I made it to Montreal, Quebec. My first time in Canada. What can I say? It’s cold and there is plenty of snow. What a surprise… My beloved Adidas sneakers (only pair of shoes besides flip flops) weren’t made for the Canadian winter. My toes are frozen stiff most of the time and my favorite sport here is jumping over the not-so-small puddles of melt water you find everywhere in the streets. Which raises an important question: where the hell do those come from at -10 to -20° C?! Mysterious Canada… The more sensible pedestrians wear gumboots which deprives them of the fun to jump their way through the city. Montreal must be the first place I visit where much of the window display of shoe shops is reserved for the wide variety of fashionable gumboots.
One of those shops I saw in the ‘underground city’ which is a large underground complex, mostly shops and food courts, stretching across many blocks and built in the sixties and seventies. It keeps people warm in winter and cool in summer. Pretty convenient.
Besides shoes, underground shops and that karaoke bar I went to (was too sober to sing) there is another reason to visit Montreal: it is one of the friendliest places I have been to in years. People are incredibly friendly to strangers and go out of their way to help you. It makes you feel very welcome here. None of that grumpiness I often criticize Germany for. But it gets better. Montreal is one of the few truly bilingual places I remember to have visited (then again, my memory is short). I might be traumatized by my visits to Paris but approaching a French speaker with English and him/her switching to English with a super-friendly smile feels … well … completely unnatural and almost suspicious to me. Amazing.
These were my first impressions of Montreal. Didn’t take any photos. Party because it gets dark here early, partly because at this time of the year the city looks pretty drab and gray. I would love to come back in summer. Tomorrow I am moving on to Toronto.
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March1st
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February26th
I arrived in Boston two days ago. It’s cold here. Like very cold. But I have been warned… The first day was sunny but today it was snowing quite a bit. I almost don’t dare to travel further north…
Boston seems like a pretty cool city. To be more precise I am staying in Cambridge, right between Harvard and the MIT. Here, I am visiting Evelyn + boyfriend. We studied together biology in Heidelberg and haven’t seen each other in well over 7 years. Evelyn lives with eight other people (plus their more or less sexually active boy- and girlfriends) in a beautiful house which I wished had a better insulation. Sorry to go into more detail here but the complete lack of insulation is something that has always been puzzling me about the US. When I first experienced that in a bitter cold winter in Knoxville, Tennessee (yes, Kathy’s basement aka ‘the bunker’) I thought ‘Oh well, this is Tennessee. It’s pretty warm most of the year, so people don’t want to invest much money in insulation for the few cold weeks in winter.’ But my conclusion was proven wrong. No matter where I go, it’s all the same. Even here in Boston which is known for its cold winters the concept of insulation appears to be unheard of. I was generously provided with an electric heater (with remote control, wow!) But the moment you switch it off the room temperature again races towards the freezing point. My sleeping bag and some blankets keep me warm at night and during the day the plentiful available gin tonic (this is a student house, hello…) does that job.
One of the first things you notice when you get here is that this is a university town. It seems like almost everyone here is either a student or a post doc. When I took the subway after I arrived here, two people next to me were talking about antibodies and viruses. Ha, almost feels like Heidelberg. I like university cities. Also, there are plenty of non-Starbucks cafes. I haven’t seen much of the city yet but I am looking forward to spend some more time here when I get back. But for now I am already leaving. Next stop: Canada! -
February14th
New York, New York
Posted in: Articles
Skyline with Empire State Building
I have arrived in New York, and I am quite amazed. I do love metropolises and especially this one. It’s a great place to get lost and just walk around. Everywhere there is something to discover. Manhattan is full of landmarks and places that you know from movies and TV. Now that I have seen them with my own eyes, I can confirm they really exist. The food is good and diverse. The people are all a little more ‘hip’ then in other places. I don’t feel out of place here. Actually I feel I am in the right place. So, I just decided to stay another week or more…
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February4th
The journey begins … (again)
Posted in: Articles, Preparation
This isn’t the first time I write something like ‘the trip finally starts’. First I left Heidelberg for good, then I said farewell to my parents and friends in my hometown and then to my close friends in Berlin. But crossing the Atlantic and visiting Knoxville somehow did not bring the feeling of excitement you’d expect when going on a one-year backpacking tour. Knoxville feels so incredibly familiar, staying the last four weeks at Loukas’ place, visiting the Oak Ridge National Lab and by chance running into people I know at Starbucks, Borders or Market Square almost daily. It feels like I have been living here for years. But after a few days delay due to my package from Germany that I already believed to be lost, I finally said goodbye to Knoxville and friends and the real backpacking begins.
It’s 1 am now and I am sitting in a bus to Washington DC. For the first time during the journey I feel real excitement. Amazing how a 9 hour bus ride through the night can make you feel so excited, free and happy. But for now it’s time to catch some sleep… -
January18th
Thirty Two
Posted in: Articles, Work
My professor and me at my birthday party – working
This week one day I suddenly happened to feel old(er). For some reason I get this feeling once every year in January. This is already the second birthday I celebrate in Knoxville, Tennessee. It’s a bit sad that most of my friends are living in other parts of this world. However, I am happy to have gotten so much mail form all of you. It’s a nice feeling to not be forgotten although I am not around anymore 🙂
The party was rather small, my PhD advisor Jeremy and me went over some corrections (how exciting) of the revisions of my recent publication, everyone brought beer and wine but nobody drank any since they all came by car (I did though, ha) and then there was poor Xiaohu with his usual paranoiac anxiety attacks. Pavan generously contributed entertaining stories and Loukas and me prepared some not-too-bad Chili con Carne that was worth at least half a Michelin star. I have no idea how I am supposed to finish all the leftover beer during the next 10 days that I will be in Knoxville…
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