Opening Day
4 September 1989
Today was the official opening day of the V. International Otter Colloquium.
IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group Chairman Pat Foster-Turley giving her opening address.
The first lecture session was devoted to reports on the status of otters in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. However, for me, the big development that morning was that, during the first coffee break, I showed my poster to a colleague from Scotland, and on the spot, Dr. J. W. H. Conroy offered me a Ph.D. position at the University of Aberdeen. He said my findings were "...very new, very exciting!," and would I like to come work with him. Absolutely! This was precisely the kind of offer I'd come here hoping for in the first place. To a budding otter biologist, to study under Jim Conroy was the academic opportunity of a lifetime.
I was so excited that I couldn't sit still during the afternoon session, so I went for a walk around the grounds again, then had coffee with Dr. Jim Estes, the world's authority on the biology of the sea otter. He was going to be presenting some of my findings in his lecture tomorrow, so it was important for us to talk today.
In the evening, the attendees were bused to Gifhorn Castle for dinner. Very elegant! According to my diary, I sat next to Dr. Conroy and Liam Sullivan from Ireland, and spoke with Dr. Patrick Dugan about wetlands.
Gifhorn Castle courtyard. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Tomorrow was going to be my big day. I had no idea yet just how big it would turn out to be!
Today was the official opening day of the V. International Otter Colloquium.
IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group Chairman Pat Foster-Turley giving her opening address.
The first lecture session was devoted to reports on the status of otters in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. However, for me, the big development that morning was that, during the first coffee break, I showed my poster to a colleague from Scotland, and on the spot, Dr. J. W. H. Conroy offered me a Ph.D. position at the University of Aberdeen. He said my findings were "...very new, very exciting!," and would I like to come work with him. Absolutely! This was precisely the kind of offer I'd come here hoping for in the first place. To a budding otter biologist, to study under Jim Conroy was the academic opportunity of a lifetime.
I was so excited that I couldn't sit still during the afternoon session, so I went for a walk around the grounds again, then had coffee with Dr. Jim Estes, the world's authority on the biology of the sea otter. He was going to be presenting some of my findings in his lecture tomorrow, so it was important for us to talk today.
In the evening, the attendees were bused to Gifhorn Castle for dinner. Very elegant! According to my diary, I sat next to Dr. Conroy and Liam Sullivan from Ireland, and spoke with Dr. Patrick Dugan about wetlands.
Gifhorn Castle courtyard. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Tomorrow was going to be my big day. I had no idea yet just how big it would turn out to be!