So I have spent the last week at NAM 2012 in Manchester. Here is a quick overview of the week. It was exhausting but nothing really big happened. So...
Monday:
I spent Monday in the Manchester Science Museum and Natural History Museum. I was a bit disappointed in the Science Museum. They had a lot of interactive parts but even I couldn't figure out exactly what some of them were trying to say. The air and Space part had some great aircraft but seemed to miss the Space part. I liked the trains but really wanted to sit in one (the 5yr old in me) instead of just look at them. The Natural History Museum was good though they need to turn up the lights. I loved the life-size tiger, lion and polar bear. I think I went at the wrong time as a lot of the exhibits were being changed over so in disarray.
Monday night I went to the public lecture which was good but nothing I haven't heard before. Though I was very impressed with how the speaker handled some of the questions. One day, I hope to answer awkward people that smoothly.
Tuesday was the first full day of talks. Personally for me, there were no really interesting talks that day that I saw. On the evening, there was a reception at the Natural history Museum so I got to see a few things I had missed the day before. But it wasn't the easiest place to network. I introduced myself to random people. But some people look at you very oddly when you do that. After that I went for food and drinks with Rob and some people he knows. We were going to go to the comedy club but they didn't serve food in there. So I ended up eating and drinking wine from a plastic pint glass. Class in Manchester!
Wednesday ... Again none of the talks were really that interesting. On the evening I meet up with Victor for a drink and food and talked about possible research stuff. It was a good meal, at somewhere called Red Hot Chinese which lived up to it's name. Very nice food but spicy. It was good.
Thursday:
There were some more interesting talks. I was supposed to give a poster presentation (of about 1min) but there was another session I really wanted to go to instead about all the cool telescopes and instruments that were happening so I went to that instead. The Conference dinner was on the evening in the Town Hall which is beautiful. T hey had a picture of Jeremiah Horrocks. If anyone wants to know more about him have a look for the book Litmus on Amazon. The first chapter is on him and the forward (written by yours truly) explains the transit. I sat on a table with a group of first year postgrads. Not the best place to sit. But then meet up with Jayne, a friend from when we were at the AAO in Australia and it was great to catch up.
Friday was the last day and by then I was exhausted. Some of the talks were good though the names and abstracts didn't really match the talks. The careers lunch was interesting and depressing at the same time. There are so many things for people after one or two postdocs. But little to no help for people trying to start. And I wasn't the only one to think so. The only advice was to get one through your supervisors. So I am totally screwed. But still, I will stick to the plan. And hopefully not go insane while trying to do so...
It was an interesting week but I am exhausted. And I have to do it all again next week in Italy. Sigh. Early night tonight I think.... :-)
Monday:
I spent Monday in the Manchester Science Museum and Natural History Museum. I was a bit disappointed in the Science Museum. They had a lot of interactive parts but even I couldn't figure out exactly what some of them were trying to say. The air and Space part had some great aircraft but seemed to miss the Space part. I liked the trains but really wanted to sit in one (the 5yr old in me) instead of just look at them. The Natural History Museum was good though they need to turn up the lights. I loved the life-size tiger, lion and polar bear. I think I went at the wrong time as a lot of the exhibits were being changed over so in disarray.
Monday night I went to the public lecture which was good but nothing I haven't heard before. Though I was very impressed with how the speaker handled some of the questions. One day, I hope to answer awkward people that smoothly.
Tuesday was the first full day of talks. Personally for me, there were no really interesting talks that day that I saw. On the evening, there was a reception at the Natural history Museum so I got to see a few things I had missed the day before. But it wasn't the easiest place to network. I introduced myself to random people. But some people look at you very oddly when you do that. After that I went for food and drinks with Rob and some people he knows. We were going to go to the comedy club but they didn't serve food in there. So I ended up eating and drinking wine from a plastic pint glass. Class in Manchester!
Wednesday ... Again none of the talks were really that interesting. On the evening I meet up with Victor for a drink and food and talked about possible research stuff. It was a good meal, at somewhere called Red Hot Chinese which lived up to it's name. Very nice food but spicy. It was good.
Thursday:
There were some more interesting talks. I was supposed to give a poster presentation (of about 1min) but there was another session I really wanted to go to instead about all the cool telescopes and instruments that were happening so I went to that instead. The Conference dinner was on the evening in the Town Hall which is beautiful. T hey had a picture of Jeremiah Horrocks. If anyone wants to know more about him have a look for the book Litmus on Amazon. The first chapter is on him and the forward (written by yours truly) explains the transit. I sat on a table with a group of first year postgrads. Not the best place to sit. But then meet up with Jayne, a friend from when we were at the AAO in Australia and it was great to catch up.
Friday was the last day and by then I was exhausted. Some of the talks were good though the names and abstracts didn't really match the talks. The careers lunch was interesting and depressing at the same time. There are so many things for people after one or two postdocs. But little to no help for people trying to start. And I wasn't the only one to think so. The only advice was to get one through your supervisors. So I am totally screwed. But still, I will stick to the plan. And hopefully not go insane while trying to do so...
It was an interesting week but I am exhausted. And I have to do it all again next week in Italy. Sigh. Early night tonight I think.... :-)
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