Monday 1 August 2011

BAVS Conference in Birmingham

Dear reader,

Yesterday I booked my flight to Birmingham as well as the accommodation and entrance fee for the conference that I am going to attend there. The conference is held by the British Association of Victorian Studies and will take place at the University of Birmingham on September 1-3. This year’s conference is entitled ‘Composition and Decomposition’.

As many of you know I will be going by myself... and to be honest, I am a little anxious about it. I have always disliked being alone (since it is not much fun), but I will have to learn sometime. Also, since I want to pursue a PHD position it would be a good idea to start going to conferences and symposia to gain experience, as well as to start networking (not like I am such a hero in that respect either, but ok hahah). And when there is no one who can/wishes to come with you (for these conferences really are pricy O.o), going alone is the only option hahah! 
As the convention starts off quite early on the 1st, I thought it would be a good idea to be there one day beforehand (thus on the August 31). Also the flight would then be much cheaper: €108,- instead of €241,- (I know the difference between the two just does not make any sense at all!). Since accommodation at the campus of the University of Birmingham is only provided during the days of the conference, I had to book myself a hotel for one night. I did a bit of research and eventually decided on a single room in the Holliday Inn City Centre hotel. The room was really quite pricy, but it was apparently one of the cheaper and more decent hotels in the city center. I had very little choice but to book a hotel in the city centre as this would be the easiest way to get to the campus the next day. I did look at B&B’s but apparently none of them which are located in the city or could easily be reached through public transport. But it is still cheaper than travelling on the day of the conference itself haha!


Since I will be arriving in Birmingham at around 1 o’clock, I will have a bit of time to do some sightseeing. To be honest, I had no idea what the main attractions in Birmingham were, so I did some research (tripadvisor was very helpful, as always haha!). I will probably be going to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, which is quite close by the hotel, since I won’t have that much time to travel around and such. If anyone has any other tips or recommendations, feel free to share!

All in all I am approaching this trip with mixed feelings. On the one had I am excited as I am going to a new city and will learn lots of new things. Also I am proud of myself for doing something like this. On the other hand... I am scared to death hahaha! But I know that I can do this; I am sensible enough not to make a mess out of things and I can always depend on myself... Yet that doesn’t make it any less frightening haha!

I have already scheduled a little reward for myself... but to find out what the reward is you will have to wait for my next blogpost ;).

Love,
Blacky

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