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Post by spindrift on Dec 23, 2009 20:13:23 GMT
Deyana - I'm sure it will be good for you.
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Post by BigIain on Dec 23, 2009 21:24:19 GMT
Last year at New Years I sat in my new appt in France and thought to myself "Just let 2009 be better than 2008". Sadly it has been as bad if not worse.
Dare I hope that next year will be better? I certainly hope so.
Just in case I dont get back here before January... Happy New Year to you all. Have a great holidays.
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Post by Kimby on Dec 23, 2009 21:29:51 GMT
This was a good year in that all 4 of our parents (age 86-89) are still with us and relatively healthy.
However my Mom is showing signs of memory loss, so I can only dread what is coming next year, or the year after....
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Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2010 19:16:05 GMT
2009 was a year of stability for me when I would wish for change.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2010 14:57:06 GMT
Deyana - I'm sure it will be good for you. I think so too, spinny. Kerouac, sometimes that's a good thing. Same here. But it's what I needed.
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Post by rikita on Jan 17, 2010 21:28:42 GMT
well 2009 was the year i wanted to graduate. now 2010 will be the year i will definitely graduate.
well it was a good year, though quiet mainly. relationshipwise it went well... travel-wise - well it was the first year in ages that i didn't leave the country, but i instead had some more local - but more nature-related trips (cycling, camping, climbing). for 2010 i hope for big travels again. and of course for more good things relationship-wise. and all that.
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Post by suzanneschuelke on Jan 18, 2010 14:06:30 GMT
Great variations - my own life and Stu's went fine. Lots of travel and fun including a very nice Baltic cruise (not our typical vacation) but:
1) My sister's niece and her husband (both in their 30s) died of cancer in October two days apart leaving three very small children. He died within five months and she in six weeks (the doctors say the cancers are not related) Although not close to her - I have known her from birth; she was a delightful girl and both my sister and my niece are devastated.
2) My niece's five year old (same niece) was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. They are coping but it is a lifetime of issues.
3) My company has had financial issues and while I've had nothing go wrong (except no raise which is trivial) - many of my close work companions have been laid off. I think I'm OK - but you can never be sure.
So - why Stu and my life has been good - there is this underlying sadness and tension that is based on all-too-real things. I think the state of the world is part of the feeling too (the Christmas Day almost bombing was of a plane flying into my home airport on a flight I take four or five times a year - Amsterdam-Detroit). Nothing to do with me - but it added to the tension and the difficulty of the year.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2010 14:33:19 GMT
Riky, why did you end up doing the extra year? Anywhere in particular you'd like to travel to this year?
kimby, I'm in the same boat, forever worrying about my mother, as she is so much older now.
Iain, I hope this year is an improvement for you over the last one. I know you've had a really bad year for different reasons.
suzzane, so sorry to hear about your sister's neice and her husband passing away, just tragic. How is you your nieces 5 year old doing now?
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Post by suzanneschuelke on Jan 18, 2010 15:39:51 GMT
Thanks for asking Deyana. My great-niece (Ella) is doing quite well and being quite the trooper. But all the shots and the jabs for blood sugar (many a day) are wearing. She thinks its funny that she takes she has the same disease and takes the same medicine as my cat!!
As far as the other situation - it is just pure tragedy and there is no way to think of it as anything but. Her sister has moved into the house with the kids because they don't think they should move them quite yet.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2010 16:06:20 GMT
That's a very good thing for the sister to have done.
I am now in the age group where people drop like flies at random and often go very fast. That makes the rest of us feel as though we are dodging bullets but for how long?
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Post by rikita on Jan 18, 2010 19:24:30 GMT
deyana - it has to do with the study system, or rather the old system, under which i still started. difficult to explain to people from elsewhere... basically, it is very unstructured. no one tells you wich courses to take, there are only two big exams (one to pass from basic studies to main studies, and one at the end) else you graduate from courses by writing papers - and no one asks you for those papers, if you don't turn them in, well you just got to take another course - and in the end, you can also take your time for writing your thesis (well theoretically you only have five months, but that is after you tell them the topic, and i, as many, started writing well before doing so)
this has many advantages - you can organize your studies to your liking, specialize on what interests you most, take more time for your studies if you for example work at the same time, etc. - it also has a few disadvantages though, one being that the lack of pressure makes it easy to slack, and that is what happened to me, several times... in fact i wanted to graduate many years ago.
well now because of the bologna process they changed the system, now it is all pressure and people are supposed to get a BA in three years by learning as much as they used to think five years were appropriate for... lead to a lot of protests and stuff... well it seems they never can get it right, balance seems to be out of the question...
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2010 19:29:14 GMT
Thanks for explaining that, riky. I guess every country is different. My son has a year and a bit to go before he gets his degree at Uni, and it's quite different to what you describe. He does get the pressure, because if by the end of the semester his grades are not good enough, he won't be able to go into the next year. This is left up to the indivdual student to acheive, I was suprised at just how many kids left and never completed the degree.
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Post by rikita on Jan 19, 2010 22:23:48 GMT
well here quite a few do that too, and they hoped to solve that with the reforms, but from what i heard it actually got worse... i think best would be a system that allows students to study at their own pace and independently - but at the same time offers them enough structure that they know how they are doing, time-wise and don't suddenly realize they wasted the last year or two...
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Post by suzanneschuelke on Jan 20, 2010 0:48:32 GMT
That is pretty much how the US/Canadian system. You can certainly waste time (especially if you change majors) - but if you meet all of the requirements - you can take as short or as long as you want. There are a few who hang around far too long - but if you are following the outlined program you can finish in time.
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Post by hwinpp on Jan 20, 2010 6:38:55 GMT
well here quite a few do that too, and they hoped to solve that with the reforms, but from what i heard it actually got worse... i think best would be a system that allows students to study at their own pace and independently - but at the same time offers them enough structure that they know how they are doing, time-wise and don't suddenly realize they wasted the last year or two... That was one of the stupider reforms in the last couple of years (along with the so called spelling reform and the high school reform). Lordy, am I happy I didn't have to experience that shit.
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Post by bjd on Jan 20, 2010 8:58:18 GMT
There is also that university tuition in Germany is very low (even if you still have to live) compared to tuition in N America, especially in the States. Having to pay thousands of dollars to register at university every year makes you try to finish more quickly.
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Post by suzanneschuelke on Jan 20, 2010 13:34:00 GMT
True that US tuition is very high; but that also can slow you down. If you can't afford more than two classes a semester; then you take that. I went to a school where many people took a long time to get through because of money, raising children, etc.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 21, 2010 6:09:08 GMT
Just catching up to this thread -- it was one that got away from me over Christmas.
I don't know how many people felt the same as Iain about 2008 -- I was certainly one of them! In my own life, 2009 wasn't that terrible, but it was difficult in lots of frustrating ways that added up to a general tiredness and loss of oomph. In my immediate family, several people had the same experience -- nothing actually tragic, but enough accumulation of life-altering events that made them feel as though they're not bouncing back yet.
I feel badly even mentioning that, as I know Iain and some others had very, very hard 2009s.
Suzanne, even though you and Stu's lives are stable and happy, it must be so hard to see those close to you suffering like that.
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Post by hwinpp on Jan 21, 2010 7:09:06 GMT
There is also that university tuition in Germany is very low (even if you still have to live) compared to tuition in N America, especially in the States. Having to pay thousands of dollars to register at university every year makes you try to finish more quickly. True. But they're changing that too. The last semesters I paid 250 Marks, I think it's now around 500EUR. I started with 79 Marks or something. Including a free semester ticket for the public transport system. Education in Germany is supposed to be free so they're declaring the fees as a 'service' charge.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2010 16:52:47 GMT
2009 was also a year of change for me, in so many ways.
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Post by rikita on Jan 21, 2010 22:09:17 GMT
yeah the fees are slowly introduced. it used to only be a service charge but now in some areas there are actual fees (in berlin there aren't yet so we get a lot of students from areas where they'd have to pay)... thing is though, that originally the idea was that education should be accessible to everyone and thus financed from taxes - while in the US it is pretty much a business...
my ex-bf took a german course at university, and i suggested to him that he visits me for the summer and takes a course here, and then probably can skip a semester of german at home. he said though, that testing out of the course is almost as expensive as the course, because they don't like students learning elsewhere, as they want to "sell" their courses...
oh, also, financing-wise, he got some state support as his mother had no money saved for his college (he only started at about 25, he had dropped out of high school and not been interested in education until in his 20s), but he still had to work, of course, as it wasn't enough - and because of that couldn't take as many classes as was required, so he lost that support, too... i really hope it won't become like that here... here, most people still think that education should be a right, rather than a privilege (which doesn't mean that they aren't happy for the oportunities they have - but it seems unfair if someone can't get an education or has a much harder time to get one, just because their parents are poor)...
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Post by hwinpp on Jan 22, 2010 8:46:19 GMT
Spot on!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2010 20:09:05 GMT
Same in France -- registration fees in university are still extremely low and even ridiculously low: 171 euros for a B.A. or B.S., 231 euros for a masters and 350 for a doctorate. And full health coverage for the school year is only 198 euros.
But all of the real fees are sneaked on after that (lab fees, library fees, etc.).
Of course, compared to certain countries, the amounts are indeed laughable. There is outrage in France because one of the more exclusive places has managed to pump its fees to.... 800 euros for the year.
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Post by bjd on Jan 23, 2010 20:29:44 GMT
Actually, many of the business schools cost 8,000 - 8500 €uros a year. That 800 is probably in a public university.
One of my kids is doing a Mastere this year at a university and he had to pay an additional 300€ to get the on-line course information.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2010 20:41:36 GMT
Obviously I am talking about public schools. The private schools are for the losers who don't qualify for the others... or who want to waste their parents' money.
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Post by fumobici on Jan 23, 2010 21:16:49 GMT
I think if you took the output from business schools and cattle prodded them from the graduation ceremonies directly into holding pens prior to indefinite jailing you'd be doing the world a favor based on all late evidence from Wall Street.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2010 21:40:00 GMT
You are evil.
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Post by rikita on Jan 23, 2010 22:25:45 GMT
300 euros for course information is mean indeed... i'd protest too...
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Post by cristina on Jan 24, 2010 0:46:10 GMT
Two thoughts... Re: University, college girl has just started her last semester, with only one class required to graduate this Spring. She is at a state university so tuition is much lower as we are state residents, but she also had an "almost full" scholarship. However I discovered last week went I went to pay for this last semester of tuition, that the bill (for one class) was higher than any other semester. It seems the scholarship only applies to a full time course-load. As for 2009, it was an eventful year for me personally. My husband and I separated after 20+ years and then I was laid off. Two sort of crappy things to happen so close together. However, I have had much worse years. 2006, 2002, 2001 and 1969 come immediately to mind. 2002 and 2006 being the worst. Now though, looking above at what I have just written, I guess I am glad this last decade is over. I don't think the 70's, 80's or 90's were bad at all for me. Actually, that trio of decades was quite good so I suppose it all evens out, eventually.
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Post by rikita on Jan 24, 2010 21:53:12 GMT
i guess i am actually quite lucky, i can't think of any year so far i'd define as bad. of course there were bad events, but none so dominant it made the whole year bad, or there was always something to even it out...
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