Week 2 started off strong with a Flamenco workshop where we learned a lot of the basics of the flamenco rhythms and choreography. After the workshop, we got to experience a flamenco show with the same people that were leading our workshop.
One particular thing that really stood out to me with this show was the expressions of the dancers, not just of their movements, but mainly their facial expressions. It seemed as though their facial expressions were themselves telling the stories. Flamenco is really interesting because it is a mix of many different influences, and for me this was very evident when we were doing the workshop. The lead was telling us about how some of the movements of a Hindu influence, which was actually something I recognized with some of the hand positions that we learned. The style of dance traces back to the 8th and 9th centuries and also has influences from the Moors, Jews, and Andalusians. The singing, guitar, and dancing performance has now grown into a very distinct art form that allows you to understand parts of its history while also enjoying an emotion inducing art form.
This weekend, I also got the opportunity to go on a trip to Cuenca, which is a city about 2 hours south of Madrid. It is known for its “Casas Colgadas de Cuenca,” which translates to the Hanging Houses of Cuenca. These are remarkable architectural feats in Cuenca, as the houses are precariously perched on the edge of a deep gorge that was created by the Huécar River.
They were built to maximize space in the medieval city. In the past, many more houses used to line the cliffs, but today, only a few remain, which shows the ingenuity of the construction that went into these houses. Now, the Hanging Houses have been repurposed for cultural uses, including the Museo de Arte Abstracto Español, which is a large collection of abstract art created by Spanish artists from mid-20th century.
Before we got to walk around Cuenca, we went canyoning through the Jucar River, which had a series of cliff jumps, slides, and trails to walk through. We got to see the beautiful gorge that had been created throughout the years as a result of erosion by the Jucar River.
My First Week of Work
This week was also my first official week working at my internship. I started off on Tuesday with an “interview,” which wasnt actually an interview, but rather just talking about some of the expectations for what I would be doing over the next 2 months. The company is currently working on evaluating different generative AI models and how they can accomplish certain tasks, including making quizzes, concept explanations, text summaries, poems, presentations, etc. Basically what I do is come up with a set of parameters for a certain task. So for example, if it’s for making quizzes, I will tell the model that it has to be a certain number of questions, designed for a certain age group, and maybe it has to be that multiple answers can be correct, or that only one answer can be unequivocally correct. I present these different models with these prompts and then check how long it takes them to respond to the prompt, how accurately they followed the parameters that I gave them, and then after doing so for each of the models, I determine which of the models would be the best for doing each task. I dont have to choose the same model for each task, but I have to figure out which model is best suited for each task.
This is a bit of a tedious process, so doing it continuously for several hours can be difficult at time, which is why I enjoy the work culture of the office so much. Everyone is very chatty, and though I am still gaining my footing, I enjoy watching as the coworkers chat over coffee, snacks, and especially during lunch breaks when they all sit in one room and eat together while talking. They almost never actually talk about work together, which I find is quite different from the work culture in America.
In terms of managing my time, I try to make sure that I finish evaluating at least 2 of the tasks for each model each day. Sometimes I don’t get that far, because there are 17 models and it is more difficult to evaluate some of the tasks, but designating a goal helps me at least try to stay on track during the day.
As I enter the next week of my internship, I’m hoping to gain some more comfortability with my coworkers and to engage more in the social aspects of the office.
Until next week,
Sanjna!