I became acquainted with FNCE a year ago when a friend of mine in the program attended the year before in Nashville. She came back wide eyed with all these wonderful stories. I immediately told cal I wanted to go the next year so we started planning. I can't believe the time has already come and gone but I had the greatest time with some pretty cool people! There was so much to do in such a short amount of time that I feel as though my head is still spinning. Im just now getting it back on straight so bear with me as i try to recap as much as possible ;)
Our flight left early..Early for me any ways as I usually book flights later in the day to avoid getting up at the crack of dawn. But we were up at 3 and leaving the airport at 6. We had a layover in Dallas then took a flight from there to Boston. I only mention that because i want to briefly talk about how many dietitians were on both flights. It was kind of amazing! I met two RDs and two interns who were headed to the conference as well. One of the interns was presenting her research which I though was totally cool! We conversed about different schools and all the ups and downs of applying to internships. I learned some pretty cool things which was of course nice.
Once we landed we immediately felt a surge of adrenaline. We were finally here! Our flight arrived later than anticipated so we decided to just spend the day exploring. Our hotel, the beautiful boston plaza, was located in the heart of old Boston so we started there. We took a stroll down Newbury street (lovely!) and then headed down another street that led us to some kind of festival. The scenic view of this place was just outrageous. Boston stole my heart right then and there. The lovely fall foliage and the charming, somewhat antiquated buildings created an ambience filled with sophistication and class. It was a little intimidating at first, but then there was a small child, a golden retriever, and a mother who were all playing soccer in the open field. I don't know why but the sight of them relaxed me a little bit. The beauty of the place no longer seemed intimidating but inviting and allowed for me to relax a little and let go. My heart became open to everything boston after that!:) All wide eyed and ready to continue exploring, the girls and I ended up catching an uber to Salem, Ma. It was a little far out but how many people get to say they were in one of the most famous halloween towns during halloween??
Some pics from day 1
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| Katie and I. First day when we got to explore Boston! |
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| Shannon, Brittaney, and Katie. Couldnt have asked for a better crew! |
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| This was where the fair took place. Can you tell this was when i let go and started to relax! lol |
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| These TREES! |
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| <3 |
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| freedom trail in Salem |
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| one of the witch houses. I don't remember which one. Brittaney was the expert on this! |
We ended up arriving back to our hotel around 10 pm. Dog tired doesn't even come close to describing how we felt. We were happy to be in our beds and were anxiously anticipating the next day packed full of conference activities. We unfortunately missed the first shuttle out which means we didn't get to the conference until around 9:30. I vividly remember pulling up and seeing the convention center with FNCE in massive letters on the electronic screen. I was so excited but still had no idea what to expect. My first day was all about trying to navigate my way around the convention. The expo center was exciting and overwhelming all in the same time. There were so many vendors. Some i was familiar with and others not so much. All of them were looking to share their stories and sell their products. My favorite was the lentils station. I loved that they weren't actually selling a product, but more so selling a healthy food with lots of unique recipes. I got to sample the cream of wheat lentils. It was divine! Hopefully ill get around to trying those recipes out here soon ;)
I also attended many classes as well as a cooking demo (which was really cool! i learned how to make the famous instagram avocado rose!) One of my favorite classes was about a dietitians role in advocacy and policy making. I explored this avenue of dietetics once in my community nutrition class and for some reason it sparked my interest. Sounds strange lol i know. But i find this area to be very intriguing. Its just another way dietitians can make a positive change in the world. I also attended a really interesting class about sports nutrition. The biochemistry was heavy on that one though so I'm not even gonna attempt to give a synopsis lol! Hopefully a few things got tucked away deep in my brain though. Maybe one day when I re-encounter the material it will all resurface and I will sound like a genius. Maybe. probably not.
FNCE 2016, you were great. Im already looking forward to next year.
Pics from last day exploring public gardens
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