January 2012

Two Weeks in Boston


Warning: A non-numeric value encountered in /var/www/mortendahl.dk/public_html/blog/wp-includes/SimplePie/Parse/Date.php on line 694

Warning: preg_match() [function.preg-match]: Compilation failed: invalid range in character class at offset 4 in /var/www/mortendahl.dk/public_html/blog/wp-content/plugins/lightbox-plus/classes/shd.class.php on line 1384

Warning: preg_match_all() [function.preg-match-all]: Compilation failed: invalid range in character class at offset 4 in /var/www/mortendahl.dk/public_html/blog/wp-content/plugins/lightbox-plus/classes/shd.class.php on line 700

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/mortendahl.dk/public_html/blog/wp-content/plugins/lightbox-plus/classes/shd.class.php on line 707

Warning: preg_match_all() [function.preg-match-all]: Compilation failed: invalid range in character class at offset 4 in /var/www/mortendahl.dk/public_html/blog/wp-content/plugins/lightbox-plus/classes/shd.class.php on line 700

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/mortendahl.dk/public_html/blog/wp-content/plugins/lightbox-plus/classes/shd.class.php on line 707

I’ve spent the last two weeks in Boston visiting Ran Canetti at Boston University. We’ve had some very good discussions and I’ve unexpectedly given a seminar. Moreover, my girlfriend flew in to join me for second week and together we’ve been exploring the city.

Although I except that the city is a lot more alive during summer than now in the middle of winter, the architecture of the place when walking around is still overwhelming: having not been in the US for a few years now the height and magnitude of the buildings took me by surprise again when I first step outside! And would really like to see the city during spring or summer — according to the suggestions I’ve found online there’s a lot of stuff going on!

The first week was busy with work to be honest, both talking with Ran, looking into his suggestions afterwards, and finishing my half-way progress report. Good stuff has come out of this, and my host has been beyond expectations and offered me a lot more time than I could have imagined — thank you Ran!

This also meant that work has extended into the nights, yet on a few occasions I’ve managed to sneak in a few walks around the city, discovering a nice cafe, a cosy bar, and greasy american food (including Wendy’s, Dr Pepper Ten, Chipotle, and cinnamon cereals). I also came across a chinese restaurant, and despite the fact that it was a huge place with a lot of (Chinese) people, the food was — sorry to say so — not appetising; I had a starter and left.

For the second week my girlfriend flew in, and while I still had a lot of work to do, she’s been exploring the city more closely. We’ve also been out for a proper lobster dinner at Legal Sea Foods in the Prudential Center — not bad at all! For the weekend we also visited a market in the centre, found a very nice cafe in the Italian neighbourhood, walked by M.I.T. and Harvard, and tried some more american food.