Los Angeles, I'm Yours

The trip out west was an amazing success!

The flight was a little bumpy, and I grossly underestimated the amount of time it would talk to find parking at the airport. Luckily, they had a special security lane for people who, like me, were late. They guard that led me there told me that the Philadelphia airport is "not one to be late to". In my defense, I technically wasn't late until I actually got to the airport.

Lesson learned: always allow an extra half hour for finding a parking spot, or go to one of the lots near the airport that will park my car for me.

I caught up on some sleep on the plane, and arrived in LA relatively on time.

My first day was spent taking a tour of the lab space and campus as well as meeting a few of the people working there already. The campus was beautiful and everyone had a good vibe about them. We talked some science as well as about the work expectations. First impressions were good, I think that I would fit in well there.

The next day was the big day for the talk. I was nervous at first, as usual, and I feel that my introduction could have been better. But, overall, it went very well. The audience interrupted with questions that led directly to the next parts of my talk, which was a great indicator that they were on the same page as me and curious about my results.

The best part was at the end when one of the science bigwigs there asked me a question that was directly related to other studies I had done but was unable to fit into my talk. So I got to say, "That is a fabulous question, on a lot of levels, but mostly because I actually did that study, and here is what I found.

I was complimented highly on my talk, and the overall tone of the visit was positive. The language was more "when you start here in the fall" than "if you start here in the fall" and a couple possibilities for funding were mentioned, so it looks like everything is a go for me moving across the country at the end of the summer!

Yay!

Also, I officially finished my training for my summer job yesterday! So, now that I am not worrying about finishing my job talk, or worrying about summer job training, I can get back to focusing on my goals concerning finishing my dissertation.