In the summer of 1999, I scored a job in the LSU physics department working for the neutrino research group. Not the ones with the Antarctica project... or were they cosmic rays? Anyway, I got offered the job on the phone one morning because the person who was asked before me wasn't willing to fly to Japan for shift work at Super Kamiokande. But really, that's what sold it for me. "Sure, I'll go to Japan for absolutely free."
Points of my interest: