presentations

this week I gave two presentations in my classes on neurological modeling and "language and memory," my first presentations in french.  for the most part, they went well, it was just frustrating to feel like I was presenting adult information with the diction choices of a child.  A couple times I just stopped mid-sentence, not knowing how to express something, but everyone in the class was very understanding.  We did a presentation on OCD patients and their reactions in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex after learning something without errors and with errors.  It was interesting, but I wasn't too interested in that type of research.  The other paper was on synesthesia and memory, testing to see if they have superior memory for the stimuli that elicit the synesthetic responses.  It was especially interesting for me to work in a group with people in French, trying to express my feelings about whether an idea or topic should be in the presentation or not, or trying to suggest that they express a particular idea differently.  We use very nuanced language for that type of comment, in any language, and I found myself struggling not to sound like a jerk.  The simple words don't let people know that you care about their ideas or feelings.

I've bought my tickets for Prague next weekend, so this Friday I head to Paris where I'll take a flight Saturday morning to the Czech Republic.  I've been reading up on the history of the city, and I was completely unaware of all the craziness that city has been through over time.  If any of you reading this have suggestions about things to see/do/eat/drink there, don't hesitate to leave me a comment about it.  I'm looking for a place to stay on couchsurf.org, but having some trouble with responses.  I'm sure I'll find something, and if not, I can always stay in a hostel of sorts.

Today, me and Alex Spence went with Erika to the vineyard where I worked two weekends ago.  We worked about 2 hours, much less than last time, and had another wonderful lunch full of wines. Alex is another Californian from Venice Beach, we've been hanging out and swappin music from time to time.  Dylan, he, and I went to Mundaka, Spain last weekend to visit and (for Dylan) to surf.  The town is truly in Basque country there, beautiful green hills on all sides, all the signs in the native Basque language, and consistent grey clouds above. We slept in Dylan's car and had a great adventure hiking around and seeing a small part of Spain for the day.  Then we drove into San Sebastien for a couple hours, which was nice to see again.  It's too bad it's been cloudy both times I've gone there, I feel like it would be absolutely gorgeous when it's sunny outside.  I tried speaking Spanish with an old man there, but failed, which was really sad for me to feel incapable in a language I once spoke well "enough".  It's ok though.

Blind Pilot, a band I suggest to EVERYONE, played at Berkeley yesterday on campus.  I was bummed to miss it, but found on facebook this morning that Kelsey Westphal (a super-duper friend) had asked the band to say Bonjour jake while she filmed it on her iPhone.  I was so excited.  I miss my friends from Berkeley from time to time, I miss the city and the ambiance there.  But I'm torn I guess, because every time I respond to someone who askes me "How long are you here for?" I hesitate before answering December.  It's really not that far away now, I'm past the half way point of my trip.  Also I can see the effect it has on people to find out that this person is very impermanent in their lives.  It's too bad, but I understand why it's not as "attractive" for a person to want to make friends with someone who will leave in two months.  That said, I'm going to a birthday party for a girl in my class in Lacanau when I get back from Prague.  I was so excited to be invited to her place for that, and just in general I was excited to be included in this small community of my class in Bordeaux.