Andrea could not do anything about it, she was
not in a good mood. She was angry, scared, worried and
nervous-stressed-hysteric, all at the same time. She was angry with her PhD
thesis director. After one year and a half of intense work, she wanted to
present her results in a recognized conference which was taking place in Hawai.
He refused, saying that it was too expensive, and had sent her to Tromsö.
So there she was, in a plane in direction to
Tromsö, in Norway
Time was passing, and she was getting more and
more nervous. It would be the first time she would present her work in an
international conference, in front of the world’s experts in the topic. She
tried to distract herself thinking about something else. She thought about her mother, who has left everything to move to a small island in Brazil. Her
sister Laura had gone to visit her last year, in October. ‘Maybe this year I
will be able to go, if I make good progress in my PhD...’.
She looked through the window: they had started
to lose altitude. She was so nervous she did not even appreciate the landscape
that was visible through the window. There were some fjords, mountains covered
in snow and some islands. Stress. Hysteria. She put apart the slides she had
printed to review during the flight, and took a chocolate bar. She started to
eat. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the man sitting next to her was
observing her.
- First time in a conference? – he asked. He
was a man in his forties, very well dressed, who was looking at her with a
friendly look.
She nodded, and stopped eating.
- Are you going as well?
- No, not anymore, I gave up research to start
some business, but some years ago I had been in some conferences. I’ll tell you
something: when you present, don’t look at the professors sitting at the first
row. Look far away, to the end of the room, and search somebody who smiles at
you: they will be your friends.
They kept talking for a while until the plane
landed. When they reached the airport, she felt calmer. She said goodbye to the
business man and went to get her luggage. While she was waiting for her
suitcase, he heard two guys speaking about the conference. They were going to
attend it. She started talking with them and discovered that they were staying
at the same hotel.
Once they had their luggage, they left the
security zone of the airport. The guys told her that they had rented a car, and
invited her to go with them. She furrowed her brow. They were nice, but would
it be wise to take a car with people she did not know well? They were looking
at her, waiting for an answer.
- Euh, well, yes, thanks, but... what bout driving
with the snow and ice with the snow chains and all...?
- I’m Swiss and he’s Norwegian, and we do our
PhD in Lausanne , Switzerland
- And to reach the city – said the other –
we’re not going to find a lot of snow, the road is underground. – He gave her a
sly smile – Have you ever seen a traffic circle inside a tunnel?
- A traffic circle in a tunnel? – she did not
know if they were kidding. But if it was true, then it meant they did know the
region. – No, I’ve never seen that, I’ll come with you. Thanks a lot!
They went to the renting cars company, where
they signed the contract but did not receive the keys.
- The
keys are inside the car. Since it is cold outside, we left the heating on.
Check the license plate, there are several cars which are open, do not take
the wrong one.
‘The car is open with the keys on! And nobody
steals them? Waw!’ Andrea thought while she followed the guys outside. It was
indeed cold, but less than she expected. It was only one or two degrees below
zero. They found the car, which was warm and ready to
go. They took the underground road, went through the tunnel... that had a
traffic circle! She was so amazed that she almost forgot how nervous she had
been about the following day’s presentation.
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