The SfAAs

I spent 2 days and 3 nights in downtown Tampa, both attending the conference and seeing what there was to see in the area.

Tuesday I arrived, checked in to the hotel, and checked in to the conference. I wandered around the area for a bit and planned for the next day. When I went to talk to the concierge about what was around to eat and see, he said "well, there's a Quiznos." Clearly, this was going to take some creativity. That night I found a local place to sit outside and eat, went over my presentation, and called it an early day.

Wednesday morning I presented my paper on my thesis research: "Prenatal Healthcare in Two Communities: El Gusano, Mexico and Indiana, Pennsylvania." My thesis advisor also presented on this panel (Contributions of Binational Research at the Intersection of Policy, Insecurity, Social Capital, and Solutions) and said that it was better than my presentation at the SfAAs last year. The department head of SMU even showed up at the session to persuade me to attend their grad program (I was waivering between them and some others at the time - in the end I decided on SMU). I spent the day at sessions, and took a trolley down to Ybor City, the area's Latin Quarter, for some evening entertainment (http://www.ybor.org/).

Thursday was spent meeting with professors and students from graduate programs and exploring the sessions and book sale at the conference. That evening, I explored the water front area, which was a small cluster of chain establishments.

Friday morning, I left for the airport bright and early at 6 am.

This was a great chance to network, present my work, and see a new place. However, I would not necessarily recommend Tampa as a travel destination in and of itself.