During the eye movement workshop I recognized someone whom also started psychology in the same year as I did and soon I met several other Dutchies as well.
Lunch was always on our own according to the conference schedule so we always went out and walked around in downtown Vancouver for a nice place to eat lunch and talk Dutch.
On Wednesday evening there supposedly was fireworks scheduled but we weren't sure where exactly it would be. When we finished dinner and walked out of the restaurant it seemed like the entire population of Vancouver was walking into our direction to the beach.
Being the deductive researchers we are, we figured the fireworks were to take place right there.
So we waited and watched in amazement (Belgian PhD student Ben) and amusement (me) how the cops poured a whole tray of beer cans they had confiscated into the gutter.
The fireworks were cool and organized by Italy, to be followed by China on Saturday.
On Thursday the conference kicked off with keynote speaker and lots of interesting sessions of which I wisely chose Learning to be the main topic to attend.
Since they didn't leave any room between the talks and the posters sessions (three sessions, Thursday night through Saturday night 7pm-10:30pm) I skipped the last session prior to the first poster session and got some tasty McDonalds food.
Yum.
But at least I didn't starve to death cause there was no food whatsoever during the 3.5 hours I represented my dissertation poster. Had some good reactions, interesting and entertaining conversations and got rid of the 5 copies of my dissertation I brought with me.
Totally exhausted at 10:30 pm I bought (yes, bought) a card at the reception of the Sheraton to go online and check my e-mail.
Oh, in between all this I also checked what happened with the payment and the exact same girl who checked me in said she forgot all about it.
*Insert condescending bitch bashing rant here*
So I kindly asked her to check and it appeared all had worked out just fine.
Friday consisted of more talks and work things. Even went to the 2nd poster session while I didn't have a poster. I hooked up with colleague Dr. Phil and after a good healthy walk we found a good Indian place and had an excellent dinner. Afterwards we went to a place called Little Amsterdam. Guess what was going on in there.
Yes it smelled just like home.
And no, I was completely sober throughout the entire evening/conference.
When Saturday kicked in I was getting conference fatigue and I knew I would have my 2nd poster from 7 pm till 10:30 pm. So I decided to skip the sessions after 3 pm and went to the indoor pool and whirlpool to chill out.
There was less crowd left for this 3rd poster evening session but I still had some interested folks to explain my research so all good.
Around 10 pm I hooked up with some other Dutchies and assorted other nationalities and went out to see the Chinese fireworks. Which was cool as well but seemed shorter than the Italian.
Afterwards we lost track of each other but found most of us again at a central point we'd agreed to meet. Though the police (on foot and on horse) did their best to clean the streets ordering everyone to piss off.
Sunday was my first day off and after a long and comfy sleep I hooked up with (surprise surprise) Dutchies in Stanley Park. After lunch they had to get ready to catch their plane and I went off to the Aquarium.
Cool place and I love taking advantage of my CMU faculty card acting like I'm still a student. What can I say, discounts bring out the best in me!
Afterwards I went to the Vancouver Lookout which has an amazing panorama on the city, the mountains and the harbor.
Also went to see "Superman returns" and it simply rocks. It's popcorn Hollywood stuff all the way but I love it!
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