Cordoba Conference

Tuesday last week, I got up at 3.15AM in order to make my journey to Cordoba. The journey was not easy, as Cordoba does not actually have an airport. So therefore, I had to go Milano-Malpensa-Malaga-Cordoba and after nearly 12 hours on the road, I arrived at the hotel. I arrived mid-afternoon, so I could take in the sights of Cordoba that same day. Unfortunately, I was not very lucky weather-wise, and for all the days I was there it was kinda cloudy, with the occasional shower in between. However, this obviously didnt stop me from visiting the Mezquita (on The List, number 57), which was an absolutely amazing sight! A cathedral built in the middle of a church, does that sound odd to anyone? Well, it was rather peculiar, but an absolutely amazing sight! Unfortunately, the photos do not do it all the justice it deserves:




At night, I went out for dinner, which was of truly miserable quality. On the way home to the hotel I ran into two of my fellow PhDs from Milano.

The next morning, we walked to the venue where the Winter School was taking place together. It turned out there were about 15 PhDs from all over Europe and the Winter School was quite interesting. Quite a few of the things that were treated I already knew, but it was still interesting. Of course a large beer- and wine-filled lunch was also included in the middle of this long day (9-19). At night, we went out for dinner and drinking with a group of people, which ended up in a rather late night out... The next morning was an early start again, but there were so many interesting people and presentations that I had suprisingly little trouble to stay awake. Another great lunch and at night, an official reception by the City of Cordoba in the Castle of Cordoba. Lots of tasty nibbles and lovely wines, made this a thoroughly enjoyable night. At the end of it, we found another local bar where we enjoyed some more drinks until we got kicked out again.
The next morning was even tougher, as you can understand, but once again, the fascinating presentations were absolutely worth it.
After a luxurious dinner (in addition to the copious lunch), we ended up for a real night of going out which ended at about 4.30AM.
Unfortunately, this did mean I missed a little part of the Conference on Saturday morning, but those presentations were not the most interesting ones anyway. When the Conference officially ended, we decided to have a last lunch with our group of people. There was a really fun group of people I spent a lot of time with and I hope to be seeing more of them in the future. Halfway the afternoon, I returned to Malaga where I managed to see a little bit more of the city. Not enough, I guess, because Malaga seemed like a very nice and beautiful city that deserves a few days on its own...
I went back to Milano, however, the following day. I was happpy to go home and see Fedor again, who had missed me badly... (isnt he a darling?). Fedors father was also visiting that weekend so I had a chance to have talk to him before he left this morning.
Well, that was my quick update on the conference. Conclusions: a lot of fun, a lot of new people and, most importantly, a LOT OF new ideas!!!

Ciao,
OJ