Category: Travel

JSALT: Summer School and Getting Oriented

Every year, Johns Hopkins University holds the Frederick Jelinek Memorial Summer Workshop (about page here). This human language technologies (HLT) workshop has taken place almost every year since the mid-90s. This year, 2019, is the sixth year that it’s held in honor of  Frederick Jelinek.  It’s abbreviated JSALT – which, I have to say, doesn’t make much sense to me. Jelinek Summer Annual (workshop) on Language Technologies is the best I can come up with to reconcile the full name and the abbreviation.

This year, it is held in Montreal. I couldn’t imagine a better place to spend the summer. It’s usually at a university in the U.S., but this year it’s held at École de Technologie Supérieure (ETS). One of the organizers did his Ph.D. at ETS and took advantage of his contacts there to make JSALT happen in Montreal. Last December, the Hopkins organizers accepted proposals from professors all over the world who had an idea for a research direction during the workshop. The five following projects were selected:

Continue reading “JSALT: Summer School and Getting Oriented” →

Alcohol and Cancer: Skeptic to Almost-Believer

While in Hong Kong with a few exchangers from NUS, I got into a discussion on alcohol consumption over lunch one day. One of the guys mentioned off-handedly that he wanted to be healthy into old age. In response, a friend pointed out that he should probably reconsider his rate of alcohol intake if he really intends to preserve his health long-term. He began defending his alcohol habits, saying that he is “pretty normal” at his university in terms of alcohol consumption. He kept referring to the saying, “You aren’t an alcoholic until you graduate from college.” Nevermind that I’ve never heard of that and nevermind the fact I disagree with it.  Another girl in the group, who studies medicine in Hong Kong, started bringing up more biologically-inspired (rather than socially inspired) points about alcohol. She led off with, “Alcohol causes cancer.”

Diagram from a UK cancer research organization. Taken from https://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2016/02/09/how-does-alcohol-cause-cancer/

At first, I took her claim in the same way I take most “X causes cancer” claims. Yeahhhhh, right. I am tired of hearing about such-and-such causing cancer. The phrase is used so often it’s hard to take seriously. I even started to use it sarcastically myself a while ago, saying that “X causes cancer” if I didn’t want someone to do, drink, or eat X. It seems organizations can leverage society’s fear of cancer, in conjunction with our gullible nature, to scare people aware from, or towards, a certain product or activity. Generally, even if there is SOME link between X and cancer, the link is not causal or is so insignificant it’s not worth worrying more about than the risks taken by crossing the street. Continue reading “Alcohol and Cancer: Skeptic to Almost-Believer” →

Krabi, Phi Phi, Phuket (Thailand)

Div (another exchanger, who studies at HKU but grew up in Uttar Pradesh, India) had planned a trip to southern Thailand to take advantage of the days off we had for Chinese New Year. I hopped on the trip quickly as I believed I would travel well with Div but really didn’t know what to expect. When I heard about it, Moira (exchanger from RVRC) was already on board. We booked our flights together. A few days later, we recruited Claire (exchanger from RVRC) to join us. The safest approach, as usual, was to expect little but hope for the best. I think I got the best.

I’m hesitating to even try to write about the trip because it was so blissful, and it’s difficult to share the experience without exaggerating or playing it down.

The plan was to fly from Singapore immediately after class last Thursday (31 January) and stay about two days each in Krabi, the Phi Phi Islands, and Phuket. We flew into Krabi (on the map below), took a ferry to the Phi Phi Islands, and ferried to Phuket.

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Langtang Valley Trek

Here’s a video from little snippets along our Langtang Valley trek. It was an incredible experience despite some trying moments. The second-to-last day, in particular, tested my limits. There were moments where I had the urge to cry as every step brought a new surge of pain. I never wanted to quit walking as we were determined to make it as far as possible, but I remember thinking that I’d rather be crying and walking rather than just walking.

Wangden was a pleasure to travel with – I definitely wouldn’t have been able to complete the trek on my own. Spending all day with someone isn’t easy – we could’ve easily gotten fed up with each other. Instead, I enjoyed every minute of his company. If I wasn’t laughing at his jokes, we were engaged in thoughtful conversation. We had plenty of time to explore topics we wouldn’t have otherwise – it was just us and the trail.

Video edited by Wangden and myself in the days following the trek.