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!