and the scientists/ know the way it is

+ It is, now, supposed to rain and snow tonight and tomorrow in Helsinki.

+ I'm sitting in my hotel room drinking a bottle of coke, eating a chocolate bar from the minibar, and watching stupid footage about celebrity divorce settlements on CNN. Slightly depressing. In ten minutes I'm going to walk to city hall for the conference reception that's being hosted there. I really don't want to go and I don't feel like being social but I'm going to suck it up and go anyway. There are basically three CHESS professors here who I know and they are so nice, but I'm basically on my own. One of them is the director of CHESS who is a huge deal and he gave the 2nd plenary address this evening at the conference since he is quite renowned and is a commissioner for the World Health Organization's Commission on Social Determinants of Health. He is incredibly sweet, and very nice to me, but he is like a public health rock star. I feel like I have temporarily exhausted my energy for having the same conversation with people over and over and over and over again about who I am and where I'm from and what I do. I also feel self-conscious since I don't have a major public health background and I don't have a really focused area of interest so sometimes I feel like I have nothing to add. But whatever. At least I'm good at coming up with questions. And now I'm going to put on my scarf and my hat and my mittens and my pea coat and go out into the dark Finnish night!