Vive la France! Maybe because it was our first trip together, or perhaps there is indeed some merit to the cliché notion of Valentine’s in Paris, but despite our complete lack of French language skills and the bitter cold that overtook the city, Melody and I were nevertheless left with the fondest of memories for this week-long vacation. Our trip began on Sunday the 15th, with a tour of the beautiful cathedral of Notre Dame, followed by a stroll through the Latin Quarter, a visit to the Pantheon, and finally concluding with a cold walk down Rue Mouffetard to a small cozy restaurant for a steaming bowl of soupe d’oignon au gratin. Still a bit jet-lagged, we woke up late Monday afternoon to tour the endless corridors of the Louvre, and finished the evening with a stroll down the garish and bustling Champs-Elyseé, but not before stopping at a local diner for some mouth-watering confit de canard and braised skate. On Tuesday, we awoke early to beat the crowd to ascend the Eiffel Tower, spent the afternoon in Musée Rodin, and by dusk was fast asleep back at our hotel room. By the time we realized that we had missed dinner, it was already 3am! Luckily, the sleep afforded us the ability to wake up earlier on Wednesday to spend the morning in scenic Montmartre, beginning with a view of the intricate mosaics in Sacre Coeur, followed by a stroll through the fairy-tale land of Amelie Poulain, passing street artists hounding us to sketch our portraits, the Moulin de la Galette featured in Renoir’s painting, and last but not least, the Moulin Rouge. After some Thai curry for lunch, we hopped over for a peek into Box 5 of the infamous Opera Garnier, the inspiration for the Phantom of the Opera, and from there, walked to the Jardin des Tuileries for a short break, then back to the Louvre to cover what we missed from our first visit. We devoted the next day to Versailles, which despite most of the gardens being closed for the winter, still retained its lavishness and magnificence. On Friday, we visited the impressive collection at Musée D’Orsay and stopped by the Jardin de Luxembourg before our flight back to NYC the next day. Having spent so much quality time with my dear Melody, it was tough returning to lab on Monday and made for a slow week at work, which explains why it took me so long to put up this update. Fortunately, the best news is that the BI has offered Melody a residency position here, and she has decided to accept the offer! It certainly made for an easier farewell, knowing that she’ll be coming back for good this summer. Be sure to check out the travel page for additional photos from our trip! Oh, and happy leap day!

With the grant out of the way, lab work slowing down a bit, and my gf visiting for 2 full weeks, I can finally be a happy puppy again. While this week has been spent laying low in Boston, mainly because I’m teaching problem-set sections for Pharmacology and also doing some intermittent experiments in lab, the two of us will be taking a trip to Paris next week! After some last-minute web searching, we were able to find a great air and hotel package from Virgin Vacations for a week in the City of Lights, just in time for Valentine’s Day! Meanwhile, Melody will be interviewing at the Beth Israel Deaconess for their 2nd year Ob/Gyn residency position this morning. It’s exciting, but at the same time rather nerve-racking. I can only keep my fingers crossed in the meantime…

Work Hard. Play Hard. That’s the motto that would best characterize the events of the past week. I went from pulling all-nighters for my PQE on Monday to my birthday celebration on Thursday, then busting my balls on my PI’s grant, and on Friday joining in the festivities for the Neuroscience recruitment weekend. I took off from lab around 10pm to head over to Jillian’s with my friend Mike, where we played 2 solid hours of 8-ball (completely ignoring all the prospective students, of course), followed by dancing at An Tua Nua, which featured a mix of music from 80’s to modern Hip-Hop. The beautiful thing was that everything was covered by the program – from the cover charge to drinks at the bar. All you had to say were the magic words “Harvard Neuroscience”. Other than that, my parents were in town this weekend, so I just chilled with them while I continued working on the grant. It’ll be another breath of fresh air once this grant is over.