The "Get Ready for SQL Server Road Show" heads to Europe with the first stop in Lisbon. I have been to four of the seven shows in the US over the past 6 weeks as the official PASS rep to welcome everyone who came to the event to PASS. I will now be delivering the content for the Administration Track for Scalabilty Experts in Lisbon on Wednesday and also in Iceland in a couple of weeks. If by chance you are at either of these events, I'd like to meet you.
Since I have been cramming to learn a few phrases in Portuguese, I hope to make some new friends. I studied Spanish in school for my language requirement and never thought it would be usefull; however, I found that the "studying" part of a foreign language made my trip to Germany easier because some of the "tricks" used in learning a languagein school lfinally paid off. I was able to have minimal conversations with some folks in Munich who did not speak English and obtain what I wanted. Since Portuguese is more similar to Spanish than German (not the same though), I hope to have more words come out of my mouth correctly. If you see me this week struggling with the Portuguese language, please have patience; I am trying my best.
It sounds great to go to Lisbon. I know that it sounds exotic and wonderful. However, most of my time will be spent in the form of preparing for the event, performing at the actual event, and trying to adjust my body clock. I expect to have very little time to see how beautiful the city really is.