Alexandra Mihai

Hello Seoul!

Have been living in beautiful Maastricht for 3 years now and I never get bored of this gorgeous view on my way to work.

"Maybe a self is just a bunch of little stories glued together in some haphazard way that we use to comfort ourselves."
***
Siri Hustvedt, "Memories of the future"

"When we are stricken and cannot bear our lives any longer, then a tree has something to say to us: Be still! Be still! Look at me! Life is not easy, life is not difficult. Those are childish thoughts. Home is neither here nor there. Home is within you, or home is nowhere at all."
Hermann Hesse

"Life meanders like a path through the woods. We have seasons when we flourish and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again."
***
Katherine May,  "Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times"

Sacred Rivers, Pregnant Earth It is true for individuals, it is true for societies: in our strengths lie our weaknesses.

"We are told that we must always find, generate and consume something new, something unusual, something completely “original”. As a culture, we have been so conditioned in this direction that we neglect to see what is already here, within us."
(Elif Shafak)
elifshafak.substack.com/p/sacred-riv...

Teaching in EU studies in the digital age European Consortium for Political Research

Call for Papers for @ecpr.bsky.social @ecprsgeu.bsky.social section “Teaching in EU Studies in the Digital Age”

to explore how AI, digitalisation & new pedagogies are reshaping #EU Studies

more info: ecpr.eu/Events/Event...
deadline: 10 December 2025

"Worry is a way to pretend that you have knowledge or control over what you don't- and it surprises me how much we prefer ugly scenarios to the pure unknown."
***
"A Field Guide to Getting Lost", by Rebecca Solnit

When you hike in the Dolomites and the landscape just doesn't feel real. So much beauty!

Flying above the Alps this morning.

It's just a marble cake in fancy shapes ;)

Baking time.
I've been baking every Sunday for the past weeks and I remembered why I love it: the process is really cozy, mindful & satisfying and I have tasty home-baked snacks all week. Win-win.😋

Yes, they freeze perfectly. I always have some in my freezer ;) really moist & easy to make.

Apple and Cinnamon Muffins There are few things I find more satisfying in the kitchen than using up produce: the very notion of waste sends shivers down my spine. So, when I noticed a couple of apples wilting in the fruit bowl,...

This is one of my go-to 🍎 desserts: www.nigella.com/recipes/appl...

What are you baking? Any nice recipes to share? 🍎🍏

The apple version of "grass is always greener..." 🤣

What do you choose? The Educationalist. By Alexandra Mihai

Let's remember that how we spend our time⏳ & organise our workload📚 is *our choice*, though it may not feel like it.
Growth also means knowing how & where to set our boundaries and managing our (finite) resources effectively.
Wrote down some thoughts here:
educationalist.substack.com/p/what-do-yo...

Autumn shows us letting go can be beautiful.

"I walk because it confers- or restores- a feeling of placeness. A space becomes a place when through movement we invest it with meaning, when we see it as something to be perceived, apprehended, experienced."
Lauren Elkin, "Flâneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice and London"

a smiley face with its eyes closed and a hand on it ALT: a smiley face with its eyes closed and a hand on it

Building a chatbot for your course might seem fun & popular right now, but for me it feels like an upgraded version of "talking to the hand".
I believe education is about PEOPLE.
Human interaction is a crucial part of learning. I won't be convinced to bounce ideas with a (ro)bot.
Sorry not sorry!

"To photograph is to hold one's breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It's at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy."
***
Henri Cartier-Bresson

You feel autumn started when you let the sun inside and start chasing shadows.

In transition

This soft early autumn light

As we're going "back to school", let's just remember to:
☀️ Pay attention to each other.
💬 Talk to each other.
🧩 Learn from each other.
🔋 But also, let's not forget to take care of ourselves.

😞

Exactly. Very dry here in the Netherlands.

Too early.

Trying to 😊

First day back at work