Steve Androulakis’ Blog

Maine 2010

So as a result of some demand, I’ll be blogging my short existence in Auburn / Lewiston Maine, USA.

I’m here to present some software at a science conference though I have most of the weekend to myself before that begins. Conference is just over 4 days then I’m gone again. How brief!

It was 4 flights and just over 30 hours to get here, which to me actually wasn’t as bad as it was supposed to be. Sure, I was pretty tired and sore by the end though still quite jovial. Every time I felt a bit irked I recalled it took months for peeps in England to get to Australia by horrible-scurvy-boat. If they gave that a go (okay okay, many didn’t have a choice) and many survived then I’d survive 30 hours in a climate-controlled set of planes with sub-par food. Of course United managed to send my luggage from LA to Washington instead of Chicago, but I honestly expected them to, and the luggage reached me the next morning which isn’t so bad. Still, if part of your main business is to route luggage then as a company you’re showing great muppettude by screwing it up so often.

Speaking of Chicago: O’Hare is a huge and modern airport but also really quiet. Very impressed!

So far I’ve been walking around and checking out the town. I ate much lobster at a seafood restaurant, and I drank much beer at a pub outside my hotel and even went clubbing with some locals. Live rap! Perhaps the late night out is why my head hurts this morning and I’m struggling to be articulate.

Everyone’s really friendly. Given its a small town and not exactly an international tourist destination, people are always asking me where I’m from and are quite happy to chat it up. This is in stark contrast to the short attention spans and sharpness of Californians in general. The girls at Dunkin Donuts almost died on the spot at the accent. I was just after breakfast!

Auburn / Lewiston are twin cities and small ones at that. It’s a green, leafy place with ancient buildings about. It’s pretty hot right now also, and humid. Being so high up I didn’t expect their summer to be this warm, but yesterday it was 31C. A welcome change from Australian winter!

Here are a bunch of photos. The daytime ones I took with my iPhone (thanks lost luggage) and dusk ones with my proper camera. Will blog later in the week once the conference kicks off!