On the Framing Classical Reception Studies Conference: Day 0

This will be a short post, for two reasons. Reason One: I don't actually have a huge amount to report, since the conference doesn't officially kick off until tomorrow. Reason Two: I'm utterly exhausted. It's been a long day.

Not a bad day, I should emphasise. After all, I'm writing this in a comfortable hotel room overlooking the oldest city in the Netherlands – only a fool would call that a bad outcome. And to be fair, the journey was nowhere near as arduous as it could have been. In fact, it was simpler than I'd anticipated: I'd planned on having to switch trains at Utrecht after leaving Amsterdam, but upon my arrival I discovered there's actually a direct line from Schiphol Airport to Nijmegen. Things seemed to be going in that sort of delightfully easy fashion from the moment I left my flat. On reflection, that should have been a warning sign, but until the last possible minute, it seemed like the journey would be flawless from beginning to end.

Alas, it was not to be, though it came so very close. Within 19km, to be precise. It wasn't until the train had been sitting in the station at Arnhem for an uncomfortably long period that I realised my luck might have turned. Sure enough, after a few more agonising minutes, a voice came over the speakers, saying something in rapid Dutch that elicited groans from my fellow travellers. Mercifully, the passenger across from me caught what must have been my bewildered expression and gently informed me that there was an electrical problem on the rest of the line. Everyone disembarked, and that's when the waiting began. Nearly two hours ticked by before the trains were again running and I finally arrived in Nijmegen. Still, in the end, this was only a minor delay, and given just how many things could have gone wrong throughout the journey, I think I got off quite lightly. And now, here I am, looking forward to all that's in store over the next few days.

Conference registration isn't until noon tomorrow, but the sooner I get to sleep, the better, so until then, valete, omnes.