Business before pleasure

After an incredibly busy few weeks at work, it was finally time (albeit at 3am I might add) to go to the airport to catch the 6am A380 to Dubai! So early in fact that not even customs was open so I was forced to enjoy my first macchiato of the trip from the Mrs Fields Cookies at Sydney Airport.

We set off promptly in the cold and dark -  this was my first time on an A380, and the window seat was surprisingly roomy. So I was on my way to Italy for the Gordon Research Conference - Mammary Gland Biology, and a couple of weeks before had been invited to give a talk at it, so while a great opportunity, I was quietly panicking as the audience was a who's who in breast cancer research. Lucky I had a 14 hour leg to learn my talk in amongst a few movies and a couple of hours of sleep. Arriving in Dubai I was feeling unusually fresh, so headed straight to the Heineken Lounge bar to celebrate with a glass of pinot grigio and to make use of the free wifi. I had no idea how much that glass of wine was or even in what currency I was paying - yay for credit cards. It seemed to do the trick anyway, as the next 6 or so hours to Rome I managed to sleep most of the way.

A380 from Sydney pre-dawn

After an hour wait at Rome customs, and then thinking someone had accidently taken my bag (an identical one was going around and around the conveyor belt which had someone else's name on it - coincidentally someone also from Sydney University), my bag suddenly made an appearance and I overnighted in Rome close to the airport at the Vegan Inn. And yes it is vegan. A long shower and good night's sleep was all I needed, and then after a vegan breakfast (I opted for cereal with the soy milk) I headed straight back to the airport to Pisa.

From Pisa a bus picked up a load of scientists and took us to Il Ciocco resort perched in the Tuscan hills near Lucca. I had been to this conference back in 2006 so knew I was in for a treat. This is THE perk of the job, so let me have it.

Ridiculous view from my room

 I checked into my room with a 180 degree vista over the Tuscan hills, and met my room mate, Medisa from North Carolina, who I would be sharing the place with for the next week. The first day of the conference was for about 50 of us early career researchers, so we could settle in in a more relaxed environment before the heavy hitters arrived the next day.

Breakfast with a view

The Gordon conferences have a busy itinerary, but they are great. They are limited to about 150 people, and you have all your meals together so it's a great chance to meet and mingle. So the next couple of days were spent working pretty hard, while enjoying the scenery in our breaks and the Italian food and wine which flowed freely with each meal (OK, not at breakfast). It was great having my good mate Sam there, as well as Chris my old PhD supervisor and some other familiar faces from the Garvan. And so on Tuesday night it was my time to shine and I gave my talk (you can just spot little me on the stage in the pic below) and I even managed to give semi-intelligent answers to the questions! So that all went rather well indeed!

My 15 minutes (literally)

The next couple of days I could relax a bit more, and even went on a drive with Sam to the nearby town of Lucca. We enjoyed a nice lunch there and walked around the old walls. We'd parked the car outside the old town, so when we exited we thought we were near the car, but we decided to turn right. That was unwise, as unbeknownst to us the car was just on our left, so we actually walked the entire 5.6km circumference of the old town of Lucca before we reached our car again. So that was some good excercise and hilarity at the same time! The next day I went on an excursion to Badia, a local winery where I had visited 8 years ago. I remembered the people, and we tasted their wine (only 6 euros a bottle!) as well as the famous grappa! That made everyone very chatty on the bus trip back!

Sammy and me in Lucca

So after 6 days it was the last night of the conference which they end with a fancy dinner and big GRC cake which they come around and present to each table so everyone can marvel at its splendour and applaud, and then afterwards all the scientists get together for a disco! So we danced until the wee hours! 

Presenting the GRC cake!

Dancing into the wee hours is not a great idea when its an early departure the next morning - lucky for me that was 8:30, whereas some others had to leave at 4:30am - pretty much straight from the dance floor! Crazy old scientists!

So Friday morning I was a happy little lady as the conference was a great success for me, and it meant that I was officially on holidays!! So I hopped on the bus to Pisa Airport to meet Ryan who had been galavanting around  Europe for the previous 2 weeks without me! Time for me to join in on the galavanting I say!