08/2/13

Taglit – Birthright Israel : An Introduction

Playlist: Enya, Buena Vista Social Club

If you are Jewish and between the ages of 18-26 (or if you just enjoy reading travel blog posts), read on.

I have been incredibly lucky this summer to have gone on so many fun and exciting adventures. One I feel especially grateful for is the trip bestowed upon me by Taglit-Birthright Israel, an organization that sends Jewish young adults on a 10-day excursion to Israel…for FREE.

Yes, I’m serious.

The qualifications are as follows. You must: Have at least one Jewish parent, identify as Jewish, be between the ages of 18-26 and never have been to Israel on an organized trip or lived there past the age of 12. That’s it!

I don’t understand why anyone would not want to go on an all-expenses-paid trip to a beautiful country with a group of amazing people. Taglit offers trips throughout the summer and winter and if you meet the requirements, you have nothing to lose by applying.

This post is the first in a series I’ll write, highlighting my favorite experiences from the trip. I will also write a follow-up series about places I visited during the 3 1/2 weeks I spent in Israel post-Taglit (yep, you can extend your stay and they will still pay for your return ticket!).

Disclaimer: These posts are not sponsored (unless you count my Birthright-Israel trip as compensation, but I’m still writing them just because I want to share my experiences with those considering going on the trip and others who want to read about them).

Hope you’ve also had a fantastic summer so far,

-Nirel

That’s me in Masada, excited to tell you about my adventures.

03/14/13

Useful online research resources!

I am a dork.

There’s no denying it. But why would I want to? I embrace my inner dorkiness – in fact, I celebrate it.

That is precisely why I’m awake at 4:30am, doing way more research than is required for a genetics presentation I’ve been assigned. Because it’s fun!!

Don’t believe me? See for yourself – visit a few of the sites below and browse through a topic that peaks your interest. Check out JSTOR’s collection alone for a few ideas.

Pssst… Even if you can’t find anything interesting enough to read about for fun, these sites will at least be super useful when you need to do any of the following things (at least one of which you will inevitably do, being a university student):

(Research) paper
Presentation
Critical review
Other stuff

Some lovely resources for your researching pleasure (in no particular order):

PNAS *cue immature giggles*

^ So long as you are a UBC student (and have a standard campus-wide login, or CWL), the links above will grant you FREE access to collections of thousands of journals, containing probably millions of really neat articles and research papers. Thank you, UBC Library!

*NOTE: If you are not a UBC student, do not be discouraged. You may still have access to many of these articles and papers, even if you don’t have access to all the journals that contain them.

Have fun exploring!

Nirel

01/27/13

Freeeee Boooooooks!! (and some music)

Playlist: Gemini – Fire Inside

Martin Solveig – The Night Out

Swedish House Mafia – Greyhound

(Yes, I’ve caught the electronic music bug that since I arrived here have noticed is super popular in Vancouver.)

Oh my gosh. If you’re currently taking an English or philosophy class in high school or university, check out these websites before you buy your required reading books. They allow you to download e-books for free that you can read on your computer, iPhone, iPad or e-reader. This has made me so happy.

http://www.planetebook.com/

http://www.gutenberg.org/

http://www.free-ebooks.net/

http://www.openculture.com/free_ebooks

Psst… It’s worth checking out all the links, as some of the sites only have classic books while others include contemporary ones as well. Also, these are only the first few sites that came up when I google-searched “free e-books” – so feel free to google key words yourself and see what you can find! (Just make sure the websites are legit so you don’t get a virus. The ones above are.)

Happy reading!

-N

10/30/12

Intellectual Curiosity

Playlist: The Black Keys – El Camino, Attack & Release, Brothers; The Head and the Heart

Sam Harris and me!

“The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand.”

-Frank Herbert (1920-1986)

FOR THOSE OF YOU whose thirst for knowledge is not quite satisfied with the classes you’re already enrolled in, allow me to introduce to you some more opportunities to learn (right here at UBC!).

Exhibit A:

Last week, I attended my first UBC Philosophy Students’ Association meeting. While I am not an intended philosophy major (and neither were the majority of the other students at the meeting), I very much enjoy reading about and discussing various philosophical topics (ie. epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, free will, existentialism, etc.). We talked about chapter two of Daniel C. Dennett’s book, Freedom Evolves, last meeting – which was really interesting, despite not having had the chance to read the chapter prior to the meeting.

If you’re interested at all in philosophy, drop in on a meeting! Upcoming ones include:

-Tues. 10/30 from 5-7pm in the Henry Angus building (AKA Sauder School of Business), room 235

-Thurs. 11/01 from 4-7pm in Buchanan D229

You can join their mailing list here and be up-to-date on when & where the meetings will take place.

Exhibit B:

This past Friday night – the weekend before Halloween, while many of my floor mates were getting ready to go to a frat party – I headed to Irving K. Barber to attend a lecture on the psychology of good and evil by Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani (who is actually a prof. at UBC!). A few of the beautiful things about this lecture were that:

1. The lecture was totally optional, so the people who were there wanted to be there. This made for a more interested and engaged audience – which worked out super well because Dr. Jhangiani created a very comfortable environment free of time constraints and embracing of question-asking and answering throughout the lecture (as well as during a designated Q&A period at the end).

2. I am a total BRAIN DORK who basically oozes with excitement over psych. lectures – especially those that overlap with elements of philosophy (in this case morality). I took extensive notes, of course. (:

3. The event was put on by the Vancouver Centre for Inquiry (CFI), which hosts lectures like this one every month!! “Like” their facebook page and stay updated.

4. It was by donation!! So I contributed $2 – the equivalent of a cup of tea at Blenz – to participate in this extraordinary event!

Exhibit C:

Just yesterday, I had planned on going to another lecture I’d reserved a seat for online. I went to work out at the Birdcoop (our on-campus gym, for those of you who are not familiar with it) and finished with just enough time to arrive at Sauder and step into the elevator just as the door began to close. Once I did, I turned around and realized that Sam Harris — the person giving the lecture – was standing right beside me! I introduced myself to him and the woman I believed to be his publicist and expressed to them both my excitement to attend his talk. This guy has given a legit TED talk before, so he must be good – right?

Anyway, I walked to the main entrance of the lecture hall as Mr. Harris and his publicist (?) walked through a separate entrance – only to find that my seat had been given up since I’d arrived later than five minutes prior to the start of the lecture. Not only that, but a manager of the event had decided to cap off the attendance and wouldn’t let me, or the other elevator passengers, in.

What was I to do?!! I thought quickly and told someone I’d met on the elevator to come with me…[I had an idea]. We went down the hallway that Mr. Harris and his publicist (?) had gone down – and we saw her! I told her the situation we were in and she helped us sneak into the auditorium!! The lecture was incredibly interesting, and I was SO glad I’d had the opportunity to go! Needless to say, I took plenty of notes. (:

Afterward, I ran into them again and was able to snap a photo with Sam Harris! (See photo above). And later I e-mailed back and forth with him regarding an analogy I’d made for something he’d brought up in the lecture – it was SO COOL.

Oh! As for the content of the lecture, Harris is a neuroscientist, modern philosopher and author who talked about his belief that free will is merely an illusion. Interesting, huh??

Alsoooo….It was FREE. And he supposedly normally charges hundreds of dollars per ticket to attend his lectures!

THOSE ARE JUST a few examples of the thought-provoking events I attended and participated in – in the past WEEK. If you have a passion or topic you’d like to delve further into, check to see if there is a club or upcoming lecture at UBC that covers or relates to it! If not, start your own club or find a way to organize an event. It’s possible! This is an institution of higher learning, after all.

Love,