Great conference and the first big step in quals

I got home on Wednesday afternoon from a really great conference in DC. After arriving in DC around noon, I spent Sunday exploring the Georgetown area. The campus is small but very pretty and the neighborhoods around campus had a nice old-world vibe. I spent the afternoon at a coffee shop, did some window shopping, and then went for a jog along the Potomac. That evening there was an ice-breaker reception so I chatted it up with some of the 300+ EPA fellows that were there. I met a guy who did his undergrad at UF and a person I knew while I worked at the prairie at UNO. Small world!

Monday was all-day talks and breakout sessions. In general they were pretty inspiring (Paul Anastas of the EPA's Office of Research and Development did a great job getting us pumped up about the potentials and challenges ahead) and also informative/entertaining (the leadership talk was really fun and the professional development gave some really useful tips for networking). After this all-day event I met up with fellow Okazaki EAPSI-er Kevin (who lives in the DC area) and some of his friends for dinner. We had pizza and some amazing beer in Georgetown.

Tuesday morning we had a short talk about what to do at our Congressional meeting that afternoon; all of us fellows were going to attend a reception at Capitol Hill and we were asked to set up appointments with our congressional offices to talk about us and our work. The rest of the morning and afternoon was spent looking at posters. I didn't have to make once since this is my first year but I talked to a lot of the other fellows and saw some interesting research. You could really feel everyone's passion for improving environmental quality through their enthusiasm and their hard work! After this things started to get crazy, with 300+ people getting loaded on to buses, some of us moving our luggage since they ran out of room at the hotel, etc.

I was really nervous about my meeting but it ended up going really well. I talked for about 10 minutes with a Legislative Assistant in Congressmen Stearns' office. I gave him my schpiel about endocrine disruptors and why my work was important in the context of protecting Florida's waterways. He seemed very receptive to what I had to say and I'm going to do my best to keep in touch with the office as things progressed. The reception was from 5-7; I chatted up some folks for a while but eventually the long two days started to drag on me! I think most of us were pretty excited to kick off our uncomfortable shoes and get back to the hotel. Unfortunately amidst the confusion of moving so many people, our bags were left at the first hotel and when those of us who had to move to the new hotel arrived for our last night, we were none too pleased to find our bags were not there. We eventually got all our stuff and I enjoyed some deliciously rewarding Chipotle tacos and a gin and tonic after a long day of conference-ing!

Now comes the first big step in my qualifying exam: The written portion. Starting tomorrow, I'll take one question from one of my five committee members and will have 12 hours to write a response. I get a bit nervous when I realized that this is all starting tomorrow, and before I know it the oral exam will be here!! I've been doing my best to keep on top of studying/reading while at the same time allowing myself to relax a bit and not get too stressed over the whole ordeal.

We'll see how things go over the next couple of days (I will hopefully be done with the entire written portion by next Tuesday). Until then, wish me luck!