: *pushed through the public speaking
: fear
: *discovered new protein foods
: *made a new friend

: Hi everyone, back from the conference
: in Italy. The talk was not my best
: effort, to be honest, I was
: shaking and I wasn't able to
: answer a question afterwards.
: After sitting down, I wanted to
: cry, but reminded myself I was
: probably BE crashing and to just
: let it go. There was a poster
: session afterwards, and that was
: casual and I chatted with people,
: swapping ideas and sharing our
: work, and I felt much better then.
: My main goal of attending wasn't
: to present, but to learn, and
: mission accomplished I learned
: loads about identifying and
: testing for biomarkers.

: I followed advice and focused on
: regular meals, which meant that
: when I was wandering around
: Florence, when meal time
: approached I forced myself to stop
: and eat wherever I happened to be.
: I discovered tripe and beef cheek,
: both delicious. I also ended up
: chatting to an American who had
: lived there 20 years ago. My
: favorite meal was at Osteria
: Pastella. The starter was calamari
: with courgette "pasta",
: I managed to avoid white pasta and
: didn't miss it.

: Breakfast has been a challenge since
: returning and having to prepare my
: own again, as browns were in short
: supply in the house. Back to
: basics this week.
: KirAnn

I just want to say Bravo! KirAnn for being brave enough to get up there and speak in front of a crowd. It is one of my most feared things to do. Throughout grad school, I had to get up and speak often, and I never quite got over the shaking and the extreme fear.

I was impressed with how you described being able to be kind to yourself after the talk, understanding the chemical piece going on in your body and not blaming yourself. It sounds like the trip was a success. Thank you for sharing.

Cherri