In between days with flights canceled due to snow storms, I safely got to Boston two weeks ago for the start of a semester of PhD research at MIT. But before I dig into the snow situation, let me say a word about my flights. Last year I wrote a post about my frustrations with Lufthansa, but this time my experience was much better. With a delayed flight into Munich, I would have missed my connection to the States if it wasn't for a personal service bus picking me up directly from the plane, driving me over the tarmac to the right terminal and channeling me through security. Ten minutes later I had my seat belt fastened on my connecting flight with a few minutes spare.

Upon arrival the cold hit me, even if I spent only a few minutes waiting for a taxi. The temperature was around -10 degrees (Celsius, of course) but it was the wind that really caused the damage. I was very thankful for the fresh soup my new flatmate and her beautiful dog had prepared me upon arrival. Within days I would become familiar with the concept of wind chill and the associated warnings about frostbite omnipresent in the weather forecasts. But cold we can deal with, armed with a thick scarf and the blue cap my friend Sanne made me (thanks!), and most importantly with a few years of experience with Danish winter.

But then there is the snow. Here one may argue that Denmark also gets snow in winter, but it would be like pointing out there's no need to worry about a sunburn in the Canary Islands because the same sun can sometimes be observed from Denmark. Technically correct but also largely irrelevant. The amount of snowfall is of another order of magnitude. The dynamics are altered. Usually during or shortly after the snow, the roads get plowed and a salty mixture melts the remains into a layer of dirty slush. To be fair, that happens here too. But it is not as simple as that. One of the more intriguing complications that I had never previously considered: what to do with all the snow?

When a storm drops half a meter of snow, the streets still get cleared and so do the sidewalks, but that leaves immense piles of snow safely separating cars from pedestrians. The piles block part of the road and can greatly limit visibility at crossroads. A day or two after heavy snowfall the sidewalks are usually in decent shape (although a bit of acrobacy can be helpful to avoid getting stuck), thanks to relentless efforts from city employees and civilians. Boston has a law which requires its citizens to shovel the walkways in front of their houses within hours after the end of any plowable event. Empty lots are used as snow farms to deposit excess snow but even they have their limits. Dumping the snow into the Charles River is prohibited for environmental reasons, although there has been some debate about temporarily lifting the ban. During the last few days the city has been aggressively melting snow as well as literally driving truckloads out of the city, to make room for more to come.

Even for a city that is used to winter storms I am told that this year is exceptional and the statistics back that up. Some all time records have already been broken, including those of most snow in seven as well as thirty day time spans and that of most snow in February (already!). The winter has entered the “Top 10” of overall snowfall records and there are still a few weeks of prime snowing season left to attack the winter of 1995-1996's all-time record. The Boston metro (“The T”) has had trouble operating and even closed entirely last Tuesday – its head has meanwhile resigned. When storms are the worst schools close and kids get a snow day. Such days are anticipated every winter and compensated elsewhere, but with the amount of snow days this season (four in the last two weeks only) the summer holiday may get shortened.

Although I am looking forward to explore the city under more Spring-like conditions, the weather is excellent for hot chocolate and research productivity. I have been welcomed by very nice people and I watched my first ever Super Bowl (and even liked American Football!). I ordered snow boots and joked that their arrival would keep the snow away. Since I got them on Tuesday that has worked surprisingly well, but while I am writing this the National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for tonight and tomorrow. They predict the winter storm will bring a foot of snow or more, by which they mean about 30 cm should be expected.

As I started to complain about even more snow and even less space to put it, the news struck about two terror attacks in the Danish capital leaving two dead and several wounded to place it all into perspective. So let it snow. But while we are at it... let's break that 1995 record so there is something to write home about!

On 08:03 | 0 reacties

A few weeks ago, my friend Tine visited me in Aarhus, and during the past Easter weekend I had the pleasure of welcoming my parents. Since they've seen Aarhus before and I haven't been exploring the rest of Denmark much, this provided us with the perfect occasion for a three-day trip around Fyn, the large Danish island. 

After having provided them with a fine dinner on Thursday (and myself being provided with some goodies from Belgium - yes, some Belgian beer and chocolate), on Friday we took off to Odense, Fyn's main city. The place is mostly known as the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen, the famous Danish poet. We therefore had to visit the H.C Andersen museum as well as take the Andersen-route through the city. 

However, it turned out there was more to Odense than the 19th century writer of fairytales, and the photo museum was certainly worth the visit. The city itself was nice and quiet, with some great parks, and a nice Italian place to finish the day.

On 19:45 | 1 reacties

More than a year and a half ago, I first came across this blogpost ("What Happens When You Live Abroad") by Chelsea Fagan. She writes about moving abroad and about a feeling of belonging in more than one place. Consequentially, there is always a part of you that is far away from home. 

More than two years after I first left Belgium, these words still articulate a feeling that perhaps will never entirely disappear (and that does not have to be a bad thing). I know the message resonates with many people who live abroad, and it is phrased so much nicer than I could ever put it to words, so I am re-posting it here.

On 02:53 | 0 reacties

The Moesgaard Vikingetraef is a yearly meeting in Aarhus for vikings from over the world. They bring traditional tents and lifestyle, food and drinks, battle outfits and horses. And they fight: complete with a nice show of beautiful horses, they are dressed up and go to war. A battlefield full of vikings, until the clinging of metal on metal is replaced by a field of bodies. And all of this happens at the Moesgaard beach, on a nice and sunny weekend. Pictures!

On 15:47 | 0 reacties

When living abroad, seeing your family becomes a privilege you can only enjoy a few times a year. The first one for 2013 was in Denmark, since my parents chose to spend their winter holiday here. For a week, they drove around and saw all the winter landscapes the country has to offer. An extended weekend of their trip was reserved for visiting Aarhus and me.

They had dropped me off in this city before, but it was the first time they could actually behave like true tourists and see some of Aarhus. They took some time for the city's classics, Aros Museum and Den Gamle By, and weren't disappointed. Generally, they seemed to like the town where I'll be living for the next few years - may it inspire more Belgian visitors!

For me, the reunion was a nice occasion to go to fancy restaurants without having to pick up the bill, and to show off my improving understanding of the Danish language. While my father regularly claimed the language can't be that difficult, after reading some words that seemed similar to Dutch, he quickly switched to English when spoken to. While I seem to have finally got a little grip on this Scandinavian language, it is still very much a work in progress - but 2013 isn't over, so my New Year's resolution still stands.

That they were here by car had two other advantages. It gave us the opportunity to visit a neighbouring village called Ebeltoft (see pictures). Tiny, but cozy, the town is mostly famous for the frigate that is visible from about everywhere. I will also remember Ebeltoft for the glass museum, with its somewhat crazy room with multi-colored walls.

In the car, they also brought me boxes full of stuff from Belgium: plates, silverware, but also real Belgian ice tea, a pot and a pan, and from my grandparents I even received a true Wafelijzer. Thank you, now I suppose there are no more excuses and I will have to bake real Belgian waffles here. The reason for all the kitchen equipment is that on the first of March, I am moving to a real place. Together with a friend, Catalina, I will move to an apartment in the city center, with our own kitchen and living room. I am ready and prepared.

On 01:29 | 0 reacties

In the past weeks, I moved back to Denmark to start a PhD. I met many nice new people and I got back together with people that were still around. Below, I share some of the pictures taken in those weeks. Since being an astronomer in my office didn't make for very good pictures, it's not covered. That doesn't mean I haven't spent time on it!

I've been on a very nice weekend in Copenhagen with the Danish Youth Goodwill Ambassador (YGWA) network. They were so kind to invite me and some other people from last year who 'got stuck' in Denmark, to watch presentations made by the new participants in the program. We also got a private screening of En kongelig affære, a Danish movie nominated for a Golden Globe award. We also had a great party at Copenhagen's LA Tequila Bar, as is becoming a YGWA tradition.

On 05:09 | 2 reacties

My adventure in the Middle East came to an end. After a short stay at home, I took off for Peru for a few weeks of holidays (full travel report and pictures coming up later), before heading to Denmark for the start of my "real life". (I shouldn't forget the few days in between in Belgium, where I greatly enjoyed being back in Leuven and seeing Wina beat Atmosphere in the 24-hour running competition - just for the record.) From the first of November and for three years onwards, I am employed as a PhD student at the Stellar Astrophysics Centre at Aarhus Universitet. And so, the wonderful few months between my graduation as Master in Astronomy and my first real "job", came to an end.

It was with somewhat mixed feelings and a high level of déja vu that, with my parents in the car, I drove off to Denmark. I enjoyed the long drive in my father's car, and after about eight hours the radio started to produce Danish voices. Certainly, it felt good to hear those again, even though it seems that it will still take some more months before I can actually understand them.

The university had provided me with a new temporary place to stay, but that was only available from November 1. We dropped off all my stuff at Sandra's place, my friend from last year, where I could stay for my first week. I enjoyed a last dinner together with my parents, as well as a fancy cocktail at Fidel's. One last time, I didn't have to care about Denmark's expensiveness.

After a night at their hotel, and a breakfast together, it was time to say goodbye. As they drove home, I reunited with Sandra. It became a great lazy Sunday, with a wonderful friend I hadn't seen for a long time. Even the Danish weather decided to be nice to us, and allowed us to enjoy a sunny beach walk.

Monday and Tuesday, I dived into astronomy again. With our research group (the Stellar Astrophysics Centre or SAC), we had a two-day retreat which took place in a hotel near Aarhus. Some of the people from the international nodes or research collaborations attended as well, and so the large group from Aarhus was accompanied by a number of other researchers from the rest of Europe, the US and Australia. For me, it was the perfect occasion to meet all of them, and get acquainted with everyone's research. Apart from the social and scientific opportunity, the immense hotel had wonderful food and great wine, and it is safe to say that we all enjoyed its bowling alley.

After this great start of my "research", Wednesday it was time to go to the Physics building at the university. We handled some paperwork and I got a desk in a room with three others. I had the first meeting with my supervisor, to discuss the possible subjects for my work in the coming three years. At the SAC, people work in the realms of asteroseismology (star pulsations) or exoplanets. This information will have to do for now, as we are still in the process of discussing my possibilities. To be continued.

The first of November then finally arrived on Thursday. Instead of actually working on my official first day, this day was filled with practicalities such as taking care of my residence permit and visiting the Danish tax office (Belgium is certainly not the only country with high tax rates). More importantly, I also picked up my key and moved out of Sandra's place. My own place is in a lot of ways comparable to where I lived last year: an old house shared with international students, a few hundred meters from where I lived last year, sharing kitchen and shower while having a cosy, small room. While I've very much enjoyed living in these kind of places for the last years, now that I am working Monday until Friday, it is probably soon time to move on to a more "real" place to live.

The place is good enough to live for a while, and the introduction to university has been great. While a lot of my friends from my Erasmus year have left, it's still been very nice to say hello again to some others. And talking about the Erasmus life, this weekend I'll be in Prague, for a great reunion!

On 01:04 | 0 reacties

Danish Ambassador weekend in Kopenhagen: Innovation Conference. Altijd leuk om mijn mede-ambassadeurs nog eens terug te zien en naar de Deense hoofdstad te trekken. 's Morgens in de vroegte stapten we met een tiental Aarhusstudenten op de bus richting CPH. 

Voor de gelegenheid waren we genoodzaakt om onze kostuums mee te nemen. We zouden namelijk Prince Joachim ontmoeten. We namen ook allemaal een das mee, maar die mochten we uiteindelijk niet dragen omdat His Royal Highness had besloten het informeel te houden en zelf geen das te dragen.

De eerste talk van de dag kwam van Minister for Science, Innovation and Higher Education, Morten Østergaard. Een babbel over het belang van innovatie voor Denemarken en het internationale profiel van het land. Vervolgens was het dan de beurt aan de prins om zich te laten interviewen door Natasja Crone. We hadden ook zelf vragen voor HRH mogen insturen. Indien deze de selectieprocedure overleefden, mochten we die dan ook zelf stellen.

Mijn vraag luidde als volgt: "We are here together with Danish Ambassadors from all over the world, each used to different cultures. Should you be Prince of any other country than Denmark, which one would you pick?" Het was ongeveer de minst brave vraag die er die dag gesteld werd. De prins paste trouwens op zijn politieke tellen en kwam vooral af met klachten over het Deense weer en ontweek zo zorgvuldig de echte vraag.

Er volgde nog een presentatie over Better Place door de Deense CEO Johnny Hansen. Dit bedrijf maakt elektrische auto's en is volop bezig met deze op de Deense markt te brengen. Heel wat parkeerplaatsen in de hoofdstad zijn al uitgerust met een 'stopcontact' waar de wagen tijdens het parkeren kan worden herladen. Bovendien is men volop bezig met de bouw van zogeheten battery switch stations doorheen het hele land. Deze zijn vergelijkbaar met tankstations en op slechts een tweetal minuten krijg je er volautomatisch een volledig nieuwe, opgeladen batterij in je wagen geplaatst. Wordt Denemarken het eerste Europese land waar elektrische wagens echt doorbreken? Het zou wel eens kunnen.

In elk geval mochten we zelf ook een testritje maken met de e-auto's. Nog eens aan het stuur van een wagen zitten - dat was lang geleden. Een geluidsloze auto, het voelt een beetje bizar aan, maar ik denk dat we er wel aan zouden kunnen wennen. Verder reed de auto alvast minstens even vlot als een gewoon voertuig.

Na nog wat te netwerken op de receptie trokken we naar onze jeugdherberg voor een aperitief en een pizza - alvorens het Kopenhaagse nachtleven in te trekken. Zondagochtend volgde nog een boottocht over de wateren van de hoofdstad voor we naar Aarhus terugkeerden.



Groetjes, kusjes en liefde,
Vincent

On 16:27 | 0 reacties