three hours of grandeur

From a dirty shabby room piled with books and clothes ( exams being the relevant excuse at this time of the year), the ambience was suddenly transformed into sheer lavishness and grandiosity. We were supposedly attending a memorial lecture for the Alzheimer's AARC Consortum at the Ritz Carlton, Phoenix. We spent 5 minutes going round in circles in order to find a convenient parking spot and figured that these guys had only "valet parking". My coulleague commented that the guy who did it for us probably never saw such a car before. Breakfast was perfect- croissants,fruit, juice and coffee. The lecture was technically disapoointing evidently because it had to cater to lots of non-scientists and non-researchers in the audience. Each one of us dutifuly procured a copy of the schedules, the writing paper with the Hotel's name stamped on it. The ballroom was where this was happening and the paintings and the decorations distracted me from time to time. The restrooms had towels as against the usual cheaper option that is common elsewhere!. Lunch was a sumptous meal. I had someone behind me all the time to take care of all that i would need. People were at their formal best and i realised that i was the only person in jeans. Thank God that i had worn a shirt instead of one of my t-shirts and slippers instead of my canvas shoes. A lot of big names and big people in neuroscience research were present and i spent most of my time making a mental note of their faces even as my coulleague pointed them out to me. The speaker also pointed out that the problem i will be working on for my thesis, has the largest amount of money pumped in from pharmaceutical industries; the only difference being that they are looking at conventional methods to develope their drug while i am using something that is quite different. My PhD mentor leaned across from his seat and said- so how does it feel to know that what you are working on is one of the most important issues being addressed in Alzheimer's Research?! All i could manage was a broad smile and something stupid that i mumbled.....
All in all a very inspiring experience.....hope i get to present a poster at some such place and maybe that way i will be able to interact with all the big brains of neuroscience.