Allnighters, Super Stress, Lost Luggage, Crazy Cab Ride.......But oh so worth it all!!!

In October 2009 I learned that my paper had been accepted to be presented at the International Conference on Learning to be held in Barcelona, Spain.....oh what excitement and hard work to get everything ready!! My friend and colleague, Sri, and I have been working together for the past few years on several research projects which have culminated into paper presentations at various conferences throughout the states but this was to be my first international conference and hopefully the first of many to come!! We started making plans for our trip to Spain and decided we wanted to do at least a week so that we could travel to several places in Spain. Then we finished collecting our data so that I could get it analyzed and written. Sri always works on the literature review and I work on the methods - which is the data analyzing and writing of that section.

When we arrived in Barcelona we immediately went to the university to register and find our room that we would present in. When we got to the university we discovered that there was limited air conditioning and that some room didn't have air at all!!!! We also discovered that almost everyone there was in very CASUAL dress attire.....normally our conferences are suit attire!!! I was EXTREMELY greatful for the casual attire since there was limited air conditioning.....I knew I was going to die in the heat plus a suit. So we decided that we would also go in casual attire (but not shorts like some others!).

Since Sri teaches at a university in Long Island, NY it is sometimes hard for us to finalize things on our presentations. We always end up doing things over at the last minute in our hotel room the day before. Needless to say since I am such a perfectionist I spent way too much time working on the powerpoint for the presentation. I actually stayed up til 3:30 the night before the presentation re-doing my tables in the powerpoint!!! I know - crazy me!!! But it was a great looking powerpoint when I finished!

The next morning we ran a little late getting things ready.....I didn't eat breakfast - no time (probably couldn't have eaten anyway....I get extremely nervous before going up for presentation). We hailed a cab and realized that we had forgotten to grab the address so we were going on memory.....not such a good thing. Sri told the cab driver we needed to go to Montniegra #6. The cab driver looked kind of funny at us then pulled out his map, said a couple of things and started driving in the opposite direction of the university!!! Sri sat in the back of the cab yelling "no, that way -- that way". Long story short ---- after trying to tell the driver WHERE we needed to go and getting lost with only .5 hour to spare...... we finally drove by the rode with the sign MONTALEAGRE instead of Montniegra....the cab driver started laughing and pronounced the street name correctly and drove us to the building. However, I am at a point that I want to pull my hair out in frustration while Sarah and Marnita are sitting in the back of the cab laughing at the caos!! Well we made it in time....we found our room (WITH air conditioning!) and proceeded to set up.

Smiling before the presentation and after the caotic cab ride to get there (in our casual attire -- and my new Spanish gladiator sandals!)

Getting the power point loaded for the presentation. Sarah was my personal photographer for the presentation -- actully it was the first time for Sarah to come to my conference presentations.

Sri presenting the literature on the study.


I am presenting the statistics on the study.

Discussing the statistics and major findings of the study.

Answering questions from the audience regarding the study. We had a good attendance which is kind of uncommon when presenting on the last day of the conference. We also had good questions from the audience which is always a good sign your presentation went well and the audience like your findings.

Once the presentation was over we met up with another person from NY attending and went to lunch at Hard Rock Cafe to celebrate!! Then we headed out to tour the city of Barcelona. WHEW - a lot of hard work but it paid off. Now we re-work the paper and send it in by August 1st for publication hoping it will be accepted by the journal.

Side note: I told Sarah that we would tour Barcelona after our presentation --- she asked me if we would even have time afterwards.....I tell her of course we will my presentation is only 30 minutes!!

Sarah: WE CAME ALL THE WAY TO BARCELONA FOR A 30 MINUTE PRESENTATION!!!!!!!

Me: YES, usually our presentations are only 12 minutes!!! So this is a big deal to have a whole 30 minutes.

And what a great way to do a conference presentation----- a week of traveling the country, allnighters getting ready for the presentation, stress levels excellerated, and a crazy cab ride to get there!!!

For now the doctor is out.....planning and preparing for the next international conference......Belfast, Ireland and Cambridge, UK.......ohhh, so much work to do in only 24 hours --- the deadline for proposals is July 9, 2009 at midnight!!!!! YIKES I really need to get to work now!!!