MY 1st International Conference My 25th Birthday and
MY 1st view at Taipei101. – William
Yes sir it was my first international conference as a research student of TokyoTech. It wasn’t much really, I just loved it for several reasons; it was international and held in a place that was dear to my heart, Taiwan; it was also during my 25th birthday so it would surely be remembered; and it was just so simple that it was more like a vacation… I sure hope all conferences are such…
Day 1 was December 1. We arrived in Taiwan. I guess this is where I explain why were actually there. It was for the AOTULE (Asia-Oceana Top Universities League) Conference-Taiwan. This was a trip granted to us by TokyoTech for being good students and speaking well in our previous encounter Multi-disciplinary workshop AOTULE-Japan. About 20 Japanese students and 7 of us internationals were there for the ride.
Day 2, I guess was also December 2 and first day of the conference. The thing opened up with some several opening speeches and lectures from the people on top. Best one I appreciated, and perhaps would just mold my destiny from that day, was the Wave energy project being developed for Taiwan. It said it would supply 50% of the country`s energy needs. I got a glimpse of that wave and it seems Id want to ride on it soon. It just so happens to pass by the Philippines and I think I might just look into that. Anyhow its all top secret for now
I was up to bat early, being one of the presenters for the first day. I used my past research in Otsuki Lab about stainless steel and carbonation corrosion. I was a bit rusty about it, since it has been a few months I haven’t really tweaked those slides. Though overall, I believe it went well; aside from that stunning silence after the presentation where no one, not a single soul, would just want to ask a question. That’s how it more or less went for the proceedings until me and my international buddies placed a wager of a 100Yen for each question we raised. Even that dint make asking easier as everything was just all about everything and no one knows everything… The atmosphere got a bit more festive on the evening as we were treated to a nice reception dinner by the hosts. After that, we called it a night.
Day 3 was the 2nd day of the conference; more lectures and presentations. It was fun hearing about what other students were doing. I guess ideas just don’t run out. You could check the website for AOTULE if you wanted to know more. What excited me more for this day was that I was given the chance to talk about IDA & ICTChannel to close out the sessions. I must say that I slept 4am to prepare those few (4) slides. It was however worth it because those promotional gigs usually make you a star for the night. Though, only star that I saw and mesmerized me so much was the Taipei101. It reached for the stars and indeed this was for me the highlight of our trip. I would like to dream about an office at the penthouse in one of those mega-structures someday.
Day 4 was December 4. Trip around town with National Taiwan Univeristy friends; oh did I mention it was my birthday too? We bought a day-pass to run around town, visit sites, shop, and talk in Jap-Chi-English with our new local friends who treated us life family. We first visited the Chian-kai-shek Memorial Hall to witness the grand structure and take a glimpse of the history of Taiwan. We then visited a port area up north called Dan Shui and had our long awaited lunch of familiar yet so traditional Chinese food. Then we had a very nice dinner at a famous place for shiao-long-pao, small niku mans with some soup inside, yum! It was after that that I remembered it was actually my birthday all along and kind my friend was kind enough to buy me a one of a kind cake and made it a one of a kind birthday celebration. We ended the day shopping at Shiling night market.
Day 5 was going home day. Yah I know, all good things have to turn better sometime… It was a happy conference trip. Summarized, it was simply a fun conference / vacation. I did learn a lot and I did meet tons of new people. I learned much about myself and even more about others. More importantly though, I saw Taiwan once more, gained 101 more friends, grew 1 year older, and became 1 conference smarter. Smiles.