2016 Reflections - The Year of Travel and Self Love

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year and Holiday Season!

I just got back from my trip to Jordan, and I had an amazing time! If you wanted to see my travel photos, take a look at my instagram (instagram.com/phd_fashionista). I will hopefully be doing a travel post soon featuring my highlights and also a video of some things :) 

Travel Diary Part 2 - Having a nice time in Nice, France

Hello!
I am back with Part 2 of my Travel Diary from my recent Euro trip and conference! This time I am talking and sharing about my travels to Nice, in the South of France, after the conference was over!
It has been on my list for some time to travel to the south of France. I had read article after article, photo after photo, about how wonderful and beautiful the beaches are in south France. I had always wanted to go to Nice/Monaco/St Tropez, but never did I think I would go so soon!
After my second year of grad school, I told myself when I graduate, I'm going to go on a euro trip for 6 weeks, and Nice, France was one of my top destinations. When I had the opportunity to go to Portugal for the conference, I said why not extend my trip and check out another city! I knew I wanted to go to France, but I wasn't sure if I should go by myself or not. I ended up convincing my friend to meet me there, and so off I went, to Nice for 3 days before my friend was to meet up with me, and we were going to then drive down the coast to St. Tropez and then take a train to Paris! It was like a dream come true!
One of the fun parts of being in France after the conference in June was that the Euro 2016 Football (Soccer) cup was going on, hosted IN France! It was soo much fun and the atmosphere was electrifying! There were fan zones set up in each city, and I found the fan zones when I was exploring around! The fan zone was basically a place to go watch the games on a super large screen, with lots of screaming fans, and there were little kiosks for food and beer - lots of entertainment. It would get really hot during the day, so at times it was scorching hot so I made sure to keep hydrated, and I had so much fun, even though I was alone. I was in Nice during the games that were hosted in Nice, in particular England was playing Iceland, and all of the English fans came to Nice just for the game, so the atmosphere was very cool. Unfortunately England lost, but it was still fun to be around!

Travel Diary - Part I - Lisbon, Portugal - Conference and Sightseeing

Today I bring you Part I of my Travel Diary, Conference and Sightseeing in Lisbon, Portugal!

I was given the opportunity to attend a Biological Methylation Meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, where I was able to meet the experts in the field, whose papers and publications I have been reading since I started graduate school! It was such a great experience, and it was 5 days full of science, all directly related to my field of work! I've been to other conferences, that were more broad and general, and I didn't enjoy them as much as I enjoyed this conference! I was just putting up my poster during the first session (my session was the second one) and I got stopped immediately and was talking about my research the whole two hours, and then the whole two hours at my actual session! It was such a great feeling to have people who knew about my research and were genuinely interested - talking science for 4 hours and getting so many good ideas of things to try! I even won the poster award, along with a travel award, which gave me some funding to help with my travel expenses!

Traveling to conferences is a BIG thing I would suggest to anyone who is in grad school. I have taken advantage of conferences to feed my travel bug, and it has opened up so many doors and networking opportunities! And if your boss/advisor can pay for you, it is a free ticket to travel (most of the time!). I have always taken advantage of vacation time after the conferences I've been to - Like last year I was in Barcelona for a conference and I traveled to visit my family in Cyprus afterwards, and this year I traveled to France after! So definitely a way to enjoy your time by having an international conference and using it as an excuse to travel around! Of course, any travel after a conference is on your dime, but compared to the full price of a plane ticket TO europe, its not too bad :) and I had some savings that I put aside especially for a european trip that I utilized to pay for this trip! It was amazing, because after I passed my candidacy exam, I told myself, when I graduate, I'm going to travel around europe, and I made a list of all of these cities I wanted to visit, and I made part of it happen! Graduation happened and I got to check off a few cities (not all of them, but a few is better than none!).

Scroll down to read more about the various photos I took (all with my iPhone 6!! Amazing camera for a phone!).

The conference even organized a wine tasting tour in the Marfa province, which was about a 45 min drive from where the conference was being held, and it was really great drinking wine in the countryside with professors and experts in my field! It was unreal and like a dream!

Barcelona Conference Fashion - Chambray dress, fringe and a Blazer

Hello from Barcelona loves!

Today I bring you an outfit I am wearing to the conference here in Barcelona! It's been a long day of traveling from LA, and after settling in the hotel room, I decided to check out the convention center, check in to the conference, and sit in for some talks before heading out and seeing some sights and getting dinner!

Since it will be 90 degrees F (~32 degrees C) all week here, I decided to mostly wear dresses to the conference! In order to make the dresses look more professional, I am pairing them with a blazer and some heels! 

I have to present at the poster competition tomorrow, so I will be wearing something similar! I am excited to present my research internationally and get great ideas about my research and other research going on in the community! 

I have been eyeing the chambray trend for a while now, and I finally bought a chambray dress from eShakti. I previously posted about new trends at eShakti and this is one of the dresses I fell in love with!  It is long enough to be sophisticated while providing a flattering look with a sweetheart neckline! I added the plain black blazer  (Steve Harvey Collection) on top to wear inside the convention center, since it is too hot outside to be wearing long sleeves, but sitting in talks all day inside will become a little chilly with the AC! I also wore this fringed black purse I got from Ross - Brand "Perfect Image" (store similar to TJ Maxx), I can't remember the brand, but it was $12 and I have been eyeing this kind of purse for months now (as if you couldn't tell from my posts!). I tried to pack lightly so I brought a few pieces I could match with different outfits, so you will be seeing similar pieces adapted to different things! I have a tendency to over pack, but I was determined to pack smart this time! (I had to pack for both a 4-day conference and vacation!)

20 Conference Essentials: A packing list!

Hello everyone!

Today I bring to you a Conference Essentials packing list!

After attending and blogging for the recent conference in Boston, I decided to come up with a packing list to help you prepare for a conference or meeting, for whatever topic it may be, scientific, educational, blogging, etc.! 

I decided to check my bag, so I could fit all of this in a big bag, but you can always scale down for a carry on bag!

Experimental Biology 2015 Conference - Day 1 Fashion and Recap

Hello!
I am reporting to you live from Boston, MA, where I am attending the Experimental Biology 2015 Conference, as a member of the ASBMB! I am going to be blogging about the conference daily, so be on the look out for new posts from now until Wednesday! This is different than my regular posting schedule where I post twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays, so I hope I don't overwhelm you with my posts! And I will be talking about some science, but I will try to integrate conference fashion as a relevant topic!

My Conference and blogging essentials: My camera, my conference badge, my iPad to take notes and update social media, and a staple, a statement necklace!

Jet setting off to the islands - Hawaiian Escape!

I am super excited because the other day I booked a last minute ticket to Hawaii! My cousin lives in Oahu and I have been in dire need of a vacation (I don't think I could have lasted another week at work without some kind of break!). I found a deal on Expedia.com and I just went for it and booked it! Since I wouldn't have to pay for a hotel, it didn't end up being that expensive! I am leaving tonight, and I packed my bags this morning so last minute. I am wearing these gypsy harem pants with flowers and prints that my boyfriend's mom brought me from Jordan, with a black tank top and some gold sandals from Forever21. I can't wait for sun, beach, and relaxation! I am planning on spending most of my time at the beach, relaxing by myself, and possibly going to a spa or something!  It is my goal to watch the sun set each night, and I will be taking my Nikon with me, so be ready for some nice photographs! 

San Antonio river walk!

Ok ok this isn't a fashion post. BUT I wanted to share these beautiful pictures I took my first day/evening in San Antonio! I'm here for a recruitment for UCLA for a training grant I am on for the SACNAS 2013 conference. And OMG I am in love with this city! Our hotel is right on the river walk and the riverwalk is just so pretty! It reminds me of the venice canals! I even saw boat tours including a dinner boat tour where you can have dinner on a boat that floats along the river and there is someone playing violin! So cute! And as I sit in the hotel lobby to get Wifi to write this post, I can see White horse drawn carriages in the street! So CUTE and romantic. That's it. I'm getting my boyfriend to take me on one of those next time I'm in S.A. I'm making him come here hehehe.

Well, this picture is from the river walk. The next picture is a picture of the sunset from the Rooftop pool of the hotel (Beautiful!!!) and the last is a panorama I took of the sunset. AH I love it. Tomorrow starts the conference registration and talks! And more exploring of San Antonio! We are going to go see the Alamo too! A nice little mini vacation/break since I was going crazy with 10-12 hour days at work!

I promise I'll post an outfit pic at some point!

Enjoy the pics!

:) 

xoxo Andrea