I attended the International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling (ICAPS), Pittsburgh, USA–June 18-23, 2017 where I presented a paper “Goal Reasoning as Multi-level Planning” at the Integrated Execution of Planning and Acting workshop (IntEx) as a first-year PhD student. I came away from the week with a healthy pool of ideas about where my research could go next and ultimately evolve in the long run. It began with my presentation. I ran into my audience throughout the week; it turned out our common interests channeled us toward many of the same talks, and we traded notes between presentations and over coffee and over lunch and from the 36th floor of the Cathedral of Learning as we looked down on a surprise downpour. At the poster session, I explored ideas with senior researchers about where I could take my own research next, one idea of which it turns out I could roll into the research I am doing right now during my summer internship at the U.S. Naval Research Lab. Then moments before he had to leave for a flight, I caught a researcher whose name I had been running into over and over again; I got his perspective on a topic I keep coming back to, coincidentally just as my adviser joined the conversation. Overall it was an excellent introduction to the field. Thank you, ACM-W for the assistance.