Monday, April 10, 2006 @8:11 PM
Here I am again after disappearing for a few days. To make up for the lack of posting during my absence, I am going to make this entry as long as possible. Make sure you have time to go through a long-winded report here! :P
This capital city was never on my want-to-visit destination list. If it wasn't because of the conference, I do not think I would actually purposely go there as a tourist to check out the place. Nevertheless I am really glad that I made it for this trip. It is one of the best trips I have ever had, for a couple of reasons.
As I might have already described or you could tell from my short updates during the conference days, I really got quite a bit out of this conference, in terms of the knowledge itself, as well as the career aspiration.
On the first day of arrival, I got to know a German girl at the hotel lobby during check-in. We were both each carrying a long tube containing our poster for the conference presentation and instantly knew that we were its participants. We started chatting and decided to work our way to the conference venue for registration. We then went to explore Chinatown, which is just nearby the convention center. She was really impressed by the quality of Chinese food there, compared to Germany. I laughed and told her that she could get better ones elsewhere. We chatted and it was my turn to be amazed that she had a vast experience in many things at her age (she’s just 6 years older than me)! Firstly she is practicing medicine and doing research. She has been to many different countries working at different universities, hospitals and even farms including India, Spain ex cetera since she was a teenager. I thought I could be proud of my own experiences, but when compared to her, mine was really nothing. And I actually did tell her this. It was nice to meet a new friend at a new place.
All this while I always thought I knew nothing about my work or I should say I lack the scientific mind. It was surprising to find out that I am able to follow some of the lectures/talks now. So I do know something huh? I am even impressed by my answers when I was approached during the 4-hour poster presentation. Ok, not to sound arrogant or trying to exaggerate, the work I presented apparently was not the highlight of this research field. Therefore I did not expect I would get much response or visitors during the exhibition. Nevertheless I did get some people to come and look at my poster and some of them who seemed to be interested did ask questions. I realized I enjoyed interacting with these people, exchanging ideas and even just asking which institution they are from was already fun enough. By the way, did you guys know that I became a model that day? Oops, I exaggerated; well actually there were two people who were interested in the material I was studying and wanted to take a quick snap of the content of my poster but they politely asked me to be at the picture too. Although I was usually a shy girl, I was happy to be posing as their model. And I asked for a fee for that too! Haha, hey you know I’m just a student. I need money!
Believe it or not, the scientific content was not the most that I got out of this conference. Of course getting the latest update and development of the field is always the priority of conferences. Yet to me the best part of this conference compared to the previous 3 I have had since I entered Graduate School was I was utterly inspired by 2 speeches of 2 great scientists. It is not about how high they have achieved that are inspiring me but the way of how they share their little achievements and how they value other matters in life other than career that moved me deeply. I love listening to speeches. But to be honest, there aren’t that many that made me having this “Wowwww!!” feeling. One of these old professors was given a prestigious award for his great achievement in discovering a gene that is involved in the development of cancer. The award sponsor was invited to give a short address in introducing this professor. She told thousands of the audiences sitting at the podium that in conjunction of this award presentation, she went up to interview this professor so that she could share some of his tip with us of how he got so high up there. He told her, “Nothing.” She asked again. He told her the same answer, “Nothing.”. She then took a few steps towards her right and then started walking back to the microphone stand. We were all guessing what she was trying to do. She paused and then said, “Step by step…Professor told me that he never plan that far but just did things step by step and that was what led him to where he is now.”. I felt so inspired instantly. I recall I actually did write an entry about “Step by step” last year. Then the Professor was invited to give his speech that includes a summary of his work. He kept emphasizing that he did not do the work; it was all contributed by his students and post docs who have been working very hard. His speech just lasted for an hour yet his wisdom has greatly motivated me.
I was at a roundtable discussion session. A female professor was invited to give a short speech. She was also one of the recipients of the prestigious awards at this conference. She shared, “I have my frustration moments too although I am the director of XXX research center. I feel like yelling at people when I found out my papers are rejected or my grants are not approved. But you know, when I get home, my kids asked me, ‘Mom, what are we having for dinner?’, all this frustration just vanishes. I am lucky that I have an understanding husband and kids who are always cheering me up and my husband is constantly checking at me and being supportive.” Again, I was sitting there feeling so touched. She has the message right; Career is career. Life is not just about career or any other thing by itself. A healthy balanced life is the way to go.
During another roundtable discussion session that I attended, the mentor assigned to our table was a funny chap. He made us asked him lots of questions. He talked a lot too. The main message he kept emphasizing that night was, “Don’t worry too much…everything will gradually fall into place when you know what you want and are working towards it.”
All in all the conference is fantastic. It did bring my long absence motivation back and most importantly the advice from these people are useful to me be it in this field or in life in general.
This trip is not only about conference and aspiration. A lot of walking was done from the downtown to several other attraction spots. I haven’t been doing that much walking for a long while. Since this capital city is well-known for its museums, visits to some of them were a must. I have to admit I lack the appreciation of arts and history but I did not feel bored for a single moment while I was there. Perhaps I have an amusing travel companion? Oh one thing I just realized that I was not nervous or scared exploring the huge city with just a map in hands. Usually I would be panicking when I had to go to a new place as you know I do have a very bad sense of direction. Even for places I have been to several times, I tend to get lost too. Was my travel companion having a better sense of direction than me? Well, apparently not. The two people with no sense of direction exploring the city; usually just the thought of it is nerve-racking enough. However, I did not find myself fearing to death when we were lost somewhere instead I wanted to continue exploring the unfamiliar streets. I was all relaxed and not impatient. This is so unusual because usually I would be pretty tensed when I found out that I could not find my way.
“So did you enjoy the trip?”
“Yeah, I did. It was good.” I replied.
I guess I was not being really honest and elaborative in my reply. I should really give the credit to my travel companion. I dare say I would not enjoy the little voyage at this capital city that much without his presence. It has been a really long while since I had my last good enjoying and amusing laugh. When was that? I think it was during one of the comedy movies of Stephen Chow or something like that. I was laughing my head off during the entire trip. And for moments when I was not laughing, I was actually laughing up my sleeve. The best part was I felt more joyful seeing him laugh and hearing his laughter too. Thank you so much for this. : )
