The Rector's Palace in the early morning hours. I saw a cat run into the building and a dog chase her all the way to the door, but he stopped short of going inside...
26 April 2007
The day of my presentation. I noticed even in the morning that as it came closer I was starting to get nervous—just elevated heart rate and all of that. So I worked hard to get control of myself, really slow down, breathe, and not let it build up into something frantic. It really worked and by the time I got there and gave them my USB stick I was feeling pretty good. I had practiced so much that I felt really confident about my delivery; I was just hoping that my pregnancy brain would not kick in and make me blank out. I met a guy who had also been on the flight from
I gave my talk, they said they had to adjust the schedule a little bit, and that they would do questions at the end. Right after my talk, one of the conference managers said that there would be a short presentation from a prominent Croatian manufacturer of water treatment supplies. Yet again I had failed to grab the translating headset, because on the schedule there were to be only scientific presentations, all to be in English. I tried to smile encouragingly at this guy as he stood by the podium and showed an informational video for his company. The background was Croatian folk music--- a sort of mandolin-based sound. The presentation video was all in Croatian, and of equipment that I couldn’t even recognize. You got the feeling he’d insisted on being allowed to present to the groups. Unfortunately, I do not feel we are his target audience. It was a room full of scientists and policy people. Even if we were on projects that included purchasing large-scale water treatment systems, I doubt anyone would turn to us for advice on what to buy.
The video featured him, in what I think was his home’s dining room, standing behind the table and chairs. Then there was a shot of what I can only assume were awards and medals that his company has received. Then many shots of what was to me unidentifiable equipment. My best guess is sewage aeration systems… but that is only a guess. After the video he gave a short speech. I again smiled encouragingly, then he concluded and we began the presentations again. That was really the most exciting moment of the morning. There were some nice presentations, and some actually fit with my own work which is what it is all about.
One presentation was not especially on subject, and that was the one about volcanoes. Not sure how he swung an abstract that fit the conference theme “waters in protected areas”—he mentioned crater lakes that form on top of volcanoes, but really only in passing. When I told Mike he said “that’s like the one kid at the science fair who insists on doing the volcano demonstration”—he’s all grown up now. Inevitably there were the two guys that went WAY over time, or tried at least. The session moderator was a real stickler who told them he would take the mic away if they didn’t stop. One Italian presenter kind of laughingly said “no you won’t really” but quieted down after a stern look. The moderator was my hero.
Me in the Monastery courtyard
The courtyard again
27 April 2007
Today was to be the poster presentation day of the conference... but I skipped out for a morning visiting the sights in the old city of Dubrovnik. It is a walled fortress, so things are very compact. As I said in an earlier post it was heavily bombed during the 1990s conflict. Inside a monastery they had ancient relics, frescos, beautiful paintings, and a few saved missile holes and missiles from the war. It was very strange to see it all together. I spent most of the morning walking through the city. It is all created from a beautiful pale yellow/white stone. The tiles were reportedly all once this honey color, but those replaced after the destruction are of a different hue. I awoke early due to a LOUD snorer in the room next to me, and was off to catch a bus to town by 730AM. It was nice to have a quiet city in which to take photos. Soon the tourist buses began to show up and the groups to line up. I visited a monastery, walked around through the market, and climbed up to the city walls to walk around. It was gorgeous. The monastery was filled with 5 different French tour groups who were called to attention every few minutes with a stern "Allo" from their guides. Two nice french gentlemen kindly took a photo of me in the monastery courtyard.
A rooftop
1 comment:
Kat, Awesome posts and pictures, I feel like I am there with you. Congratulations on your presentation, I know you worked hard preparing for it. Just reading your account of it, I felt myself getting nervous for you. That is funny about the stern moderator, so what you need in a setting like that!
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