At last year’s SfN BlueEyes was still very little and portable,
so I stuck him in a wrap and brought him with me on Saturday and Sunday. This
year’s SfN is going to be the first time that I’ll be away from him for 5
(FIVE!!) nights. I don’t think I’ve ever had more ambivalent feelings about
anything. On one hand I’m super excited to go to SfN, travel by myself without
having to watch and entertain BlueEyes, see friends and science and be able to
hang out, but on the other hand the idea of missing him is almost physically
painful. And then there’s my worry whether Dr. BrownEyes is going to be okay
taking care of BlueEyes by himself for five nights. At least the freezer is
full of milk so I’m pretty sure they will be fine.
So, I’m very excited to go to SfN, mainly because it is in New
Orleans this year. The last time that happened was just before I started as a
graduate student, and the whole time in grad school I kept hearing all these
awesome stories about SfN in NOLA, as the city is lovingly called. Back in grad
school, going to SfN was a very big deal, first because it was so far away for
us, and thus much more expensive to go, but also because my advisor only
allowed us to go if we could present data from a paper that was already
submitted somewhere, because he was always afraid we would get scooped at SfN.
So what else do you need to know? Doc Becca
and Scicurious have excellent posts with tips for surviving SfN so I’m only going to add to
that that what I usually do at SfN when I don’t know where to go is to stroll
around the posters in the hopes of meeting people I know or unexpectedly seeing
posters I’m interested in.
And my fellow blogger and electrophysiologist TheCellularScale is
one of SfN’s neurobloggers, so go read there to hear all about the latest
neuroscience.
And last but not least, this year is going to be my first time
going to SfNBANTER!
ooh, 5 nights is a long time but think of all the FUN you could pack in there :) Enough to last you for a long time when you return! Late dinners, lots of wine, etc :D Have fun!
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