Nice was, well, nice.

I've been back from the ASLO meeting in Nice for a few days now. I'm sort of readjusting to the cold, although part of me died a little when I stepped off the airplane in Berlin. Walking to work in the morning is a feat of strength - I almost fell on the ice twice today. Like, really almost fell. With arms waving and the "Whoa whoa" sound effects. I can't type it to make it sound adequately alarming. But the advantage is that the adrenaline burst that comes from just barely avoiding busting my ass is better than coffee for waking me up.

I digress. Here in list format are some highlights of the trip:

1. The city is really incrediby beautiful. The sea and the mountains, and the winding narrow streets of the old town. Some people live there. How does that happen? I find myself constantly saying things like "Oh my God, I'm in Nice." Which I think may be annoying for the Europeans. Since they think of Nice sort of like Toronto. I mean, I've never been to Toronto, but I doubt I'd be overwhelmed if I ever went.
2. My talk went well. Or at least I think it did. People came up to me and said "I enjoyed your talk" and then asked me questions about it. I guess it's unlikely that they would come up to me and say "I thought your talk sucked" so it's hard to judge.
3. I saw some good talks that I'm sort of mulling over in my mind. Hopefully I'll be able to get some inspiration. I also saw some bad talks. It turns out that after you're famous you no longer have to prepare or have a coherent thought in your presentation. Rambling is totally acceptable. I hope one day I get to that level. Hundreds of people will come just to listen to my stream-of-conscious, unedited thoughts. Now only my friends do that, and even they get annoyed.
4. I enjoyed my time with the lab. You guys are awesome! (According to Carsten, Americans think everything is awesome.) I didn't take pictures, but Carsten did and he was graciously willing to share them with me. Click the picture to see the rest.