the kind of stuff i am stuck with this semester

here, comprehend this:

"the apical dendritic membrane becomes transiently depolarized and consequently extracellulary electronegative with respect to the cell soma and the basal dendrites. this potential difference causes a current to flow through the volume conductor from the nonexcited membrane of the soma and basal dendritic tree sustaining the EPSPs (excitatory postsynaptic potentials)."

bread and butter.

go canucks go!

canucks 3 - 2 buffalo

hockey can be really exciting. i wouldn't watch it on tv, but in the arena it achieves another dimension. :-)

it would be even better if beer wasn't as expensive. :P

the scholarship research

today i had a talk with a researcher willing to know more about merit scholarship students, their experience of university education and how it influences their lives and decisions they make. it's always fun to be in the center of positive attention. :-) i am quite surprised how i answered some of the questions; this interview helped me realize how extremely grateful i should be everyday for having such a unique opportunity to study at a good school and graduate without a massive student loan. i even said that sometimes i felt over-privileged with having access to so many different resources, services etc. for little or no money. at the same time, i admitted that during my time in vancouver my main priority was studying and keeping up those grades.. yeah, sometimes, i gotta admit, i was interested in getting an 'a', not learning, discovering something new. fortunately, it wasn't like that with every course i took, but there were some. studying under such a great pressure, also made my community involvement decrease significantly, and only now i can see it. i am willing to win it back in the summer and beyond, when grades will stop being my primary concern. the exchange experience was vital to my mental sanity.. now as i have mentioned couple of posts ago, i am ready to take up new challenges, especially because my graduation date is so close..! i can actually see it coming somewhere in the horizon, but only on a clear day. we haven't had too many of those, but believe me, the view from the top of aq on a sunny day: priceless (as maestro would say). anyhow, i hoped i contributed with my perspective on the scholarship to that research; they promised to send me a report of their work. for now, i am going to eat some lunch with a coffee shop gift certificate i got as a participation incentive.

a locker

so far 25$ i have paid for renting one of the gym lockers turned out to be one of the best investments of this semester. i am taking a kin143 class, which has an active tutorial component twice a week. we basically go for a run, stretch and talk about what we're doing with our bodies and why. very interesting stuff. this is when the locker comes useful. i use it when i play sports on campus, work out in the gym, go to the pool or sauna etc. i wish i had rented it in the previous semesters too. anyhow. the interesting part of the story is how the locker opens:

they use this kind of pad, i know from hollywood high school movies. i couldn't figure out how it works, as oppose to all canadian kids who are used to this since grade one. if you know how to open a lock like this (provided a code consisting of three numbers), without youtubing or googling, and you are a european, you get a price: a vancouver olympic postcard. :-) the faster the better.

positive outlook

the year in amsterdam and months that followed have given me so much strength and positive energy. i couldn't really ask for more. in april 2008 i was so fed up with being in vancouver, studying at sfu and dealing with the scholarship pressure that i was seeking refuge. i found it in the beautiful city of amsterdam and all the experiences i have had there. it relaxed me a lot. now, i still feel relaxed. yes, there's much more work to be done here, but i feel peacful, at ease with the world and my situation. i live in a magical house with crazy people. i like the courses i am taking. i even don't mind the rain that much (though, i'd prefer snow). and as simple as it is, it all has started in my head, the positive outlook on the world i am living in now. it got a kick from an external stimulus, sure, but i was the one who reacted and shaped this stimulus into this. perhaps it is also because i can actually see an end to my studies and glimpse into a little bit of a future beyond.. my imagination goes wild and fills up with insane and exciting ideas at the speed of light. but, shhh! i am not going to spoil it now. not just yet.

feet and pounds

i am six feet tall and i weigh 171 pounds. makes sense? little... :-)

the first chapter

i am sitting in the library. i have just finished reading the first chapter of a monstrous book: "biological psychology". one interesting thing i learnt is that the left side of a human face is much more emotionally expressive than its right counterpart. for me it is definitely true! i can isolate my left eyebrow by raising it but can't do that with the right one.

good, better and better

i am getting a hang of it. my english is recovering and i don't take "how're you doing?" seriously. but really, i am getting a hang of it. yesterday i went to reunite with a friend who was kind to store my stuff over the time of my absence. he drove me here with my old, 2 meter long skis, tyrolia ski boots and a race bike from 70s. now i am equipped! besides i found a box full of funny memories in his basement - posters, pictures, books, but also quite useful things like lamps and school articles.

then i got to meet another friend on campus (always good) and fixed my phone. i think canadians are just mad in terms of phones. i had this old fido phone which i wanted to reactivate and use again (price 35$ new simcard and 35$ activation fee, which with gsts comes up to something like 80$). 'what!?' i thought and went to another operator, who offered me a brand new phone on a monthly plan, no activation fee (39$ with gst!). how am i supposed to be environmentally friendly and reuse old stuff, if i live on a student budget?

anyhow, in the evening i was supposed to watch avatar in 3d, but all the tickets had been sold out since the morning (crazy). so with a bunch of familiar and stranger faces we wandered around rainy vancouver looking for a pub on main st. once we found it, it turned out to be closed (on fridays?). we jumped on the bus and got off at cambie st and ate some ethiopian food and drunk some south african beer in an indian/ethiopian/mexican restaurant. vancouver fushion.

after all that i still went home for a goodbye party of one of my roommates. at 12, jet lagged, tired i just crashed. all that equalled to be a pretty good day. :-)

ps. i am in the process of unpacking as i am writing this. :P

change

vancouver really gives me an impression as if it has stood still for past two years. the quality of sushi remains outstanding, girls wear "lululemon" brand and talk about yoga classes, sfu is made out of concrete and is all about line-ups.. hastings is as long as it used to be, with exactly the same shops, services and restaurants along its banks. 135 still runs up the hill. even people haven't changed. i bumped into five of them today, very randomly, on the campus. they are all the same! it is the same city i left in april 2008! yet i can feel, smell the change. i kind of have to stick my nose into it, read it in between the lines. perhaps somebody would accuse me of overinterpretation, but listen to this: dollar stores are not dollar stores any more. because of the inflation and the crisis they have become dollar-twenty-five stores.

vancouver day one

surreal. i am back here. it feels like a dream. only a minute ago i was on the bank of a beautiful amsterdam's canal, only a second ago it was christmas, a split of a second we were driving to vienna... but now i am here at east pender street in vancouver, lying on a foot-on in my new room, trying to kill the jetlag.

i was picked up by car from the airport by talia, isabell (my roommates) and robin - isabell's boyfriend. it is always so comforting to get picked up, even if somebody comes by a bus or a metro. but they came with a car! all the places we drove thru looked so familiar, but quite rusty in my spatial memory. it didn't take too long before one can orient oneself in a north american city, especially vancouver. the north is where the mountains are (we could see the lit-up slopes of grouse mtn.!), all the numbered avenues run parallel to the mountains. with this much knowledge you're good to go.

anyhow, we arrived at the house quite late, around 9pm and first thing we did was (of course) getting sushi. and it wasn't even my initiative.. :-) we talked and the evening went by smoothly and cozy. now i am trying to fall asleep to get back into the pacific timing. also because it seems like tomorrow is going to be a hell of a busy day. but hey, didn't i like it?