I got the second-best news on Monday--my first application for research funding was approved! YES! I am going to Vienna! I'll be there for twelve days at the end of April!

The very best news came yesterday, when I found an amazing deal on plane tickets between Leeds and Vienna, and we realized that we could, after all, afford for Patrick to come visit me in Vienna for a long weekend in the middle.

Wow. I've been hellishly sick since Sunday night--this morning is the first time I've actually even felt up to writing a journal entry--but this news has just made me so happy. I can do the research I need to for my thesis, AND eat Apfelstrudel to my heart's delight, with my partner at my side. Life doesn't get much better than that. :)