As I said in the last entry, I havn't had any time to do anything fun lately. That's because I've been working on a take-home exam to finish up this drated economics class I've been taking. To be honest, it's gotten a bit better and I can actually attempt to have a discussion now whereas in the beginning I knew less than nothing about economics.

I've also been busy because over the weekend I was helping out with the Swedish School of Advanced Asia Pacific Studies (SSAAPS) conference held here in Lund. As somehow often happens to me, I'm still not really sure how I managed to get into that job. About a month ago the center asked my class for volunteers to help with this conference. Being the selfish person I am, I was the only person in my class who didn't volunteer (it is an economics conference and I was also hoping to take a vacation instead)

Anyways, on Thrusday the coordinator called me up and said she had heard that I was really good with computers and could I be one of their 2 technical assistants? (I'm sure if you know me you must be almost as shocked as I was) But, apparently my professor recommended me for some unknown reason. I was about to turn her down when she said the magic words, "We'll pay you." I was still a little unsure since I don't know how much money it would take to make me stand in front of 100 of the world's formost economists when the computer breaks down and admit that I have absolutely no knowledge of computers. As it turned out my only job would be to assist with powerpoint presentations and I actually do have enough experience with that to feel comfortable...even if something goes a little wrong. So I accepted...but I was still nervous about staying awake during all the presentations!

Well, luckily there were only about 60 people there, some PhD students, some professors, some the writers of my course reading materials! Some of the presentations were pretty interesting. And, for those that were not, I could keep myself entertained by watching all of the 'important people' sleeping, drooling, picking thier noses (i didn't particularily enjoy that one but the guy was doing it for 45 minutes and I couldn't keep myself from checking to see if he'd stopped yet.) Also, there were one or two occasions when disagreements lead to heated arguments and I (and, I suspect, everyone else) were secretly rooting for an all-out brawl.

The best part of the experience was that the other assistant and I were invited to dinner both Friday and Saturday evening at the 2 most expensive, most luxurious restaurants in Lund. There we ate creamy soup, lobster, elk, duck, the best apple crumble dessert ever and some darn good ice cream. We drank red wine, white wine and dessert wine....and were getting paid besides!

All I can say is that it was hard to go back to spaghetti for this evening's dinner and I can't wait till the next conference.