Time to get down to business

It’s time to switch from holiday mode and back to study mode. Can’t say I’m particularly happy about it when looking at the pile of books and lecture notes I have to go through in less than a month, but when writing this it's exactly 22 days until my four month long holiday. This Easter has been what I’d like to call a cultural Easter. I’ve been to Blenheim Palace where Churchill was born (30 mins by bus from Oxford), to Stratford upon Avon where Shakespeare grew up (just over 1 hour by train from Oxford), and to London (1 hour 40 mins by coach from Oxford) visiting all sorts of museums and watched Billy Elliot with my mum and sister (and of course did my fair share of shopping). That's a great thing about Oxford, it's close to so many different things. 

If I’m not entirely mistaken it was exactly a year ago that I had received all my offers from the universities I applied to, and I had to make up my mind about which to accept. UCAS is a completely different system than what is being used in Norway, where you have to rank the universities you apply to due to the fact that you only get one offer. If you're from USA, Canada, Norway or Latin America I strongly recommend contacting Across the Pond, these guys know what they're talking about, it's free and they do all the tricky UCAS things for you. And they also have "letters" from international student in the UK on their website where you can read about both advantages and disadvantages, so have a look! 

Anyway, if you get offers from all the universities on your list, you have a job to do, if you haven’t already made up your mind of course. So I thought I should help you a little bit, in case you’re new in this game and perhaps also an international student. I don't know about you, but I was craving information when I was in that situation, so without further ado, here is some advice:

#1 Open tabs for all the universities websites in your internet browser

All the universities offer you different kinds of things, and if you're not sure which university can offer you the best education for you, then you should go through them all. Look at different modules of the course you have applied to, the content of them if they're available, and information about the overall course such as graduated students' current jobs and experiences, work placement options etc. It's also smart to look at the tuition fee and if they will increase during your studies, and if there are any "hidden" course fees such as field trips. You can find information about fees at Brookes here. 

#2 Use Facebook 

 After spending hours trying to wrap my head around different terms and academic information I realized that I had completely forgotten about Facebook! So after having a look on the websites, search for the different universities on Facebook (Brookes here). At least on Brookes’ Facebook page you’re able to find out about different events going on at campus, information about services being provided and the most important thing – pictures. Of course the page is not going to tell you the advantages and disadvantages, but you'll be able to see pictures, videos and maybe some reviews from former students. You should also try to search for any Facebook groups/pages for your specific course, as you may be able to find information relating specific to you. 

#3 Attend Open Days

If I had the opportunity I would definitely have attended the open days, but unfortunately they were all on the same days as my exams in Norway. It’s just something about walking around on campus, seeing with your own eyes what it’s like, and maybe explore the neighbourhood and the city. You won't get to explore and feel the actual vibe through Facebook or the university’s website. And in case you’re wondering, Brookes has two different vibes on the same campus. Inside the John Henry Brookes Building it’s vibrant, colourful and somewhat crowded, especially now before the exams. In the other buildings it’s more quiet and calm, and you’re able to actually hear your own thoughts. It’s something for everyone. Information about Brookes open days here.

#4 Look at different types of accommodation 

The last thing I’m going to mention this time is accommodation, which was what I was most worried about. I bet I’m not the only one worrying about it, but having been through it all I can say – don’t worry too much about it. I mean, you should offer it some thought and explore your options, but you don’t have to lay awake at night. They will always have room for you somewhere. You have a variety of options at Brookes, such as halls varying both in size and location and shared housing. I wasn't aware of shared housing and it took me quite some time to find the shared housing list, so I recommend spending some time at the accommodation pages as well. The great thing about being an international student at Brookes is that they guarantee you a place to live in your first year. You might end up in halls far away from your campus or with flatmates you can't stand, but at least you have roof over your head. And if you can’t stand your flatmates or whatever, it’s possible to switch, the staff at the accommodation office always try to help you, but you have to give it a go. Brookes' accommodation website here. If you're considering renting private, Brookes Union has some useful tips, and you can also contact them if you have any questions. Brookes Union website here. If you want to read about different halls and campuses, David has written about all about it here. 

I hope you found this at least somewhat helpful, and should you have any questions or something you want to read more about, then please comment below! :) 

Now I'm going to do some more studying and try to fight off the cold I've managed to get during this lovely, rainy, cold spring weather!

Shut your pie hole, pretty please

This time I want to start the blog post with an encouragement regarding something that has annoyed me for a while now... When you’re in a lecture, or a seminar, or at an event, is it really that hard to just shut your mouth and be quiet? I mean, play Candy Crush on your phone, check Facebook, Instagram or whatever, but do you really have to whisper about the guy you met last night during the lecture? I love gossip, don’t get me wrong, but I’m paying £11,400 a year for this education, and I really want to make the most of these three years. And I bet most of you want the same! We’re spending so much money on getting a proper education, and you’re just going to waste it on talking rubbish during all the lectures? Unfortunately I don’t have the balls to say something, but the lecturer should have. I don’t know why the staff at Brookes just accept that students are being rude during their lectures. It has actually only happened twice at my time here at Brookes that a lecturer has told someone to either be quiet or leave. It really shouldn’t have to be like that. It’s just silly. I can't help myself comparing experiences in Oxford with Norway, but during my two years at university in Norway, if someone had the nerve to giggle and whisper more than "hey, can I borrow a pen?" during a lecture, the lecturer would stop the entire session and ask the student(s) to leave. So with all my humbleness, shut you pie hole. Please :)

Anyway, the last couple of weeks have been quite stressful. I live in a block (off campus), with a really quarrelsome couple living next door, causing me to oversleep on the one lecture I really was looking forward to, due to them having a huge fight. At some point I actually thought she was going to start the Third World War, when she started throwing stuff around the room, smashing things into the wall, where I was trying to sleep on the other side of the paper-thin walls. I’ve never heard a British girl swear that much before. At least something good came out of it, I learned a few new British swear words and got to know all about him cheating. Did I mention that I love gossip? Even when it’s 2 am and my lecture starts at 9 am? At least I managed to drag myself to the gym before lunchtime. If you become a student at Brookes you’ll discover that lunchtime at Brookes Sport is a place you don’t want to be. It's people everywhere you turn. 

Apart from essay writing in sociology and international relations, Brookes has hosted some really interesting debates as well. One of the debates was about how the Cold War was won, lead by Lord Powell, the foreign affairs private secretary during the 1980s. As a student studying International Relations and Politics, I know that the Cold War is going to be a constantly returning topic during my time here at Brookes, so it was a great opportunity to hear Lord Powell’s own experiences and gain some extra knowledge. I didn’t dare to take a picture of him though, he is after all a Lord. No one else was taking pictures of him, and I didn’t want to be the international girl with no manners. The whole Lord thing is also quite intimidating. We don’t have that in Norway, not even a Sir. Am I even allowed to take pictures of a Lord while he‘s telling stories about Margaret Thatcher? And in case you wondered, some students managed to eat crisps and giggle while Lord Powell was speaking. Rudeness! 

The other event was hosted by BROOKESfocus, the newly established Social Sciences Student Association. They hosted their first debate on the topic of whether institutional racism exist in the British criminal justice system or not. The panel consisted of an ex-offender, a barrister, the Associate Dean for Social Sciences and Law at Brookes, and a music writer and activist. It was interesting to hear about their own experiences and opinions, and I’m sure I’ll be able to use it in my exams. Oh, and we got free wine and food, and that’s always good. Hi-fives to BROOKESfocus for hosting such a good and interesting first debate! I'm looking forward to the next one. 

And whilst talking about racism, if you already haven't seen it, the I, too, am Oxford campaign is really something to think about. We should have come further than this in the 21st century. 

Today my Easter break started. I'm really looking forward to two and a half weeks of just doing nothing after having turned in two essays, held a presentation in French as well as a French in-class test. The part about doing nothing is not true though, I have so much exam revision to do with two exams on 7th May and another one the 14th.

If you're as lucky as I am and having an Easter break, enjoy it! Make sure you eat lots of those easter eggs, and just kick back and relax! 

The most difficult decision ever

As I'm the only international student in this group of bloggers I feel like it's time to talk about studying abroad.

Choosing to study abroad, leaving all my friends behind and go all in for a "new life" in a foreign country is probably the hardest decision I've made so far in my life. As with every life changing decisions it has its pros and cons, a list constantly expanding with new things. Before I moved to Oxford I studied International Relations and History in Lillehammer and Political Science in Oslo, two cities in Norway, but I felt that neither was what I was really looking for. So at the end of the first semester in Oslo my boyfriend suggested a trip to the education fair, because he was thinking about applying to the Norwegian Police University College. When we walked out of the education fair we had completely changed our decisions about continuing our studies in Norway. We wanted to study abroad, and the UK in particular.

After the education fair I spent like a week just browsing the Internet, discovering how many universities there are in this country! In Norway we have 8, and if I'm not entirely wrong I think the UK has 116... It's a jungle!

I didn't tell anyone at first about my plans about studying abroad, because I was quite sure my mum wouldn't approve of it and if I didn't get accepted anywhere it wasn't necessary to enter a discussion with her. When the dreadful UCAS application process began, and I was really pleased with my letter of recommendation and motivation letter, I told my family that I was applying to universities in the UK, and so the months of struggle begun. On one side I had my dad, really supporting and kind of jealous that I got to do something he always wanted to. On the other side I had my mum, sceptical about the whole thing, worrying about the expenses, future employers and so forth. She Googled her way through the Internet, e-mailing me different university rankings, and that this was too expensive, too risky and not worth it when I could get an equally good education in Norway at a much lower price (we don't have tuition fees in Norway). I was quite frankly torn. I got accepted at the universities I applied to, and Brookes was the university I wanted to choose. Eventually, after several weeks of heated discussions and telling the rest of my family that I was moving, kind of turning them against my mum to get her to see that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity (kind of cruel, I know..), she finally "made peace" with my decision. As of now, she is enthusiastic and happy that I moved, getting a degree, standing a bit more out in the crowd, and I think her scepticism was rooted in lack of information.

I thought I would have gotten homesick by now, but that hasn't happened. Probably because there's always something going on, always an essay to write or a presentation to prepare. The only one I actually miss when I'm in Oxford is this little boy

And sometimes my sister

I haven't regretted my decision for a second, and in fact, I love studying abroad so much that I'm pretty sure I'm doing my postgrad here as well. So sorry mum, not coming home for a while!

If you're an international student thinking about studying abroad - DO IT! You will learn so much other students won't, make friends from all across the world, become so much more independent, and of course be able to speak English fluently.

On Friday Brookes hosted LiveFriday at the Ashmolean in Oxford, which turned out to be really fun.

Artie (the robot) was definitely the main attraction for a huge part of the visitors at the Ashmolean, and it was so fun to finally get to see him, even though he was constantly crowded.

I hope you had a fun weekend and wish you all a nice week! 

Dating, queuing and crisps

As a thank you for reading my blog, and because this blog post contains generalization, I wanted to show you how many Norwegians dress on Christmas Eve, the Norwegian National Day, christenings and sometimes at weddings. If you're invited to dinner with the Norwegian king and queen you're also allowed to wear it.

It's called bunad in Norwegian and is a folk costume representing different parts of Norway, and come in all different shapes, sizes and colours. My bunad is from the northern parts of Norway because my dad's family lives there. Northern parts of Norway are colder than southern parts (that's where I'm from), and my bunad is completely made of wool. On the 17th of May when we celebrate our National Day, let's just say it sometimes get's too hot underneath the bunad. That's my little sister on the right by the way - she's almost 5 years younger than me, 5 cm taller and wears shoes almost 2 sizes bigger than me. While I'm in Oxford she's living the dream as an only child, getting oh so spoiled... 

Before I moved to Oxford the possibility of big cultural differences didn’t really strike me as a possibility. I mean, the UK is a two-hour flight away from Norway, two countries only separated by some water and they're on the same continent. If I had moved to the US the culture clash would have been inevitable, as Americans are known for being extremely outgoing and chatty. The first week or so in Oxford I suddenly discovered how big the differences actually are. You queue for everything, you say thank you, sorry and please – words you hardly ever hear in Norway. If you’re lost in Norway and you need help with directions you will realize that it’s quite hard to get people talking. In Oxford however, people seem to be kind and helpful, which is handy when I’m lost and just want to see the Radcliffe Camera.

Some weeks ago during a group discussion about culture differences during a seminar, a friend of mine asked me how Norwegians date. The answer is that we don’t. We don’t even have a word for it. Either you’re a couple or you’re just hanging out as friends. It’s not like we don’t go on dates, but you hardly ever do it unless you would categorize your relationship as exclusive. And don’t think you’re able to date/go out with several girls or boys at the same time, if you do that you will get a bad reputation and the whole country will know it. When watching American movies where the girl gets picked up by the boy in a car (it seems like they always gets picked up at 7pm as well), the boy pays for dinner and then drives the girl back home, it all just seems so far-off. If you're Norwegian and going on a date you take the bus, the bike or simply walk. Now, we could use our cars, but it’s a strict zero-tolerance on drinking and driving in Norway, and of course we drink on our dates. That’s something I’ve never understood, why do they always drink and drive in American movies when so many are killed by drunk drivers? Shouldn’t they promote walking, or at least riding bikes?

Another big difference between UK and Norway is probably the way we approach strangers. In Norway we don’t talk to or smile at strangers, and if you ask a Norwegian a question on the bus you will either get the evil eye or just be ignored. In the UK, or Oxford to be more specific, I’ve been called darling and honey numerous times, talked to strangers on the bus and even been told by complete strangers that my hair looks nice. I guess Norwegians aren't best at everything (even though we really like to think so). The first time a stranger complemented my hair I instantly thought he was flirting. Norwegians don’t do that. Unless we’re drunk. Really drunk.

And whilst we're talking about alcohol, I don't get used to the alcohol advertisements, or the tobacco advertisements for that matter. In Norway it's illegal to advertise alcohol and tobacco in any form, so I always get surprised when I see it during prime time on TV. 

Apart from the obvious differences as groceries and alcohol being so incredible cheaper in the UK (a beer in a pub in Norway usually costs £8 or more), Britons eats an awful lot of crisps. I mean, when I’ve actually made an effort to do a whole day of studying at the library, it’s quite annoying having to not only hear but also smell bacon flavored crisps, making it really hard to concentrate on the political theory I’m trying to understand. You don’t eat crisps in Norway unless it’s a Friday or Saturday night. You just don’t.

I don’t know which culture I like the most though. I should probably say the Norwegian so I don’t piss off any Norwegian readers, but it’s something really nice about being able to talk to strangers or when the lady in the reception at the gym calls me darling. I think I will have to go for a combination of both, but if you stop eating crisps at the library when I’m there I would probably choose the British culture. 

If you were at Brookes applicants day this weekend I hope you enjoyed it and got answers to your questions (and if you didn't, that's what I'm here for). 

On Friday 14th of March, Brookes are hosting Live Friday at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, to announce Brookes 150th anniversary celebrations. It's a free event where you can, among other things, turn your smartphone into a microscope, talk to robots and see a bamboo mountain bike! Click here for more information or here for even more information about the artists performing, the robot and other announcements. So if you're in the area you should definitely join!

Now I'm going to finish my sociology essay about Marx, which is a dreadful thing to have to do when Oxford is soaked in sun and it's 18 degrees outside!

Hope I see you at the Ashmolean on Friday!