Erik Lascaris

Physics PhD, computer simulation expert
Department of Physics, Boston University

Apart from doing research and teaching, I have many other hobbies and personal interests, such as traveling and learning new languages.

Travel

Costa Rica (March 2015)

Recently, I have been in Costa Rica, to attend a wedding.

Enjoying a ceviche mixto — Enjoying a ceviche mixto.

Monkey hiding in the trees at the Manuel Antonio National Park — Monkey hiding in the trees at Manuel Antonio National Park.

After the sunset, near Jaco beach — After the sunset, near Jaco beach.

Ecuador (December 2014)

Having an Ecuadorian as fiancée, it makes sense to go and visit exotic places like Ecuador!

Near the waterfall of El Pailon del Diablo — Near the waterfall of El Pailon del Diablo.

Together in the \ — Together in the "tarabita", near Baños.

On the swing at Casa del Arbol — On the swing at Casa del Arbol.

Languages

Apparently there exists a nice official scale for language proficiency, the Interagency Language Roundtable (IRL) scale, so let me use it here.

Fluent in Dutch (Nederlands): ILR Level 5.
I'm a native speaker, born and raised in my beloved Nederland.

Fluent in English: ILR Level 4, or maybe 5 even.
I love it when Americans don't immediately realize I'm not a native speaker. Most of my English I have learned from watching television as a child. On top of that I use it every single day while being in Boston, so at times my English seems to be more fluent than my Dutch.

Conversationally fluent in Spanish: IRL Level 2.

Barely conversationally fluent in German: IRL Level 1.
I can have a simple conversation with you in Deutsch. But it's mostly Dutch with a Germann akzent.

Barely conversationally fluent in French: IRL Level 1.
Je peux parler en francais, tambien. But sometimes it gets mixed up with my Spanish.

Still on my TODO list: Russian, Chinese (Mandarin), and perhaps one day Arabic. It's no fun if it's not a challenge!