This weekend I went with my co-workers to my first dental conference in Europe. My co-worker Eric had asked a few months prior if I would be interested in a dental hygiene conference in Wurzburg (about 3 hours away from where I am). The conference was for the EARDH - the European Association of Registered Dental Hygienists. You can check out their website here. I did not realize until we got to the conference how many American hygienists there are living and working in Europe. There were some hygienists who worked as contractors on military bases, which I had expected. However, I didn't know there were many American hygienists who work for German dentists. Many of them had come to Germany quite a few years ago and never left.
I had almost forgotten about it until a few weeks ago. I drove to the conference and shared a room with Kristy and Yesi, two other female hygienists I work with. There are some people you work with and you are only able to try to keep things "professional" between you. Then there are co-workers who turn out to be good, dear friends. I feel lucky to say both Kristy and Yesi are the latter. We had a fun drive down to Wurzburg, got settled into our room, and got ready for the conference. This conference was a bit smaller than other ones I have attended - I would guess there were about 25 people in attendance. However, it is always neat to have the time to meet and speak with people in the same career field who share the same interests.
Thursday afternoon the conference started. We had one "class," and then had some time to kill before dinner. One great thing about this conference is dinners and lunches were included in the cost of the conference. This was not only a good deal, but it was nice to have an opportunity to socialize further with people. I have to say from prior experience that it can be both lonely and expensive to have to find dinner by yourself at the end of a conference day. While we were waiting for the conference dinner, we took the time to walk around Wurzburg. When I say walk, I mean we did the craziest power-walk possible to try to see as much as possible in one hour. We did actually see some things, but there's still a lot I wish I could have seen and done. Wurzburg will remain on my list of places I want to go with Josh. I apologize - I have some great photos of Wurzburg, but my computer and my memory card are NOT communicating. Hmm. Well, enjoy the picture of some beautiful hygienists.
Friday was a day full of class. I won't bore you with much for details, as, well, I just won't bore you. However, there was an interesting course about forensic dentistry, or using dental records to ID bodies. The speaker was a dental hygienist who was part of the team who worked to identify victims from the World Trade Center. Chilling topic, but interesting. Not exactly something I have as an interest personally - I'm not sure how I could handle the dead bodies - I take things way too personal - but it is a fascinating career path.
Friday evening we went to a wine tasting, which was in the wine cellar of the Residence (aka "palace") of Wurzburg. This area is known for their dry white wine, which was delicious. The cellar is underground, and although they have "normal" lighting, they mainly lit the area using candles. It made for a beautiful backdrop. We were able to try five different wines and we had a dinner of meats and cheeses. It was delicious and a lot of fun... especially when all the hygienists started to get a bit tipsy and therefore got a touch wild. I always love when people let loose and let down their "professional" guard. It makes for great stories, and this night was full of them. Let's just say everyone looked a little rough the next morning.
Saturday was only a half day of classes. At the end of the courses we had a group lunch before everyone left to go home. It was amazing how after only a few days there were women giving me hugs to tell me goodbye and telling me what a pleasure it was to meet me. I was the youngest hygienist there, hands down, and it felt good to feel accepted in a group of experienced and talented hygienists. All of us are already talking about the conference next year which will be in Stuttgart, Germany.
The ride home was mostly uneventful. We did run into a patch of foul weather, which slowed our trip down. I can't help but laugh. The Germans, like many Americans, seem to panic in any sort of weather. And believe me, there are definitely times when you should slow down, take your time, and focus. However... rain (and not hard rain or rain which was sitting on the road. Just plain ol' regular rain) isn't a crisis. We don't need to slow down to 25 mph on the autobahn just because it's raining. Good grief. I was happy to get home and just wanted to spend the evening relaxing. I told Josh I was excited to talk to him about the conference, but I was just tired. I also felt like my mind was still spinning from everything I learned at the conference - the wine didn't help.
However, it's always fun to get home from conferences like this. I always walk away feeling inspired, empowered, and excited about my career field. Yahoo! It's great to be a dental hygienist.
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