We were dating for a few months and I feel sad about things not working out. One of the results is that I will have more time at hand. I want to try to meet more new people, get a bigger social circle, maybe find another hobby or something. But first: move to my new place this weekend. Will post pics soon.

What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word rosebud? If you are a movie addict, you would think instantly of a movie called Citizen Kane. Great movie. I saw it on Friday night at the Boston Harbor Hotel, quite a fancy hotel, that organizes movie screenings in summer in their own private harbor. There is definitely a certain touch to seeing a movie with an ocean as backdrop.

It is a win-win situation, a free classic movie for the public and the restaurant is fully booked all night. In fact, you have to be there at least 1,5 hours before the movie starts to get a seat. The combination with a dinner is a good one, as dining out is a pretty common here. Although dining out is usually not the proper description - eating out comes closer to the quality of the food at most bars. In my week, there is at least three nights of going out for dinner. Then probably another two of getting food from the phenomenal salad bars and pre-made foods at the supermarket. And then there is cooking my own food one or two nights a week. Surprisingly there is not a big difference in costs between these three options. Going out means you pay a tip (20% is normal) to your waiter, which you save at the supermarket. Cooking you own food is the healthiest option for sure. Although I am not very prone to become fat and heavy, I have to be careful not to gain weight here The restaurant was full when my date and me arrived for the movie, so last Friday night I dined with Sprite and an icecream. Yes, I am integrating!

Science is one big networking event. It helps in many aspects if people know your name, even better when they know your face. I guess this is the case in my most working environments, but it especially holds true for science. The biological science in which I am involved has one main goal: to publish papers. Of course, the underlying goal is to advance our knowledge, find new cancer therapies etcetera. But that means: to publish as many papers, as high as possible. Journals are being ranked in quality through something called impact factors.

When you submit a manuscript to a journal, they will offer it to two or three researchers, experts in the field, to review your work. If the reviewers remember you because you gave that very clear presentation last year, that helps. If they have a long track record of conference related drinking events with your boss, that definitely helps. If you work in an institution that is one of the best in the world, and your group regularly publishes in the highest journals in the world (Nature, Science, Cell), the chance that your paper is being accepted at these journals is much bigger. It works the same for funding proposals. And that is why I moved to the Broad - our Institute regularly published there (I can share a little secret with you: it looks like my group is going to publish something in Nature soon). And the big shots work here, in Boston/Cambridge. And that is why I unexpectedly saw the name of colleague and friend from Rotterdam in a presentation yesterday morning. That also made me aware that I have just started here and there is long way to go before I can think of moving back. It be better be all worth it!

Starting a new life in a new city and country means you have to get out and do stuff to meet people. Since I like to play drums, I put out an ad on Craigslist for a metalband in need of a drummer. A bunch of bands contacted me, drummers are scarce these days. I started playing with a band called Sweetspotted.

Pretty nice, friendly guys, prospects for playing live gigs were good. We played every Thursday night. Unfortunately, they dumped me yesterday. Their old drummer moved back from night shifts to day shifts and was available again. They kicked me out in favor of him. Fair enough - I used to play in a band called Deoluzion and we kicked out a singer once, when our old singer came back from traveling. I also had to commute to somewhere in north Boston to get to our practice space, which was kind of pain in the ass (the good thing about that was that the guitarist always picked me up from the subway in his Porsche :)). I guess I have to look into finding a new band again. I still hope to make it big some day, as a back up plan in case the science thing gets boring or does not work out. Seriously? Seriously!

Do not try to rent a van in Boston in the weekend of September 1 and 2. That weekend, a significant part of the population will move, as lease contracts in Boston traditionally start and end on September 1. You can break your lease, but that almost always means you will have to pay a penalty of 1 or two months rent. That weekend, I will move from a 3 x 4 meter room to a two bedroom apartment. Although I had part of my inventory shipped before I left Rotterdam, I am still in need for a bunch of things.

Of vital importance is to have a good music system in my new place. The apartment I share now is equipped with some ghettoblasters (left behind my previous inhabitants or owned by one of my roommates) which fulfilled my needs. For my new apartment, I anticipated my addiction by shipping my stereo. One problem arose when it turned out that my stereo does not automatically works here, as the voltage is 110 instead of 220. I solved this by buying some 500W transformers. The original speaker set was too big to be shipped and I figured it would be easier to buy these new when I arrived in Boston. The right time to to this was this weekend: crazy as it sounds, it was Tax Free Weekend. My new Polk speaker set, as shown on the picture, was so big I had to take a taxi to get it home

	How time can fly! Two weeks I have been in the Netherlands (and Germany) and it seemed yesterday that I left. I started my trip in Twente with my family, which is always great fun. Although I do not particularly care for children (or particularly not) I love to play with my three year old niece and nephew. After a few days me and 12 friends took a train from Kleve in Germany to Wacken,
a little place near Hamburg where the annual Wacken festival is held. We travel using Schones Wochenendes tickets. These provide a great means of transport; five people can travel as much as they want for one day, but only use slow trains. Costs only EUR33! After 6 transfers and ten hours, we arrived at the festival. Officially it starts at Thursday but many people, like us, arrive much earlier.
Fortunately the campsite is unofficially opened on Saturday. We usually spent the first days fooling around, drinking beer, going to the local swimming pool and basically doing nothing. My personal highlights of the festival itself include bands like Saxon, Blind Guardian, Dimmu Borgir and In Flames. Bands that sucked were Stratovarius and Type-o-negative.

On Saturday we skipped the night and our posse took the first train back towards Nijmegen. I went to Twente again, and after seeing some friends in Rotterdam on Monday I flew back yesterday. It were two great weeks! Now I have to get back into my work routine. It is going to be some exciting weeks as I have to start shaping my projects and my role here. I am also moving to my own appartement in three weeks, something I really look forward to.
Thanks and/or apologies to Garmin, Ids, Jeroen en Joost whom appear in the photos above!