I got back yesterday evening to notice that two workshops I submitted for OurTrueColors - a statewide conference for LGBT youth here in Connecticut - had been accepted. Guess I don’t get to relax just yet after all. 
At least I have until March to prepare.
Workshops Accepted:
This post was written while at Creating Change, but was not posted until the Tuesday after.
All I can say is “Wow!” I’m sitting at a table outside the ballroom where the last plenary at Creating Change 2008 just finished. (Though this won’t be posted until I get home probably.) As always, Creating Change exceeded my expectations and renewed my passion for working around GLBT rights issues. Here were some of the highlights for me:
Next on my conference agenda will be MBLGTACC 2008 at UIUC in two weeks. This is going to be one heck of a busy month!
Every year people ask me what I want for Christmas, so for this year I’m actually making a list. Items are in no real order.
Thought I’d share some pictures my father took of the lunar eclipse last night. I (almost) wish I’d stayed up to see it.
“Photo 1478 was taking at 2:50am.
Photo 1480 was taken at 2:56am.
Photo 1491 was taken at 3:35am.
All I’ve done is cropped the images a bit. I had a regular camera tripod, not a telescope with clock drive, so there is a bit of motion visible.” — My father
Well, I’ve now been living in the northeast for seven weeks and working for six. I’m slowly getting used to being employed full time. I finished up training two weeks ago and have just about finished up my first real projects. I’m working prety much nine-to-five and am really enjoying having weekends and evenings to myself. (No more homework, yeah!)
Its also finely sinking in that this is “home” now. I still miss Champaign-Urbana and particularly my friends there, but I probably always will. I will be going back to visit in early September though. One of my friends is getting married, so I’m going back for the wedding. One of the engineering career fairs happened to be the next week, so I’m staying for that as well.
I have been somewhat disappointed by how difficult it has been to connect with the gay community around here. The closest center is in Norwalk and I often find myself driving either to New Haven or New York for things. I’ve only made it to half a dozen events total. Given how involved I was in Champaign, I’m feeling kinda bereft. Hopefully, I’ll make more connections as I move forward.
Well, I start work tomorrow. I’m not quite sure how I feel about it since it is a massive life style change. I’ll be in training for the next five weeks, which will be sorta like college, but I get paid! After that, work starts for real.
I’m sorta mourning the end of my last summer break before grad school, but I keep reminding myself I’ll have other opportunities to get off and have some fun in the future. On the other hand, I’m eager to start and get into things. In other words, I’m kinda conflicted.
Background: For those I haven’t told in person, I just completed a move to Fairfield County, Connecticut and will be starting work as a software engineer with FactSet Research tomorrow.
Well, my Europe trip has officially been over for a couple of days. I got back late Friday evening after some hellish security at Heathrow. (I’m not complaining mind you.) Talked with a friend for a while then crashed.
Saturday, I got up and drove with two friends to the Equal Marriage Illinois statewide conference. I hadn’t planned on being able to go, but since I was back anyways, I figured what the heck. It was a productive day. I got a chance to briefly meet Representative Greg Harris - the author of Illinois Civil Union bill - and saw a wonderful play that illustrates why marriage is often so important for same sex couples. (I’ll probably be writing more about that latter.)
On Sunday, I spent the day madly packing and then had dinner with a good friend. Monday, I got up continued the packing until the movers showed up at noon then made a series of panicked phone calls to arrange the rest of the move. Ryan and I finally got out of Champaign around 5:30 pm. We drove through the night and arrived here in Stamford, CT at around 11am. The rest of the day has been spent moving in, resting, and taking care of outstanding bills from Europe.
Thanks everyone for reading my blog and keeping in touch with me while I was in Europe. Hope you enjoyed the trip as much as I did.
— Stamford, Connecticut at 6pm local time
Well. this is my last morning in Europe. After writing this, I grab my stuff and head to the airport to fly home. Its been a good trip and I have had fun, but honestly I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed.
Yesterday, I hung around a bit then headed to the palace to see the changing of the guards. I got some decent pictures through the gaint crowd, but it took forever. Honestly, I got tired of it and gave up about 1/2 hour in.
After eating lunch, I took a train out to Oxford. The university/town of Oxford is beutiful. I happened to arrive on a tour day for prospective students, so everything was open and free. (Hey, good luck for a change.) I’ve got lot of great pictures. I loved the architechture. Elegant, but not over the top like so many I’ve seen.
Met two girls from a university in Jersey who I spent most of the afternoon with. We spent a lot of time walking through parks and gardens, which are scattered throughout the town.
After leaving them, I wandered down to some of the famous landmarks, but since it was after 5pm most were closed. Sorta by accident (I got a little lost) I ended up taking a 6 or so mile jaunt around the outscirts of town. My feet are still very sore this morning, but it was nice scenery.
On another topic, someone beside me just told me they found a bomb in downtown London a few minutes ago. Don’t know any details, but it was found in a station I travelled through on Wednesday. *glup*
— London, 9:54 am local time
Well, on Yesterday when I arrived at the train station to go do Edinbrough I discovered I couldn’t (or at least shouldn’t). The flooding up north is bad enough they weren’t sure if I’d be able to actually get there, much less get back.
Instead, I went hung around London for the day. After dropping my gear back at the hostel, I went first to St. Paul’s Cathedral. I actually made it inside this time! Third time is the charm I guess. The view from the top is amazing, though I was reminded of my not all that mild fear of heights. (A steal mesh stair case for the last stage. I know _exactly_ how tall it was.)
After the cathedral, I went back to the book street I’d discovered on my first stop in London. Since I won’t have to be carrying them all over Europe now, I felt free to buy a few books. (Okay, a _lot_ of books.) Spent the afternoon wandering through a lovely collection of bookstores.
After shopping, I stopped and picked up the box of stuff I had mailed to myself so I wouldn’t have to carry it. Then I eat dinner at a decent though not superb Itialian place near Trafalga Square. After dinner, I went back to the hostel and repacked everything into my backpack and the extra expandible duffle I brought with me.
Today, I went out to Stoneheng and then down to Brighton. Stonehenge was interesting in a now-I’ve-been-there way, but I was definitely ready to leave by the time the next bus came. (1 hour) Brighton was so-so. I didn’t really have any objectives in mind so I just walked around for a few hours. Senic, but the beach is terribly rocky and it was cold and windy while I was there. Not a bad stop, but I probably won’t go back. I never did see the gay district, but I saw several same-sex couples walking around right by the train station. That was sorta cool.
Other than that, I spent a lot of time on trains today and got a lot of reading done in one of the sci-fi books I bought yesterday. Overall it was a good day.
— London, 10:58pm local time
OK, while the clothes are drying lets continue… (And of course, I ran out of time again. I will add the days in Amsterdam soon.)
Update (6-27-07): This entry is more of less complete. I’ve filled in all the missing bits.
Tuesday (Amsterdam)
- Transfered from the hostel I was staying at near the central station - Bob’s Youth Hostel - to a no-star hotel furthur out near one of the major gay areas of the city. Had a hard time finding it because I started by walking a bit to far. It turned out I wasn’t where I thought I was, so nothing seemed to fit my map. Wasted an hour or so wandering around. (With my full pack on my back.)
- Walked around the area by the new hotel (without gear) while waiting for them to get my room ready. (About an hour.)
- Went to a beach an hour north of Amsterdam — Zundvoort am See (or something like that). Pretty nice, though it got a bit chilly later on. I spent a little too much time in the sun, but not too bad.
- Had dinner on the beach. Really good Satay at a pancake place strangely enough. The dutch really seem to have the food down. Everything I’ve had has been excellent, even the cheap stuff.
Wednesday (Amsterdam)
- Hit several of the gay bookstores in town looking for fiction to read.
- Did laundry while reading one of the books I bought.
- Walked around town for several hours, including back over to the homomonument. (The only one of its kind in the world. Very easy to miss, but hey that’s kind of appropriate in a ironic kind of way isn’t it?)
- Mostly just a day to relax and recuperate some. Nothing major in terms of sightseeing. I was getting a bit worn out from all the travelling.
Thursday (Amsterdam -> Freiburg, Germany)
- Packed up, then stopped by the gay bookstore I’d hit previously and grabbed the next two (quite short) books in the series for reading on the train.
- Left Amsterdam and headed to Freiburg Germany. I was looking for a smaller town because I had gotten tired of seeing only cities. Went through Franfurt and didn’t arrive in Freiburg until around 10pm.
- Couldn’t find a hotel room anywhere and ended up having to camp out. (There’s a large solar power exhibition going on. Rooms were aparently booked out 6 months ago.) Was able to rent a tent and had brought my own bag and pad so I was fine. Hey, I finally justified carrying that thing around the entire time!
Friday (Freiburg/Hinterzarten)
- Got up early, but was trapped in the tent for a while due to a rain storm. Didn’t make it out of the camp ground until 11am.
- Talked to the tourist info people and was told I had no chance to find a room in Freiburg untill at least Sunday. They suggested I try a few smaller towns up the train line. I ended up finding a place in Hinterzarten (the first town I tried). Wonderful hotel (4/5 stars), which only cost 46 euro a night. I book for several nights because I was really tired of switching rooms and hotels every night.
- Went back to Freiburg, walked around and explored for the evening. Eat at a small cafe on the square by the tourist info place. Pretty good and I was surprised by how much I could communicate in German.
Saturday (Hinterzarten/Freiburg)
- Slept in, then went into Freiburg for the afternoon. Went up the cable car into the black forest, but I didn’t make it there until late in the afternoon. The last car down was 5pm, so I really didn’t have much time up on the mountian. It was beautiful, but a little cold. Definitely glad I didn’t get stuck over night.
- Back in Freiburg, I wandered around and discovered this great little special interest bookstore with a large English collection. I picked up a great fantasy book which I read that night. (The bookstore is in a passage (side corridor) off the main street you walk up from the station to the shopping district. Just past the small park on your left.)
- Eat dinner a little Itailian place (not great, didn’t get anything like what I expected).
- Went back to the hotel and ended up reading the entire book in one go.
Sunday (Hinterzarten/Freiburg)
- Slept in, then walked through Hinterzarten (the town I was staying in). Eat lunch at local pizza place, which was absolute crap. (Made me slightly sick, litterly.)
- After recovering from lunch, I walked out of town (with a day pack and survival supplies.) I followed a bunch of other people to this wonderful nature preserve/hiking area. Beautifully maintianed trails and once I got off the main one, there weren’t even that many people. I ran into some English speaking folks who told me that the trail led to Tilisee (the next major town over). I ended up walking all the way to Titisee, eating some ice cream and then taking the train back by Hinterzarten on the way to Freiburg.
- Eat dinner in Freiburg and grabbed another book to read. Unfortunately, the really good bookstore I found before was closed and I had to scronge at the station bookstore in their extremely limited English collection. Finally headed back to Hinterzarten, read for a while, then crashed.
Monday (Hinterzarten -> London)
- I spent the whole day trying to get to London. Left Hinterzarten at 7:45 am on what should have been a direct route, but was eventually told (once I spoke to someone in english) that I couldn’t easily make it to Paris and if I did, they wouldn’t honor my Europass on the Eurostar since it was busy. I ended up going back to Frankfurt, then to Koln, then Brussels, then London. For while there, I did not think I’d make it at all. Just about anything which could go wrong did go wrong. Talked to some fellow american tourists on the Eurostar though. Other than that, I had lots of time to sit, think, and listen to music on the train. I didn’t make it to the hostel until 11:30 at night. (12:30 in the timezone I got up in.) It was a very long and not much fun day.