Harvard online music library

This was a huge discovery , at least for me!

with your SAO ID number (the one in your card) and your harvard PIN, you have accesses to a vast collection of streaming music. I don't know exactly how many hour of music are available, but I'm sure you will never run out of it, it's just so much. If you like jazz, blues and classical music, this is certainly the place to go:

Online Resources for Music Scholars

enjoy!

Predoc with a family

I've tried to gather all the important points here concerning Life and Everything as a predoc with a family at the CfA and in Boston metropolitan area (Boston metro for short). Note: for your wife/husband/spouse/fiancee/partner/etc. (not being disrespectful to any of these or a combination if one so likes...) I will now on refer to as a 'partner'.

Before going on, I should tell you that it's going to be tough. And I really mean it! Also it's going to test your relationship and your nerves. Before deciding to come to CfA, you should definitely talk with your partner about it. It's altogether different thing being in a strange place with no relatives and friends (at least for a start) and basically it means your partner will be home with kids all along, which might be a problem to some. As for you, dear predoc to be, you will be working hard at the CfA and at home, so be prepared to have near infinite energy resources in hand. However, it's also going to be very rewarding and certainly a memorable experience. But let me say it again, talk with and listen to your partner how s/he feels and thinks about this. With this foreword let me turn to the most important thing:

Money

The bottom line is, the stipend is not enough. And you will be paying taxes (currently 14% + state taxes 5%) for it, including taxes for your health insurance, if your country doesn't have some special agreement with the US. You'll probably need at least hundred bucks extra per month, so having some savings, another stipend etc. is almost essential requirement. Smithsonian Institution (SI) won't pay the flight tickets for your family but there might be ways around it. Ask your advisor/coordinator about it. However, be prepared to pay them at least for the time being. Also, if you're coming just for a year, it's financially better to make it less than year, e.g. two weeks is enough (hint: ask your coordinator about business expenses). If you're going to be longer, at some point you will be considered as a US citizen for tax purposes (for a starters you're considered as a [your nationality here] citizen for tax purposes), which means that if you don't make enough money (and with the stipend you certainly won't) you're considered as a 'poor' person and you don't have to pay taxes and your kids will probably get free Christmas presents from the rich people that are feeling guilty for having too much money.

Apartment

Overall, Cambridge is a pretty expensive place to live. With a family you're looking a slightly bigger place than a room and the rents for a 1-BR apartments start at $1000/month + utilities (this depending also at a time of the year, August-September being the most expensive since a lot of students are coming to town at this time). It's a whole lot more better if you can come beforehand to look for the place before your family arrives. I would say two-three weeks is good enough, but if you count yourself extremely lucky you can do it in one week. You can stay that time in a hotel, which should be reimbursed by the SAO as a moving expense or I've heard that Harvard is also starting to allow SAO predocs to use their short-term apartments (this needs to be confirmed). Also, there's a whole bunch of friendly predocs that will provide you a roof over your head if there is a need for that. The utilities mentioned above can vary from place to place. Usually they're heat, gas, water and electricity and they will add another 100-200 bucks to your rent, again depending at the time of the year. At the beginning of your lease, you need to provide the landlord 1-2 months rent as a guarantee and SAO will give you 10% of your overall stipend for this, but again it might not be enough. If you use some company to find an apartment for you add another month's rent to the bill. So, it might not be a bad idea to have some savings with you. The phone/internet plans are pretty expensive (this of course for a person coming from Finland) and they start at 60-100$/month.

What comes to the location, I would say stay upriver. Overall, the area of Cambridge, Arlington, Lexington, Somerville, Watertown etc. is really quiet and peaceful and there is a lot of families in these 'towns' (practically they're neighborhoods or boroughs of Boston). If you decide not to have a car, then I would suggest that find a place near the red line subway, if possible. There are also a lot of buses, but some of them have stairs in them, so it can be difficult to use them with a stroller. The Boston metro area have pretty good public transportation system (at least compared to the standards in the US) and you can survive without a car as well. At least I have. The place to find the apartment is definitely Craigslist. You can find there the best deals by far.

Finding furniture is the least of your troubles. You just find out what is the trash day in your area and the night before, lo and behold, there's lots of good stuff available just for you to pick. There's also a lot of yard sales (people selling stuff in their yards) around, especially in fall where you can find bargains of your life. Craigslist is also a really good place to look, as always. For the bigger stuff you probably need a van and a U-Haul is really the firm you want. They rent vans really cheaply. Of course there's a lot of real furniture stores available and even IKEA, but I would say there's no need for them and you can save some cash for other things.

Just a quick mention of leases. In the US, you have to sign a lease before renting an apartment. The lease is about 20-30 pages long document of this and that about your rights and responsibilities as a tenant and landlord's responsibilities as well. Usually the leases are first for a year and it may be really difficult to terminate the lease during this time. After the year the lease continues on monthly basis, but there are exceptions to this, as always.

The Cost of Living

The overall cost of groceries is somewhat cheaper or the same than in the western Europe. You can go relatively cheap in the summer using Farmer's markets where local producers come and sell their goods. There's a lot of these market places around during the season and probably the best is located in Haymarket, Boston, near the tourist trap Quincy Market. What comes to the grocery stores, Market Basket (located in Somerville) is the cheapest and Whole Foods the most expensive (and quality goes vice versa). The cheapest wine can be found from Trader Joe's as well as downright American snack food.

The kids clothes are relatively cheap in the US. There are a lot of huge department stores where you can find tons of (albeit usually different hues of blue and pink) children clothing, e.g. Wal-Mart, Babies 'R Us, Children 'R Us, TJMaxx, GAP, Target, Blue Navy, Children's Place. Usually these are crammed into some mall or other and there are a couple of these near CfA (Arsenal Mall in Watertown, Cambridgeside Gallery in Cambridge). Reachable by Red Line is also the biggest mall in New England: South Shore Plaza in Braintree. From these places you can find also strollers, car seats, basically everything you might need. There are also lots of small and very tempting stores for design kid clothing which comes, of course, with extra price. One of my favorite is Wild Child in Arlington.

If you're thinking of putting your kids to kindergarten, stop thinking. It's way too expensive. Even if you and your partner were both working there wouldn't be enough money to pay the bill. Maybe, if you have only one child and only partial daycare is needed. Instead, you can try hiring your friends to do the babysitting or you might think of getting an au pair.

Entertainment

This is the real thing for your family. The chances are that you're the only person with a family among the predocs and the connection with the postdocs with families is really non-existent or it could certainly be a whole lot better. So what on Earth there is to do in Boston with kids? Here's a few tips: There's a lot of different nationalities in Boston and the chances are really good that you can find a [your nationality here] school. Which means that about one day in every other week (couple of hours) families of the same nationality will come to this school and there's 'home language' classes for the kids and toddlers alike. It's a good way to find 'familiarized' people from your country. There's also a good web page listing '50 things to do with kids around Boston before they grow up' which you can find here: http://www.alphamom.com/hotspots/2008/06/activities-with-kids-boston.php. You can also join the Boston Parents Network mailing list in Yahoo, in which you'll have a lot of information what's happening in the children scene around Boston. Currently, every Monday afternoon there's 'baby friendly movies' at the Capitol theater in Arlington. Also, one of the best swimming place for kids near Boston is Walden Pond. It's a little bit difficult to get, but once your there you know it's all worth the trouble.

Because you have dragged yourself all the way to the US, it's nice to see something else than just Boston. I warmly recommend at least visiting NYC. It's relatively close by and traveling there by bus is insanely cheap (e.g. check the Chinese bus companies Fung-Wah and Lucky Star). You could also think of visiting somewhere warm during the winter if money allows.

That's about it. At least for a start. I hope the best of all luck to your research and family life, or putting priorities how they should be, to your family life and research.

Cheers,

Karri