Learning Language in Logic (LLL05)
An ICML 2005 Workshop

As a way of both testing the information extraction work we had been doing for the RESuLT project, and getting into working with biomedical texts we decided to attempt the genic interaction extraction challenge being held as part of the Learning Language in Logic workshop. Although we didn't do very well (in fact we achieved the lowest reported score) we did learn a lot and I got to go to Bonn to report our results.

Saturday 6^th March

No there was just one thing worrying me about this trip - I was going alone! Not having done much foreign travel before I started conferences (one trip to Paris with someone who speaks French) I'm still not totally comfortable with travelling and coping OK in countries where I don't speak the language. Having said that I did study German at high school although I'll be the first to admit that I'm far from fluent and as it turned out it didn't help me much.

Anyway the easiest way, other than someone driving, to get from Sheffield to Nottingham East Midlands Airport from where I was flying is to take a National Express coach so that it what I did. I don't remember much about the coach trip as I was totally absorbed in the book I was reading (Faithless by Karin Slaughter) that I didn't so much as glance out of the window for most of the journey. So the next I knew (after the discovery of a corpse along a wooded path) was that I was at the airport.

This was the first time I'd flown with a budget airline, easyJet in this case, so I wasn't sure what to expect. For one thing I hadn't realised that the order in which you book in affects the order in which you can board the place which is important when seats are not reserved. Anyway I checked in and headed off to find some lunch. First thing I noticed though was one of the departure boards and I was so relieved when I'd checked that the flight shown as delayed for 21 hours wasn't mine. Anyway a chicken salad and coffee later found me sat in an uncomfortable seat doing a Su Doku puzzle (the first of many I do over the next few days). By this time my flight was showing as delayed by 30 minutes. By the time it actually boarded it was late by about an hour. This was worrying as the hotel I was booked into had specifically stated that if I was going to arrive after 6pm to let them know as the door was locked at that point. My flight was due to land at 4:25pm so I should have had no problem getting from the airport to the hotel but now it was looking like I'd only have about half an hour to get through passport control and find my hotel.

Anyway the flight was totally uneventful although the queue at passport control at the Bonn-Cologne airport was horrendous and snaked all over the place. Once through and outside the stop for the shuttle bus to Bonn was easy to find. At this point I meant three other people who were arriving for ICML, one of whom was from Germany so figuring out the bus timetable was easy. One of the other people was James Cussens one of the organisers of the LLL workshop so we chatted a bit about the challenge task on the bus. I was staying at Hotel Am Römerhof which is on Römerstraße about 100 meters from the Beethivenhalle which fortunately the shuttle bus stops at. I arrived at the front door of the hotel at 5:58pm and stubbed my toe! The door was one of those heavy looking chrome and glass affairs that you assume will take a fair amount of effort to open - unfortunately it wasn't! The pain almost made my cry out and I was sure I'd stuck the corner of the door right through the top of my shoe (I didn't have a spare pair with me having travelled light with only hand luggage). At least the door was still open. I'm assuming I don't look German (although I do have German ancestry and the traditional blond hair/blue eyes) as the clerk greeted me in English. So far so good as I hadn't had to try speaking any German. By the time I'd sorted my self out (checked I hadn't lost a toe) it was about 6:45pm and the chicken salad seemed a long time ago so I headed out to find somewhere to eat.

I didn't have a decent map of Bonn as I hadn't bought a guide book but I had found a guided tour map on the web which while showing me where things were didn't actually contain a scale so I didn't know how far I'd have to walk to get to what looked like the centre of Bonn. As it was it wasn't too long before I was at the back of the university buildings at which point I realised I'd kind of just missed the main centre of so I turned right and started looking for restaurants. I eventually choose to eat at the Bonner Brasserie as although the menu was in German pizza's and pasta's were still easily recognisable. I managed in exceedingly bad German to order a pepperoni pizza and a beer which were both highly enjoyable. After dinner I walked around a bit before heading back to the hotel where I finished reading Faithless (a really good book but if you're tempted to read it you should know that it's part of a set of connected novels which starts with Blindsighted). Unfortunately I couldn't sleep so I did a few more Su Doku puzzles and started on the other book I'd brought with me, Grey Souls by Philippe Claudel.

Sunday 7^th August

Unfortunately the hotel didn't start serving breakfast until 8:30am and as the workshop was due to start at 9:00am I headed out without breakfast, not even coffee. As anyone who knows me will attest to I live on coffee (black no sugar in case anyone is offering to make one) and so starting the day without coffee never goes well. Of course I was made to feel even worse when I'd queued and registered as in the conference back along with the proceedings was a coffee cup but nowhere was there anything to fill it with!

So having registered I eventually figured out the floor plan for the University and found the room in which the workshop was being held. James Cussens was already there setting up the projector which was made difficult as the projector was at the back of the room the laptop really needs to be by the speaker at the front yet they'd only supplied a cable which was about three feet long. So until the first coffee break James had to change slides when asked by whoever was presenting - not easy with animated PowerPoint presentations. The workshop started with three papers not related to the challenge task and which seemed to go straight over my head possibly as a result of not having had any coffee!

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Monday 8^th August

Although the main ICML conference was only just starting (the workshops were held before the main conference) I was heading home in the afternoon. I'd presented my paper and not being a machine learning person the rest of the conference didn't seem like it was going to be overly interesting. So I had the whole morning to be a tourist and see the sites in Bonn. Unfortunately it was raining!

So while eating breakfast (with plenty of coffee this time) I looked at a tourist map I'd printed out back in Sheffield to try and work out what I should see. It turns out that there aren't that many things to actually see in Bonn. Apparently if you visit the region go to Cologne instead. But I was in Bonn so I made the best of a very wet morning. I checked out of the hotel and headed just a short distance towards the city centre.

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