37°33' North 126°59' East

After two weeks of idyllic silence in Sweden and Norway, I have now returned to East Asia. Yesterday evening I moved into the faculty dormitory that will be my home for the coming year in Seoul. Eleventh floor with a mountain view, a cross-training machine parked outside in the hallway and a foreign professors-only elevator...

The afternoon sun leaves no doubt that Seoul is on the same latitude as Seville. Luckily I brought along some sunscreen. Otherwise, it is difficult not to get reminded by the proximity to another circle of latitude, namely the 38th parallel North which has served as the demarcation line between South and North Korea for more than half a century, running just a few dozen kilometres to the North of my new apartment.