Boston College Fall 2012

Labor Day weekend is coming up and the BC class of 2016 has already arrived and moved in to their dorm rooms. Next week classes start on the same day as 'la rentrée' for the school children in Paris.

I met some of the 2.250 Freshmen today on campus and it was fun to see them in their individual summer clothes.

That will change when they visit the Bookstore in the coming days where the required books are waiting for them.

Because part of the bookstore is stocked with clothes, it is easy to get a new outfit and melt right in becoming part of the 14,600 Boston College students.

From Versailles to Woodstock in Vermont

Last Sunday I visited Versailles to escape the heat of Paris and to walk in the shade of the trees in the park. Wednesday I was back in Boston for the Fall semester and over the weekend we were in Woodstock in Vermont.

It takes 6 days to come over the time change of 6 hours. For the culture change, it may take a little bit longer.

The next generation

This poster to support the idea about paternal leave was made 34 years ago!

It took a while for men to discover that caring for their children would not harm their masculine image. To see men occupied with their children during daytime is now a common sight in Stockholm.

There are some critical voices who say that men take the parental leave only during the summer to enjoy being outside in the sun. A form of disguised vacation....

May that be the case - I will leave Stockholm with good memories of happy people (me included) enjoying the sun and the water and the fresh air. All the rain is already forgotten.

City on the rocks

Whenever there are large construction sites it is impressive to see the work involved to remove the bedrock on which Stockholm is built. Protruding granite cliffs here and there visible give the city the character of solidity and sturdiness.

And then this change in the subway which to a large part is 'just' drilled into and through the rocks. There numerous artists changed the granite to form a fairy land which brightens up the life for millions of commuters.

More on: http://www.architizer.com/en_us/blog/dyn/42033/art-enters-the-underground-stockholms-tunnelbana/

Olympic Summer Games

While watching the Olympics games on television, let's not forget that it is only 100 years ago that all the excitement happened here in Stockholm live and in the stadium which is still standing and in use.

Sculptures of athletes in different olympic disciplines decorate the front entrance of the stadium. We recognized the sprinters reaching the goal, the relay runners in a crucial moment,

but with these two 'wrestlers' we had some difficulty recognizing if it was a competition or play.

A twinge of envy

The 19th century idea of a small house with garden - Schrebergarten or Victory garden - has a renaissance.

When living in an apartment in the city with no balcony, the idea of escaping to a self made paradise becomes very attractive. Forgetting snow and ice during the winter and not thinking about digging and weeding and watering, we just wished we could have such a cute red house and then cutting flowers and picking our own vegetables.

We are not the only one with this dream. The list for an available lot is long and it would take years to become an owner. In the mean time we visit the local farm stands and supermarkets.