As of today I finished my written exam – and I am pretty sure I passed. That means I only have the oral left before I can travel for real.

But, I still sneak out of the country from time to time, and this month I traveled to Washington, DC to attend ”Research and Discoveries: The Revolution of Science through Scuba”. It was a symposium gathering some of the top researchers within the field, and I was ecstatic when the Director of the Smithsonian Marine Science Network, Michael A. Lang, invited me. But not only did I get to come, I was also Co-Chair with Eline Feenstra for one of the sessions, and the whole Symposium was sent live as a webcast. In short, if talking to an audience makes your heart rate go bonanza, this would make your heart explode. But it was a very good experience, and I will probably be super-relaxed when it comes to similar situations later. Eline was, for those of you who do not remember, the European Rolex Scholar in 2008 – and it was nice to finally meet her too. I also got to see many of the OW-USS people I met in New York – which was great!

A couple of days before the symposium I met with Frank Petersen from Bright Weights. He supplied me with a complete kit of their weight system. I have never tried anything like that before, and I am eager to put it to the test.

Tuesday in a week from now I will finally have finished all my exams – and I will be off to do the Smithsonian Scientific Diving Course in Washington, DC. Can’t wait!