The Year of Firsts

A researcher’s journey through conferences, publications, rejections, and the reality of academic progress in 2025.

My professor called it “the year of firsts.” I hadn’t thought about it that way until he said it—just kept moving from one thing to the next, chasing deadlines and opportunities as they came.

But once he named it, the pattern became obvious.

“Year of firsts” sounds aspirational when someone else puts that label on your work. Like an achievement unlocked, a narrative arc reaching its peak. Reality felt messier—less arc, more zigzag between France, Finland, Japan, Sweden, Amsterdam, Qatar, UK. Countless hours in transit, living out of carry-ons, working on flights, adjusting to time zones that never quite aligned.

The geography mattered as much as the milestones. You don’t do a “year of firsts” from one location. You do it by showing up where the work actually happens.

First CHI—Japan. Flight from France, layovers, arrival in a country where I didn’t speak the language. First time presenting a poster to an international audience that actually engaged with the work. First time understanding what “the CHI community” means beyond abstracts in a database.

First CHIWORK—Amsterdam. Another flight, another hotel, another conference badge. First experience as a student volunteer, which means first time seeing how much invisible infrastructure holds academic conferences together.

Between France and Finland, routine became relative. Work happened in airports, on trains, in hotel rooms between sessions. The research stayed in Finland, the job stayed in France, and everything else happened wherever I landed that week.