Trips
This page provides information regarding various trips I have taken. Ideally I would update this page with all the previous trips I have taken, but that is not going to happen anytime soon.
Paris/Barcelona - June 2010
In late May/early June I went to Paris to present at the International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS). It was my first trip back to France since 2004. I was not particulary excited since I am very busy getting ready to move to Boston and the conference was located outside of the city. However, I made the best of it and ended up having a really good time. The highlight of my trip was a visit to the Chateau de Chantilly. I got a chance to visit with a friend of mine I have not seen in six years along with her family and her young son. They live in Chantilly which gave me a chance to really get out of the city center and relax with “real people”. After my time in France I went to Barcelona just to relax and visit Spain. My plan was to visit a friend of mine that works at the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG). However, he had to leave town so we could not get together. However, he left me his apartment and his friends:) I had a great time and got to see all the typically tourist sites. I had great weather and really enjoyed my time there.
London, England - March 2010
My trip to London was to present at “Advances in Synthetic Biology“. I presented work on Eugene. It was a nice, small conference and I got a quick chance to stop by the Tower of London, Trafalgar Square, the Soho area, as well as walk along the Thames. Too short a trip but I am sure I will be back again in my travels.
Taipei, Taiwan - May 2009
I went to Taipei to present a paper at ISCAS 2009. I was only there for a couple of days but I was able to go up Taipei 101. It was pretty impressive but for some reason it did not feel as impressive to me as the Sears Tower or the Petronas Towers. Another interesting excursion was a trip to a night market to get something to eat. In particular I tried fresh snake. Interesting to say the least.
Colombia - December/January 2009
During Winter Break 2008, Erika and I went to Colombia for our belated honeymoon. We visited Bogotá, Medellín, Cartagena, and Santa Marta (along with various other locations around these large cities). We had a great time and got to connect with a lot of Erika’s family connections. We visited sites related to Erika’s youth (old house, school, etc), numerous museums, beaches, historic sites, small towns, and met a ton of really interesting and generous folks. There is way too much to post here. Pictures of the trip will make their way to this site in the coming months.
Hong Kong, China - October 2008
I went to Hong Kong to attend Synthetic Biology 4.0. In addition to attending, I also chaired a session on computer aided design and ran a roundtable discussion. It was a great chance for me to put some faces with names in the synthetic biology community. Mainly I saw Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) which has a beautiful campus. I was fairly busy and did not really have time to see much of Hong Kong itself. I am sure I will be back someday.
Seoul, South Korea - January 2008
I went to Seoul to attend ASPDAC. I presented a tutorial at the conference on System Level Design methodologies. I did not have much time to visit Seoul but I did see Gyeonghuigung as well as the Yongsan electronics market.
Mexico City - September 2007
My friend Fabian and I went to visit his family in Mexico City. It was a lot of fun to spend time with his family and get an “authentic” experience in the city. We did a little site seeing in places like Castillo de Chapultepec and Teotihuacán. It was a great chance to practice my Spanish and I hope to go back again soon.
Drummond Island, MI - Summer 2007
My dad, brother Luke, and I went to a cottage on Drummond Island to relax for a couple days. Drummond Island is off the eastern tip of the upper peninsula of Michigan. We went fishing, picnicking, and just plain relaxed. It was a good time for some old fashioned “male bonding”. It was a LONG overdue trip.
Japan - Summer 2007
My mother, Erika, and I went to Omihachiman Japan (in Shiga Prefecture) to visit my sister Diana who is teaching English through the JET Program. We had a great time and visited lots of sites such as Hikone Castle, Miyajima, and Kyoto.
Peru - Summer 2006
Baja California, Mexico - Spring Break 2006
Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand - Summer 2005
France - February 2004