"Thank You!" to my boss David Mitchell for sending me and Rob Lillis to the joint EGS-AGU-EUG Assembly in Nice! This was my first attendance at an international conference and I was a bit nervous about presenting my poster on my current Mars research. Rob was nervous as well since he had to present a 15 talk - overall we did well and peaked a lot of interest in the research.

It was huge conference considering this is the first joint European-American assembly! I must say it was very difficult to decide which talks and poster sessions to attend since many were in parallel sessions. Nonetheless, I managed to attend many interesting ones and I think I learned a few new things or so, when my mind can manage to grasp the difficult concepts that is. I had a wonderful time networking with different scientists in the planetary space physics field and I even ran into some old friends - my old buddy Sam Adlen, whom I met in 1998 at Caltech, and also Claire Vallat, whom I met at SSL during the summer of 2002. The science community is a small world!

It was also an interesting experience to share a hotel room for a week with Rob, who is now one of my current roommates. I suppose it was a test to see how well we will live together considering that he and his buddies were moving into my current house during the summer of 2003. Note to all of Rob's future girlfriends: He likes to talk about physics in his sleep... and sometimes mentions sheep...

When it wasn't raining and I wasn't at the conference, I had the opportunity to peruse through the streets of Old Nice, hang out at some dodgy Irish Pub, eat some good Italian food (but I thought I was in France!), and check out the country of Monaco, which was right next door. Check out the some pictures below!

(Click on thumbnails to see enlarged image)

Our very "large" room in Nice.

On Rue Cassini, towards our hotel.

My beautiful 6 ft. poster

Inside the poster room - free champagne!

Front of the Acropolis conference center

Big giant head building

Dining with my old SURF buddy, Sam

...and also with Claire and her friend Agathe

Agathe, Rob, and Claire

Claire and Rob being goofy

At Le Romarin Restaurant

Evening drinks at an Irish Pub

Sam's buddy, Graham

Me and Rob being drunk

Colorful buildings in Nice

Alpes Maritimes Fountain

Statue near the Acropolis

Cheese stand in Old Nice

Rob & Lenin Art

Rabbit statue by Flanigan

Shops in old nice

Nice from the airplane - bye!

Cap Ferrat, Monaco in the background

This truly is the "Cote d'Azur"!

After the conference was over, we made our way to London, where Rob's friend Ed was attending university (Cambridge). Ed and Rob met the year before when Ed came to UC Berkeley to do 1 year abroad. Ed was kind enough to let us stay with him and his girlfriend Sarah for two nights (thank you!) and even spent an entire day showing us the highlights of London (St. Paul's Church, The London Eye, The London Tower Bridge, Tate Museum, The Millennium Bridge, Buckingham Palace, and The Parliament). It was a tiring but very fun day. I even had a chance to meet up with my old buddy Will Clarkson, whom I met in the summer of 1998 while doing a summer internship at Caltech (he attends university in South Hampton now). Together, we all dined at a fine Indian restaurant - they are ubiquitous in London!

Rob & I in front of the London Tower Bridge

Cool Rocket building in the background

Ed & Rob, London Eye in the background

Our gracious host and hostess, in the London Eye

Me & my buddy Will

Evening in front of the Parliament

Rob in the London Eye

Me in the London Eye

London Eye in the background

The changing of the guards

After spending two nights in London, Rob and I made our way to his home country, Ireland where we spent several nights with his parents at their summer home in Kilkee (west coast Ireland) before heading over to their residence over in Dublin together.

In Kilkee where Rob spent his summer days as a child, we hiked on some really awesome-ly tall cliffs - some were even as tall as 700 feet ( = 213 meters)! One cliff area that we and his parents drove to is called Cliffs of Moher near Liscannor, north of Kilkee. It was the most beautiful and tall cliff I have ever seen! It was also a beautiful drive from his parents' summer home - everything was so green, open, and rustic! The drive itself was an adventure considering most roads in Ireland are narrow enough to fit at most one car so one has to be very careful when driving around. When we weren't hiking around and taking beautiful drives, I spent my time in the Lillis' summer home relaxing and reading while Rob went out with his old buddy Ronan to play golf.

Trivial Knowledge: Did you know that Ireland is trying to preserve the Gaelic language? Well, they are! So when you travel anywhere in Ireland, you will see road signs in both English AND Gaelic. For example, the sign for "Dublin" is "Baile Atha Cliath". Talk about a mouthful! Anyway...

We and his parents drove from Kilkee to Dublin several days later. This was the last place to visit before Rob and I headed back to the real world. We spent one day checking out some sights - the lead singer of U2 Bono's house (or rather his gate), Trinity College where Rob attended undergrad and some ancient crypts. We finished the day off by hanging out at Trinity College pub with Rob's old buddies before we took an early morning flight out to the U.S.

O'Brien's Castle at the Cliffs of Moher

Different view with a color filter

Rob hanging over the cliff

Rob and his old buddy Ronan

Don't jump!

At Horseshow Bay Beach in Kilkee

At George's Head cliffs in Kilkee

Near George's Head

At Bono's (of U2) gate in Dublin

Christ Cathedral in Dublin

The crypt below Christ Cathedral

Crypt Artifact