First stop: San Francisco

I survived my first trip to the American Geophysical Union (AGU) annual conference. I think survived is the correct word choice, since I felt a sense of relief when the conference ended (after enduring 5 days of poster sessions, talks, and schmoozing). Over 10,000 geophysicists attend this meeting, making it the largest geophysics meeting in the world, to the best of my knowledge. Although the goal of any scientific conference is to share ideas, this conference in particular is a great chance to meet up with old friends, and actually, I think many people attend for that reason alone. The other reason is to eat a lot of good food... Too much, perhaps.


San Francisco was a little overwhelming for me (especially at first), coming from Fairbanks. There are so many interesting places and people to observe, and the cultural diversity is exceptional. I was most struck by the large homeless population - it left me feeling guilty of my privileges (and as a student I'm not exactly rolling in the dough). In certain areas of town you could find homeless people on every street corner, and many of them seemed to have physical and/or mental disabilities. I feel inspired to become involved with the homeless shelter in Fairbanks - maybe by posting these words on the internet I will feel more compelled to do so.

While there, I met up with some old friends, including Jess, with whom I did a 6-week canoe in the Canadian arctic in summer 1998. He was a great host, picking me up at the airport on Sunday and taking me to the (supposedly) best breakfast in San Francisco, then on to Muir Woods, the coast, and dinner at some tasty Indian restaurant. On Saturday (our shared birthday) we went to the farmer's market, and then over to Berkeley to stroll around.


I also tried to experience a little culture (and wanted to make Inari jealous) so I went to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. They had some nice exhibits, including many self-portraits of Chuck Close, some of which are usually displayed at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. The building itself was very interesting, and was part of larger art center that included a theater and other attractions.


It's difficult to express all the images and experiences from the week. It was fun, but also exhausting.