On Monday there were some interesting talks (antibody drug conjugates) so I went to see what's going on in this field. However I had a hard time catching myself from falling asleep. It was strange because I was taking notes while dozing off. I then went to have lunch and met this girl from Venezuela. She paid for everything herself, the conference registration, airfare and hotel just to come to the conference. This was really admirable and I wanted to be as interested as she was, but such things cannot be helped. She wanted to join me for everything including going around looking at the posters. It would have been fine if I was interested in looking at the posters. However, the posters were pretty much all of the same, elucidating new pathways, finding new targets, making new drugs etc but with no good way of delivering them and with no animal data. So I had no interest and while looking at the posters I may have accidentally ditched her and went off to do my own thing. I felt a bit bad doing this but the posters were just that boring and I really don't see the point of looking at posters together.
At night I researched on people to contact. Since I was to give a talk on the last day, it would be hard to meet people. If I was to give a poster presentation, then there would have been easier one on one communications. And I don’t feel comfortable just walking up to people and asking for a job. The conference provided people with everyone’s name, email address and which company or university they were from. I contacted people from 5 big pharma companies and only one of them was interested in what I'm doing, nanoparticle delivery of therapeutics. The others are conservative and only want to do what they have been doing all along, making libraries upon libraries of drugs without having a good way to deliver them. I met up with the vice president the next day and will visit their Frankfurt site next week. It was refreshing to see a big pharma company being interested in nanoparticles. I know that in the US, the inside story is that these companies are waiting for each other to show if it works. If it does, then the rest would jump in. In this case, waiting passively will not get you anywhere because using nanoparticles is the future. All their properties are better - pharmacokinetics, safety and efficacy. There is minimal risk in going into this, but with great gain. I'm not saying this because I'm working in this area. It just so happens that I am lucky enough to be working in something that has a future.
On Tuesday night I went to the speakers dinner which was held in a restaurant within the Reichstag. We arrived by bus at 8 pm and went through security. You were supposed to bring your ID, naturally I forgot but still got through. I'm not too keen on man made stuff, but this architecture was pretty nice. Still after a couple of minutes, I was done and starving. We finally had dinner at 9 and went back to the hotel after midnight. It was a long dinner, so it was good that I got to talk to this interesting and nice person, an editor of a journal. It turns out that he was a competitive cyclist in high school (cat 3) and was deciding whether to continue doing this or go to college. He chose college. At first he said he didn't regret it, but by the end of the evening, he concluded that he could have taken 4 or 5 years out after high school to see how far he could have gone in cycling and would likely end up in the same position he is in now if cycling was not for him. So he ended up encouraging me to pursue competitive cycling. Him being nice tried to introduce me to people to help get me a job, but I wasn't really interested. I think this is just me, but I either talk to a person for getting a job or I talk to a person out of personal interest. Combining them in my opinion is bad and I feel very contrived in doing this. I don't want to have ulterior motives when talking to people, nor do I want people to have ulterior motives when talking to me. I know this is pretty naive and utopian, but I'm not going to change it unless I absolutely I have to.
Wednesday was rather dull. I went for some talks, dozed off, had lunch and went around Berlin for the third time. This was with the conference people and we went for a walk and a boat cruise. The boat ride was the reason why I chose this excursion, but the ride was absolutely slow and fascinatingly boring. I was talking to a German guy and he loves to learn everything about Berlin. He seemed like an arrogant spoilt brat. When there was commentary in German but not in English, he had to translate everything to me....I really couldn't care less. I was so glad when the ride was over.
My talk was on Thursday a little after noon and it went pretty well. The people before me were clearly very nervous. I was nervous beforehand but not as nervous as the first time I gave a talk in Blacksburg. But while giving the talk, it was a little unnerving because there were bright lights shining into my eyes - I was certainly in the center of attention. My hand while holding the laser pointer was shaking a bit, but thankfully my voice was very smooth and sounded like a very mature person. In my humble opinion, I think my talk went well. But it’s always nice to have others backing this because it may just be in your head. Some people came up to me and said it was a beautiful presentation etc. And the cyclist guy I met earlier emailed me to congratulate me on my talk and said the presentation was excellent etc. A lot of people talk BS, but knowing how he is, I was very happy and flattered by his comments.
At night, I met with a person from a chemical company that I had contacted earlier. I thought it would just be a half hour meeting. But he ordered drinks and later we had dinner. So it turned out to be a five hours meeting. I thought he was interested in my research, but pretty soon I found out that he was just bored and had no plans for the evening. He was interested in my background and why I want to stay in Germany. Him being Chinese said I would have a better time in the US, because in Germany, from his experience, even if people are nice to you, they don’t want to accept you into their circles. You know how some people just like to hear themselves talk, he was such a person. He made some good points and I did learn a lot from him although he did sound hypocritical. He told me that Germans do not accept outsiders, so he encouraged me to stay in the US. Yet, he also told me that his kids in the US are not accepted either. I never felt like an outsider in the US. In Australia yes, even though they claim to be multi-cultural that's all BS. People used to (not really sure now) look down on Asians because most Asians open restaurants or are blue-collars. While in the US, there are definitely a lot more Asians proportionally in high end and respectable jobs. I think what's being going on in Australia, may apply to Germany as well. There are very few Asians here, the only ones I have seen are maids and the few people I have seen on the streets look rather poor. If Germany is anything like Australia, then I'm definitely not going to stay here. Of equal importance, I just found out that pay in Germany is half that in US! This is because Germany has a nice overall plan with good retirement funds. As well, healthcare is good and education is pretty much free here, while Americans need to save up for college funds for their kids (if you have two, that would easily total half a million). However, I need money fast!
On Friday, I checked out of the hotel, went to the airport and rented a car and drove down to Dresden. Driving on the Autobahn was interesting. The left lane is for fast drivers, anything from 140 kph to maybe over 200 kph. Initially I was not comfortable doing 140 kph, now doing 160 kph is no big deal. It's really funny cos if you want to stay on the fast lane, you have to keep a constant look out on your rear mirror if there is a faster car behind you so that you move out of his way. Soon I arrived at Dresden. For some reason, I remember hearing that it was a nice town. But the events that has happened in this town made me happy to be outta there.
I booked my hotel in Dresden after making sure that it has parking. However, the car park just behind the hotel was full so I parked in another parking space. While I was checking in, I could see some people wondering around my car and realized that it was their designated space so I quickly went to move it. While I was walking up to my car. A man was shouting at me, 'Was ist das?!' yada yada (can't understand the rest). I apologized (in English which he could not understand) and moved the car and he was very happy. People who get worked up over little things are just pathetic. I went to my hotel room and discovered that there were many different plans for the internet including one for 1 month at a lower average rate. So I called the hotel staff and asked them if this particular internet provider is available in most places in Germany. I realize that the question was complicated but they couldn't speak English well and hang up on me! I was a bit shocked but I didn't expect too much from them anyways. I then went out to buy some grocery. While I was turning into another street, a car nearly crashed into me. He must have been going at over 50 mph on a small road, he narrowly missed me, swerved and locked wheels...that was sorta scary. At the grocery store I was pushed in front of by a 50+ yo man. I explained patiently to him that I was in front of him and that he shouldn't do that in English - all I got was a very blank look. And while backing up the car, I scratched the stupid car on the front bumper. The rental guy told me to check for all signs of scratches etc carefully and note everything down. I might have to pay a lot of money for this - I will have a wonderful time back at the rental place. Random thought, they have their ads all over the car - do I get paid for advertising for them? When I got back to the hotel, I discovered that the bathroom in my room stunk of sewer - it was absolutely awful. I was considering not showering that night. So I went downstairs to talk to reception, if I call them they will probably just hang up again. I changed rooms which was much better but still not good. It smelt like the urinals, but still steps above the strong sewer smell. After all these events, I was just happy to start the drive away from Dresden and into Munich.
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