NCUR 2015 in Spokane was interesting and hectic, in a good way, to say the least. Spokane exists in a state run by Seattle and in such a good enough proximity to Portland to be dubbed as “hipster” – especially with stores named Boo Radley and Atticus and a mechanical, garbage-eating goat.
I started off the journey to NCUR hungry and came home hungry – I’ll explain. Leaving to go to Spokane at 7 am in the morning meant waking up at 3 am to be at the airport in time. Hungry is an understatement. Nevertheless, Spokane is gorgeous – a great combination of Twilight and Bumblef*ck-nowhere. There is a mechanical, garbage-eating goat and an immense amount of charm around the town that makes it hard to leave.
Anyway, NCUR. It was crowded and a bit hectic as there were not that many buses to bring students to the campus. This may have been the reason why a lot of students did not get to make their scheduled presentations. Also, who you get placed with in a room is a bit strange as well. Sometimes there was not a cohesive theme in a room that you could have someone talking about internships and another person talking about religion in South Asia in the same room.
My presentation was entitled “The Future of Medicine Lies in the Past: the Promise of Ayurveda and Medieval Medicine.” I was placed in a room with a young gentleman talking about the modernization of Japan, a young woman discussing the importance of Cicero and another young man discussing the Science Wars. I was quite nervous about my presentation, especially since there were about 25 people who came to my talk that I didn’t know. I finished in about 10 minutes and had about 12 minutes worth of questions. I knew someone would find my talk a bit controversial and be quite upset, but it was overall a wonderful experience that filled me with hope that there would be people who believed that the medicines of the past can help the future of medicine.
Advice for future NCUR attendees?
Have your presentation – or whatever material you need – prepared at least two days before the day you’re supposed to present. Don’t be like me and question life and computers at 3 am in the morning when you can’t seem to get anything done and technology has conspired against you.
Get a good night’s sleep. You don’t want to yawn during your talk or drone off because you can’t muster enough enthusiasm for your own talk!
Be on time. This may be hard due to transportation, but try to be on site at least 2 hours before your talk in case of anything! Life is so mysterious.
Be Calm. No one knows more about what you’re going to present than you. They’re asking you questions because they want to know more about what you’re saying. Take a deep breath and know that you control the room. Yes, there will be those who just want to antagonize you. But, as teen icon TSwift says, just shake them off. Also, people will just come and go during your talk – SHAKE. THEM. OFF.
Have fun. Really, just have fun! This is a once in a lifetime experience in a city you most likely won’t ever go back to. Enjoy yourself.
