night. I hadn't even booked a hotel for the next day. I was yet to decide on a city.

It was an overnight stay at the airport after 2 years. I was sitting on the airport floor since there was no power socket close to the seats. After some serious searches, I ended up choosing Antwerp. I booked a nice hotel, had a small breakfast and coffee in an airport cafe, and then got into the train to Antwerp. I reached Antwerpen Centraal by 7:15 a.m. Luckily, the Leonardo Hotel Antwerpen was so considerate, and they let me check-in by 7:30 a.m, although I was initially planning to drop my suitcase and go for a walk later for checking in. I spent 2 nights in Antwerp. The hotel was close to China Town. I ended up frequenting restaurants in China town during my stay, except when I went on random trips using the Antwerp metro.

Antwerp is a lovely city and I do not regret my decision to visit it. Sometimes, random places surprise you in a pleasant way more than a well-planned destination. It was the end of my first Ph.D. defense trip. Until next time, Belgium.

Respecte Ton Lac

#RespecteTonLacLLN

I returned to Louvain-la-Neuve after more than 1.5 years for my 1st Ph.D. defense (yes, there will be one more defense - as this is a double degree). My 1st defense is actually in Portugal. But I had a short stay in Belgium as I wanted to meet my supervisor in Belgium to get his feedback before my defense. While waiting for him to turn up in his office, I decided to have some coffee and a croissant in a bakery I used to frequent while I lived in Louvain-la-Neuve in 2017. I sat down in the seats outside the bakery and had a sip of the coffee. A few minutes later, a waitress came to me and politely reminded that the seats belong to the restaurant and not the bakery - and therefore I should leave unless I order something from them. 

There was this beautiful lake full of geese and

Completed constructions in Louvain-la-Neuve

ducks - we used to feed them. It has also become my most favorite lake in the world ;) (thanks 2017 for all those awesome memories by the lake!).  I decided to go to the lakeside and sit on one of those seats facing the lakes while enjoying my croissant and coffee. I started walking and ended up in the lakeside. To my disappointment, the lake had become completely dry! What an anti-climax. A lake that was part of my life for the whole year of 2017. I used to walk by the lake every single day to my lab, and also in the return journey. I was not sure what made the lake go dry. A family (a middle-aged couple and their teenage son) was walking. I decided to ask them about the lake as they looked locals: "There was a nice lake here when I lived here 2 years back. What happened to the lake?" The gentleman smiled and replied, "Oh, they dried it to clean the lake. You are disappointed, aren't you?" I said, "Yes, I came back to see the lake and found it gone. Of course, disappointed" Then I walked around the lake taking some photos. I also saw some guys crossing the lake (which by now is just a patch of grassland) by walking across it.

Later, I found that this is a regular practice in Louvain-la-Neuve. The municipality empties the lake every 5 years in February and keeps it dry until October. Before doing so, they carefully move the fish, birds, and animals to a nearby lake, and in October, bring them back. That means the lake will remain dry when I return to Louvain-la-Neuve in August for the UCL public defense (Update from August: I did visit the lake again in August during my second visit and found it to be drier). It was interesting (and sad) that I was expecting to see the lake and missed it despite visiting it.

A few things that made my 2017 interesting..

Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, India

2017 is my best year so far, followed by 2015 and 2013. In this post, I list 30 things that made my 2017 interesting.

1. A day in Thiruvannamalai, India!
The best of 2017.

2. A fast-paced year full of déjà vu.
Too many things happened in too little time.

3. Winning a projector from Teradata in a Twitter contest at VLDB 2017

I love this Mini Android Smart Portable Projector.

4. A midnight walk in Timișoara with just a paper map
Finally, a huge fan of Romanian music visits Romania!

5. My first book published.
It was nice to publish my first book, and receive its hard-copies.

6. My first book chapter, ready for publication.
My book chapter was accepted for publication before my first book, but my book was released first.

7. Reviewing books and papers.
Received a few printed books as a result.

8. ACRO2017 in Karlstad, Sweden.
My first (and probably, only) summer school. And making friends!

Spring flowers of Keukenhof

9. Beautiful Oslo
This city is as beautiful as Stockholm.

10. Sunny Szeged
It is a pity I did not collect some Hungarian Forint (1 USD = 262.611 HUF) back home to give them to scammers.


11. Valencia - once more Spain!
I visited Spain and Sweden in 2013, 2015, and 2017. Following this pattern, I predict that I will revisit them both in 2019. ;)

12. Memories of Louvain-la-Neuve 

When I arrived in Louvain-la-Neuve in February, I did not realize that my entire year is going to be in this Belgian village!

13. Walk across the castles in Luxembourg

I love these small EU countries.

14. Spring flowers of Keukenhof

We were right in the season. Perfect timing.

15. A day-trip in Dubai

Short. But surprisingly nice.

16. Two months in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
As a visiting student / Government Visitor to KAUST.

17. Sleepless nights in Colombo
Deadline-oriented motivation. This year is full of that.

18. Turning 30
I think that is a big achievement to reach my 30s.

19. A day in the streets of Prague
A day full of random metro rides and walks.

20. New Year's Eve in Zurich!
Enjoying the view of the moving flights from the ZRH Airport Observation room on the 1st of January!

21. Attending VLDB in Busy Munich
Loved attending a top conference for the first time. Berlin is still my favorite city.

22. Colorful Bruges, Belgium.

Summer in Bruges

It is so colorful in the summer.

23. Experiencing Chennai, India
After watching several Tamil movies from India, it is nice to be in Tamil Nadu for the first time.

24. Dissecting various scams in Portugal, Sri Lanka, and Belgium.
Fell victim to a few. Dodged a few. A scammer may come in various shapes, jobs, and genders. But usually, he is a taxi driver.

25. A sunny day in Fonte da Talha
Spending a whole evening in this Portuguese beach once more before the summer runs out!


26. Staying in a hotel room in Faro just to connect to the Internet before a flight
Luckily the Internet was reliable enough in my room to connect to an important meeting that I was part of.

27. Working on Óbidos and Évora
This time I am talking about my research papers. Not the Portuguese cities.

28. Attending EMA GA in Brussels.
Been the PR several times for both EMDC and EMJD-DC. But first time in the GA representing both.
  
29. Half-decade of Memories
It has been 5 years in Lisboa and with IST/INESC-ID!

30. Two Christmas Parties!
Joined the parties in UCLouvain/Belgium and INESC-ID Lisboa.


Every year, I have one new year's resolution - to outperform my previous year. :) The bar is very high for 2018. I wish you a happy new year everyone. Thanks for reading my list until the end. You may also read the blog posts of the previous years as well.

Delayed Ryan Air and Drinking Water

A half-decade long memory.

My Ryan Air flight was delayed by 2 hours and 55 minutes. I was informed that I am not entitled to any compensation as this delay is less than 3 hours. Very convenient timing. There was no free water on board. Despite the delay, everyone was forced to buy water for 3 Euro. What if someone did not have 3 Euro to buy water and faint down? It is after all the mistake of Ryan Air for delaying with passengers onboard, without even informing us the reason for the delay properly. I had to buy water + meal combo for 10 Euro as it was lunchtime already. I love my TAP Portugal flights - even the shortest flight gets you something to eat and drink!

This year, I had to fly back and forth between Belgium and Portugal a few times with the last minute flights during the last 4 months. I once had to pay 200 Euro to fly from Faro to Charleroi one way, which would have cost me less than 20 Euro if I booked on time. I even did not take any checked in luggage with me. Just my big backpack as the handluggage.

Once I also had another 200 Euro flight between Brussels and Lisboa with an overnight transit in Madrid with AirEuropa. AirEuropa seats are wide with large legroom.

Eventually, I am back to Portugal after all the back and forth movements. When I am back, the year is about to end. The year was full of memories and lots of déjà vu. It was like living my entire 30 years of life back in a single year. Like a remix of old songs. Sometimes it felt like living a South Indian Kollywood masala movie directed by someone making a new movie copying fractions from many old successful movies.


It was a fast-paced year. I migrated rapidly. Moved apartments even rapidly. Sometimes I lived in 3 apartments within a week. I flew back and forth. Sometimes twice in a week. I had two consecutive sleepless nights - 64 hours of non-stop writing. Now that I am back and relaxed, it is time to focus on my deadlines again.

Scammers and Robbers in Brussels Nord Train Station: Do you speak English?

Robbers in Brussels Nord train station is not new. They target the tourists who arrive from the Brussels Zavantem Airport as Brussels Nord serves as the main train station that connects the airport to the city center. I encountered them before this year during my early days in Belgium. That was of 3 women, presumably from an East European country such as Bulgaria, judging from the looks.

After that I used Brussels Nord train station several times for my daily commutes. But now I do not have big suitcases with me, unlike when I fly. I was wondering whether the situation has got better or is it just me being lucky. But yesterday, it happened to me again, as I was returning with my big suitcase, a large laptop bag, and a camera bag, ready to fly to Portugal.

As I was rushing between the platforms at the Brussels Nord station, a somewhat pretty girl in her early twenties stoppped me, "Hi, do you speak English?". She probably is of Romanian or Bulgarian origins, though I am not really an expert in identifying their nationality. It is not important either. She looked in distress. I assumed she wanted some directions with trains, metro, or whatever.

I replied, "Yes, I speak English". She quickly uttered, "Oh, thank God", and continue to say something along the lines like I saved her since no one apparently speaks English here. This immediately gave me a big warning - Brussels is a multi-lingual city. Actually it is very easy to find someone who speaks English. I never had trouble asking random strangers questions and receiving helpful suggestions in English - not even once. Despite Brussels being a mostly French/Dutch speaking city, its prominence as the European capital and tourist destination has made it truly international. For a newly arriving tourist, of course it may sound plausible that she had a hard time locating someone who can understand her.

She continues, "I lost my wallet/card/money *" (did not really catch what she lost, as we were in the middle of a noisy busy path where passengers were quickly moving around - it was 5:30 PM Friday, full of work crowd). "Could you please buy me a train ticket?" One thing apparent was her careful choice of the person to seek help - a young man possibly from India who is also apparently a tourist, potentially just arriving at Brussels. In such situation, one would easily sympathize: what if I was in her situation as a tourist with no money to train ticket in a place where no one speaks English! (oh yes, I believe that Brussels is a village in deep China or French-speaking Africa, where no one understands your English). Also who does not like to help a girl who spotted you as someone who can help among the millions of others passing by?

Now I confirmed that my warning signs were right. In these situations in the past, I always have helped people; happened mostly in Sri Lanka. I am not really sure how many of these were genuine need and how many were just regular beggars. I did not care much as they were mostly in a much small scale (< 0.50 Euro) as public transport in Colombo is much cheaper than in Brussels.

It did not take me even a few seconds to come to the conclusion: this young lady with a beautiful smile was either planning to make me pay for her "long train ride to Amsterdam" or in the worst case make me take my wallet in the middle of the crowded path where her partner can quickly snatch and move on with my wallet. In either case, I quickly replied with an empathetic smile, "Oh, I am sorry. I do not have Euros. I am going back". I watched her smile fade away as she rushes leaving me without any reply.

Elegance of a full stop

So I am back to Louvain-la-Neuve once more. Ever since I left Belgium on the 22nd of August, I kept returning. First, on my way back home (Lisboa) from Munich, I had a transit in Brussels. I had some administrative things to do in Louvain-la-Neuve. I was contemplating whether I should just skip the second half of the trip and come to Louvain-la-Neuve from Brussels airport. However, since I had lots of luggage, I decided to continue the journey to Lisboa. Then I came to Brussels for the third time in a last minute flight that would cost me a lot. I thought I had finished my tasks, and returned in an equally expensive flight. However, I was wrong. I still had many more things left to do. I came back to Brussels the forth time! This time, it is colder - and it is autumn here now. Unlike in winter, the heater is still not on yet. Freezing in the apartment in the early morning. Autumn make you feel the end of life. I prefer a stable temperature - first summer, then stable winters with proper heating inside. Springs give hope - so I can accept them too!

This is not winter here yet. However, the temperature here now reaches the winter temperature of Lisboa. Also the feels-like temperature varies a lot too. In my lab, it feels colder than it is outside. I am not even sure how is it even possible.

Receiving the Books that I Reviewed!

This year has become the year that I have traveled most. Probably this will remain to be the year with most number of travels for quite some time for me. Sometimes it gets a bit too much with too many flights. Not to mention how expensive a flight can get when it is a last minute flight. All my one-way flights cost me almost 200 Euro (FAO/Faro/Portugal -> CRL/Chareloi/Belgium and BRU/Brussels/Belgium -> LIS/Lisboa/Portugal). My favorites are border crossings by land. Had one more chance to cross into the south of the Netherlands from Belgium. It was amazing.

Finally, returned to Portugal once more from Belgium. By this time, I also received my reviewer copies for the 2 books that I reviewed recently. These books discuss OpenDaylight. The last year of my PhD is going so eventful.

Belgium Almost Autumn

I had to go to Belgium once more from Lisboa to sign the contracts, since my EMJD-DC funding comes to an end. It was already getting colder compared to Lisboa. Summer is officially over for Belgium!

I also received the hard-copies of my recently published book, "Python Network Programming Cookbook - Second Edition", during my short time in Lisboa.

Summer in Belgium

After completing the deadline of a paper that I was working on, and submitting the final reviews to Python Network Programming Cookbook - Second Edition, I finally had some time to enjoy the last few moments of summer in Belgium. Paid a visit to Ghent, Bruges, and Ostende. The Atlantic ocean was pleasantly warm, at least warmer than outside. Felt good.

EMJD-DC Spring Event 2017

[30th May - 1st June, 2017] We had the Spring Event this year in Brussels. My presentation and the poster are given below.

Software-Defined Inter-Cloud Composition of Big Services from Pradeeban Kathiravelu

Scalability and Resilience of Multi-Tenant Distributed Clouds in the Big Services Era from Pradeeban Kathiravelu

EMA GA 2017 at Brussels

May 26th - 27th: I have been a program representative (PR) of Erasmus Mundus Association (EMA) a few years for EMDC and EMJD-DC. However, unfortunately in the past, I missed the general assembly (GA) due to conflicts in schedules. I was the representative of EMDC master program in 2013. However, I could not attend the GA as I had the semester exams during the same days. In 2016, I was again the PR for EMJD-DC. I missed the opportunity to be present at the GA in Lugano, as I was waiting for my residence permit interview. 

This time in 2017, I made it to the GA in Brussels. I represented both EMDC and EMJD-DC this time! It is like 2013 (EMDC) and 2016 (EMJD-DC) combined. It felt nice to be there after previous failed attempts.

We had productive meetings and discussions on the past, current, and future of Erasmus Mundus. Good memories.

ICTEAM Day at UCLouvain

May 23rd: We had an ICTEAM Day at Namur, where we presented our PhD work in 180 minutes as well as in a poster. My 180 minutes talk presentation is attached below.

Componentizing Big Services in the Internet from Pradeeban Kathiravelu

Spring 2017

Flowers of Keukenhof

Finally the spring is here and the trees and weeds are full of flowers in Louvan-la-Neuve. Paid a visit to Keukenhof to witness more flowers.

We bought the 10 train pass ticket  for 77 Euros. It covers the journey inside Belgium, Louvain-la-Nueve to Essen. The remaining international train journey (Essen -> Leiden) is separately bought. There was no need to get down at Essen though. The journey was Louvain-la-Neuve -> Ottignies -> Brussels Nord -> Rotterdam -> Leiden.

From Leiden, the combination ticket costs 24 Euro, which covers the return bus journey from Leiden to/from Lisse (Keukenhof), in the bus 854. It takes 32 mins each way. If you just buy the entrance pass to Keukenhof without the bus pass, it would cost 16 Euro/person. The combination ticket can be bought from the AKO bookstore in Leiden train station.

Leiden is a beautiful university town, located conveniently on the way to Keukenhof. The bus stop is just in front of the train station. So it is best to stay close to the train station.

Beware of Robbers in the Public Transport

Colombo, feels just like a very familiar city. Deja vu.

So I was in this bus during a recent visit to Sri Lanka. This conductor guy was standing next to me when I was about to get down. I felt he was too close and some touches in the backside of my backpack. I assumed he mistakenly was touching as the bus was moving. As I got down, my glass box fell down from the small front pocket of my bag. Now it all made sense to me. He assumed that was my wallet in the small pocket. He thought I was easy prey. Because of his stupidity, the box broke falling down. He kept staring at me as the bus moved on - he probably did that involuntarily as he noticed me taking the box from the ground, or probably he wanted to see whether I identify his trick and react (how? by chasing the moving bus? or by shouting? I did not react except giving an angry face at our failed system). He managed to wide open the bag though nothing valuable was there for him to steal. It is a sad state - the conductors are expected to serve the passengers, not to rob them. Next time when you are in Sri Lanka, beware of these bus conductors. From my overall experience, most of these guys are unpleasant. Based on the last experience, some can be robbers too!

A similar incident happened in Brussels Nord train station too. We were boarding the train, tired after a long flight. One middle-aged woman (~35) presumably of east European origin based on her looks, jumped the queue. Then another 2 of her friends, jumped in front of me, making a distance between me and my girl. We were with luggage. One woman, inside the train, was pulling my girl's big luggage talking something in a language that sounded new and strange, as if she was helping her (but actually she was merely dragging. not helping). In the mean time, the 3rd woman in front of me, was pretending to help me drag luggage too. I was kinda annoyed by that time. No one jumps queues in Europe usually. At least in the west. These were women. So I tend to let them pass. However, we were with luggage. No reason to make us suffer. But when I got in, I noticed my girl's front bag (where she had her cash, mobile, and all other valuable items) was wide open. 

While one woman managed to distract her by pulling her big luggage, and other doing the same trick on me, the other one in the middle managed to wide open her small front bag (that usually is for passport, documents, and cash during the flights). Luckily for us, as soon as I boarded the train, I noticed the bag open. I loudly announced, "Your bag is open. We have robbers in this bus". I looked at the women. Not because I immediately guessed they were the robbers. But they were the ones interacting with us. It took me a second to realize what is going on. By this time, sensing a retaliation, one of those robbers told me quick, "Oh, we are going to airport. Wrong train", and all 3 robbers jumped the train and disappeared in a second!

My girl confirmed she did not lose anything. The robbers almost rob us. So it can be decent looking women too. Don't assume the robbers are usually ugly men. The sad part of the entire story - no one in the train was bothered to listen, interfere, or react while we were having these conversations or when I announced that we were almost robbed. Probably they are used to all these dramas. Or probably they thought we all belong to a same team, giving a performance to rob someone else? Who knows.

This is the second scam we encountered in Brussels. To read more about the first one: How to Overcome an Uber Scam.

Back to my EMJD-DC busy life.

Luxembourg by Public Transport

Louvain-la-Neuve, the village of the second (current) university of my PhD sleeps during the Sundays. Almost everything shuts down, as students disappear from the village to their hometowns during Friday evenings to reappear only on Sunday nights. Since it was getting a bit boring during the weekends in this small village, we decided to visit the nearest country, Luxembourg. We first have to go to Ottignies and transit there to take a train to Luxembourg, that originates from Brussels - Midi station.

Usually, this costs 51.60 Euro/person to go to Luxembourg by train from the village. However, on weekends, the local public transport has a 50% discount in Belgium. This leads to the final price of 35.40 Euro/person in the weekends. One ticket from Louvain-la-Neuve to Arlon (Belgium) that costs 23 Euro for a return trip, and the next from Arlon to Luxembourg for return trip for 12.40 Euro. The transit remains the same though the tickets are broken as the above to separate the local trip from the international part of the journey.

For 4 euros, you may purchase a daily pass that you can use to travel anywhere in the country by bus or train. Hop on Hop off buses and toy trains were not available during our visit, as they start only from April. Many shops were closed on Sundays. Some were closed as it is still off-season. However, tourists were already there. Luxembourg city was quite boring compared to other cities. Even Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein, scored better in my opinion. But Luxembourg is still worth visiting once. If you ask me, any country is worth a visit at least once, anyway.