The $1000 Meeting

          So, after mom left, I was immediately looking at my professor coming for his site visit. He had emailed us earlier to remind us about the importance of our meetings, and informing us that these were, in fact, $1000 meetings! So no pressure! Haha, right. I was nervous and did my best to plan things out for him, so that he could learn and see as much as possible. Boris and I talked before his arrival and got at least one day figured out.

          Tuesday morning (October 23^rd), Boris and I went to the airport to meet him and pick him up, and immediately, Boris and Dennis were bonding over coffee. The whole time he was here, Dennis was soaking up knowledge! After coffee, the three of us went back to the office and Boris and I showed Dennis around. Then, Boris had meetings to go to, so Dennis and I talked about plans for the rest of his site visit, and about my project and how things were going with it. Finally, we went back to i Rustici, my home in Trecastagni and checked Dennis in.

Dennis and I in the control room

          That night, Dennis and I went into town to pick up some amazing roasted chicken for dinner. We talked while we ate outside my room, on my little patio. He encouraged me to submit an abstract to the Posters on Capitol Hill presentation. He also told me I had a great project with tons of information, and there was a lot I could do with my project in the future, which was great to hear!

          The next day, we got to ride along with Salvo and an associate into the field, to take some gas measurements, learning lots about gas emissions on Mount Etna and how they affect the people. It was very interesting…and then it started REALLY raining. It was down pouring, and the streets were like rivers! It was insane! So, we only stopped once, instead of twice, and went to lunch early. We had our lunch at a favorite restaurant of the volcanologists, but there was an anniversary party there, which Dennis and I thoroughly enjoyed! They kept making random couples in the group kiss, and kiss properly! It was hilarious and so entertaining to watch! And most impressively, I tried mushrooms! I didn’t like them, but I tried them!

Salvo and I while Salvo was fighting with one of the gas instruments

          That night, Boris took Dennis and me to dinner with his family in one of their favorite restaurants. I had amazing pizza margherita, deciding I could eat something safe like pizza after trying mushrooms at lunch. I also taught Ida, Boris’ 7-year-old daughter, to play tic-tac-toe! And, to finish off the evening, we had some lemoncello, or lemon liquor, which is my favorite alcoholic beverage! It tastes like the sweet coating of a lemonhead! AMAZING!!!

Catherine enjoying watching Ida and I play tic-tac-toe!

Ida won!

          The two days, Thursday and Friday, were relaxation days for me, as Dennis left and Boris was busy. And they were so nice. Although, I spent a lot of time working on my abstract and thinking through the poster I’ll hopefully get to present to members of Congress in the spring. The Posters on Capitol Hill presentation is a poster session for undergraduate research to show members of congress the importance of funding undergraduate research, so hopefully I get to teach them all about Mt. Etna! I decided a poster on all of my research would have too much information, and so be too difficult for me to create, especially for my first professional poster for a poster seminar!

          Oh! And, as far as I can tell, my $1000 meeting went great! Yay!