When autumn gives Belgium a stormy warning that winter is on its way, I escape all the bad weather and go to the southern hemisphere. There spring is working at full speed. While you all cuddle together under blankets with your feet on the heater, I’ll be merrily hopping around through fields of flowers, between little bunnies and ducklings. It sounds like a very smart idea, no?

At least, that’s what I thought at first, but my research irresistibly pulls me towards the subarctic, where autumn starts before spring even begins. I remember my traveling experience of last year, I left a Belgian heatwave to enjoy the Scandinavian summer.

This picture  taken in the middle of July clearly tells the whole tale: subarctic mountains don’t participate in the silly game called spring. Now I go to Punta Arenas, a city dreaded for its cold and biting winds…

I’ll better start packing an extra suitcase with sweaters, windstoppers and mittens. And a shiny picture of the sun.

— Some more pictures in ‘Pictures from a PhD’ —