Heading to Beantown

Tomorrow morning I'll be flying away from the tornado prone areas of Indiana and heading to a conference on the east coast. I will be attending the annual conference of the National Communication Association, which this year is being held in Boston.

As is always (or at least it seems) the case, this trip can't come at a worse time. I'm in the middle of a variety of project, I'm grading exams, and I'm taking classes. Yet I have to drop everything, prepare a presentation, and then head out of town.

I have to admit, though, that I'm kind of excited about this trip. It's my first time going to an NCA conference. It will be interesting to see who goes to this conference, and possibly make some valuable connections. I also think it's going to be a lot of fun. I only have the one presentation on Saturday afternoon, yet I have all Thursday afternoon and all day Friday to attend the conference and possibly explore the city (though me and my travel partner, fellow IU grad student Brian Wilson, have been asked to recruit an upcoming PhD student to our program at some point in the weekend).

And while this trip is coming at a busy time, it is also coming at a very good time. I've been going for 12 straight weeks of the semester with very little opportunity for a break. It will be good to decompress a bit, and have that bleed into the upcoming Thanksgiving break.