From December 9 to 13, 2024, three first-year master’s students — Ito, Matsumura, and Takase — participated in the AGU24 Fall Meeting held in Washington, D.C., USA.

About AGU

AGU stands for the American Geophysical Union, one of the largest academic organizations in the United States. It supports research across a wide range of disciplines, from Earth sciences to space sciences. This year, over 30,000 participants from around the world attended, and we were struck by the sheer scale of the event, which was vastly different from domestic academic conferences held in Japan.

Travel Challenges

For all three students, this was not only their first international conference but also their first time traveling abroad. To prepare, we planned extensively in advance and familiarized ourselves with local information. However, as expected, things did not go as smoothly as we had hoped.

Our journey to Washington involved first flying from Japan to New York, staying overnight at the airport, and then taking a morning flight to Washington. None of us had experienced an airport overnight stay before, so we chose a location with a clear view of the entire floor to rest and assumed that moving two hours before our flight would be sufficient.

The next morning, we woke up about 3-4 hours before departure (whether we slept well is another question). However, as we proceeded through security after checking our luggage, an unexpected machine malfunction caused a significant delay. It was only then that we checked the time — 50 minutes until our flight! Panic set in as we rushed through security, only to find that our gate had been changed to the farthest one from the main terminal. We sprinted at full speed and arrived just 10 minutes before the scheduled departure.

Relieved that we had made it, we attempted to pass through the gate, only for the staff to stop us, saying “Already Closed!!”. Confused, we learned that the large time displayed on our ticket was the flight departure time, while the smaller text below indicated the boarding cutoff time. We had completely miscalculated, a hard lesson learned.

Having missed our flight, we were informed that all flights to Washington that day were fully booked, and the earliest available one was the next day. Frustrated and desperate to find an alternative, we discovered an express bus from New York to Washington and decided to take it — unaware that this decision would later lead to another unexpected complication…

More Unexpected Troubles

After arriving in Washington and safely checking into our accommodation, we finally got some rest. However, on the third morning, Takase delivered shocking news: our return flight tickets had been canceled.

Apparently, when a round-trip ticket is booked, skipping even one leg of the journey results in the cancellation of all remaining flights — a fact none of us had known. Shu Kai’s aunt, who lives in Washington, kindly offered to call the airline for us, but unfortunately, we had no choice but to book new tickets.

Despite these setbacks, we were grateful to be treated to lunch that day by our kind host. Thank you very much!

Experience at AGU24

Returning to the conference itself, as mentioned earlier, its scale was immense, and the atmosphere was truly overwhelming. All three of us presented in the poster session, with Matsumura and Takase presenting on the third day and Ito on the final day, which allowed Ito to prepare more calmly.

• Matsumura: Study on the Spatial Distribution of Plastic on Alluvial Bars
• Takase: Experimental Study of the Relationship Between Waterfall Shape and Migration Rate
• Ito: Can Water Depth and Flow Velocity be Predicted from Water Surface Fluctuations?

Each of us faced unique challenges in delivering a poster presentation, which differs from an oral presentation. Despite some areas for improvement, we enjoyed engaging in discussions with researchers from around the world and gained valuable experience.

One system that stood out at AGU was OSPA (Outstanding Student Presentation Award). It allows students to evaluate each other’s online posters, which we found to be a great initiative. Having never evaluated someone else’s research before, we learned a lot from the process.

Living Costs and Sightseeing

Washington, D.C. is known for its high cost of living, and with the additional burden of a weak Japanese yen, expenses were alarmingly high when converted to yen. However, the city is home to the Smithsonian museums, which are free to enter, and each one is massive — it would likely take at least a week to explore them all thoroughly.

Final Thoughts

While our first international conference was far from smooth and included several unforeseen troubles, we believe these experiences were valuable lessons. Moving forward, when traveling abroad, our motto will be:

“Stay calm and don’t change plans too hastily.”