A Body Guard's Story

Thank God!! It's finally over~
The three-day-conference was really over now!
Before i knew it, i thought it may not be a big deal to be a receptionist. Actually, it took a lot of energy!!
Due to the small scale of our department, the working people in this great conference were limited.
So every students including seniors had to take a part in this conference. But my part was a quite big "PART"~
Elaine and I worked as the receptionists of Mariachiara Russo, the professor from Italy.
Being the important keynote speaker of this conference and it's her first time to Taiwan, Elaine and I had a huge stress on being her receptionists.
Her flight arrived at early morning on the day before the conference, we woke even more early and managed to the Taoyuan International Airport to fetch the flight.
We waved the poster with nerve, then there's a sweet lady walking toward us with a big smile.
The plane-fetching was smooth going and we had a great chat on the way back to our school.
We showed her the dormitory which she was going to stay for a week and introduce everything she might use just like washing machine.
After a quick refreshing, we had a lunch together with Professor Jason Chen who invited her to our conference.
Professor Russo was a kind person and love Chinese food. In the afternoon, we're just about to have Pr. Chen's interpreting class, being the chair of interpreting department in Bologna's Graduate School, Chiara was invited to have a talk with us. After a long day, Elaine and I introduced our cafeteria and had dinner with her.

We arranged the time of meeting together on the first day of the conference.
In the three-day conference, we worked as a body guard and secretary as well.
When Chiara was talking with other professor, we had to stay by her. Sometimes, she need some help to recognize all professors in our department and some from other schools.
Also, we had to ask her the sections she was interested in and accompany her in every presentation. At the tea time, we had to wait until every guest was finished then it's our time to have a rest and eat something. During the luncheon and dinner with the school president, we had to take her to the restaurants and wait until the time to send her back to the dorm.

Actually, we worked 12 hours a day in the uncomfortable suit and high-heels so it's a very tiring job. On the last night, we had a banquet in Howard International House. Everyone was glad that the working was eventually over, but Elaine and I were still had a role of tour guide.
On Sunday night, we accompany Chiara to National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and Taipei 101.
The night view we saw from 89 floor in Taipei 101 was gorgeous. We had a great night together.

During the conference, we luckily had a chance to listen Professor Mike Scott's speech about Word Smith. He impressed me not only the interesting content but also by the way he delivered the speech.
Without any effort, he gave the presentation smoothly just like having a talk with audiences.
Step by step, he led us to go through the process of using Word Smith Tool. With a clear introduction, we can see the ease and convenience of using this system. It's a little similar to those concordance but with a little bit different version and content.
It's a interesting a inspiring speech to people know Word Smith and those who don't.

After getting along with each other for entire five days, we exchanged our e-mail, address and phone numbers. She is such a kind and easy-going person. It's a pity that we're busy about assignment and my part time job so we can not show her around Taipei and spend more time together. Although, we're really tired and wanted to have a rest, it's still welcome to have her in our conference next year.
With the exhaustion, it's still a special experience for me and I'll never forget it.