I’m sitting outside listening to about a million birds chirping and cawing on a quick 15 minute break in the conference proceedings. This is the most awesome conference I’ve ever attended. Learning a lot, have 5 million research ideas already from it, connected up with people who are doing amazing research and seriously want to collaborate on some ideas with them.
Went to the big mall here the first night I arrived and stocked up on stuff I can’t get at home. Books. Lots of books 
Books that are only like 7 dollars!!!!! Heaven. Got some warm socks because it was freezing and raining here until today when it is warm and balmy Got a little stereoplayer for my ipod since my old one died and my computer has itsy bitsy speakers you have to put your head next to in order to hear.
have been waking up at 3 am and staying up for the duration. Hasn’t effected my energy levels for some reason –usually when I do this, I am about to fall asleep early afternoonish, but I’ve not been tired. Too interested to be tired, I guess. My talk went ok this morning. Great relief that it is over. Now I can enjoy the rest of the talks even more without it hanging over my head.
Will have to do serious dieting when I return. Not only are they feeding us constantly and with really amazing meals and snacks but the hotel has this totally free beverages thing (juice, sodas etc) plus free popcorn and free ice cream at any time of the day or night. HUGE southern style breakfasts. The plane may not hold me on the way home
Right, have to run. Will update more this evening, I hope.
Wonderful to get an update! Glad that things are going so well and that you are enjoying the conference. Southern cooking is justly famous for being delicious
Have fun!
If your in the south, you must be going to Waffle House.
It’s great to see you to have an amazing good time!
Tempted to move back?
Tiger Mike — no waffle house but I had lots of grits at the hotel breakfasts!
Mongrel — thanks
It was really fun and very intellectually stimulating. By far the best conference I’ve ever attended as it had a real mix of people from many different areas and fields. Lots of ideas for studies came out of it!
Noa –in a word, YES
I love those conferences! They give me so much energy and I could stay forever just talking and exchanging ideas and such.
Unfortunately they are rare - I have been to many boring ones as well.
And about being tempted to move back - would you consider it for real?
Waterkant — they are really wonderful aren’t they?! I felt utterly brain-dead by the final day and yet I still was wishing for more!
About moving back or elsewhere –yeah, I’m thinking about it quite seriously. Suffice it to say that there is some work-related political crap that I’m not blogging about that has encouraged me to start looking…
I had a similar experience this summer when I gave a paper and met people from abroad that I know from a previous conference. After our panel we went to eat out at a nice little Italian restaurant. We talked about research but as well about politics and literature and university bureaucracy and life in general. It was _so incredibly_ nice.
In the days after conferences like this my thesis develops a lot. Wish I could carry this energy inside me for much longer.
Regarding moving back: last night I saw a very interesting interview with Henryk Broder who lived in Israel for ten years and came back to Germany. Unfortunately they did not discuss his motivation for moving back (but for moving to Israel).