From July 6 to 11, 2025, the International Conference on Strongly Correlated Electronic Systems 2025 (SCES2025) was held in Montreal, Canada. The participants from our group were Mr. Ōguchi (M2), Mr. Sakai (M2), Mr. Ogata (D3), and Professor Ishida.
Montreal is located in the province of Quebec in eastern Canada and is a French-speaking city with a distinctly European atmosphere. The old town, lined with stone buildings and churches, is beautiful—just walking through the streets feels like sightseeing (Fig. 1(a)). The city felt safe throughout our stay, and compared to Kyoto, the lower humidity made it a very comfortable place to spend time.
The conference venue was an impressively elegant hotel (Fig. 1(b)). On the first day, the organizers provided breakfast, lunch, and two coffee breaks, so we were quite well-fed throughout the day (Fig. 2).
During our stay, the three students rented an Airbnb. It was within walking distance of the venue (about 30 minutes), which was quite convenient. However, one night a mouse made an unexpected appearance. We hurriedly contacted the host, who showed up the next day carrying a mouse trap—it felt just like Tom and Jerry (Fig. 3).
For my poster presentation, it was my first time presenting in English, so I was very nervous. Nevertheless, more people showed interest than I had expected, and it became a valuable opportunity to speak English about my research. At one point, I couldn’t catch the name of a compound the other person mentioned and had to resort to writing it down—but in the end, I realized communication somehow works out because we’re all human. The other members of our group also gave confident presentations in English (Fig. 4).
Outside the sessions, we attended the Banquet, a social dinner event (which cost about 10,000 yen out of pocket). Although a bit pricey, both the food and the performances were excellent and well worth it. Before and after the conference, we also did some sightseeing, visiting Notre-Dame Basilica, Saint Joseph’s Oratory, and a distillery, fully enjoying our time in Montreal (Fig. 5). The grandeur of the Notre-Dame Basilica was especially impressive.
As this was my first international conference, I had many concerns beforehand, but the trip turned out to be very fulfilling. It was a valuable experience—not only to present my research and learn about the latest developments, but also to feel the differences in culture and lifestyle firsthand.
