First day at the conference

Today was the first day of official talks.

Starting at 8:30 in the morning, most talks were 12 minutes long, allowing three minutes for questions. (Of course, most presenters talked for more than 12 minutes, so there was little time for questions... was that on purpose ;) ??)

Also, we got two coffee breaks, one from 10 till 10:30, and one from 3 till 3:30. Lunch was served between 12 and 1:30.

I have to say, the catering was very well organized and the food was delicious!
In the morning, we had scones and "mousetraps" (baked toast with cheese, vegetables, or pepperoni). For lunch, they served us Indian chicken and curry, rice, and a salad; for the second coffee break, we got little pieces of cake and biscotti.

The talks I went to were also pretty interesting! Most of them were biology talks about very specific subjects, and I couldn't quite follow all of them. I did take a whole lot of notes, and I have a list of terms I want to look up ;)

After the last talk (5 pm) I went for a little walk around Cathedral Square, which is the center of Christchurch. (Conveniently, my hostel is located right on the square!)

The cathedral on the square is a popular tourist attraction and the pride of all of Christchurch. Even though it was dark outside already, I heard some music inside, so I went to take a peek through the half-open door.
A few choir boys were walking towards the altar in the church - the congregation had just sat down for Sunday evening mass!

I quietly sat in the back and listened to parts of the sermon and some songs (all old hymns).
I only stayed for a little bit, because I had dinner plans with some of the girls from my hostel room. We went to a Thai place (there are so many Asian restaurants around here!) crowded with Evolution people.
The single waiter clearly hadn't expected so many customers on a Sunday night, and he could barely run fast enough to serve everyone ;) (at some point, he called for "reinforcements").

At 8:30, we went back to the conference center for the poster session. A few people I knew had prepared posters instead of talks. Now, they stood next to them, and answered questions about their projects.