The past week the lab I’m working at here in Marseille hosted ECEM (European Conference on Eye Movements), a four and a half day extravaganza of conferring and going on amazing outings in Provence. Way back in June when I’d first arrived, I volunteered my English-speaking services and so this week ended up working at the registration desk and various other coordinating jobs from about 10 am until the end of the evening’s entertainment, which – at the absolute earliest – finished 11 hours later.
Perks, however, were abundant, as compensation for hours of cognitively-demanding language-switching in the sun. There was an event every night and, being French, these guys sure knew how to throw parties. Sunday night we had an aperatif (read: heavy hors d’oeuvres and copious quantities of wine) after the opening address. Monday night was a wine tasting and buffet on the grounds of a chateau and vineyard in Trets, a village in the countryside 45 minutes outside of Marseille. Tuesday was another aperatif/barbecue at school.
Wednesday, though, was the most exciting day, when talks broke early for excursions; I was one of two tour guides for a 3 hour boat trip around the Calanques. The conference had hired a private boat which took us out from Vieux Port and through the gorges between the sheer Calanque cliffs on either side. After shepherding the conference attendees down to the Port and onto the boat, Kim and I got invited up to the upper level where the captain was, so we could do the tourist narration of the trip. We were given a book of awkwardly-translated paragraphs about the surrounding Calanques, and as we went past a particular area, the driver (boater?) would give us an involved explanation of what we were passing and we’d translate however much we felt like into the mike for everyone to hear. The view from the upper deck was fantastic – it was a semi-enclosed cabin with a tiny outdoor deck on either side, affording excellent views, unobstructed by the conference goers in steerage down below.
On the way back as we were approaching the harbor, the boat guys put on some rock/techno/dance music in the cabin, and I got them to put a mike up to the speaker to pipe it through the whole boat and everyone danced along. They even let me drive the boat (which had a legit pirate ship-type steering wheel) for a good chunk of the way back home. (Though only after asking if I had a driver’s [of a car] license.) The trip was really amazing; being out on the sea, surrounded by gorgeous scenery, with the sun overhead (as it so often is here in Provence) and the wind whooshing past and just boats and cliffs and water all around.
Wednesday night, immediately after the excursions, was the gala dinner, held atop Marseille’s Fort St. Nicholas, overlooking the harbor, in the starlight. Lots of wine (until it ran out), limited vegetarian food, and after a couple of hours, a DJ and a very inviting dance floor, which led to some rather epic dancing by a bunch of very enthusiastic scientists. Definitely the best conference I’ve ever attended in terms of events (sample size thus far: 2).
A sampling of pictures below (click on them to make them bigger), and (most of) the rest of the pictures I took on the official ECEM photo website:
https://picasaweb.google.com/117260803759574680086/CalanquesBoatTrip
Storming The Brain 
I hope the residency officer doesn’t come across this blog – she might question the lack of work and the really good time you seem to be having ;-)
Looking good, ma capitaine. I saw your parents at services this past week; they were well.