Conference & Brazil. Part 1.

From flight cancellations ...

Yup, that was me. 🙋🏻‍♀️

On my way to Natal, Brail for a conference, I fell victim to the MS/CrowdStrike disaster. My flight was cancelled.

Original plan: fly Berlin → München → Lisbon → Natal. Arrive in Natal Friday evening.
New itinerary: train from Berlin to München, fly München → Lisbon → Natal the next morning. Arrive in Natal Saturday afternoon.

It wasn't too bad. Only one of my colleagues arrived on Friday as planned. Others arrived Sunday 2 AM. So I was on the luckier side.

Serendipity

During the train ride, I spaced out. I read. I might have found a new favorite book. A little precious moment.

As usual, trains were punctuated by never-ending delays. Oh well, that's how it is here.

I was suuuuper exhausted though. Why is sitting all day doing nothing so tiring?

✔ First challenge of my thirties completed

... To conference Presentations ...

At last, I arrived at Natal, Brazil, for a computational Neuroscience conference to present my PhD work at.

This is the fruit of cashew nuts. What does this look like to you? I see a parrot head. Its beak is the cashew. It tastes kinda like creamy jackfruit.

This is me in action. ✌️ Giving a workshop presentation.

Here, my role was a first-year PhD student giving an overview / introduction to the work we do at our lab. I was deeply inspired though, throughout the conference. I was inspired by scientists driven by passion, executing investigations of all sorts. Developing their own niche, building expertise. Sharing their passion and motivation.

I desire my niche, my passion, my thing. I aspire to become like one of those scientists who inspired me these few days (at least in some aspects).

Poster presentation of our PhD project. (It's about linking ion channels dynamics in neurons to whole brain dynamics!!)

Poster presentations are... overwhelming, to say the least. Ahaha. Crowded, loud, you gotta scream almost the entire time, repeat the same thing over and over.

I felt shy and totally worn out on the first day. On the later days, it became more comfortable and I more confident. It was then actually quite fun to talk to other scientist and learn about their work.

Still... It's sooo draining :D

✔ Second challenge of my thirties completed

It was full moon in Natal, and this is Van Gogh action in real life.

I like the moon. I like its symbolism, I like looking at it. It gives me a sort of calm and tranquility, kinda resembling how ripples make me feel. They are nothing like each other, but I think they share a kind of coolness, serenity. Do you get what I mean?

Sometimes, we only realize toxicity surrounding us only once we get away from it. Like how I only thought about the light pollution prevalent in Berlin/Seoul/Hong Kong/etc. when I saw the moon here.

... To Brazilian Beaches

The sun, the waves and agua de coco.

More beaches coming soon! (in the next post)