wow

I just came back half an hour ago and here it is: personally and academically this was one of the best experiences I ever had. The conference was great, the presentations were great, and the venue was.. well, great. To be more specific, on the academic level, it was very useful to listen and learn from the presentations and discussions. With the exception of two presentations which I didn't really get (one on mental verbs in children's language and another on logical concepts, they sound complicated, don't they?), the topics presented were very interesting, even if some were not directly related to my work. From the really deep thoughts on 'conventional meaning' and 'concepts' to the more practical analyses of metaphors and idioms in corpora, to the more cute insights on the use of 'uh' and 'um' in everyday language (esp. when you have George Bush as an example :) ), it was all very thought-provoking. And of course it was nice to actually see the faces behind the names I read on books covers many times before.

And on the personal level, well.. let me just say that a certain someone told me that a certain someone told her that he is pleased with my work so far :), and then this second certain someone told me that when another certain someone says in an email that my proposal is excellent he really means it :) How about that for reference assingment? :) I am just really excited about all this :)

Finally, I really enjoyed the Lodge a lot, the view and the gardens were amazing, and as a plus the weather was perfect for going on short walks. And let me tell you that walking around those gardens listening to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata just gives a whole new meaning to (probably an ad hoc concept of) the word 'serenity'.

Ok, so now it's time to translate all this excitement to work. And I can surely say that I have both the psychological enthusiasm and the mental database to drive me on.

Mai