Switzerland, here I come!

About a month ago I found out that my abstract was accepted to the AI 50th Summit in Switzerland this summer, to be presented as a poster. Although being accepted is great news, I've been worried about the large cost of going there, as my advisor doesn't have money to send us (another person in my lab also had an abstract accepted). I did, however, just get some funding from the department, and am hoping to get one of the student travel grants from the conference to pay for the registration fee and a few meals. The department funding is enough to pay for half of a plane ticket if I can't find cheaper plane tickets than I've found so far. Therefore, I'm optimistic that we will find a way for it to work out!

Although I've had a paper accepted at a conference before, this conference will be the first one I go to. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to meet people in the AI field, as well as to learn about their research. I'm hoping that either my advisor or the other person in my lab will also go, as I've also never traveled to Europe before, so having a big trip to my first conference all on my own will be a bit daunting. I can do it, but I would enjoy it more if I had someone else traveling with me that knew what was going on.

I'm very excited about the trip, and I hope that it all works out. This summer is going to be filled with a lot of short trips, so hopefully I will be able to do everything else I want to do. Since this trip will be my first trip to Europe, I hope that it goes well and that I have time to sightsee in Switzerland while I'm there!