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June 3rd 2013 saw 9 jet-lagged CDT students descend onto Quebec City, Canada for the annual American Physical Society DAMOP meeting.

After an initial foray into the lobby of the wrong hotel we finally settled into our rooms overlooking the old town and conveniently located 5 minutes walk from the conference centre for the 44th Annual DAMOP (Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics) meeting.

The conference welcome reception was due to be held that same evening so we all headed over to the venue with traditionally low expectations of the food that was awaiting us. How wrong we were! After being greeted with the usual complimentary drink we were treated to an excellent buffet of meats, cheeses and canapés- an excellent way to begin the week! A little excursion to one of the local watering holes straight after the welcome reception led us to the conclusion that we'd be better off sticking to the free drinks from then on.

Talk sessions started at 8am every morning and with many sets of parallel talks going on at the same time it was always difficult to choose which session to attend. Overall, the standard of the research displayed was excellent and it was exciting to hear about the latest developments in various different fields. As well as this, several talks and posters were presented by our very own CDT students- an experience that proved to be extremely valuable. The evening of the 3rd day also saw us getting not one, but two Nobel lectures- one by each of the recipients of the 2012 Nobel prize.

Tradition dictates that there is a conference dinner on the final evening and DAMOP was no exception. Unsure what to expect for a crowd of 1000 people, we were one of the last to enter the hall and the only table left for us was right at the front. A wholly unexpected turn of events saw the 2012 Nobel prize winner actually joining us on our table (photographic evidence included). With a certain ion-trapper amongst us being somewhat star-struck and looking like he would die a happy man there and then, it was left to our Mexican contingent to charm him with his research plans. An excellent 3 course meal and some typically awkward conversation later, the evening came to a bizarre end with a Youtube clip about how many emails are sent in the world every day (or something like that).

After some last remaining talks on the morning following the conference dinner, everyone went their separate ways. Back to the realities of life in either the office or the lab, but fully inspired to carry on making progress with our research.