travel
retrospectacle | September 29, 2006I spent the night in Schipol Airport last night, and just got home (to Ann Arbor) today. I'm exhausted! Long stories, regarding Amsterdam. Brussels, a mistake that took me to Paris, trains, coffeeshops and hostels galore on Monday. I'm taking the weekend to try to get un-jetlagged.
Stay Tuned!
retrospectacle | September 21, 2006Posting will be slow for a couple days, as I hop on the Eurail tomorrow and travel to Brussels.
Yesterday I decided to go to the beach, which is a few miles to the south of Montpellier. It was a bit more of a hassle that I expected, as it involved getting on the subway, then getting on a bus. Futhermore this involved knowing exactly what stop I wanted to get off at, and I found this out while face-to-face with the bus driver. After a bit of confusion, the first stop name she said (ended up being Gau de le Roi) I just nodded emphatically and hoped it was correct. (Hopefully, it was!) The line…
retrospectacle | September 19, 2006After another full day of the Inner Ear Biology Conference (I may blog the talks in the future, but I'm on vacation now!), I wanted to explore more of this beautiful city in the south of France. A bit on the history of Montpellier (summarized from its Wiki entry): Montpellier is the capital of the Languedoc-Roussillon region (famous for its red wine), and as of 2004 the population was about 245,000 people. This makes it about twice the size of Ann Arbor, although it actually seems much more compact (a tourists' distortion, I know.) It is about 6miles from the Mediterranean ocean.…
retrospectacle | September 18, 2006Today and yesterday I haven't been able to do a whole lot other than attend the Inner Ear Biology Conference, which is taking place at a small but very comfortable conference center called the Corum (below).
This conference center blows all the ones in America away in style and convienence. The seats in the auditorium were like overstuffed first-class airline seats (hard not to doze off in them), and the center itself is situated in a lovely old park right off the center of town (park pictures, fountain and small bistro, below).
I presented my poster today. Actually, while I was…
retrospectacle | September 17, 2006So I'll start with last night (actually Montpellier Day 2....). After making that post yesterday, I mustered up the courage to go walk around at night and find some place to get a much-needed drink. As I pass the main square, my ears happen to perk up to the sounds of English! A group of kids, about my age, seem to be discussing what to do for the night. So, I walk right up to them, introduce myself and ask if they know of any good bars in the area. Well, one thing led to another and they ended up "adopting" me for the night. Turns out they were all American exchange students studying French…
retrospectacle | September 16, 2006Ita about 8:45pm here France time, and I thought I'd jot down today's adventures before heading off for a bar somewhere. I was horribly jetlagged last night, and didn't get to sleep until about 4am---meaning I missed breakfast and didn't wake up until almost 11am. The sleep was golden though!
The first thing I did was to call Air France to check on my bag---they still hadn't found it! (I was starting to get worried, however the customer support people were extremely nice and reassuring.) So, I hit the city of Montpellier, walking west down the rue du Baudin to the Place de la Comedie which…
retrospectacle | September 16, 2006What a journey! Three flights, four airports, a 2 hour bus ride through London, my luggage lost (not my poster though!), but at midnight Sept 16th I have finally made it to Montpellier, France.
First, my flight out of Detroit was delayed over 2 hours, although I received some nice vouchers from Northwest in the form of free airport food and $50 off my next ticket. Not so bad. However, the delay made me miss my British Airways connection in Gatwick Airport in London by about 20 minutes. After being shuffled through several different "queues" (lines, none of which were short) and a different…
retrospectacle | September 14, 2006So, as I've mentioned previously, I'm leaving for Europe tonight (coming back Sept 29th!). Don't worry, blogging will not cease (although may be a little slower), and I'm going to try to photo-blog my travels through France, Belgium, and Amsterdam.
I am presenting a poster at the Inner Ear Biology Meeting in Montpellier, France and then hopping on the Eurail to Brussels and then Amsterdam. Stay tuned for Euro-photo-blogging!
retrospectacle | August 15, 2006As I have mentioned before, I'm going to Europe next month----flying into France and out of Amsterdam.
I want your input specifically on what places to hit in Amsterdam, if ya got 'em.
Stories? Tell me!!
Great restaurants? Lemme know!
Things to see/places to avoid?
And, what I'm really looking for: I need a fantastic place to stay (mid range no more than 150 euros/night) and the names of the, er, best coffee houses. :)
Anything related to the Netherlands, I'd love to know about it.
scientificactivist | August 7, 2006I know that I just got back from vacation, but I have family visiting this week, so I'll be out of town again until next week. Have no fear, though, because as usual you can expect plenty of posts from Ye Olde Archives. I haven't written too much about global warming or the environment since I moved to ScienceBlogs.com, so the rest of the posts this week will be on climate science. Enjoy!
scientificactivist | August 7, 2006On the weekend of July 28th-30th, about 150 NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) scientists from the UK and Europe (and a few from the US) gathered in Ambleside for the Sixth Annual Collaborative Computing Project for NMR (CCPN) Meeting. The topic of the meeting was "Efficient and Rapid Structure Determination by NMR", and it included presentations by twelve NMR scientists, a demonstration of the CCPN software, and about thirty research posters on various NMR talks.
Note: for more background on NMR, check out my previous post on the topic.
Biomolecular NMR is a rapidly growing field, one that…
scientificactivist | July 31, 2006After over two weeks on planes, trains, and automobiles (actually, more like planes, buses, and boats)--on a trip that involved a wild weekend in Newcastle, a relaxing week and a half on a small island in the Norwegian fjords, and an informative three-day NMR conference in the Lake District--I'm finally back in Oxford. I can't wait to get back into the swing of things around here at The Scientific Activist, but things might be a bit slow for the next week or two. I'm moving apartments this week, showing family around England next, and in between all of that, struggling to make at least some…
scientificactivist | July 14, 2006By the time you read this, I'll already be on a bus bound for Newcastle, where I'll spend the weekend before heading off to Bergen, Norway, for some much needed relaxation. I'm going to be gone for a couple of weeks, but have no fear! I won't be here physically, but I will be here in spirit and, thanks to this newfangled technology stuff, the blogging will continue anyways. I'll be posting from my "Best of The Scientific Activist Collection" so make sure you keep coming back to see what I'm finding in the archives that day. Also, don't forget about the rest of the great blogging going on…
retrospectacle | July 12, 2006I'm going to Europe this September for the first time!
Under the premises of going to a science meeting (Inner Ear Biology Meeting 2006), I'm spending 2 weeks in the south of France and Amsterdam! I'm so excited! Here's the thing, I thought I would put out the word on my blog to see if any readers or residents know any cool places to see/go that a normal tourist might not. I'm going to be photo-blogging the trip, so let me know all your favorite places in France, Italy, Switzerland, and the Netherlands (and anything in between on the Eurail.) The conference is in Montpellier, France and I'm…