Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Perks




See those pictures? I get to go there. For free. There are a number of perks to being an academic, that is one of my favorites. Traveling to new and exciting places and part of your duties. I'm headed to Western Australia this week to attend a conference (International Society for Behavioral Ecology) and present some of my work. It will be a very nerdy week. All day, everyday, listening to interesting people talk about their fascinating work, telling them about mine, arguing about conclusions and methods, making connections with potential future collaborators and advisers. And then, when my brain is filled to point of bursting and feels more like gray mush than gray matter, I get to take off and travel to countryside for a week before coming back to the real world. It will be spring there, the wild flowers blooming, the whales migrating, and the weather idyllic. It's hard to be me.