Balabanova All Over

Archives

[Niagara Falls, NY] After driving in the snow yesterday, I was super excited to be taking a bus tour today, meaning someone else was driving! Today’s excursion to Niagara Falls was an optional add-on to the conference itself, so that meant I was also not going to be alone – I was sure other conference attendees would take the trip. My prayers for good weather had partially come through. It was no… Read More

[Toronto, Canada] The 2016 Higher Education Data Warehousing (HEDW) conference was in Rochester, NY, hosted by the University of Rochester. As usual, the conference starts on Sunday evening, so I decided to fly out from LA with the red-eye on Friday in order to explore the surroundings on Saturday and Sunday. Upon landing in Rochester, I rented car and checked into my hotel downtown. Rochester is no bigger than Augusta, GA, where… Read More

[Chicago, IL] After several days of feeding my body (really, really well), it was time to feed my soul. Bulgarian Folk Festival Verea was one of the reasons I had extended my work trip. Now in its fifth year, it is a festival where Bulgarians living all over the US and Canada come together to perform traditional Bulgarian dances (called horo) and songs. But I am getting a little bit ahead of… Read More

[Chicago, IL] A couple of major Chicago attractions book-ending a divine lunch at a Michelin-starred restaurant? Not a bad way to spend another day in Chicago, I think! We started off our day at Willis Tower. Built as and still commonly referred to as Sears Tower, it was the tallest building in the world from the time it was completed in 1973 until 1998 when the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia were… Read More

[Chicago, IL] Kristina did not know this yet, but sightseeing with me is no joke. There are places to be seen and meals to be eaten and pictures to be taken. I have a checklist with must-dos and nice-to-dos, and I have google-mapped the place to death because my worst nightmare is wasting precious time trying to figure out where to go next, or, even worse, having to come back to an… Read More