It sounds as though the trip was a success. Traveling is a learned skill and although I am pretty good at it, I learn new things every time I travel. It can be especially challenging in another country. So well done!

As for public speaking, I think that is something that makes most people nervous. It certainly makes me nervous. If you are in a career where you have to do it often, you will get better at it, and as you get farther in the steps you will probably be calmer as well.
Allison

: *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