Today is our first day in Spain. After living one year in Boston we found our country very strange. Our house in the countryside looks very confortable, quite and very very big if we compare it with our on-campus appartment in MIT. The birds woke up us this morning (not the train as usual)  and the sound of the news in the radio in spanish look worrying.

Grandma showed little Gil a picture of our house in Boston and he said – Abu es mi casa (Grandma is my home)- I was working in my computer and I felt the same,it is (was) our home.

As Guillermo told in his last post, the Sloan Fellows program is a year of profound changes in our lives. For the fellows and the partners this experience would be one of the best of their lives and one year to learn all kind of things from each other. I remeber myself asking a very good friend how to organize my home (it was very difficult to do it the first month).

Back at home I think the year has gone very fast because we had many things to do. Meetings with friends, conferences, visits to Boston, classes and the most important, taking care of my almost 3 years son.

Many of you, Sloan Fellow 16 and partners asked me for advise about activities to do this year, trips and studies. I think those are things to discover step by step. But, if you read that and you really want to follow my advise, then chek the following points:

• Go to the ccae (click here) and take a course of your favorite hobby (singing, cooking, languages…) I did there a course to build websites and blogs. Or visit harvard extension school and plan your year (you can get a cerificate from Harvard with 4 or 5 courses).

  

  

  Bratle Street

  

  Harvard Extension School

  
  
• Take the sailing course with your partner or with a friend and take a kayak trough the Charles river (just behind Watermark Apartments near the parking lot)
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• Do sport. Even if you won’t be able to run the Boston Marathon, go to the sports center and take advantage of the activities you can do.
  

  

  Sport Center MIT
• Go shopping. You will find very cheap stores and outlets. Take advantage of that.
  

  
• Plan your trips for the rest of the year. In summer visit: Edaville (for kids, dinasor park and Thomas the train), Apple picking (visit lookoutfarm), Franklin Zoo, Gloucester, Newport…
  

  

  

  

  

  Marthas Vineyard

  

  Map
• Walk trough the river, Boston Common, Charles street, Newbury Street
  

  

  
• Leave the Museums for winter (Children’s Museum, Aquarium, Museum of Fine Arts, Science Museum)

And those are my fast points and recommendations for this next month. Enjoy your experience, your mornings, your evenings…everything will conect you to the following step.

Enjoy your summer!