And so the HIC conference begins

Monday, September 4^th, 2006

Bonjour!

I got up early this morning and headed for the Hydroinformatics International Conference at the Acropolis centre downtown. The conference was a great opportunity to meet all the other EuroAquae students, including those who were just graduating and those students who were going into their second year of the program. I even attended the graduation ceremony for the graduating EuroAquae students. I spent the day getting to know the students as well I attended a few of the seminars. Some of the topics were a little over my head but nevertheless it was interesting seeing what kind of work people have been doing all around the world.

In my program people come from all over the world yet it seems that i am the only north American student. As well i think i am the only person whose mother tongue is English. This can prove difficult at times because i have to make sure i am always speaking clearly, slowly and loudly (yes mom this is probably good practice for me :) ) There are a lot of people from Asia and India and there are also students from France, Germany, Bulgaria, Russia, Iran, Romania, Portugal, Africa and probably a whole bunch i am missing. There are about 30 students starting the program this year and maybe 7 students who will be starting the semester in Cottbus, Germany with me.

Au revoire,

Steph