6-10-12:
After arriving on late on Sunday at the New Orleans airport, a post-doc, Qian, and I took a cab to the hotel we were staying at. Although it was dark, I could feel the atmosphere of the Big Easy. With the window open it was possible to feel the cool humid air. After we checked into the hotel there Qian and I headed to a grocery store to get some supplies. The first thing I noticed about the city streets was the French style architecture nestled between dilapidated buildings and modern high rises. Given New Orleans varied history this did not surprise me, but it was great to actually see it in person. Another very interesting thing about the city was in certain streets the sidewalks were lit by gas burning lamps.
Although
this was at night you get a slight sense of the varying architecture of the
area, which alludes to the various cultures that have touched the city and
influenced its buildings, people, and traditions.
This
is a very blurry picture of one of the gas burning lamps that illuminated the
sidewalk.
6-11-12:
The next day the conference started with a highlight speaker whose
background was in industrial use of membranes.
His one main highlight to the scientists in the room was to not only
explore and push the boundaries of science, but also to consider the industrial
needs and the scale-up problems. For
example, as a scientist the bench scale creation of membranes may involve a
very complex solvent, however this may not be feasible at an industrial
scale. Therefore, he suggested looking
other solvents in your work that may be more compatible industrial scale-up
production. I thought this talk had a
very good point because many times scientists get so caught up in ideas, they
sometimes fail to consider whether their project is applicable or feasible.After the talk, I had to prepare for my talk. As the first time speaking at a conference I
was very nervous. In the end, the talk
turned out alright, but it was a little short and thus allotted a large amount
of time for questions. The questions
were mostly about industrial applications, which I didn’t really investigate. I don’t know how everybody else felt, but
felt terrible because I couldn’t answer any of these questions. The next talk I resolve to definitely make
this a large focus of my investigation!Next, I attend a whole slew of talks that ranged from increasing
efficiencies of membranes in reverse osmosis membranes to functionalizing
membranes to impart certain properties.
Needless to say, by the time lunch rolled around I was almost dead. However, my spirits were lifted with
lunch. I was invited to an event “Lunch
with Legends” where students have lunch with professors from other universities
and industrial representatives. The
lunch was a typical spread of Cajun food.
I tried crawfish etouffee, seafood gumbo, and grits and bits. All of them were delicious, but the best part
of the meal was bread pudding!
Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera so I couldn’t document the
awesome dishes!The afternoon was had some interesting talks,
but after the third afternoon talk I was ready to explore the city. So Qian and I went to explore Bourbon Street
and the French Quarter. Similar to the
night before, it was interesting seeing the entire blend of the different
architecture and to a certain extent the culture. When I first saw Bourbon Street, it was
smaller than I expected. The street was very
narrow and it was very devoted to adult entertainments: bars, gambling, and
strip clubs, mostly strip clubs. I
didn’t feel very comfortable there so I took a picture exhibiting as evidence
that I was there and then moved on to other parts of the French Quarter.
The
beginning of Bourbon Street, I was not very impressed.
Proof
I was on Bourbon Street. This was enough
for me!I enjoyed
the other parts of the French Quarter a lot more than the Bourbon Street.
The buildings were squeezed in side by side
with run down apartments that had seen better days next to colorfully painted
stores and restaurants. There were
historical markers everywhere and oftentimes I found myself imagining the variety
of people that had walked through these streets in times past.
The
varying types of building in the French Quarter. Everywhere you look there is contrast in one
way or another.
This cannon
was left here in tribute to the French patriots who revolted in 1768 against
the transfer of Louisiana to Spain.
Their revolt was on the principle of national self-determination, which
became one of the ideas for the American Revolution.
This
street was supposedly where Andrew Jackson discussed with pirates the plans to
defend New Orleans from a British Invasion.
The resulting battle for New Orleans resulted in unnecessary loss of
life of countless British soldiers as the battle occurred after a truce was
signed between the British and the fledgling United States government. This battle was also significant to Andrew
Jackson, who successfully employed a series of trenches in the defense, a
tactic that would see widespread use nearly a century later in World War I.
This
is in Andrew Jackson park in front of one of the oldest churches in the French
Quarter. The statue is a tribute to
Andrew Jackson.
The
beautiful Mississippi River as it flows into the Gulf of Mexico!
This
is a picture of the wonderful jambalaya that I had at Coop’s Place a local dive
bar near the French Market that came highly recommended by the locals. I agree with the locals, best jambalaya ever!
After eating
a great lunch/dinner, Qian and I headed back to conference where we viewed the
poster gallery trying to get some ideas and went to bed.
6-12-12:
Today, I was still recovering
from information overload and decided to take the morning off to continue exploring
the French Quarter. I also didn’t find
any of the conference talks very interesting.
Anyway, I met up with an old acquaintance from CU and her, her friend,
and I went exploring the French Quarter and the boardwalk. We walked along the Mississippi River for a
while and saw an original steamboat.
Then we took a turn into the French Quarter and went back to Coop’s
Place. I ordered a taster platter, which
had fried chicken, beans and rice, etoufee, jambalaya, and gumbo. All of it was so delicious that I was sad
when I finished the plate.
A
legitimate steamboat! At the top of the
boat was a man that used the steam to play an organ type instrument.After
the delicious meal we walked back to the conference via Royal Street. This street runs parallel to Bourbon Street
but was a more pleasant walk.
The
afternoon concluded with more talks and rounded out with a delicious conference
banquet. I didn’t have as much coffee at
the banquet that I usually do so after networking I headed to bed
.6-13-12 to
6-14-12:
The last day of the conference
was pretty uneventful and long. I had to
stay until 1700 because the person I was traveling with had the last talk of
the conference. Once that was finished
we rushed to the airport to catch our flight.
The flight was delayed due to some engine trouble and we were afraid we
weren’t going to make our connecting flight.
However, this turned out not to be a problem because the next flight was
delayed from 1900 to 2300. This caused
us to arrive back into Fayetteville at 0300 the next day. The less than ideal situation
was made worse by the fact that I had to catch a flight to Germany that
day. Unfortunately that was also a
connecting flight and the backlog of the flights from the previous day had
caused delays the next day. Thus, my
flight was delayed and I was informed that I wouldn’t make my connection in
Atlanta. Frantically, I booked an
earlier flight and made it into Atlanta with time to spare. Unfortunately, my flight from Atlanta to
Germany was delayed as well and due to engine trouble left two hours late.
You can imagine that with so
many delays I was exhausted by the time I boarded the plane and went right to
sleep. This turned out to be
advantageous because I had no jet lag when I arrived in Germany.
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