Philly Trip for iConference 2016

After all the travel horrors I mentioned in my previous posts, I had a safe trip to Philadelphia, and it was an experience worth having. This was my first time attending iConference. Before starting grad school I saw the news on the departmental website about the students who made it to iConference, and thought someday I'll be able to contribute too. Luckily I had that opportunity before graduating. The project I worked on last summer at the Oxford e-Research Centre with Dr Terhi Nurmikko-Fuller and Dr Kevin Page got accepted at the conference to present as a poster, and not only that, I got nominated as one of the five finalists for Best Poster Award. Here's how the final version of my poster looked like -

iConference Poster for the BABY Elephant project

Day 1

First day in Philly was interesting! It was little cloudy and colder than it was last couple of days. I went out with my friend Kate to watch Zootopia again, which was definitely a lot of fun because this is the best disney movie of recent times! On our way back it started to rain with ice, which turned into snow later. It was very strange with the spring flowers blooming and snowing outside! Anyway, I had to present at the poster session next two days, so was little nervous but excited at the same time. Also, I found out my supervisor Joho sensei and Dean Sugimoto sensei (one of my most favorite persons from the university) from University of Tsukuba were attending the conference. That added lot more excitement as I hadn't seen them in almost two years.

Day 2

The first day at the conference started with a fine weather. I left home around 6:45am to make to the venue early enough for registration, and the downtown looked beautiful in early morning light.

Conference venue at Loews Hotel

After I reached the hotel and put up my poster on board, I saw Sugimoto sensei was sitting just at the opposite table. I was SO super excited that I jumped and hugged sensei (I'm telling you this is very unusual in Japan, so I was definitely planning not doing that, but couldn't control :p). It was nice catching up with the senseis. The rest of the day was pretty long, listened to many interesting talks, and then the poster session ended at 6:30. Then we had fancy banquet at the National Constitution Centre. I met some nice folks there and made two good friend from the Northwestern University. Also, forced Joho sensei to pose for me as he dislikes taking photo as much as I do :p 

I was dead tired after that, thought I could sleep the whole night straight, but woke up around 4am as usual. Don't understand what's wrong with my brain! 

Inside the National Constitution Centre

Feast! 

Sugimoto Sensei (left) and Joho Sensei (right)

Day 3

Second day at the conference started early again but was more low key for me. I forgot to mention that 95% students attending iConference are PhD students. So, there were a lot of events for the doctoral students. I didn't have a lot to do for couple of hours during lunch break, so thought I would explore the neighborhood. 

It was pretty nice out, I decided to visit Philadelphia's Magic Gardens, which was about 15mins by walk. After arriving there I found out it's closed on Tuesdays, so couldn't get in. But they still had pretty installations and murals in the surroundings. So, could take some nice pictures, and enjoyed the sunshine while walking back to the hotel.

This reminded me of Moroccan architecture!

Magic Gardens Surroundings

The day ended with the poster award ceremony, received a certificate on behalf of all. Then ended up hanging out with some friends from the conference. This time I was really tired to move or do anything at all. So, went to bed straight after getting back home.

The certificate

Day 4

This was my last day in Philly. Since all the conference sessions were over by noon, I decided to spend the rest of the day exploring the city. I went to visit the Eastern State Penitentiary. Opened in 1829, it was one of the oldest prisons in USA, and used to be one of the most expensive ones. This place was on top of my list because of its historic value and creepiness, and I thought it was worth visiting. I got to learn a lot about the history, and felt as if I was reliving those times as I was listening to the audio tour while looking at the pictures.

View from the staircase 

Crumbled room in the prison

After visiting the penitentiary I headed towards Philadelphia Museum of Art, which was second on my list. They had an interesting and unique special exhibition on international pop art. Besides that I enjoyed the Impressionist paintings, especially by my two favorites Claude Monet and Camille Pissaro. Overall, I liked the museum, thought they had interesting collection. And their gift shop was pretty big too! 

Front of the museum

Cityscape from the museum stairs

Another view of the museum

On my way back I saw a gorgeous sunset, bought some souvenirs, and happily came back home. Walking in Philly downtown is pretty straightforward, I loved that area a lot.

Glorious sunset

The next day I flew back to Chicago, and from there to Champaign. The weather wasn't terrific there, both the flight and bus were delayed. So, it ended up taking almost 11 hours from door to door where the flight is only 2 hours! I met another interesting person from UIUC on my way back. Though tiring, I think it was a good trip, especially since it fell during spring break, and I could have some time to recover before I go back to school.