Mostly Harmless: Rochester, NY. The graduate years. 2003-2008

Ah, good ol' Rochester. So much has happened during these six years... Here are a couple of the highlights:

2003 - New and shiny.

The first year. We spent the first three months in a tiny apartment (bed + bath... and not much more), including a shared kitchen (and neighbors who love cooking at night and setting off the fire alarm in the process). The bed was so bad that by the end of the three months, we actually preferred to sleep on the floor.
At the end of March we then finally moved to University Park. Our own apartment (i.e. no more shared kitchen... and actually enough space for a bed room AND a living room!). It even had hardwood floor...

We also got our first exposure to the Rochester weather:

Ice storms:

Cool clouds:

And snow. LOTS of it.

The pre-car days: Walking to Wegmans in the summer (after they closed down the small local Wegmans):

And then finally - our first new(ish) shiny(ish) car. We still have it!

What else? We went to Letchworth Park a lot (just ourselves, with Jozsef, with Jan's parents). It's lovingly called "The Grand Canyon of the West".

Also to Lake Ontario - our little vacation spot close to home. Of course, we also took Jan's parents there and had a nice little BBQ close to the water.

And last but not least - Niagara Falls. I think we went there three times during our first year: Once just us, once with Ivan and Linda (see photo below) and I believe we must have taken Jan's parents there, too, although I can't find a picture at the moment.

2004 - Settling in.

Speaking of the Rochester weather: 2004 found us cold and shivering. One day, we decided to drive up to Lake Ontario and oh my! - what a difference a few months make. If it looks icy-cold in the pictures, trust me, it was.

Some lab pics:

Mishkat & Chris, working on the lasers in the NaCs lab:

My old vacuum chamber - and the new design with removable top:

Testing the strength of the Unistrut and moving heavy lasers in and out of the van.

The Rb laser system. Use every inch on the table!

Of course, we spent some quality time at Lake Ontario.

Early in the year - lots of *fresh* air.

But it soon got warmer.

We also took my parents.

Speaking of which - 2004 was the first year that my parents visited us.

We took them to Niagara Falls

and to Letchworth Park

Bowling:

Lake Canandaigua:

And touring the Campus:

and the park close to our apartment:

This and That:

Farmer's Market in Rochester:

Corning Museum of Glass.

On our way to the "Swan Market", a German butcher in Rochester. Great sausages and imported treats (including the "typical" German music (hehe)).

Wiebke also stayed with us for a few weeks.

Niagara Falls (of course):

And The Big Apple:

Jan went on his first hiking trip with Chris. The beginning of a tradition: Since then, the whole group went on a trip once a year.

Day 1:

Day 2:

Last day:

NYC the second. This time with Helen, Jan's friend from his time in Oklahoma.

2005 - Hiking with the group & Jule's Wedding.

2005 was also the first year in which we started our own Christmas tradition: Cutting our own tree. Or should I say - Jan cuts and I ... supervise ;)

Business trip to Heidelberg, Germany (to attend an atom chip conference):

Jule & Juri's wedding, May 2005:

Trip to Toronto: We took the ferry from Rochester to Toronto and stayed there for a long weekend. Unfortunately, the ferry has since been shut down (so we made it just in time!).

The year we got to love cats. I really think Nick is to "blame" - he asked us to house sit while he was on vacation and he happened to have two wonderful cats, Sebastian (shown in the picture) and Tuvok.

Brief (planned) power outage in the lab. This came at the end of an exhausting summer. Due to the extreme temperatures, we actually shifted to working at night (the lab was more stable then). Which also meant that we were a bit sleep deprived (sleeping during the hot day without A/C at home was no fun either). And then the prospect of losing vacuum and several weeks of work... needless to say it was a bit stressful. Everything went as planned, though... amazing, come to think of it...

Starting a great tradition: Ever since 2005, we took the whole atom cooling and trapping group - or those who wanted to come - to a few day hike. First year: Hiking Cranberry Lake.

Day 1: Car camping (the fun part ;))

Day 2: Getting ready for the first day in the woods.

Lunch break near a lake:

Day 3: We got some rain over night. Here we tried to dry the tents before we headed into day 3.

Day 4: Hiking out.

2006 - Our first real vacation in years.

Bristol Mountain (picture to the left). My first exposure to down-hill skiing. It was fun, although quite scary too. My problem is that I don't really know how to break (you see that that's a problem?). I mean, I can do the snow plow, but that only gets you so far (and is quite exhausting).

Jan's trip to Les Houche: For a conference - of course at an amazing place!

Dragster Race with Chad.

This and that.

Mahjongg with Ivan & Linda

No. I'm not addicted to coffee...

The CAT group, Rochester 2006.
Including some REU students.

Jan

The Mill in Rochester.

Jan & Wiebke

Michaela, Edward & Jan

What a mess!

Vacation time! Finally. This was the first vacation that Jan and I had after our trip to Egypt in 2002. This time, we chose the Bahamas. It was a great vacation - very relaxing. Jan took some scuba diving classes (I passed this time since I had returned with an ear infection after my first dive in Egypt - I'm not good at equilibrating...).

The hotel & pool:

A trip to a park. We rented a scooter (funfunfun!) to explore a little:

Hiking 2006: Cranberry Lake. This is also the trip that Jan used to propose to me. Very romantic :).

Day 1 (08/31/06):

Day 2 (09/01/06):

After a night of car camping. Getting ready for the hike.

This is the lake that Jan picked to propose to me in the morning.

Day 3 (09/02/06): Engagement day.

We encountered a lot of beaver dams (resulting in wet feed while trying to cross them).

At the shelter. Wet, cold, but happy.

Day 3 (09/03/06): Hiking out.

NYC: This was just a quick trip over a weekend in December to meet with Jan's parents. The beauty of Jet Blue and Rochester: From our place to NY took about as much time as getting from the NY airport to Manhattan.

2007 - The year Abby adopted us.

Speaking of the star of this year - Abby. One morning I heard this heart-breaking meow right in front of our windows - and there she was. Skinny and hungry. After a quick chat with management it became clear that she was not the first cat left behind by some leaving grad students (... how can people do that...). Even though officially we were not allowed to keep pets, Joyce unofficially allowed us to keep her. We haven't regretted it!