Day 4 in Brussels started with me getting the VUB by 7:30 for student volunteer orientation. Didn't involve much. Since I was already there I stuck around. I ended up working on Python stuff (importlib specifically). I then also attended an afternoon tutorial on CLOS and the metaobject protocol.
When the tutorials and workshops were over there was a Belgian chocolate tasting. I had 14 separate pieces of chocolate on an empty stomach. Needless to say I didn't feel great.
Afterwards I went back to the hotel and relaxed a little bit. Eventually I met up with some people at a Moroccan restaurant. Since my stomach was still upset from the chocolate tasting I ordered a salad. But it had some salad dressing that tasted like deli mustard, which I hate, so I just spent the dinner talking with people.
Day 5 was more workshops and tutorials at the conference. Since I didn't have anything specific I wanted to attend nor had any student volunteer duties until the afternoon I went to Parc de Bruxelles/Park van Brussel on the way to VUB. Turned out to be a let-down. The park didn't have much itself. The Belgian Parliament was okay looking, as was the royal palace; both warranted a photo, but nothing more.
Once as the conference I did more Python work (this time 'warnings' stuff). Eventually it came time to do my student volunteer duty. I spent it just doing more Python work, though.
That evening was the Belgian beer tasting event. I had a couple of different beers while standing around my impromptu poster that was made from eight slides that I had for my demo. I talked to a couple of people, mostly fellow students.
Once I got back to the hotel after the poster session I was pretty tired. I went and had fries for dinner (which is completely acceptable in the country where they were created) and then went to bed.
Day 6 started with me getting to the university by 7:45 to work the registration desk. I did this until 13:15. It was rather boring as most attendees to the conference had already checked in one of the previous two days. It at least gave me time to finish reading Omnivore's Dilemma.
I had my demo after lunch. Beyond people I already knew, two people attended. It turns out there were two other demos plus the research track and the industry track going at the same time, all while being right after lunch. Overall I think the demo went fine.
With my demo finished, I spent the rest of my time at the conference that day talking with my supervisor and another professor from UBC about some ideas that came up.
At 17:15 I took off with other conference organizers and students volunteers to go to the Musical Instruments Museum. A reception was being held there, with the doors opening at 18:00 and a reception starting at 19:00. I helped man the front entrance for an hour. I was then allowed to spend half an hour in the museum. I actually managed to get through the entire thing within my time limit since there was hardly any info on the actual instruments (and when there was it was in French or Dutch, not English). I then spent all but the last 20 minutes of the night there watching the front door or making sure no one took drinks into the museum.
Being so close to the city centre, people went for food and drinks after the reception. A student volunteer and me went to a little café for dinner. Some other student volunteers also coincidentally went to the same café, but there was not enough room for us to sit with them. After dinner, as all of my other nights in Brussels, I went back to the hotel and slept.
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