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Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Host
Institution(s)
Cardiovascular Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston
Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston
Mentors: Prof. Jing X. Kang MD, PhD (Boston); Karsten-H. Weylandt MD, PhD (Berlin)
E-Mail: johannes.nowak@charite.de
see Abstract
Since my research stay in Boston was my first US experience, I was full of expectations to be answered. Boston is well known as one of the most “European” cities in the US, therefore I assumed that my first contact with the “American way of life“ would be not too hard. However, life IS kind of different over there: public transport is not existing or not working, respectively. Over all things seem to be not as organized as in Germany, and life seems to be running faster.
On the other hand, the American system is very flexible and therefore has the ability to change and adjust rather quickly - so if you are innovative and “smart”, you can still live the American Dream. One thing I learned was that also science seems to be predominantly ruled by money and by the hard competition about it. People from all over the world come to the US in order to do research, to gain knowledge, to establish relations and to boost their careers. In many respects this may result in a very constructive and inspiring working environment - in science it might be questionable at times, though. Due to this “melting pot” we made contact with many interesting persons, not least to our lab team and families, mostly representing the growing Chinese community in America. I would like to thank everybody who made my stay possible and unforgettable!
Although I would not consider myself as an impolite person, I had to learn fast that politeness is defined a little different in America. You can achieve a lot more when you always consider that there is no such thing as “too much” of politeness.
Nature around Boston is really beautiful, and all of New England is worth seeing. However, if you like good food that is affordable the Boston area is definitely not the right place – but it is possible to survive on noodles and tomato sauce (as I did)...
The presence of police in the whole city is really eye-catching (very likely due to 9/11). However, whenever I rode my bike, no policeman was ever interested in me breaking every traffic rule there is…
- Boston Airport, when entering the US: The officer did not give me the right chop, so I had to go through the second security check – quite difficult. Feeling like a suspect...
- The apartment we found at craigslist.com was more a dank cave than a place to live in –therefore we changed after the first night
- Lots of paperwork to get the “badge” (entry permission to the research facilities)
- To find a public swimming pool – almost impossible
Towards the end of my stay I spent several nights together with my girlfriend in a rented car. While sleeping, suddenly lights flashed at us and several police officers woke us up. ID?, what the hell are we doing here?, whose car is this? etc... They even called homeland security. This happened not only just once, but twice! In the end nothing happened.
- Be polite and terribly nice:-)
- Never trust craigslist.com etc., rather try to search directly on the spot
- Try to avoid Delta Airlines
- You can get a nice student bike at ATA bikes in Cambridge (199$)
- There is a cheap farmers market every friday near Haymarket
- Rent cars via internet at holidayautos.de
- New York City by bus for 20 bucks from South Station. Do not take the China Bus (safety!)
- Have your first beer at Prudential Tower (Top of the hub), nice view
