Who would’ve thought that a bunch of scientists at the Dalai Lama’s lecture would fare no better than teenage girls at a pop idol concert? After yesterday’s poster session, I arrived outside the lecture hall about an hour before the scheduled talk. Thinking I was actually early, I instead found thousands of students, post-docs, and professors already lined up to see his holiness’ speech on meditation and neuroscience. Attendance was over 25000 at the conference this year, but there was only room for 7500 at the lecture. Over the course of the hour-long wait, the lines slowly degenerated into disorderly mobs as people pushed and shoved their ways through. Realizing the chaos, I ended up leaving the crowds to find my own way. By the time I discovered the security check and entered the lecture hall, I found it only half-occupied. The crowds had been so lost that people ended up waiting in lines that led nowhere. It was somewhat disappointing then that the speech itself actually didn’t have much substance, and much of his broken English was impossible to decipher. But it was still interesting hearing the Dalai Lama’s response to such controversial issues as animal testing, use of antidepressants, and the role of religion in education. Afterwards, I met some friends for dinner at a cute little tapas place and crashed early for the night. Apparently, the only airport shuttle available this morning left at 5:30am. And so I’ll be waiting here at the terminal for another several hours before my 9am flight back home.