Europeans got it right from the start

I just finished to read a funny theory in what concerns the american housing market (Christopher B. Leinberger in the Atlantic Monthly). He argues that for 60 years, Americans have pushed steadily into the suburbs, leaving the cities behind. Just to give some facts, it is not unusual for people in Atlanta for example to live 2 hours from work way in the country side, just to have the possibility to live in a huge house.

However today the pendulum is swinging back toward urban living, and suburbs may become slums characterized by poverty, crime and decay. He calls this development walkable urban living, and argues that it is an healthy development, for it could improve personal health, and of course energy related issues (fewer cars, ...). Sounds familiar? To me it ressembles the way we live on the other side of the Atlantic, in Europe! We got it right on that one it seems... Aha!

Should women settle?

I read this very strange article in the Atlantic Monthly by Lori Gottlieb, it is about why women should settle for Mr Not Perfect as early as possible. Her argumentation is very interesting and I wanted to give the main points here.

1. All women feel panic when they hit 30 and are unmarried. She says that if they are not, either they are in denial or they are lying. If you ask any woman in her 40s, she is likely to say that what she wants is a family.
   
2. What makes a good romantic relationship is not necessarily what makes a good marriage, in other words according to her marriage is about whom you want to run a houseold with, your partner to run a nonprofit business.
   
3. It is like musical chairs, when do you take a seat, any seat, just so you are not left standing alone. She argues that the more you wait, the more the dating pool is dwindling and thus the few available men tend to require far more of a concession than those who were single few years ago.
   

I am an idealist, so to me this reasoning seems very odd, but I am sure many mature persons would argue that on the long run she is right. The question is even though you understand it with your bain, how can you ever accept something if it does not feel right? I guess that is the beautiful and dramatic thing in life, we need to be able to hope and understand it ourselves to accept it.

Alcatraz

This morning I went on the rock and believe me, the first thought that crosses your mind is: gosh I would not want to be in prison here! Seriously, seeing the cells (1.5m by 3m) and the environment these people where linving in, you are happy to be outside. First thing you see when you walk up to the prison is the morgue... Then you are guided through the prisoners' daly lives. In the dinning area, they had prepared a system where gaz would come out of the ceiling in case of rebellion. A guide there showed how they used to maniplate the massive doors of the cells: you must have seen that in movies, where the guard does something and all the doors of one floor slide open. So she did it in front of us, and I have to say, just the noise of these doors opening and closing give you the creep. Anyway, to see where Al Capone and others ended up was an interesting experience.

San Francisco

There are a number of cities, I don't know why, make you feel at home at first glance. It was the feeling I had when I arrived in SF 4 years ago, and it is the feeling I got yesterday when I arrived.
As I get in a city, I like to have a walk around and get the sensation of the place. I did just that yesterday, and curiously ended up in front of the place I was going to every morning for breakfast 4 years ago. It was 5pm, but what hell, I had their breakfast menu (served 24h) with this delicious omelette, the same plate that inspired me as a student to try to improve my cooking skills!
From the Golden Gate Bridge to Alcatraz, this last week end is a nice way to disconnect and to get ready for going back home, sweet home. Crazy to imagine that I will be back in Stockholm within few days.

First step toward my MBA

After 1 month of intensive training, I finally did the GMAT this morning! I obtained 680 (88th percentile). I believe 1 month was a bit short to prepare this exam in the best way. I think it works like this: small effort to get between 640 and 660-670, larger effort for [680,710-720], and really big effort (or smart ass ;)) to get above. Also, for non native speakers, it would be worth taking a english class for grammar and vocabulary. For exemple I scored almost full point in quantitative (Maths) but quite low in Verbal (grammar, reading comprehension). Moreover, the test is computer based and adaptive, so if you get many questions right, you are given really crazy questions, I ended up with a text I could not understand, really nasty! Anyway, what counts is to get a score "acceptable" for the school you want, the real difference will be made on your background, both grades, work experience, but also your motivations. First step, checked! ;)

Yet another shooting....

I am wondering what it is going to take for the people of this country to understand that they need to do something about their guns. How many dead? I think is its incredibly sick that every now and then, a shooting happens in a university and creates a national drama, only to be forgotten few days after. Gosh wake up!!

How far are you willing to go to protect this damn, outdated constitutional right to carry guns as you wish!? Don’t you see it is killing your people, you children? When the founding fathers introduced this amendment, they did it at a time when oppression and tyranny was part of people’s everyday life, and they wanted to secure that Americans would have the possibility to go against tyranny. This is outdated! J’accuse, you Americans to be doing nothing about it.

Something is happening in America

Week 4-5-6: Montreal-New York-Montreal

I had two good reasons to be happy about Montreal. One, I got to hang out with Stefa, Giova, Tania & co, guys I love you! Second, because the city is super cool: huge mix (huge Italian population!), beautiful nature (especially at this time of the year, ask Stefa about the color of the leaves ;) ), and … yes I can speak French there, which makes me feel homey. This week made me think of Friends, “whenever whatever”, you know people who are just up to anything, I think “conditions were perfect” (private joke).

We started Week 5 by driving from Montreal to New York. It took us nine hours to get there (it would be six hours for normal people), wonderful time: we stopped to look at the stars, made one or two stops at McDonalds, etc, and of course a lot of music! To conclude our night we ended up in a jazz bar, then having a pre-breakfast in a bakery, and finally sleeping in five in one bed… no comment! ;)

On Week 5, Marie and I got to explore the big apple, mainly though walking and eating… We probably walk and eat in each district of Manhattan: Italian (ma dai!), Jewish (Pastrami sandwiches….haaaaa!), etc… Wonderful food! Almost every morning, we went to this Chocolate by the bold man café on Union Square, where you can have a chocolate “de puta madre”, but also amazing brunches! We also went to Ellis Island, which was the main entry facility for immigrants entering the United States for the first half of the twentieth century. Guess what, my great-grandpa and my grandpa went through it, so you can imagine how close to my heart this was. I even found my grandpa in the database! Aged seventeen, Giuseppe Laneri arrived in New York, now you can understand why traveling is in my genes! ;) We also went to MoMa, a very nice experience. Of course I forget many things, such as this super nice market n Union square where we were buying fruits in the morning, this amazing singer in the metro (we stopped to listen to her for half an hour…), the Apple Store where I played with the iPhone, Pier 17 where we enjoyed the sunset, Central Park, etc, etc. Thank you for coming to me mys.

Week 3: Dr King

During week 3 noting really happened, “boulot metro dodo” as we say in Paris... ;) (it means “work subway sleep”). On Saturday I went to the Martin Luther King center in Atlanta. They have organized a number a center around the district where Dr King grew up (his house, the church, …). In the center one can listen to a number of his speeches (you can buy most of them on CD too), watch a short movie of his life and read historical facts, mainly for the 60’s when his movements were taking momentum.

You learn about the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which started after an African-American woman got arrested because she did not let her seat to a white rider. At that time it was the “law”. Dr King then proposed to boycott the bus company. Many African Americans followed. After many struggles, a year later the US Supreme Court declared the local law illegal.

Another movement was the Freedom Rides, launched by some students to contest the discrimination on interstate buses. Even though the Supreme Court had ruled that the segregation was illegal, these students encountered huge oppositions in the south. In the end, Kennedy had to intervene and ask the Commerce Commission to ban segregation.

My feeling was that it is very difficult for me, to just imagine these types of situations, where your seating area in a bus is function of the color of your skin. The worst is that this happened forty years ago… Dr King had a phenomenal charisma; you just want to cry when listening to him, I believe it was his destiny to lead African Americans to “freedom”, thank you for that.

Some references:
Martin Luther King Center in Atlanta
King Institute at Stanford

Week 2: Seattle

Funny to realize that after two weeks, I know Seattle better than Atlanta… On my way there, I had a super experience: seeing Mount Rainier (4392 m) from the plane. It was really magic; the plane was at the same level as the peak (altitude wise), which was pointing out of the sea of clouds. To get an idea, look at that and imagine the clouds covering what is not covered by snow.

Next step was to walk around downtown Seattle; I like this San Francisco style, more European, where downtown is a real center where people walk and shop etc. More similarities with San Francisco, the city is very hilly. So many Starbucks it is crazy, literally in every street! In general, the city gave me a nice vibe, I did not have any expectations, and I was pleasantly surprised.

On Day two, I went for a roadtrip in the east part of Washington. It is called the Stevens Pass: highway two follows the America’s northernmost railroad over the cascades for over hundred miles, really beautiful… On the way back I took the Interstate ninety, if you ever take it in that region, you should definitely stop at the Keechelus lake, it is amazing.

After a week I found myself listening to grungy rock radio stations in the morning in my car, drinking a lot of Starbucks coffee… It is interesting to see how a city gets to you. I am not at the point to play guitar in a band, but I should not stay there too much ;).

For the first time in my life, I went to a baseball match! Weirdly, all the persons I went with were telling me beforehand how bored I would be. It is true that not so much is happening ninety percent of the time, but when someone does a homerun that’s pretty cool! In plus, when you don’t know the rules of the game, you find yourself trying to figure them out for every play they make… So many rules; and the whole framework is very flexible. For example, I did not know that the pitcher does not have to launch the ball toward the batter, or (thanks Erin) when the batter hits the ball, the captain can substitute him with someone running faster, bunch of lazy bastards! Anyway, I enjoyed the suite that Sony Ericsson booked for a whole bunch of people, with free pizza and hot dog. Yes a bit poshy, next time I will try to do the authentic way =).

To conclude Week 2, I went to the “Future of Flight Center” of Boeing. In fact I did not know but Boeing assembles many planes (ones I remember are 747, 777 and 787) in this gigantic factory, they claim it is the largest building in the World (volume wise). So one can take a tour to see the assembly lines and there is also a small museum. The lines are just crazy; just imagine pieces of planes moving in a circle, with thousand of workers around them. One point that actually surprised me is the fact that it is still people who put together the pieces of the planes; I would have imagined that robots were doing that. Anyway, fun attraction to see if you are around.

Week 1: Coming to America

My journey began with a southern “Welcome to the United States” which I truly enjoyed. This immigration officer made my day ;). Getting my car was my next step and I have to say I went around my Pontiac and double check the numbers two times before I dared to enter in the car, as I was not expecting something so big, JC supersized act one!

Act two was just next corner, Atlanta is huge… I was feeling so small in these large highways. The crazy traffic reminded me of Paris and some memorial queuing experiences. Actually this is not the only detail that made me draw a parallel with Paris; another common point is the melting pot of the populations. Living in Sweden, where everybody looks the same, I think it is nice to be in a city with many cultures, it seems like a better sample of the World. As I went on with the settlements, I was surprise to see that the organic food offering is very advanced. In Europe we always hear about how bad is the food Americans eat, but but but… I was impressed by the Whole Food Market for example, it is way beyond what we have in Europe. Even though it is very expensive (100$ bill for grocery shopping with literally nothing), it is cool to see that they are taking responsibilities.

Last insight of this week, it is clear that this city is not made for pedestrians: I tried to take the metro to work (I like to read!), and the 10 min walk between the station and the office had to be done in the grass, no sidewalk; that sucks!