I've gone to Valhalla...

Jennifer... it's right next door to the hotel, you see. Today was a little light, conference-wise, so we seized the chance to wander around the corner to Valhalla Idrottplats, home of Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC, currently third in the Swedish league. Today they played Linköping FC, who now lies second. It was a really good game, and a nice park, and I will probably write more about it later.



It may take me awhile to write about it though, because of course I'm here on business. This conference is called "FEMS 2009: Microbes and man — Interdependence and future challenges" and is the third congress of European microbiologists. The meeting is quite large—much larger than the one I attended a couple weeks ago in Uppsala (which I still haven't written about...)—and I'm glad that we are staying in the hotel attached to the conference venue, because it's quite enough of a walk as it is. They had a welcoming reception for us tonight, which included a buffet dinner of a variety of tasty things including salmon, and a free beer and wine (after you've lived here for a while, you come to understand that the idea of free beer or wine signifies luxury). Tomorrow morning I put up my poster and answer questions about it, and there is a full day of other interesting talks to go to.

I'm off to do some research now, because the conference is so big that there are many parallel sessions—one must plan rather carefully, and I didn't have the abstract book and planner until today. If there is a Valhalla for me, this is close to what it will be like. A little science, a little soccer, a trip to a new city and a multi-day stay in a hotel with plush towels and a big breakfast buffet. Vad skoj!