Joel's Conference

Pepys Library, Magdalene College

Today I was supposed to go to a conference that Joel had organised.  Entitled "Reputation in the Age of Protest", it was about the reputation of countries, companies, and governments.  After Joel had cancelled drinks on me for about the millionth time, he asked me, "What exactly is it that you do?  And is there any way what you do could be related to company reputation?"  I thought about it, and figured that there was definitely scope to say that what I do is related to the reputation of companies, and so Joel then wrangled me an invite to come to this conference, all expenses paid.  Coming back to college and staying overnight, and having dinner in Hall, all thanks to Joel's company.

The conference started at 9 AM, so we'd all been advised to catch the 8:15 AM train from King's Cross.  Which meant leaving my flat by 7:15, which meant waking up at 5:30-6 AM.  So you would think that a girl would learn to go to bed early, right?  No, I instead remained awake until 2 AM chatting online with Qatari Boy.  Who continues to enjoy flirting with me, but still makes no mention of ever getting together.  So why am I such a fool to waste so much time on him?

Garde Ta Foy.  "Keep the Faith".  The College's motto.

My alarm went off at 5:30 AM, but it was 6 AM before I managed to make it out of bed.  I caught the 8:15 AM train however, and when I arrived in Cambridge, a woman in the taxi rank ahead of me asked, "Who else is going to Cripps?"  And so I said I was, and two other women were as well, so we all shared a cab.  As the original woman pointed out, "It just seemed like such a waste as I watched all of those other men taking separate cabs, but I figured the women could be more sensible!"  It made me laugh.

She then nearly inquisitioned everyone in the cab about what they did, and quickly reminded me of the true purpose of conferences:  Networking.  Okay, so that's what we're here for then, I guess!

When I arrived I didn't see Joel, but so set about to the business of talking to random people, doing the social rounds, and making sure I wasn't standing by myself.  Went in for the morning sessions, and even managed to stay awake for a good portion of the time.

I briefly saw Joel at the interval, although he was quickly dragged away by some reporter talking about Boris Johnson or something like that.  I went back for the second half of the morning sessions, and got accosted by some woman who recognised my company.  I had lunch with a bunch more random people (decent food, which was nice), and then went back in for the afternoon session.

I made it through one session, absolutely falling asleep, and then when they announced they were cancelling the mid-afternoon break, I just slipped out.  Grabbed my bag, went down to my assigned room in O-Block, and then stopped by the College Development Office to officially pay for the dinner at the House of Commons in November.  I had a nice time chatting with them all in the College Development Office, which was much more entertaining than being stuck in that overheated conference room!

In the conference lecture theatre

I then walked back to Cripps Court, where I saw Joel sitting outside in the courtyard.  I went over and said hello, although got to chat to him for the briefest of moments before he was called away again.  I suppose I wasn't surprised, given that he was organising this whole conference, but I sure did seem to spend a lot of time talking to random people at this conference!

So I chatted for a while with the guy Joel left me with, and then eventually went back in for the last session of the afternoon.  Once it was finished, they told us that we had a 15-minute break, after which we were supposed to come back for the evening's speaker.  Yeah right...

My swish student digs

I went back to O-Block to relax and change for dinner, admiring my room, which amazed me that such a place was a student room.  It was nearly the size of my flat in London, complete with a separate bedroom!  Definitely made me wish I had lived in such splendour when I was a student.

At around the time we were supposed to have our evening drinks session, I went back to Cripps Court and joined everyone walking over to Second Court for drinks.  What had seemed like a brilliant idea in the sunny afternoon, of drinks out in the library cloisters, instead turned into drinks out in the dark.  It was very hard to see people, and while I ran into Joel briefly for a few minutes, too soon it was time to head in for dinner (good, because I was cold anyway).

Spacious student digs.  You could have a tutorial in here!

I'd hoped to get to chat with Joel at dinner, but instead I once again found myself randomly seated with more strangers, and even an empty place on my right.  I save a special place in heck for people who don't show up to dinner, as then individuals like me are left without conversation.  Do people realise how bad it is when they fail to show up for dinner?  It really burns me...

It was nice to be back in Hall, however.  It was a bit strange to be seated in chairs, instead of on benches, and to not be wearing gowns.  Yet, the most essential detail, that the entire Hall was lit only by candlelight, remained exactly the same.  I'd forgotten how dark that made it!  It was nearly impossible to see anything, giving me a whole new level of respect for the staff who managed serving everyone in this dark cave without tripping over anyone.  I had never appreciated what an impressive feat it must be.  Still, I did love the ambiance, being back dining merely by the light of those flickering candles...

Hall, lit entirely by candlelight

The Tall South African surprised me by texting me all through dinner (which was a salvation, given that I was without conversation on my right-hand side), to tease me about sending him a postcard from New York, and to briefly debate the idea of getting together tomorrow.  He has a friend's sister's wedding to go to however, so pretty soon we had to kill that idea.  A pity, but probably the more practical choice.

People started to file out around the time the port came out, but I of course stayed.  I thought at this point I might get a chance to talk to Joel, but he'd been dragged off somewhere, so I happily joined his girlfriend (a lovely, sweet girl) when she suggested a group of us might go for drinks in the Pick, the pub that we frequently haunted as students.

Tables in Hall, set for dinner

We stayed there until the pub shut at 11 PM (the Pick has never applied for an extended licence, always sticking with the original government mandated closing time), at which point, just as we were exiting the pub, Joel finally came to join us.  Apparently he'd been answering e-mails or something, but quite frankly I just think that he needed the downtime after so much enforced socialising with strangers.  Joel is a classic introvert that way, in that he can only do the social thing for so long before needing some "alone time".  I'm not even sure he's aware of it, but I see it quite clearly.

As we left the pub, Joel's girlfriend and I left with our wine glasses, and we walked down the street to the Vaults.  I had not been in this bar/nightclub since my Cambridge days, where I went on a tremendously bad date there, and found that the only escape was this one narrow staircase that left no possibility for slipping out unnoticed.  The date was going so badly that I seriously debated climbing out a window in the loo at one point, except in a bar that is underground, there were of course no windows!

I wonder what it is about that particular bar that seems to attract skeevy guys, as I quickly found myself with this older guy continually buying me drinks, and while the attention was flattering, it was kind of weird too.  Who was this random older conference guy hitting on me?

The Vaults were kind of quiet, so we decided to move on again, although somehow we lost Joel again.  So we ended up at some bar/club called "The Fountain", way down past Downing College, which I had never been to before.  Again, more drinks were bought for me (I eventually realised I didn't spend a dime the entire weekend), and some random guy in the bar pulled me away and started dancing with me.  Made it kind of hard to get back to the crowd.  Joel and his girlfriend dissappeared at around 3 AM, and I was getting tired of fending off the advances of drunk boys.  I suppose it's nice that I'm an attractive enough girl to warrant the attention, but this was really getting annoying.

Thankfully, unlike the Vaults, this place had loos that were relatively close to the exit, and when I spied an opportunity, I slipped out, hopefully unnoticed.  Made my way back to my room in O-Block, set my alarm and collapsed into bed at 3:30 AM.  It's fun to be back in Cambridge, but I'd had no idea it would be quite so much like re-living my student days!