Day One

I had exchanged phone numbers with a friend also attending the BSC so we could arrange to travel together over to the conference the first morning. I received a call from him just after 7AM. He said that Dr. Kolbaba of Rutgers would be taking a group of Florida State students over to the University and that I should tag along. I quickly dressed. I did my best to keep it Click-Clack, and hope I succeeded:

I headed down to the lobby to find Thomas already drinking coffee and recovering from a Bushmills induced hangover. We chatted and caught up with one another. We discovered that we may no necessarily have to wait until the next Byzantine conference to see each other as Thomas and his family recently moved to Tennessee, near my mother!

The Florida State students slowly gathered in the lobby with their fearless leader, the brilliant and witty Dr. Jones.

Together we walked down to the street to wait Dr. Kolbaba. We crammed ourselves into her van and rode over to the University. Humorously, Dr. Kolbaba and Dr. Jones good-naturedly bickered like an old married couple all the way.

Once at the University, we found the rooms where most of the talks would be delivered. One of the Florida State students, the young, very clever, and fellow Mid-Westerner Chris Timm, was scheduled to deliver his paper on the decoration of the Golden Gate that morning.

Driven by hunger, we then headed over to the rooms devoted to two of the best things in the world: food and books. We all agreed that we needed the fortifying effects of coffee!
All around us Byzantine scholars mingled with one another and drank coffee. There was Henry Maguire, Walter Kaegi, Lawrence Nees, Anthony Cutler and Robert S. Nelson! I was starstruck and giddy!
The opening remarks were scheduled to begin and 8:30AM. I found a seat in the audience and continued to suffer from starstruckitis.
The first session I wanted to attend was in the Hall of Flags. I wandered over and found a seat next to Thomas who was conversing with a lovely gentleman. The session opened with Mr. Timm's paper and I was overwhelmed by his wonderful paper. His argument totally convinced me. The rest of the papers were also quite wonderful and gave me ideas for further research of my own!
After the first coffee break, Thomas noticed that a possible polemical paper would be delivered in the non-art history session. I joined him in the Bodek room to hear the potential train-wreck of a paper but was severely underwhelmed. Afterwards I went back over to the Hall of Flags to hear papers delivered by the great Dr. Nelson and Dr. Cutler. Dr. Cutler mentioned one of the papers delivered by a Florida State student at the last BSC. I heard the paper at that time and found it exceedingly thought provoking and convincing.
By the time the break for lunch rolled around I was ready! I walked with a few other graduate students to a nearby Greek restaurant. The food was excellent as was the company.
The afternoon papers were also wonderful.
The coordinator of the conference, Dr. Ousterhout, had arranged for a very nice reception at Temple University later that night. Several of the graduate students gathered to wait for the buses in the quadrangle. Mr. Timm informed the party that he planned to create his personal myth by wearing a madras bow-tie. I agreed that this was a very excellent idea!
Our ride over to Temple took quite some time due to Friday evening traffic, but when we arrived we found some excellent hors d'oeuvres and delicious wine waiting for us. We mingled with one another for a little bit and decided to take the first bus back to the hotel. We were ready to relax a bit. Hanging out with some of the most eminent Byzantinists means we have to be professional most of the time. We were ready to just be students for a while.
The University of Pennsylvania graduate students had planned an impromptu happy hour at the Loews hotel in downtown Philadelphia, so we ambled in that direction.
We found the bar very chic and posh. We cozied up near the band and ordered our drinks and I just had to have the cheese platter!! Gotta keep it Click-Clack Vixen style!!!

We enjoyed ourselves immensely! Sarah and I enjoyed glasses of bubbly! After a while, the other graduate students found us and brought over chairs and ordered their drinks.
After leaving the happy hour, Thomas, Chris, Sarah and I wandered back towards the hotel. Sarah left us to join her friend. Our trio then went in search of rum. The liquor store, to our great sadness, had closed just minutes before we arrived so we simply decided there was a pitcher of Sangria at the Ruby Tuesday across the street from our hotel with our names on it.
Oh Sangria! So wonderful! So sweet! So subtly intoxicating! As always, I drank far too much.
We had a blast though! Many paper topics were decided upon during our convivial discussion. Byzantine history and art history wont know what hit it!!