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Bamboo Shoots!
Age 35, Male
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Happy Pico Day man!
Happy belated Pico Day!
Happy Pico Day man!
ever been to Uppsala?? this is unlikely, but I may be stopping by there
Oh, my nephew actually played a badminton tournament there just last weekend, me and my dad were there to cheer him on. Hadn't been there before that, but it's a really nice place. Bro is just about an hour off by car too!! When would you be dropping by, if you would be?
your brother lives there? Either this coming winter or next summer,
are badminton tournaments pretty big in Sweden?
Ah no, he lives in Östersund, my nephew flew down to Stockholm over the weekend, stayed with us a few days for the tournament. He qualified as the 'best' in his particular age group from his particular district, and was given the opportunity to represent them in the 'Sverige Cupen'... but it's a small district so... the games didn't go so well. :P Long breaks in between games though, so we wandered around the city a bit, stopped to look at the national championship in Fencing too, going down in nearby building the same day. :) I don't think badminton is any bigger here than in the rest of the world, probably smaller. This one tournament was about as close as you can get to the Swedish Masters, and yet the audience were mostly just family members. :) In total they played a few hundred games on 20-30 courts simultaneously though, so it was crowded. If he had won most of his games, he'd have played the next day as well, might've been more people there to see the 'championships'...
That'd be awesome though! If it's not in July or August I'd probably be here (not yet up North). Well, even if I'm not, there's always planes and stuff, plans may change, would be awesome if we could meet up at least! Why Uppsala btw? What's the potential plan behind this surprise trip to Sweden? *I realize I'm totally ignoring that 'unlikely' part..*
because Sweden rocks!! but the main reason- checking out the graduate biotechnology program at Uppsala University. Even more unlikely (would be nice, but would be a huge cultural shift and probably too expensive to move across the seas) is studying there.
Apart from the long, dark, cold winters and spineless greedy government goons, that it does! :D Ah, that's cool, they must be something out of the ordinary to travel halfway around the globe for! And from that eternal sunshine of the US! Well, if it does happen, let me know in good time! Gotta make the most of such a visit, temporary or ehh more temporary! :P
FIGHT THE FIGHT 2015
WORD UP!
are you implying that America doesn't have spineless greedy government goons?? do you find any current governments being any less corrupt than the regime you live in now??
Well from a superficial glance Uppsala University is a solid school, but then again so are several of the other options I've (briefly) looked at in the states. (One I also wouldn't have to worry too much about learning another language lol, since English is the primary language spoken at the school. Do the vast majority of Swedes speak English, btw? education is what you make of it, although when doing graduate or post graduate work it's more important to study under a professor who is involved in your particular interest, moreso than undergraduate, I suppose. Several of my colleagues have traveled all over the U.S. ($$!) just for the sake of looking at and/or interviewing at schools...no guarantee they get accepted and even if they do they may choose something else...I mean who has that kind of money to spend. Especially when tuition (in the U.S. that is) puts the majority of students in debt. I was fortunate enough to have my parents pay for my schooling, so what I've saved is going towards further pursuits.
Well it's easier to assume things can't possibly be worse elsewhere when you live where you do and enjoy the first-hand perspectives of seeing a great place turn from strait grace sunlit to hate shame and shit . ;) Could definitely be much worse but.. it could be so much better ya know! So easily!
True that! Yes, I'd think most Swedish people (cept for maybe the native tribes and 80+ year olds) at least understand English, and are somewhat proficient at speech too. They've taught English in schools for quite a while, as an obligatory topic, though I can't say my teachers here were always the most suitable for the job. :) Mmm, I've heard horror stories about the price of education over there where you be... I'm sure I should know this already but: what have you been studying so far? As for costs btw, at least regular public schools are free, right? When does it start costing?
First world countries rock but at the end of the day the world is still a f*cked up place so...
I was just thinking, I don't even notice a slight European accent in your voice...so in secondary school/high school are most classes taught in English, like math, science, history and such?
I was studying music for a while (still kind of am taking some classes on the side, it's a hard thing to give up) but my main area of study and where I hold a degree(s) is biological sciences. I think I'm going to do bioinformatics/computational biology for the graduate level, though I'm also interested in bioengineering, molecular & cellular sciences, genetics, cancer biology, zoology, ecology...it's hard to decide and there just isn't a huge job market for these areas. As in, if I continued music I would have a related job now compared to having a science degree, which is somewhat surprising.
it all depends here:
ages 2-5 (preschool) is generally not free, and not mandatory
ages 5-18 (elementary, middle, and high school) is free and mandatory up to age 16
from there, you can go to a community college and get an associates in two years for about $4000. Then two years at a university to obtain a bachelor's is around $20,000. Add another 10K or two per one or two years to get a masters...these are the costs for in state (out of state is higher, and international is significantly higher, about double) and that doesn't include books (not so expensive these days thanks to Amazon!), housing and food fees if you want to live on campus. Uppsala is $17,336 per year, but there doesn't seem to be any additional international students costs, except for the slight in comparison international application fee of 900 SEK or $107. Isn't the first cycle/bachelor's supposed to be mostly free for EU citizens though, because on the website the costs are 130,000 SEK per year, which is more expensive than college here, or is that only certain schools?
Yeah...
Well at one point in time I actually felt like English was my native tongue. Grew up abroad going to International schools with American curriculum, thus the lack of noticeable accent. ;) When we got back to Sweden, I didn't put much effort into the English classes, enough that - though I should've had A+ on everything - I managed to bring it down to a B the final year, was skipping homework, just not really caring about grades at that point... such an unnecessary lack of interest in retrospect. Only English class is in English, other classes are still in Swedish, though on university level studies there are plenty of courses in both. Also, I think we get a lot of English via media. They don't dub all movies on cinemas, people spend a lot of time online, in games, learning the language second-hand outside the official channels..
Mmm complex topics!
Good knowing. How common is homeschooling there? I mean, are a lot of those 2-5 year olds thus staying at home until regular school starts? Preschool is free here, though it's an overloaded business, classes are huge, there's no order... doesn't feel like the best way to let kids get their first world experiences and start evolving.
Maaan that's insane. If I'd lived in the US I assume I'd have just started working right away... well, all university studies are (very thankfully!) free for Swedish citizens. What you pay for is books, food and housing, assuming you can't still stay at home (which many do). It's not only free, but you get a small allowance based on how much you study (for a maximum of five years full-time studies), which is probably about enough to cover books and travel costs, basically those additional costs this higher schooling requires, excluding regular, personal expenses. You can also take special study loans up to a certain amount, with much lower interest than you'd get from a bank, though I happily avoided those. Both my bigger sister and brother have a lot of those weighing on their finances: they make it seem so beneficial to take that money, but it's not so easy to pay back... didn't think Swedish universities had such high costs even for International students btw... though is that including housing and everything?
Oh yeah?? History shows that all great empires at some point fall, the ultimate question here is how much longer can we go until the golden goat tower starts to crumble, how much damage control can be done, or are drastic, cataclysmic events necessary for the cronies at the top of the societal food chain to be put in there to rebuild from a clean state?
I got a B in my final year of English too...but wtf...why do I need to take four years of english in high school and then an additional two in college if we already speak the bestest American here in the states anyway...my high school years were applied with a level of effort that I now too retrospectively regret, but then again the 8-4 classes 5 days a week homework for all these classes the next day simply wasn't conducive to my study style...4 days a week (with days off between classes) taken later in the day, with a more liberal environment, is a more suitable, relaxing, and enjoyable learning schedule and situation for me. People say high school is way easier than college, but quite frankly the learning environment in high school could use some restructuring IMO.
meh, everything is complex at first, then everything becomes easy. Yet the more we learn, the more of a beginner we truly become as gained wisdom shows how infinitely deep any subject can be...
Not sure about the homeschooling stats, I'd say maybe 1 out of 30-50 people or so. Individuals who are homeschooled are almost always smarter and get to college faster (up to four years earlier), but tend to be slightly (but acceptably) socially awkward. 2-5 year olds can also go to daycare (also not free) or just stay home with a guardian or babysitter. Surely they receive some education just in a less formal way.
Hence many people do start working right away, since nowadays many bachelor degrees are the new high school diplomas. But then people are limited to retail, the food industry, maybe customer service, and have opportunities of moving into management and beyond...but to me, that sh*t is boring and not a way I would want to spend my life. I forgot to mention for some time in state tuition was free if you had a certain GPA and exceeded the standards of state standardized tests...but like I said I was somewhat of a slacker in high school (and didn't have aspirations of going to college at some point) so I blew that opportunity. There's an increasing amount of scholarships and grants for STEM paths despite the economy taking a hit which is encouraging. Related job markets though: discouraging.
just tuition...but that's still less than what international students would have to pay here!! And the med school is a little less than what it would cost for a resident student here!!
Mmm, the question of when's one I've been wondering for a while now. Back in the eighties they were already speaking of 'peak oil', when the oil would run out, the system crash, etcetc... and yet the reserves still seem as endless as they seemed back then. :/ Speaking of the American empire here btw? As in: the English international standard language? I feel it's become so wide-spread by now it'd be hard to change, and with a global world, the need for communication that transcends a nation's lingual borders seems to be a need that might sustain this one empire indefinitely. Unless humankind comes to an end.
Haha, well it is your native language over there after all, the bar must've been a bit higher than it was for us. ;) I don't recall what grades I had in Swedish, but I don't think I aced that class at all... though, maybe not strange considered I didn't start learning it 'officially' until high school... parents did a great job at home-schooling me there, but the grammar, as in the terminology used to explain what words are what and which parts do what... those never really stuck to mind. Neither Swedish nor English. Though I do know a noun's a person, place or thing. ;)
Yeah, I got a bit of a boost in my I-want-to-learn levels moving from highschool to collage too, but it faded after a while. Felt like I was just tired of school, even when days were short and homework was only occasional. I blame one of the flaws in the Swedish learning system for this partial lack of motivation: the lack of discipline. It doesn't really matter if you get your homework in on time, if you skip a class or two, if you're late to class, if you don't actively partake in all education that's presented to you... I had so much more enthusiastic; creative teachers in the International schools too, can't tell now if it was just because I was young(er) or the system just worked so much better, but it was FUN to learn! Even math, the one topic I started falling out with completely in the final years. Shouldn't just blame the teachers, but feels like they could have done more too, some of them...
Mmm, indeed. Those being topics most folks aren't very knowledgeable of (myself included), they sound complex!
Ah, seems rare but appropriate!
Mmm, and the creative paths are always open for all, regardless of education level (as certain rappers so often proudly declare), though that requires a greater dose of luck than natural talent I think, and incredible dedication to the craft. Feels like not everyone's cut out for that kind of life either, some would rather have a set place in the hierarchy of power, and a set routine. Not sure which level of freedom I'd enjoy the most myself, but I'm trying out some of those lesser levels right now, will see if that's for me or no. ;)
Well, by international standards it sounds fair, then! :) Should've used these privileges I have as Swedish citizen to study a ton more while I've been doing so hmm... but I don't think jumping to university right after school was such a great choice either, though the topics have been a bit more motivating, it feels like it was also the easiest way to avoid getting out into the real world. Holding onto some of that freedom and routine that school life entailed, and working from a distance, staying at home, avoiding the unpredictable; those forks in the pathways of the future.
Ciullo-Corporation
Look promising... damn buffering... well, I'll try it out when it will be ready.
Happy Pico day
Cyberdevil (Updated )
Well it's just a random recording, better try the game if you're interested. ;) So many great games today! Though looks like the one I'm involved with won't make deadline... ah well, it shall be up soon!
Happy Pico Day!