A very big day today

Today was a really big day: Ph. D. defence of Jeroen Danon where I happened to be a promotor.

The day has passed in an unbelievably smooth fashion. I got up early and finally have had time to read the thesis and devise a question. The commitee members who had to come from five different cities today all did it on time and have gathered in a correct place. The rector has been very considering. The only really foreign guest we have had has managed to understand and perform all complicated manipulations with hat, did not stamp on his gown and has uttered "waarde promovendus" without any hesitation. All commitee members had polite and sensible questions. The candidate has not collapsed in the course of the event nor he even got pale. Contrary to expectations, he was polite with commitee members even in cases he did not know the answer. In last several minutes, he was kind enough to outline a theory of ideal goverment: thing we all miss. To make my day prefect, he complimented me on my speech.

So it was all good. The only sad thing is of course that Jeroen has finished. We have been working together for five years, and I will miss him. He will go to Berlin to proceed with post doctural studies and thus become a real German Beamte. We still have unfinished projects, most importantly, a textbook on Advanced Quantum Mechanics. 

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