I was born and raised in Ireland but have lived in the US for 10 years now. I was in Salem Oregon for the 2017 total solar eclipse and I met a group from Ireland who had travelled there specifically to see the eclipse. The leader of the group had a pair of "binoculars" made out of...bean tins. He'd put some solar eclipse film over the end of the bean tins and taped them together to be able to see the sun safely. Was a pretty strange but hilarious time, especially because they had very strong Irish accents that no one else seemed to be able to understand!

Hi Nicole!

A few years ago, I attended the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Meeting in Washington, DC. I had one of the very first talks of the day. My talk was in one of the science education sessions, and included some movies with audio. I hadn't given a presentation like this before, and was really nervous about things going wrong. On my way from the hotel to the meeting hall a couple of people I did not know got onto the elevator with me. One of them asked me how I was enjoying the meeting. I told him that I was nervous about giving my presentation. He said that I'm sure that you have everything under control and will do just fine. When were getting off the elevator, I noticed that the man's nametag said John Grunsfeld. He is a retired astronaut and former NASA Chief Scientist. My talk went great that morning!