From the coast of Sicily to the streets of Barcelona and back home to Ottawa, my last 10 days have been full of science, celebrations and catching up with good friends.

First, I landed in beautiful Aci Trezza in Sicily for the 13th European Summer School in Nuclear Astrophysics (ESSENA). Alongside giving a lecture of experimental studies using γ-beams, I also participated in a great panel discussion organized by NuFFER and Eliana Masha.

Next up was Barcelona to celebrate a major milestone: the 60th birthday of my friend and collaborator Jordi José. Beyond the great food and hospitality of the local group, I also presented my recent work on low-metallicity novae in this special conference.

The marathon ended in Ottawa at the annual CAP Congress, where I gave an invited talk on our latest work looking into the weak r-process and the abundances of metal-poor stars.

It was an exhausting 10 days, but absolutely delivered when it came to great science and catching up with brilliant friends!

With Marco and Artemis in Aci Trezza
With Jordi in Barcelona
With Dhruval and Megan in Ottawa