School camp revisited

It’s my first fully lab-free weekend in … months. (don’t ask) So obviously I can’t think of anything better to do than to write. About work.  Yeah I guess you could call me pathetic. But actually I’ve been meaning to write a blog post in quite a few weeks, basically ever since I’ve come back from what I like to describe as “basically a school camp for scientists” – my first Gordon Research Conference. Before going I had heard quite a bit about these conferences and how much fun they are but as I boarded a BA flight from Heathrow to LA on the 24^th of March I don’t think I was prepared for the blast I was about to have. Honestly, writing this, with music by Sigma in my ears, I feel quite emotional, because the experience I had was really rather inspiring.

As you know I’m scared of flying so I really did not enjoy the 11 odd hours in the air. The whole thing was worsened by the person sat next to me who was Swiss, which usually makes for at least some decent conversation a la “ah yes I know someone who went to your high school. Ah yes my dad’s friend works at that company. Yeah I love fondue too”. But no. This man was a twat. He did not ask me any questions and his only topics were “I’m such a big dog I’m going to SF to promote my holograms startup.” And “my polish girlfriend is so hot look at her instagram she’s currently in Bali”. Could. Not. Care. Less. Also she wasn’t even that hot soz mate.  So yeah the flight was not great, I watched “Mary Queen of Scots” and “Zimna Wojna” (In keeping with the Polish theme lol).  Immigration at LA airport was a disaster. I don’t know if it was because it was a Sunday. But we waited a good 2.5h. And I was so tired. (Bearing in mind it was now about 2 am UK time). Obviously I missed my shuttle to Ventura (conference location) but so did a bunch of others, mainly PIs so we got chatting at the bus stop and on the shuttle. When we finally got to the hotel at 8pm local time (UK time about twenty thousand hours past bedtime) they invited me to have dinner with them so I immediately met like 4 PIs, including one of the organisers. We chatted about all sorts of stuff including their attempts at weight loss which included lots of swimming so obviously I had a lot to say about that and promised to provide a personal training session in the hotel pool later in the week (more about this later).  After dinner I swiftly proceeded to bed. Funnily my roommate never showed up so I had a twin room (American twin, so two King sized beds lol) to myself. GBA.

The first morning was very sociable. Most attendees (apart form the PIs) did not know anyone else so we all just got chatting at breakfast (a huge buffet including all sorts of hot options and waffles- oh ‘murica) so I immediately made a bunch of friends. Then the talks began. I was super pleased to see an even balance between male and female speakers. Though it was really quite interesting to see that most very junior attendees like me (aka PhD students) were female. In the next generation, when the old male bigdogs start biting the dust the gender landscape of biology will change dramatically. I hope I’ll be part of that.

So yeah, talks. It is fair to say that there was not a single bad talk, in fact, most of them were so fascinating, I did not check my phone a single time during the entire conference. But in my mind, the best part about this GRC was the friendly, collegial atmosphere. I think I had a chat with most of the attendees, junior and senior. We had plenty of social time, at mealtimes, in the afternoons (which were free) and also in the evenings at the bar. It was just so easy to strike a conversation with anyone. 

I bet some of you are now worried that I will describe the rest of my 5 day conference in such minute detail but fear not that is not the case. I will now switch gears into a more dream-like flow of consciousness as I try and capture the emotions and events of those inspiring days in Ventura.

Every day followed a similar routine, with breakfast, talks, coffee, talks, lunch, free time, drinks and posters, dinner, talks and bar. It really did remind me of the school camps I enjoyed as a kid and teenager. Except this time the teachers were our friends.

the beach near the hotel

I should mention I actually did know one other attendee - a friend from my undergrad who is now in London. Funnily we always end up attending the same international conferences (last time Berlin 2017), a great way to catch up. She also joined for part of the road trip (see below). One of the talks included skin samples. The speaker explained that his foreskin was already gone which is why he had to take a punch biopsy. Thanks for that. Another term that got coined during this GRC was “cuddling” – when cells are found in immediate proximity. Whale watching. It was breathtaking. We saw so many “jumping whales” (see picture, credits to Francois). And dolphins. Hundreds of them. It was special. That was also the day of my talk. I had practiced a LOT. I also practiced in my room every day since I had gotten to Ventura. My knees weak palms sweaty as I entered the stage but then, as I started with my “let me introduce you to the fascinating tissue that is the mammalian intestinal epithelium” all the nerves just vanished and I was able to own the stage and put it all out there. What a sensation it was to head to the bar afterwards and receive compliments from peers and senior PIs alike. To chat to these world-leading scientists about my work. It felt like every single evening and Sunday at lab had been worth it. I was on a high and stayed there for the rest of the conference. In fact I’m still partly running on this sensation. I should say that I believe I have managed to establish the term “fufi” as description of two crypts that are either fusing or fissioning. YASS. I also delivered my swimming training session as promised. Which was a bit surreal. Us girls spent significant time in the hot tub. Very chilled. One PI brought his daughter to the conference – adorable. The food was very very plentiful and different every day. All buffet of course. Amazing. At some point decided to ignore my flight to SF and roadtrip with a new friend instead. I’m never this spontaneous. But before that we had our last night at the bar, which included some decent dancing. Scientists can have a lot of fun, believe it or not. On Friday we got up a bit later than planned and drove off towards SF. Along the coast, seeing beautiful beaches along the way, staring into the sunset at Carmel beach and getting extremely frustrated at SF airport around 10pm where we just could NOT find the rental car place and I believe we accidentally entered a military area. Oops.

all. the. whales.

It’s Sunday today. Tomorrow I am flying to Switzerland to pump prime my thesis writing at my parents’ house. I feel slightly anxious, excited but mostly motivated. Inspired by the experience I had in Ventura. There is a plan in place. To get this thesis written and then swiftly move on to getting my work published, and decide on a lab and country to move to in 2020. That’s all I have to say for now, it’s 10 am and I’m gonna play the piano now, yay weekend.