I am at a neuropsych conference and still sick as a dog, but after spending $1200 on combined room and air fare (the conference itself was cheap... learned a hard lesson about checking accommodations and travel BEFORE committing to register) was disgusted last night to find my beautiful, $179 room was so full of smoke I could barely breathe. It's nonsmoking, so I assumed the one next door was not. I had a throat so sore I couldn't swallow and my chest hurt when I coughed, which was/is constantly. Being nauseated is JUST what I needed on top of all the rest.
This morning I dragged my miserable self down to the front desk to complain and learned that they don't HAVE any smoking rooms, so it was someone out on the patio and there's not a thing to be done about it except hope they don't stay again tonight. I'm feeling a little better about the room rate after talking to a woman who missed the convention rates and is staying at a hotel down the road to save money. A relative concept since she's paying $230 for her not so nice room! She said the convention centere was almost $300/night. Wow... where to people get the money I wonder? This is even a relatively cheap conference as these things go. There are so many that I know I should attend to be as cutting edge as I can and to network for my internship process, but I'd need another year's tuition to do it all! It's so painful to have to pick and choose which ones to attend and which to let go by. My school wants me to go to every APA convention, but even in San Francisco, which is driving distance for me, it put a hole in my budget, so I can't see how I can possibly make Boston this year.
Mostly this conference has been good, but not as good as I'd hoped. I was particularly disappointed in the VA presentation on Traumatic Brain Injury in soldiers returning from Iraq. One of my classmates made a kick ass presentation on this topic last term and I was shocked to find that the one I paid to see here wasn't half as good as hers! This is a neuropsych conference and they didn't even touch on what happens in the brain due to blast injuries. What the hell? I was also disappointed that there were presentations on treatments for both Parkinson's and Alzheimer's but not one word about the status of stem cell research.
Still and all I have learned a bunch and look forward to tomorrow's sessions. I'd be more excited if I didn't feel like curling up and dying though. =(
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6 comments:
Ugh it sucks that your room was full of smoke. I also really really hate smoke, and it would have seriously bothered me too. I hope you feel better soon!
A conference in my field came to my city last week, so I saw some friends for free.. I'm really lucky to live in a city that is frequently a destination for conferences. Otherwise i could never afford to go.
The smell of smoke in the room is a complete turn off.
I think if your school would like you to go to all APA conferences, it should cough up the money to reimburse your expenses. I just spent $1000 for a return flight to a conference this summer. I'll be staying in a university dorm, but I'm sure it'll come to around $1500 when all is said and done.
Not mentioning stem cell research does seem like a big pink elephant in the room.
I agree with Psychgrad - your school should either reimburse you for expenses, or at the very least subsidize it a little.
I've never had to pay to attend a conference - the company I work for does all that. I think that's how some people end up in rooms that cost an arm and a leg. I must say I always live and dine well when on these conference trips.
It's awful how expensive hotel rooms are - so much money for a little box!
I, too, think that schools should subsidize students if they are expected to attend so many conferences. They can be terribly expensive, and I haven't met a rich student yet that can afford to go to them all the time!
Good luck with school this term. What classes are you taking?
Donna
Thanks for all the support. It's nice to know I'm not alone in my sore spots. =)
The school offered one small, need-based grant to go to the APA conference in 2007. It was $400 or so. There are 36 students in the program this time around, not counting the PrePsyDs, so maybe they'll offer two, ya think? Sigh.
Donna, I have:
1. Social Systems
2. Teaching Psychology
3. Dissertation II
4. Supervision & Consultation
I'm hoping this will be a light term and I'm really looking forward to the teaching class. If I put a bunch of work into the dissertation class maybe I'll feel less out of control on that front. I haven't done SQUAT since last year and it makes me queasy to think about it. The last class is taught by a prof who wasted our time three hours a day all through the first term. He taught History of Psychology, which nobody wanted to take in the first place, and proceeded to read the text to us every week. Why on Earth they kept him on I don't know, but I'm skeptical when the third years tell me he does this class much better. All I can do it hope, I guess.
Your teacher read the text to you? I don't even know what to sa to that!
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