Letter from Boston

Nato School Life

By MASAKO YAMADA

The name NATO "Advanced Study Institute (ASI)" sounds very technical and professional, but I found the two weeks I spent at the ASI to be in line with the school atmosphere that was proclaimed. Lectures ran from Monday to Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. There were two 30-minute coffee breaks during the day, as well as a lunch break lasting three hours, but lectures were scheduled back to back the remaining times. It was a pretty tough schedule.

Even though the talks were not as technical as those given in professional conferences — most of the lecturers made an effort to make them understandable even to the more inexperienced researchers — most of them contained a lot of current information. And some of it was controversial. Sometimes, the lecture hall resembled the British Parliament: Participants would start yelling at each other from across the room and the organizers would frantically try to calm everybody down.

Although the arguments turned barbaric at times, I thought it was good that researchers of all ages were involved in the classroom debate. There was no real boundary between the lecturers and the students. I learned a lot from the arguments — both in an academic and a social sense.

In spite of some tension-filled moments in the classroom, the overall feeling of the school was casual. Many of the younger students played hooky, skipping afternoon classes from time to time in order to go hiking in the Alps. I noticed that even some of the senior researchers slipped out of class when the weather was good. There was a lot to learn, but it seemed that the participants carefully chose the lectures they attended. Although I'm sure the lecturers would have preferred to have full audiences at all times, the atmosphere was such that the participants didn't feel forced to do anything beyond what was necessary.

One of the most interesting parts of the school was, indeed, break time. During the short coffee breaks, most of the participants went outside to stretch their legs and sip drinks. Mont Blanc was right in front of the lecture hall. Oftentimes, people discussed the points made during the lectures, but most people didn't forget to enjoy the view. Many people took walks (or naps) during the longer lunch break.

The most social time was after dinner. The common room would fill with people chatting about the politics of their respective countries, playing ping-pong, dancing to Latin music, and, of course, talking about their research and distributing academic papers. There was a bar in the room and an espresso machine, so most people chose to sip a cocktail or some coffee while letting their food settle.

We often ate rich regional French food including dishes never seen in an American school cafeteria: roasted rabbit, chicken liver salad and fish dumplings rumored to be made out of the testicles. So we needed plenty of time to let it digest. Sometimes, these parties continued well past midnight.

We actually had one formal day off in which we rode a bus to the nearby resort city of Chamonix. Chamonix is a famous city among skiers. It is a bustling, touristy place, and a nice change of pace from the bucolic scenery around the Ecole de Physique. From Chamonix, I took a cable car over an ice-capped mountain all the way to the Italian side of the Alps. When we got off the cable car in Italy, I noticed that there was a (now defunct) passport office. Before the advent of the European Community, people had to have a passport to ride this cable car! Since this was the first time I had been to Europe, I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't able to get my passport stamped in Italy.

I was also able to spend a few days in Paris before I headed back home to Boston. I'm glad that I was able to visit such places as Italy and Paris, but the most important thing I got out of this school was an introduction to the academic culture. I certainly got a broad overview of the scientific methods used in studying water, but, perhaps more importantly, I got a broad overview of the people who are in the field.

Shukan ST: June 12, 1998

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