Workshop on Machine Learning of Information Extraction

I hadn't been working on the RESuLT project for very long when a call for participation came around for a workshop in Antwerp. As our work focuses on using machine learning techniques to build information extraction systems the workshop seemed ideal so of we went to Belgium.

Wednesday 9^th March

I've never particularly liked getting to Manchester Airport by train, especially after my experience when trying to get to Budapest a couple of years ago. So I was happy when my boss, Mark Stevenson, said he was happy to drive us both to the airport. Anyway the trip to the airport was enjoyable but totally uneventful.

Now rather than flying directly from Manchester to Antwerp we had to go via London City Airport. Neither of us had flown through the airport and so didn't quite know what to expect other than from maps it appeared that the runway was right in the middle of the Thames river. Well that is definitely true - the plane both lands and takes off directly over water. I certainly wouldn't like to fly from there in really bad weather. The airport itself is really nice and modern and I'm sure it's ideal for business men flying into London for a meeting what with it being right in the centre of London.

Anyway, another totally uneventful flight found us at Antwerp International Airport. Unlike London City Airport, the airport at Antwerp isn't in the centre of the city but a quick Taxi ride gets you into the city centre.

We were staying at the Alfa De Keyser Hotel which is right by the main train station. It's not much to look at from the outside but inside it's really quite nice. As you can see from this picture the rooms are pretty big as well, especially given we had booked the hotel partly as it was relatively cheep compared with other hotels in Antwerp.

By the time we had checked in it was after 5pm so we headed out to find some food and, more importantly, Belgium beer!

So we walked from the hotel further into the heart of the city. We eventually emerged into what seems to be the main square which is bordered on one side by a huge church. Not sure what the name of the church is as I hadn't bothered with a guidebook or anything given that we were only in Antwerp overnight, but it seemed suitable material for a photograph.

Anyway a few Belgium beers later we found a nice looking Italian restaurant where we both had pizza.

After dinner we found a really nice bar which was showing the Liverpool champions league game so we settled in for the duration. The football was good (Liverpool beat some other European side) but the bar was fantastic. It could probably seat ten people at most and has to be the smallest bar I've ever been in. I wasn't even sitting at the bar but rather towards the door but I only had to take one step from my seat to reach the bar! Getting to the loo was fun though. The stairs kind of wound around two sides of the room and appeared to be only just attached to the wall. They then disappeared through a hole in the ceiling. It got even worse when I tried to come back down again though as most of the stairs were being filled by a huge dog that was madly running up and down. All in all a very good evening!

Thursday 10^th March

As soon as I left my room I felt really sick. Two workman were fixing new carpet tiles in the corridor and they were using the most vile smelling glue I have ever encountered. I would think it probably wasn't even legal the smell was so overpowering that it must have broken goodness knows how many health and safety laws. Anyway I recovered in the hotel reception while waiting for Mark to arrive. We checked out and then headed next door to McDonalds for breakfast. I'm not usually keen on McDonalds food but we didn't have much time and it was going to be quicker than getting breakfast in the hotel (part of the reason for the cheap rooms was that it didn't include breakfast). It's amazing how similar the menu is in McDonalds no matter what country you are in.

Having filled up on perfectly circular poached eggs and coffee we headed to the University for the workshop. The building we were in was really nice. It was an old building but had clearly been recently renovated and we had a room in the attic with traditional beams everywhere. It was a very relaxing room in which to work (so much so that at one point I nearly fell asleep). Unfortunately the workshop was not as interesting as we had hoped and passed by without making much of an impression on either of us. It was a useful trip, however, as we had plenty of time to talk about what we are intending to do in the RESuLT project.

After the workshop we walked back to the train station and caught a taxi to the airport. Now when we had arrived at the airport we passed quickly out to the taxi rank and didn't really see much of the airport itself. So we were a bit shocked when we arrived at the airport and tried to check in. Antwerp International Airport has three check-in desks, all of which were closed. They have so few flights that they only open the check-in desks about half an hour before there is a flight. So we wondered off to find somewhere to sit and wait. Well the airport is probably better now as there was building work going on but my description would be that it is a large car park surrounded by porta-cabins! The only good thing was that the alcohol was good as was the ham sandwich I had while waiting.

After checking in I bought some Belgium chocolates at the duty free shop and then we boarded the flight back to London City Airport. The plane to Manchester was delayed and when we did eventually board we found it was full of hyperactive school children who had been to some presentation thing in London and were also flying back to Manchester, quite the rowdy flight! So we were a little late back into Manchester but as Mark was driving home this didn't matter as we were not rushing for a train or anything. So a short car journey later I was home from another foreign trip paid for by work.