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Saturday, October 6, 2012

Gear shift

It's been a bit over a month since I'm back to Canada. But only till now I get a chance to sit down, relax a bit, and blog what's been happening.

I arrived at Waterloo on a Wednesday night and went back to work the next day. Didn't really feel any jetlag but I felt kind of ready for anything. I was pleasantly surprised by the welcoming note Jim has prepared for me.

Means: Welcome back.
I had some project ideas started in the last month during my research internship, and was hoping to make it as a 4-page note for an upcoming conference. The submission deadline was 2 weeks ahead so I thought I'd have a short but enough time to make it happen. So there went my first 2 weeks in Waterloo, all working. But it ended up futile because of some logistic issues and some co-authors thought the content was not enough. I agreed in a certain extend and took the hit professionally, though I must admit I was upset about the outcome.

One of the things I missed Waterloo the most is the cafe I go every weekend. I really like the cozy feeling there and the owner was very nice. So on the first weekend I went there, as usual.

Not "officially back" until I have this chocolate cake and coffee combo.
Even after that 2-week futile mad rush I didn't have the chance to rest. There were two workshops I was planning to attend. For the first one I just had to participate, but that workshop started very early and ran for two full days, so not only did I miss my sleep, I had to focus for two whole days...

3 days later there came another workshop, and this time I had to help setting things up and gave a tutorial, everything was rushing as the venue wasn't in the university and we had to move a lot of equipment downtown (and move back, of course).

Both workshop was informative and useful, I learned a lot and had got some contacts. But the whole week was a blast and right after that I got sick.

All in all, I feel that ever since I'm back I have lots of ideas and things I want to achieve. I believe something must have kicked in within myself during my German research internship. I feel like I've just shifted into a higher gear. Let's hope it will last.