And so to work.....

Ok, today was the first day of the REAL reason for my trip......this is the first of two days of meetings with the other members of the international research group that i am part of.....and if it wasn't for my involvement with this group then i probably wouldn't have made this trip at this stage.

today was the first time that the whole group had got together so much of the time was spent hearing from the two chairs of the group and getting the context of the project that we will be working on together for the next two years or so.

after gaining some context, we then heard from each of the members of the group. there are some extraordinarily amazing people in the group and i am lucky to be a part of this. we each have a slightly different interest in the research project so there are some very different perspectives. as well as that, this is a truly international collaboration (although i did have to ask which part of the trans-atlantic collaboration did australia fit into??????).....

there are representatives from various universities in the US, the UK, Israel, Slovenia, France and me from Australia. I was starting to feel a little bit 'lost' - everyone else in the group has done so much travel and are all working for academic institutions full-time, or studying full-time, or doing research full-time. but they've asked me to be a part of this so obviously i have something to offer. i did start to wonder how i could manage to put together a funding package that would mean i could do this full-time - and it was hard to have to say i doubted i could apply for the chance to attend a PhD student institute meeting in July even if tuition fees were waived as i couldn't afford the travel and time off work :(

ah well, if it is meant to be there will be a way......

as well as that whole buzz, the other highlight of the day was my chance to sit on yet another bike.......

i was leaving the hotel to go meet the group for dinner when i spied two very nice looking cruisers just across the road.

since it was the direction i had to go anyway, i decided to cross over and have a quick look.

a couple of minutes later, out of a shop comes obviously the owners......so......well, i just had to say hi.......introduced myself as a virago rider and said that i was missing my bike.......we got talking and then gus said would i like to sit on his bike.......WOULD I !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and the proof is in the album........lovely bikes.........and it was very kind of gus and his partner (sorry can't remember his name) to let me have photos too.......

and tonight i have found this wonderful chocolate shop too.......so all in all an excellent day.

oh, and i also saw two squirrels.....i tried to take photos but they didn't work out :( maybe tomorrow..........

which will be full-on with an all day meeting starting with working breakfast.......

(btw - here it is now 8:18pm on friday - not saturday)