Cora vs. last times

My last week here in Cambridge, MA is progressing really well, definitely with a laughing and a crying eye... Everywhere I go, I go with the thought „omg this is probably the last time i’m here“ and then i get sentimental and sad and it’s dreadful so i try not to think about it. Like yesterday we went to my favorite burrito place. I will miss it so much. It’s such a friendly place. We also went to Quincy market in Boston. All these last times. It’s sad.

I also had my last lab meeting last thursday. And something very surprising and big happened to me. So everything was normal, the first speaker presented their work (he’s trying to do something he’ll never manage to do but that’s his problem i guess) and i was sitting there, listening to it, being cold and angry at myself because i always forget to take along my sweater. Fu** the AC. Seriously (I was in bed for two days last week because I had a fever and I KNOW the reason is the AC. Hate it. Can’t wait to be back in continent where people know how to regulate room temperature. No. Seriously.) But back to the lab meeting. So eventually the guy was done and it was time for the short break between speakers when Prof Jaenisch started to talk. And he was like „so we have something happening, Cora is leaving us. She has been here for the summer and has contributed to Yossi’s (my boss) work. And then my boss said some really nice things (some of which might not be 100% true, i mean, i know i wasn’t always a pleasure to work with and stuff.. but i tried hard and i do believe that i did contribute something! So then i said something short aswell because I really wanted to let him know that I feel like I’ve learned so much this summer! Not just the science, but also about what it’s really like to be a scientist and how there can be many failures (all these negative colonies. I probably scanned like 1000-1300 of them. I’m serious. It’s a most accurately performed estimate.) And even with the disappointment of all these negative colonies, I had a great time! So after these speeches Prof Jaenisch handed me a gift! And guess what it was. OMG. So there was a MIT t-shirt in one box (will definitely wear it) and... you won’t believe it... NAILPOLISH in the other one. I was SOOOO excited. And felt kinda honoured aswell. I mean. wow. also, I love nailpolish. And it was so cute of the lab to get me some!!! I will never forget that. Such a happy moment. Such a happy day! Really really nice. For the rest of the day i was in an excellent mood and on the next morning I used some of my new nailpolish. My nails now look like hot orange lava flowing between dark rocks. One colleague said it looked scary. I think it’s cool. But will probably change soon, wanna try out the other new colors. (it’s OPI by the way. Yes I know u care.) So that about my last (and awesome) lab meeting.

Any other news?

Went to IHOP (pancake place) and got a free meal (signed up for their e-newsletter) I love free stuff.

I’m starting to think about how on EARTH i will bring back all the stuff i bought here... I guess i’ll have to send myself a parcel. Yep.

Went to the MIT Museum (also free. Nice) Saw some awesome holograms. Good stuff.

No party this weekend. Not a single one. Can’t wait to go to a better place.

Went to see the Blue Man Group (student rush ticket = good price!). Nice show! I recommend it!

Four days left.

Four out of 77.

My summer in the US is ending.

Sad indeed.

Cora vs. Red Sox

I have only a couple of days left in the US and so I’m trying to do all the things that people have been telling me to do while I’m in the US. So today I decided to go to a baseball game. Red Sox against Blue Jays. I got cheap tickets online and went to Fenway park with a few couchsurfers. As soon as we got there we got our compulsory hot dogs ;) can’t go to a baseball game without having one. No beer for me, sadly L The stadium is really cool, it really is like in the movies. There’s the big screen where they show random people from the audience and when they see themselves on it they get really excited and jump around. They did not point the camera at me but I was fine with that. So then we all had to get up fort he national anthems (canada first, coz the other team was from Toronto then USA) and it was cute how everyone put their hands on their hearts and looked so patriotic. Cute. Then the game started but honestly we did not really notice because OMG baseball is SO BORING. Seriously. It doesnt make a difference whether they are playing or not... it’s more or less the same. A few people standing on the field, some have gloves, one has a bat. Occasionally a ball is thrown and hit. Occasionally someone runs a little bit. That’s it. And it goes on and on and on. I mean, don’t get me wrong, i had a good time. I had nice company and the atmosphere was really nice. All the vendors with their hotdogs and lemonades and the nr 1 hands and people with posters saying „ we are getting married“ and drunk guys with wiking helmets and stuff. So that was nice. But the game. No. Seriously. Most boring thing everrrrrrr. Oh I should also mention that it started raining heavily after like 1:30h so i eventually decided to leave. Cycled to Harvard. Got completely soaked. Changed my clothes. Went to a party at a Harvard dorm and then to a LGBTQ party ;). Definitely the less boring part of the night ;) Oh yes and I have a giant Nr 1 hand now. 

Cora vs. the bill

It`s been a while and so I have quite a few things to talk about. They are mostly not connected, random things, well, you know me :)

First of all  i need to talk about new york. OMG i love new york. I love times square. I love 5th avenue. I love the MOMA. I love central park. I love the lights everywhere. I love the Chrysler building. I love Rockefeller Plaza. (except for one thing: why. WHY?? is the swiss flag not square?? WHYYYYYY????? when will the world learn? oh what a sad life. In any case that flag and the rectangular flag in front of the lindt store have inspired me... as soon as I have time (maybe on my flight back) i will write a story. It will be a continuation of the story about the guy who works at the Migros Budget factory for toothpicks. (He glues together toothpicks that break during the production process. Yeah, awesome job.) So this guy will find a mission for his life: he will travel around the world and fix all swiss flags by cutting them to the right shape. Yes. but let me continue.  I love the Lego store. and the nintendo store. and the lindth store (more to that later). I love the Guggenheim. I love the view of Manhattan as seen from the river. I love the Forest Gump Restaurant. I love shrimp. I love how it smells of hotdogs everywhere. I love New York.

Now i need to talk about restaurants in the US. There are some things that really annoy me. First of all, it` too cold in there. WTH. I understand you love your AC and you want to show it off. But please. 15 degrees celsius (fahrenheit suck by the way, seriously, why do they have to use fahrenheit???) is NOT a comfortable temperature. I have to walk around with a wool sweater in my bag all the time. In summer. when its sth like 30 outside. Seriously guys. this must stop.

Ok next thing that annoys me are the waitresses/waiters. They are friendly. But somehow it`s all very fake because they really want your tip. as in, REALLY. so they will come to your table all the time and ask if everything is alright smile smile smile please give me a tip please please. it`s not cool. don`t like it. So fake. Ok next thing that annoys me. As soon as you are done, or even before (!!!!!!) they wil come and put the bill on your table. they say: I`ll leave this with you. What the h??? So rude. No, seriously, unbelievable. Yesterday I was at this burger place. amazing burgers. We were like not even half way through our meals when the waitress comes and goes: so, are you planning on having desert after? we said we weren`t. So she put the bill on the table. HALF WAY THROUGH MY MEAL. what is this?? no. not ok. Another thing: if you are a group of 6 or more ppl, they will just add the tip (18%) to the bill. So they don`t even have to be nice. can you believe it? There is, however, one thing i like about restaurants here. the free water. As soon as you get to the place they will give you water. And they fill up your glass frequently. That`s definitely nice.

Now I need to talk about the lindt store in NY. So they have chocolates that we don^t have in Switzerland. How can this be? How unfair is this? They have Lindt balls with irish cream. YES. Irish cream. And they are pink. Can it get any better? They also have balls with peanut butter. YES. They are orange. And awesome. And i’m gonna take many of them home.

Now something that just annoys me. The cars here. They are just too big. Who needs such big cars in a city? I was talking about this to a fellow european yesterday and I think we agree that the big cars are probably a compensation for something small...

Ok now some random news.

I visited the Novartis Institute. They have a cell culture machine. Wow.

I went kayaking on the Charles River. Met some nice couchsurfers. Awesome.

My nails are of a ridiculous lenght now. I can’t type. I destroy my lab gloves all the time. I hurt people. But the sight is fun. Three more weeks before I cut them. Only one has broken so far.

People are playing baseball outside my apparment right now. 

so american. 

Cora vs. Technology

Today I want to talk about curious technology that I`ve encountered on this side of the atlantic ocean. Now most of you will know that i`m not the most technologically advanced person on this planet. I don`t need to remind you of my cell phone, do i? I mean, the one with the fruit on it, the Nokia 3210i that I got when i was 11 or 12. yeah. So, for me, being in a country where there`s Wifi at every corner and nobody has a phone that`s even 5 years younger than mine, is quite fascinating. Let me start with taps. So you know how there are taps which start automatically when you get close with your hands? Yeah, so that’s normal. But  here, they have the same thing for soap aswell! The first time i saw that was at my institute and I was like: OMG. And the sound it makes, well, i will be honest. It’s like a fart. Gotta love those machines. Next thing: the recycling bins. So they have solar cells on them. And i ask myself: what do the solar cells do? Do they help heat up the trash so it’s degraded faster? Do they simply make electricity and feed it into the network? Do they fulfill some higher mysterious purpose? So far nobody has been able to tell me. If you are as knowledgeable as to know about the purpose of these solar cells, please help me because I’m dying to know. Thanks. Now I want to go on to atms. So. In europe (=civilized world) you put your card in, it asks for your PIN, you enter it, do the transaction and then you get back your card once you’re done. Well. Not here. Watch Cora in front of the machine: She puts in her card and to her astonishment, she gets it back immediately.  Cora goes: „wth? This card worked in South Korea, why shouldn’t it work in the US?“ Cora gets upset. Until she realizes that the machine asks her for her PIN. So basically, you put in your card, get it back and then do all your stuff. This is not normal.

Now the swimming pool. They have a swim suit drying machine. I don’t trust this. In my opinion it will ruin my swim suit. All swim suits say, don’t tumble dry. Also. WHY do you need to waste energy for drying your swim suit? I mean, seriously. You can dry it at home and it will most probably be dry before your next swim. (unless you go like every day or several times a day but in that case you will own several swim suits anyway right?) I hate it when energy is wasted.

Ok now the coolest thing.

So at my institute there’s this machine that irradiates cells so they stop dividing. (They don't die though, they are kinda immortal which is kinda cool.) So there’s radioactivity involved. And obviously people here in the US are always scared of terrorists. So what did they install? An iris scanner. Yes. I know, crazy right? So when my boss wants to enter that room he has to swipe a card and then present his iris and the machine goes zzzzzzzzt and scans his iris. And then the door opens. And there’s a massive sign saying that if you don’t do things correctly, a VERY LOUD (it’s written in capitals) alarm will go off. And you know what else is crazy? My boss had to go and talk to FBI and stuff to get permission to enter that room. Crazy paranoid americans. But the iris scanning machine is awesome. I want to go back and see it work again. Every day. It’s so cool.

That’s it for the day.

Oh one last thing: if you haven’t seen this video yet then you’re really missing out on something innovative. Oh and don’t worry if you haven’t heard of autophagy before. It’s kinda specific. But it might save us. Not kidding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxGDm2Pg9sg

Cora vs Happiness

Today I feel like a philosopher so I just want to lose a few words about happiness. I don’t know what it is that gives me these moments here in Boston but sometimes i just walk along the river and dance. And i’m not joking, i actually dance. And yes, people stare. But i don’t care. I don’t know why it happens. Maybe the reason is the lab. I’m having so much fun there, i feel like what i do has a value and actually contributes to something. Maybe it’s the skyline. That view from Cambridge to Boston that makes my breath stop every time i see it. Day or night. Maybe it’s just the endorphins being released due to exercise, because I run along the river or go swimming in the fantastic MIT pool every day. (50m, i love it!) Maybe it’s the people. I’ve met some really nice people here and I’m having such a good time with them. Maybe it’s the music. I listen to a lot of music these days. Especially Coldplay. And it makes me wanna sing along. But i only do that when i’m alone because that’s better for the world. Maybe it’s my nails. I love them. They are colorful. And fun. (but they start to be too long so I make holes in lab gloves and hurt ppl around me :S ) Maybe it’s the painting. I paint a lot these days. Watercolors. And it’s so relaxing. I sit somewhere outside, plug in my headfones and paint.

Or maybe it’s just all of these things together.

Yeah. Most probably it is.

ps. a link for you (yeah it's coldplay)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91lmlDyst0Y 

Cora vs Security

Yeah i know, it’s been a while. I am so busy,guys, you can’t imagine.. So of course there’s the lab but that ends at 19:00 and then more stuff happens! I’ve met some really nice ppl from all over the world and we hang out and chill (we can’t go out, for certain reasons...). Since i have this awesome kitchen I have many ppl over for dinner and it’s really nice and my dorm has this AMAZING massage chair so we take turns on that. Sadly, the other day, i spent so much time on it that i actually felt Worse than before...so be careful with massage chairs! They can be evil. (but u have to Seriously exagerate, like me, we watched the openinc ceremony of london 2012 and i was on it for most of the time....but yeah, be jealous, i have a massage chair.

This weekend we went to cape cod. Sadly the weather was really grey. But we had a nice barbecue and played frisbee and soccer (thought that depressed me as i was the only girl and only got to touch the ball when it accidentally rolled in front of my feet... so depressing.) and we swam in the ocean (actually only a belgian guy and me, the others were pussys.) It was not very clean but surprisingly warm and i found a crab’s leg and i studied it intensely and all the other people thought i was very funny because i examined the joints of the leg and stuff. (they were really fascinating joints, believe me!) So that was cape cod. I’m also becoming a fan of frozen joghurt. They have that everywhere, it’s called pinkberry or berryline (why berry? Why pink? It’s joghurt. But anyway) and it’s really nice. Oh and i discovered Reeses. They are chocolate cups filled with peanut butter. Food orgasm. (many of you will know how i pronounce it: foooooooood orgasm.)

Then there’s something really scary going on. One night, i was sleeping. Then i heard the keys in the door to the appartment. Then i heard steps. And then the person left again. I was freaked out. The next night, I was having a shower. And again, i heard the keys. This time i shouted „who is this?“ and the person replied: „security. But don’t worry, i won’t come in.“ Haha great sense of humour. No but like: WTH???? I am sure this is against the law. I complained with the porter twice but he is super weird (typical MIT person i think) and he doesnt want to give me the nr of the house manager so I’m calling the MIT housing office tomorrow. Because this is NOT cool. U can’t come into people’s appartments at 12:30 when they are sleeping. Or having showers. it doesnt matter what they are doing, actually. I mean, what if i liked walking around there naked? No, it’s not cool. It needs to stop. 

More things?

Hate cinemas here. Sth like 45mins of trailers. Not ok. (was watching the new batman movie. Quite ok i guess. Closed my eyes sometimes, the normal stuff.)

Went to the museum of fine arts. Felt like in a furniture store. I’m serious. What is all that furniture doing there? Architecture oft he museum itself quite nice though.

Went shopping. Was amazing. Will definitely go more times. I have lip smackers in 8 different flavors now. Cool right? 

My nails are now pink. I know you care.