I also enjoyed the chance to get better acquainted with my colleagues and friends. Not only did we have down time during the conferences and were given multiple opportunities to communicate during our professional development half day, but I also got to go out to lunch with some of my SoHi friends in between. This made today an even better day.
I'm still not sold on the idea of having parent/teacher conferences so early in the semester. However, all-in-all, I'm glad that the day played out the way that it did. Once again, my own plans and expectations are so often exceeded by the actual experiences provided for me.