Hello again!

I never thought I'd be back in the travel-blogging business so soon, but life has a way of surprising you, doesn't it? This one of life's surprises came in the shape of an invitation -- my first ever -- to present a paper at a philosophy conference at the University of the West Indies. This is incredibly exciting for a number of reasons:

1. Professional validation - the first paper I ever submitted to a professional conference was accepted, and I'm going to have the opportunity to present my work to a body of interdisciplinary peers for feedback and suggestions. Naturally I'm crazy-nervous, but I was crazy-nervous before my first lecture too, and I survived that. It's all part of gradually joining the world of professional academia. So exciting!!

2. Conference funding - the Graduate School has grants available to graduate students who will be presenting at conferences to cover some (or all) of their travel and accommodation expenses. Life for graduate students is characterized by a general aura of destitution (especially when one hears from one's friends at BCG or on Wall Street), but travel money for academic purposes is a huge perk.

3. The University of the West Indies - I know almost nothing about Caribbean and Afro-Caribbean philosophy (or history, or anything else for that matter -- in fact, it's only within about the last 10 minutes that I first recognized and then corrected my tendency to spell 'Caribbean' with two R's and not enough B's), so this will be an incredible learning opportunity. The university also has a strong interdisciplinary focus, which I am so on board with. Also, did I mention that it's in BARBADOS??

So here I am once again, filling out forms, submitting budget proposals, and researching like crazy in anticipation of another international adventure on academia's dime. I'll post links to the conference, as well as updated travel plans and perhaps some information on Barbadian history in the coming weeks. Oh, and I guess I should write that paper I'm supposed to be presenting, too...