Cry. Smile. Cry.

theghostofbarry replied to your post: Just declined the U of T offer. So good to be done… yay...

Fri, 24 May 2013 14:22:40 +0200

theghostofbarry replied to your post: Just declined the U of T offer. So good to be done…

yay decision made! now you can relax a little :)

Actually, no, now I’m going to a cabin in the woods with the new and old national and central board to overlap and be friendsezzz :)

Just declined the U of T offer. So good to be done with it.

Fri, 24 May 2013 14:17:53 +0200

Just declined the U of T offer. So good to be done with it.

BUT NOW I DON’T KNOW AGAIN AGH THIS IS THE WORST

Fri, 24 May 2013 11:58:54 +0200

BUT NOW I DON’T KNOW AGAIN AGH THIS IS THE WORST

nymeth replied to your post: Okay, options: 1. Study linguistics in Oslo (or… It’s NOT a...

Fri, 24 May 2013 09:31:04 +0200

nymeth replied to your post: Okay, options: 1. Study linguistics in Oslo (or…

It’s NOT a cowardly option! Sometimes it pays to be a little cautious, and like you said you can always do it for grad school in a few years. Don’t be held back by shame - you’re considering your options carefully and that’s GOOD.

Thank you!

theghostofbarry replied to your post: Okay, options: 1. Study linguistics in Oslo (or…

never feel guilty for making what you think is the best choice for you with the given information. and i don’t think not going to toronto is chickening out—if it is what you decide it is sensible

And you too :)

Doing something because that’s what I “should” want to do is generally a bad idea. So is doing something because I want to show that I’m not afraid, as proven by plenty of horror movies.

It’s scary to turn it down, because that’s not a specific offer I am going to get again. But it’s also not my only chance to go abroad, not even my only chance to study abroad.

If two things are equally tempting than doing the one that gives me a quarter of the dept might be smart too.

Okay, options: 1. Study linguistics in Oslo (or maybe Bergen?) and take a Bachelor’s degree....

Thu, 23 May 2013 23:18:22 +0200

Okay, options:

1. Study linguistics in Oslo (or maybe Bergen?) and take a Bachelor’s degree. Because of your French courses you can do this in two years if you want to. Live in an apartment that you own by yourself. Take one semester abroad (You can go to Greenland! Or the Faroe Islands, or Kenya or Ghana, or Canada, if that’s what you want, or France or the Netherlands or New Zealand or wherever you want!). Get involved in student clubs and organisations. Do well and apply for grad school abroad.

2. Go to Toronto and double major in mathematics and linguistics. This will probably take you four years, even with the transfer credits. Live in an apartment you rent. Do as well as you can and go back to Norway for grad school.

I’m starting to lean towards staying in Norway, but I feel kind of ashamed about that because it feels like the more cowardly option? Also worried about the whole regret the things you didn’t do-thing.

(Sorry about all the angsty education related posts, it will stop in a few days.)

Crying on the phone with my mother for 45 minutes about what I should do next year and it...

Thu, 23 May 2013 21:29:37 +0200

Crying on the phone with my mother for 45 minutes about what I should do next year and it isn’t awkward or weird, but actually helpful and reassuring?

Gah can someone please just tell me what to do? Why not go to Toronto: A giant student loan I will...

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:47:00 +0200

Gah can someone please just tell me what to do?

Why not go to Toronto:

A giant student loan I will need to pay back sometime
It seems like a lot of students are really unhappy there?
grade deflation might actually make it harder to get into grad school (English terminology is weird, but whatevs)
My parents will help me buy an apartment if I stay in Norway (I’ll have to pay them back, of course, but not until after I’m done studying), while in Toronto I would have to rent a place to live
There’s a whole lot of buraucracy and stress (I know that shouldn’t count, but it kind of does)
It kind of counts that I go to therapy here?
I might not be able to handle the culture crash
If I start isolating myself I’ll be doomed as I know no one
Four years to complete a degree
same-years three years younger than me

Why go to Toronto:

Go abroad, experience the world, etc
Potential for a fresh start
Get to do more different things
Prestigious degree
Ranked as one of the world’s best universities (19 by QS, 27 on the Shanghai ranking, 21 on the Times Higher Education ranking)
Get better in English
Challenging myself and moving full speed ahead, etc
I feel like I will have wasted a lot of work, for me and them, if I don’t
Beautiful campus

Why not stay in Oslo:

Not that much of a student community
Can only study one main thing
Not close to U of T on the rankings (111 by QS, 67 on the Shanghai ranking, 201-225 by THE (Wow, you guys certainly disagree))
Most of the main campus built in the 60’s…
Won’t improve my English
Stuck with many of the same people
Same environment, won’t encourage a change in behaviour
The safe option

Why stay in Oslo:

No tuition, hence a way smaller student loan
Three years to complete a degree
No same-years younger than ‘94, most people around my age
Parents will help my buy an apartment
Not that this actually counts for anything, but UiO is older than U of T
More money to go to grad school abroad
Possible to take a semester abroad
I already have a bit of a network
The before-mentioned therapy
I have liked how I have experienced the university this far

I really wish someone could just decide for me so that I didn’t have to cope with all this responsibility, agh.

What?

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:24:00 +0200

What?

Egwene hate and sexism

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:49:00 +0200

Egwene has gotten a lot of hate. A lot. Certainly more than all the villains combined. No other characters come close, except maybe sometimes Elayne. But Egwene remains the most controversial, to the extent that she had a tendency to derail threads on Dragonmount so much that “no Egwene talk except in designated threads” had to become a standing rule.

Why does fandom dislike her so much?

I wrote a thing. (minor spoilers for the entire series)

I just really want to quote things all the time and having all these quotes floating around in my...

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:59:25 +0200

I just really want to quote things all the time and having all these quotes floating around in my head is getting annoying.

I spy with my little eye, to fall is connected to trying.

Take a chance on losing - what’s life without losers?

Honey, don’t worry, let’s just watch the flowers grow.

Det var mennesker hun rødmet for, bare fordi hun en eller annen gang hadde gjort det.

It’s crumbling underneath my feet tonight, just like it did.

Show me. Show me how it’s done. This tired face too pale. These tired feet don’t know where they are headed.

Through the eyes and ears and to your brain, dance the dance, sing the words, you know you need it.

And now she can’t stop her flood of compliments, I guess you’ve made it.

And the things that I felt when you told me about that house with that singing weather vane.

Nevermind me, nevermind me, I’ll just leave shadows on your walls.

Une ombre m’a frôlée de près, pour me voler. Prendre mon âme, mes intérêts.

La vie, voyez-vous, ça n’est jamais si bon ni si mauvais qu’on croit.

Être en rage et déçu, c’est normal, mais ce ne’st pas la seule rout. C’est à toi d’éxprimer ta beauté

These clever phrases you made up, made up and memorized.

Mademoiselle, j’ai mes raisons. Une foule des quéstions, un prénom.

Okay, making lists and putting them here, because maybe you guys have input. Toronto: More than...

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:23:46 +0200

Okay, making lists and putting them here, because maybe you guys have input.

Toronto:

More than 600 000 NOK in dept after completing a Bachelor’s degree even with considerable help from my parents
Four years to take said degree
Have to rent a place to live
Harder to get good grades
Qualifies for Master’s degrees pretty much everywhere
Opportunity for a fresh start
Take most classes with people three years younger than me
Improve my English
Prestige
A big and diverse city
Possible to take a double major

Oslo:

Around 170 000 NOK in dept after completing a Bachelor’s degree
Three years to take said degree
Own a place to live
Marks from a bell curve, but in a nice and fair way
Qualifies for Master’s degrees pretty much everywhere
an established network around me
Larger age diversity in classes, most around my age
Exhange possibilities, including Toronto

You guys, I really don’t know what to do.

I had a really nice weekend. In addition to what is visible from...

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:55:48 +0200

I had a really nice weekend.

In addition to what is visible from the pictures, it also included Eurovision, swimming and the worst sunburn I have had for many years.

I’m at my parents’. I have a ticket for the train back to Oslo today. There’s been...

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:50:18 +0200

I’m at my parents’.

I have a ticket for the train back to Oslo today.

There’s been a landslide over the railway, so it’s closed between Finse and Haugastøl. NSB are driving the passangers in buses between Voss and Ål. I am currently in Flåm, between those two places.

We called NSB to figure out what I should do.The woman first told me there would be a bus from Finse. There is no road to or from Finse. She then tried telling me the bus would go from Hallingskeid. Another roadless place. Then she tried telling me the bus would pick me up at Myrdal station, where I was supposed to get on their train. There is no road to there either, just a connecting railway from Flåm.

Flåm is on the road between Voss and Ål, The buses will have to pass here. We tried asking the woman if the buses would stop here, but no such thing seemed possible. Instead, once she understood that there is no road at Myrdal, Hallingskeid and Finse, she wanted me to take the train up to Myrdal and then back to Voss and get on the bus there. The buses are supposed to leave Voss around 5.10pm, I wouldn’t be there until closer to 6pm.

Okay then.

I don’t think I’ll ever stop being amazed by...

Wed, 15 May 2013 19:32:10 +0200

I don’t think I’ll ever stop being amazed by pictures of me with a microphone.

(A professor in law told me I was “obviously gifted” and like 20 people told me I did very well. I know my stuff. And apparently I can smalltalk.)

Remind me again that I know my stuff? Speaking for a lot of knowledgable people about the UN and...

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:14:39 +0200

Remind me again that I know my stuff?

Speaking for a lot of knowledgable people about the UN and Norway and children and asylum policy today.

I know my stuff. I do.

"When nobody else celebrates you, learn to celebrate yourself. When nobody else compliments you, then..."

Mon, 13 May 2013 23:34:12 +0200

“When nobody else celebrates you, learn to celebrate yourself. When nobody else compliments you, then compliment yourself. It’s not up to other people to keep you encouraged. It’s up to you. Encouragement should come from the inside.”

- Joel Osteen (via rabbitinthemoon)

Did I ever mention that I actually kind of hate my flatmate?

Mon, 13 May 2013 22:06:07 +0200

Did I ever mention that I actually kind of hate my flatmate?

To do-list for tomorrow

Sun, 12 May 2013 23:04:56 +0200

Figure out where I put my original high school diploma etc.
Go to the Canadian embassy and figure out how to go about getting a study permit
Start writing a text about the election
Start writing a campaign text
Call the guy from the Norwegian Centre Against Racism about Wednesday
Call the girl from the youth city council in Bergen
Fix the EJ powerpoint
E-mail your supervisor in Save the Children
Write application for iConnect
Call your mother
Answer N about watching ESC together at S’s next weekend

Yeah, I’m pretty dead.

sickonsecondthought: okay, hi, this is an important post and i’d really appreciate any help...

Sun, 12 May 2013 00:07:16 +0200

sickonsecondthought:

okay, hi, this is an important post and i’d really appreciate any help possible.

sometime within the next two months or so, i’m going to need to leave my home because my mother doesn’t agree with my life choices, meaning i can’t be living under her roof, apparently.

i live in burlington, which is about an hour away from toronto, so if there’s anyone in the gta i could stay with, even just for a while, please please please message me, because i don’t have any friends or family to go to, and there’s an actual chance i might end up homeless.

i really need your help guys, or i’m completely fucked. i’d be happy to do anything needed to pay you back, i mean, i don’t have a job right now but i can probably get one easily enough, or i could cook or clean or whatever you need.

i just have no idea what to do and i need to get the hell away from here (i’d be happy to explain further privately) and i don’t have a dollar to my name or anyone to help me.

if you have a couch i could crash on, or even a floor, please send me a message, i’d really really really appreciate it. if not, reblog for a signal boost? even that could help xxx

nymeth replied to your post: I love my friends. They’re amazing and tough and… :( People are...

Fri, 10 May 2013 21:15:46 +0200

nymeth replied to your post: I love my friends. They’re amazing and tough and…

:( People are complicated - they can be and often are simultaneously awesome and capable of doing/saying problematic things. I understand how frustrating it must be for you, though. Hopefully they’ll learn in time?

Hopefully. They’re smart, they’re fully capable of getting it. With race and sexuality issues it’s honestly just that they think they’re being funny when they’re not. They don’t mean any of it. Getting them to understand that it’s not funny would probably only take that one conversation I’m not brave enough to initiate. (Sometimes they’re unintentionally funny, though. Like that time A “had actually been thinking about it and it really sucks that it’s so hard for gay people to have children.” Cue a lot of “oh wow, that’s really true, I’ve never thought about that before!” and H and I looking at each other and rolling our eyes)

With trans* issues it’s a little harder. They seem to honestly believe that women are like this and men are like that and those are the only two categories. Even though they have been to lectures and read articles, etc. They don’t want to get it, and that’s what makes me angry.