Hello everyone,
I apologize for the extremely long delay in posting. There have just been so many better things to do!!
For the past week, I've been in Lyon, France at the International Conference on Animal Health Surveillance. I got to do my first ever conference oral presentation, and luckily got it over with within just a few hours of the conference beginning. For the rest of the time I have been enjoying the conference, which was held in a pretty amazing chapel, and not eating the incredibly fancy but undoubtedly meaty hors d'oeuvres that were served (for example, there was some tiny pita bread filled with an unidentifiable substance, and they were held closed with TINY CLOTHESPINS! and balsamic vinegar and soy sauce and such things were served in small pipettes. It's so modern.)
One of the people I met at the conference was the Principal Investigator for that participatory epidemiology study I helped out with a while ago - and after discussing some stuff with him it looks like we will finally move forward with writing that up! Hooray.
Otherwise, this fountain fairly accurately represents how awesome Lyon is. Lyon is a goddess riding four mythical (their hooves have weird claws) horses with steam coming out of their noses. Although the city's claim to fame is being the gastronomic capital of the world, my desire to not eat veal or mussels has limited me somewhat. But tonight I ate at a great vegetarian restaurant (Zone Verte) which is right around the corner from the hotel. They serve only fresh, local, organic food and they serve it on wooden trays which fit perfectly into slots on the table. It is fun.
So the week before the conference, I was busy hanging out at the coast with Christina, who came up from Lesotho to visit! Vacation is hard work and I had barely any time to practice my presentation. For example, we visited the Gedi ruins in Watamu. It's a cool place - a Swahili city that was active from the 13th-17th centuries.
I apologize for the extremely long delay in posting. There have just been so many better things to do!!
For the past week, I've been in Lyon, France at the International Conference on Animal Health Surveillance. I got to do my first ever conference oral presentation, and luckily got it over with within just a few hours of the conference beginning. For the rest of the time I have been enjoying the conference, which was held in a pretty amazing chapel, and not eating the incredibly fancy but undoubtedly meaty hors d'oeuvres that were served (for example, there was some tiny pita bread filled with an unidentifiable substance, and they were held closed with TINY CLOTHESPINS! and balsamic vinegar and soy sauce and such things were served in small pipettes. It's so modern.)
One of the people I met at the conference was the Principal Investigator for that participatory epidemiology study I helped out with a while ago - and after discussing some stuff with him it looks like we will finally move forward with writing that up! Hooray.
Otherwise, this fountain fairly accurately represents how awesome Lyon is. Lyon is a goddess riding four mythical (their hooves have weird claws) horses with steam coming out of their noses. Although the city's claim to fame is being the gastronomic capital of the world, my desire to not eat veal or mussels has limited me somewhat. But tonight I ate at a great vegetarian restaurant (Zone Verte) which is right around the corner from the hotel. They serve only fresh, local, organic food and they serve it on wooden trays which fit perfectly into slots on the table. It is fun.
So the week before the conference, I was busy hanging out at the coast with Christina, who came up from Lesotho to visit! Vacation is hard work and I had barely any time to practice my presentation. For example, we visited the Gedi ruins in Watamu. It's a cool place - a Swahili city that was active from the 13th-17th centuries.
We also visited the amazing and empty beach (it's low season because it's rainy season so there is some seaweed) and played in the water a lot.
I think I didn't know before how much I like the beach. We went snorkeling and it was like swimming in an aquarium, so many fish!! Amazing. Will have to come back during November when the sea is a bit calmer and you can find dolphins.
One of the most amazing things about Kenya is the incredible range of ecosystems and cultures and landscapes. Lyon is amazing too, as I mentioned. Traveling is awesome but I have been feeling torn between really wanting to actually live in a place (an amazing place, hopefully Pullman lives up to that standard next year...) and wanting to keep seeing new places. Perhaps the solution is to take reasonable length vacations interspersed with having one place to go back to. Something to work towards in life I guess!
One of the most amazing things about Kenya is the incredible range of ecosystems and cultures and landscapes. Lyon is amazing too, as I mentioned. Traveling is awesome but I have been feeling torn between really wanting to actually live in a place (an amazing place, hopefully Pullman lives up to that standard next year...) and wanting to keep seeing new places. Perhaps the solution is to take reasonable length vacations interspersed with having one place to go back to. Something to work towards in life I guess!
No comments:
Post a Comment