Royal Ontario Museum

This was my first time presenting at an academic conference. I believe it went fairly well.

For my presentation I adapted part of my thesis-in-progress and submitted it as a paper. For all the prior weeks I'd spent agonizing over my every word it really wasn't such a big deal once I'd arrived at the conference. Even before my turn to speak came I didn't feel nearly as anxious about the prospect of addressing an audience as I'd expected I would. Then, after delivering my paper I didn't experience any huge sense of relief to be finished and done with it. Everything felt solid all along.

I spoke for my exact allotted time (20 minutes) then stayed on at the front of the hall with the fellow presenters on my panel to address questions from the respondent and audience. People reacted well by both complimenting my delivery and giving me specific suggestions to direct my thesis.

Brunch: David, Osman, Professor P., and Adil (Head Turned)

It's been a good opportunity. The organizers paid for meals, for lodging at a hotel right next to the University of Toronto campus, as well as for a train ticket for me to come out from Montréal. (I found out about the latter benefit just too late as I had already booked myself a cheap bus ticket between the two cities. But, in theory, I can apply that as credit for some future train trip on Canada's VIA rail.)

The conference did for me what conferences are meant to do. In addition to delivering my paper I met and spoke at length with several professors and Ph.D. students who specialize in areas of research interest similar to mine. Attendees came from all parts of Canada and the U.S.. Many of those same people I met will also be at another, bigger conference I'll be attending in Madison, Wisconsin just 2 weeks from now. It's good to have already forged some connections in advance of that.

My academic advisor, Professor P., made the trip to Toronto from Montréal post-conference to check in with me and fellow students of his who had presented papers. Late this morning he took all of us out for Saturday brunch at a place near the University of Toronto campus, Harvest Kitchen. Along with his taking me and everybody else out for brunch attending this conference has further allowed me to see corners of Toronto I hadn't gotten to before. Though I've passed through town several times over past years I never had all that much time to see different parts of the city on those previous occasions. I always had to meet some connecting bus a few hours after arrival or had to drive on directly through town to some further destination.

Kensington Market

To decide where to explore once out on my own I asked several people at the conference for their recommendations as to which neighborhoods in Toronto might be interesting. Most eventually suggested Kensington Market. That turned out to be less of the traditional marketplace lined with butchers' shops and stalls selling fruits and vegetables that I imagined before going there. It was more an eclectic mix of businesses including coffeehouses, restaurants, tattoo parlors, spice shops, and hip clothing stores in an area spanning several city blocks. Though, I myself wasn't there for the shopping--and had little need for anything on offer--it was nice enough to stroll around on a sunny day through a bustling neighborhood that had retained some independent character.

Double-decker Bus to Toronto

Though my time in Toronto is now at its end I'm not turning around to return to Montréal. The timing of this conference has worked out well for me to stay out on the road. I'm calling it the beginning of a much longer journey. I have that other conference in Wisconsin coming up in a couple weeks. I might as well keep making my way in that direction while stopping off to see friends along the way.

That decision means my journey getting from Montréal here to Toronto was only the first leg of what I'm dubbing my 2015 North American Grand Overland Tour. I've already booked a series of onward tickets following a jagged arc across the continent. Those will eventually get me back to Seattle in time for Christmas. I'll be stopping largely in places where I have family and friends--but also in a few places I have never previously visited and where I know nobody at-all.

As with my usual mode of travel, I've strung together bus and train tickets that cost very little. I'm sure I can make it across the continent without taking a plane and perhaps even make a complete circuit around North America to return to Montréal in the new year without flying. I'll end each of the next blog entries with a running tally of which methods of transport I take from place to place and how much the cost of transport totals. Here are the details of the first leg:

Ticket Origin and Destination: Montréal to Toronto
Carrier: Megabus
Length of Journey: 6 hours
Price: $11.50 CAD = $8.62 USD
Total Trip Cost to this Point: $8.62 USD

Next stop: Hamilton