The Canadian School System - The Ontario Edition!

First off, am I the only Canadian on this blog? I'm just really interested. :)

So in Ontario you start school ages 3-4 in Kindergarten. When I was in school this was half a day. You could either be in the morning or afternoon kind. I was lucky enough to be in the morning (which meant I got to go home and watch the Live Action Batman on the Space Station). In Kindergarten, there wasn't much to do other than play with other people your age, and learn how to properly interact with other children. After Kindergarten you go to Senior Kindergarten, where you learn your vowel, and really basic spelling. You still spend most of your time playing, but as you can guess all the toys were educational, or promoted group interaction.

After Kindergarten you move into Primary School (Grade One through Five). Not much interesting stuff happens here until you hit Grade 3 where you start learning French and have your first round of the EQAO Test. In Grade Five you get to learn all about your body and get to start learning about World History and Mythology (of course this is kind of toned down... they like to white wash stuff, make it suitable for the younger audiences). Grade Six through Eight is middle School. You have your second bought of EQAO in Grade Six.

On the EQAO, it's a standardized Government test to check if all the schools in Ontario are teaching the same thing. Your personal marks aren't effected by the tests, but your teachers are. You Graduate Junior Middle School at the end of Grade Eight and then get shipped off to High School.

I went to a public high school (I'm going to ignore the Private School Board and the Catholic School Board because I didn't have anything to do with them, so I don't have a good idea on how they work). Public High Schools can break off in different streams though, you can go to a more Tech oriented school, a more business oriented school etc. I went to two high schools, both of them didn't have specialty programs. You're in high school for 4+ years (some people chose to be there for five, which I did). You have your last EQAO Test in Grade Nine, this one only focuses on Math. In Grade 10 you have a Literacy Test, which exists to prove that you can read and write English. It's really basic, and runs on a pass and fail system.

A note on courses! You get to choose your high school courses, well some of them. You're required to take english all four years, math for three years and gym and french for one year. After that you basically have electives which you choose based on what University Program you want to go into. There are different level english and math courses (Applied and Academic for Grades 9-11 and College, Mixed, or University Level Math for Grade 12). For example, I wanted to go into English and Film Studies, the only course I required was University Level English. All my other electives I was pretty much open to take what I wished (like history, film, psych, etc) meanwhile some of my friends who wanted to go into Engineering, they had to take every different math course offered in Grades 11 and 12 (data management, calculus, linear equations etc).

So congratulations! You made it to University. I'm currently in my Undergrad at Wilfrid Laurier. It's a four year program. Since I'm double majoring I have some required courses I need to take I'll cross out the ones I've completed.:

Two First Year English Courses ie Reading Fiction, Reading Drama
Two First Year Film Courses: Film and Genre, Film and Narrative
Literary Traditions One and Two
Literary Theory
Two Film Theory Courses ie FilmTheory and Mass Media, Film and Gender Theory
Two Film History Courses
Two English Courses Pre 1600
One English Seminar
One Film Seminar

And that's the short list. After your Undergrad you can pursue Grad School (1-3 Years) Your Masters (1-2 Years) Your PHD (1-3 Years).

So there you go. My rant about the Ontario School System. I hope it wasn't too boring :)

Argentinian Educational System

Ok, this blog is doing amazing. Clearly nerdfighters are made of awesome. I'm going to try to explain briefly how the argentinian educational system works.

At the age of 3, you enter to the jardin de infantes, which is the equivalent of your kindergarten. After that, at the age of 6, you start the primaria, which takes 7 years and gives you the more basic tools for life. Then you have to decide in which kind of secundaria you want to study. There 3 types: Bachiller (general education), Perito Mercantil (specialized in economy and accounting) and Industrial (engineering). The secundaria is 5 years long.

At the age of 18, you’re able to apply for University. First you have a year of a introductory course called CBC (Ciclo Básico Común) in which you have to approve 6 signatures related to your branch of studies. Then is when you enter to the proper career.

The Universidad is divided in Facultades, each one of this specialized in a field. Each career has a different duration and system. On each career you can get three degrees, in an order of progressive importance: Licenciatura, Master and Doctorado.

Now I’m going to start speaking about the Facultad de Medicina (Medicine) in particular, the career is 7 years, after the 4^th year you start your practice at the hospitals. After that you are consider a General Doctor, then you can do a residence, in which you choose your specialization, each one has a different length. Most are between 4 and 6 years.

Education in Argentina is public, as in Austria, but with the difference that the foreigner who want to study in this country have to pay a quota. I’m in favor of free education, because I consider that being able to study is a right (as health), not a privilege. I think that everybody must be capable of studying, it doesn’t matter what is his economical or social position, which makes a more equitable society and allows social mobility.

That was my short explanation of the argentinian educational system and a little bit of my opinion on certain issues.  I’m looking forward for your articles.

Best Wishes!

Lucas

Austria's Educational System

New week, new theme! :) I told almost all of you already anyway, but I'm really happy about how this blog turns out and you are really a nice, interesting and funny bunch of guys!

I will try to give you a brief overview of our educational system, but I already have to say that I can only really tell you about my university, the Medical University of Innsbruck, and not about universities in general. And I will not try to translate the terms, because they are not equal e.g. to high school in US. So let's start, shall we?

Around the age of 3 children go to kindergarten, and I probably don't need to translate you that one, because it's a lovely Germanism in the English language. At the age of 6, children start Volksschule, which takes 4 years. Then you have two options: 1) you attend Hauptschule, which finishes after 4 years and then you start vocational training and become... a hairdresser. Or a car mechanic. That sort of jobs. Or 2) if you are smart, you go to Gymnasium. After 4 years, you again have the choice to change to vocational training or a different (often specializing) school or you stay in Gymnasium. After another 4 years, so 8 years in total, at the age of 18, you finish with a series of exams called Matura, which qualifies you for studying at a university.

Now it gets a bit tricky because as I said, university is not my field of expertise. The Universität consists of Fakultäten, which are again divided into Institute. In general there are three titles you can achieve: bachelor, master and Doktor. To be honest, I don't know anything about bachelor and master because medical universities don't have that kind of system, but since it's a standardized system for Europe, maybe somebody else can explain it :)

I can tell you more about my university and the process to become a doctor. In total it takes you 6 years to study medicine - the first 5 years are lectures and practical courses and the last year is called Klinisch-Praktisches Jahr (clinical-practical year) where you work in a hospital. You also have to write a dissertation to get your diploma. At the end you get the title Dr. med. univ., which equals MD, I believe.
Then you are a Turnusarzt in the hospital for three years, which is similar to interns like in Grey's Anatomy, you do all the shitty work and the night shifts. After those years you are a general doctor and you can either open a practice or stay in hospital and continue your eduction to Facharzt (medical specialist). That length of that eduction depends on the specialty, I think for neurosurgery it's six years.
And after that, when you are old, you are finally finished.
You can also study for an additional title, PhD, which enables you to do self-employed scientific research.

I should also mention that as a public university, we don't pay tuition fees. We used to pay about 300 Euro per semester, but that was changed a couple of years ago to have free education. Many people and political parties want free education and no access restriction. I am personally against that because in my opinion those people don't think about it, how should our country finance free education for everybody who wants to study? And it's not only for Austrians, that way we also finance the eduction for all the Germans who come here to study. It's all a big discussion ;)

I hope this was not too complicated and I'm looking forward to read your posts!

Caro's very late introduction

Hello everyone!

So, I'm the one who is not very adapt to new internet technology and had quite some problems figuring out a gmail and then figuring out how to blog on blogger.
I hope that I will managed to get to the bottom of this soon.

My name on here shall be caro. I am apparently the grandma here and currently a fifth year student at a German university with about two more years to go.

I study to be a teacher and my subjects are Education/Pedagogy (of course) and History, English as well as Religious Studies (these are the subjects I will teach).
Why teaching? I started out at university on a regular bachelor degree in English. I liked it, but soon I noticed that something was missing. I had always spent  much time with children at youth. I led weekly children's groups, was a camp couselor... the wohle nine yards. And I missed that. So I switched to a teaching degree. At first I was sure that I would never end up in a school, but now I can't wait to do just that.
In regard to my subjects I am probably most excited about teaching History. It is so important that students get a firm grasp on the concept of history and it is a great subject to talk about current events and how quite a few of these are rooted in the past. I strongly believe that you can only understand modern politics completely if you know a thing or two about history.

What do I like?
Nerdy stuff is the obvious answer, but that seems to broad.
Books. Reading is one of my favorite past times. This year I challenged myself to read fifty books, it really did not seems like much, but after one month and only two books finished, it starts to actually look like a challenge.
My favorite books right now: Harry Potter (duh!) and To kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

I also love to travel and being abroad. I went to school in three different countries (although the vast majority of my school time was spent in Germany) and also studied abroad while at university. Why not jump at the chance to see somewhere new if it chance arises? That could be my motto. Right now I have no trips planned, a situation that has not occured for at least three years and that is therefore quite unsettling.
My favorite travel destinations right now: USA and Eastern Europe.

Music is another favorite. I'm not very good at it but that does not hinder me to enjoy making and listening to it. It also makes up a large part of the nerdy stuff...
Current favorites: Chameleon Circuit, Bon Iver and all things musical theatre.

The nerdy things: Sci-Fi in written, televised or moving picture form, Doctor Who, a host of TV-series, artsy films and online-newspapers and writing.

That's it from me for now. The semester is drawing to a close and that means studying. Time to hit the books.

caro

P.S.: I sneakyly moved my introduction back two days, thus not interupting all the truly wonderful information about school systems... Hehe.







 

Marie Introduces Herself

'Ello! I'm Marie and I'm from Vermont in the US, where there is plenty of maple syrup to go around and you're more likely to get stuck in traffic on a country road because of a tractor than rush hour on the highway. I'm originally from Pennsylvania, but I moved here about six years ago and decided to attend a small college about an hour from home. I do like it here, but it's just like living in a small town...everyone knows everyone and they all know your business, whether you want them to or not. Anything interesting is about 20 minutes away and I happen to be the broke friend with a car, relying on other people to give me gas money if they want to go anywhere.

I went into college with a major in Spanish Language & Literature, but they added a new Global Studies program that suits me much better. I love Spanish, but my interests are broad and this major allows me to take history, literature, economics, and a lot of other kinds of classes. For personal reasons, I decided not to double major and keep Spanish as a minor, which I have nearly completed.

The Global Studies major is exciting to me because it allows so much room to learn about the world. My general concentration within the major is culture, my regional concentration being Europe (which does not please the head of the Spanish department >.> ). I love learning about different cultures and getting to see the world from a different perspectives, which is probably why I found this blog idea so interesting. Travel is an important part of my life, and while I've been to many states in the US, I've only been to a few other countries (England, Wales, Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland). I would really love to travel all around the world, despite the fact that I'm a bit of an anglophile and am determined to use my mandatory study abroad as an opportunity to return to London.

As for what I want to do with my life concerning a career...the only thing I'm sure of is that it takes me to new places. I'm the kind of person who can't stay in one place for too long without getting incredibly restless. I've moved quite a bit in my 20 years so I'm used to leaving things behind for a new life. Wanderlust seizes hold and refuses to let go, even once I get to a new place. I imagine that sitting in an office for five years would drain any interest I have in the world...

Anywho, I play the flute in marching & spirit band, both of which take up a lot of time. I love it though, because our band is small enough (40-50 people) that we're like a family. There is plenty of drama, but in the end band is our support system on campus and we have so much fun.

Beyond traveling and playing the flute, I also enjoy reading, writing, and learning other languages. It have always love reading and for the past couple years I've been trying to keep a list of all the books I read (5 so far this month). I have an addiction to buying books on Amazon, so I tend to have far too many books in my dorm room than can fit on my bookshelf, with nowhere to put them at home. At this point, I think I have somewhere between 250-300 books lying around >.> As for writing, I've attempted novels, but I never finish them. I mostly write short stories, anywhere from half a page to ten. There's something about a story without any context, without a resolution, that's just so fun to write. And of course, my love of words extends to languages other than English. I am currently at an intermediate level in Spanish, fairly decent at reading and writing but terrified of speaking. I know bits and pieces of other languages, though nowhere near enough to have a conversation. I've taken a semester of Arabic which I really loved, but was unable to continue unless I could pay quite a bit of extra money for an overloaded course schedule. At the moment I have a particular interest in learning Latin, though it isn't offered here.

Some TV shows I enjoy: BBC Sherlock, Doctor Who, Big Bang Theory, Daria, Pretty Little Liars, Gilmore Girls, Boy Meets World, Charmed, Degrassi

My favorite books/series/authors: Harry Potter, John Green, Maureen Johnson, The Mortal Instruments, Wicked Lovely, Tamora Pierce, Jaclyn Moriarty, Charles Dickens, George Orwell

I believe that covers quite a bit of ground, so I shall end my introduction here.

DFTBA!

PS: I apologize if this is in any way disjointed and doesn't flow well...I wrote this while having a fever. Also, I am not actually a gnome.

Caroline's Intro

Hello everyone!

I’m Caroline, and I’m from Wisconsin, US – land of abundant dairy products, political protests, and awful Midwestern accents.   I’m currently a student at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, which I completely love.  I grew up in a small rural village – I know you all are picturing horses and buggies right now, but a more accurate mental picture would involve corn fields and rich old women clinging to their police scanners so that they can gossip about all the latest drama. 

Needless to say, enrolling in a large university provided a much-needed change of pace.  While the classes here can be very competitive and require a lot of effort, there’s always a ton of fun stuff going on.  I’ve gone to some massive Halloween parties, participated in one of the world’s largest snowball fights, attended a speech by the US president, and still had plenty of time/space to relax and be a bit of an introvert.  Plus our University has a Yule Ball before Christmas vacation.  A legitimate Goblet-of-Fire-esque Yule Ball.  How could anyone NOT love this place?  I wouldn’t trade my little hometown for anything, but it’s nice to escape the fishbowl feeling of small town life and swim around in a big pond for once.  Also, small towns do not have Super Targets.  Oh American consumerism…

Another fact about me: I’m 21 years old (seriously, true story).  I realize that due to my short stature, round face, and unwillingness to give up my collection of brightly-colored headbands, I look about 15.  Middle-aged adults are constantly telling me that I’ll appreciate my youthful appearance when I am older, but honestly, when I’m enjoying delicious Chinese food for half price because the staff has accidently given me the kids’ discount, I have no problem appreciating it at this age too.

I’m going to school for Psychology and Communication Disorders.  I chose psychology because, in short, our brains are just so weird and complicated!  I love learning why we do the things we do.  I chose communication disorders because I knew it would allow me to work with kids, which is something I really enjoy.  The program is focused around helping people with speech and hearing problems, and I hope to eventually become either a school speech pathologist or a pediatric audiologist (ear doctor).  I still have a year or two to decide, but I’m leaning toward audiology, only because all of the controversy and new technology in the field never ceases to amaze me. 

When I’m not studying, I can usually be found watching my favorite YouTubers, reading my never-ending pile of books, writing, ice skating, learning guitar, listening to music, or hanging out with friends.  I also love playing piano - while I used to play mostly classical pieces, I have recently taken to playing more contemporary music and/or poorly-transcribed Ben Folds covers.  Classy, I know.  

I also really like dance (tap, in particular), anything Harry Potter, and watching TV (Arrested Development, Glee, Flight of the Conchords, Gilmore Girls, BBC’s Sherlock, The Office, and Grey’s Anatomy are some of my favorites).  Recently I’ve been babysitting to earn a little extra money, too.

Some things I don’t like are parallel parking and bugs of the house-invading variety (I’m looking at you, box elders)

Other Random Facts About Me: 

   -I love watching old movies that are awesomely terrible.  ‘Plan 9 From Outer Space’ is the best; it’s full of inadvertently hilarious quotes. 

   -I have an adorable dog and a cat that I miss all the time when I’m away at school. 

   -I also have one older brother and four younger step-siblings ranging in age from 13 to 19.  Whenever I go home, I feel like I’ve accidently entered an ABC Family teen drama.   

   -My New Year’s resolution was to write more.  I think this is a step in the right direction. 

And I think that’s about it.  Sorry if this introduction was long and all over the place.  I’ve loved reading everyone’s posts so far and can’t wait to see where this project goes!  Farewell for now and DFTBA!

Bare Necessities (Lucas' Introduction)

"Hola, muchachos". I answer to the name Lucas, I'm 20 years old and I'm from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
 You know that large country close to Chile, the one with the miners trapped. I'm currently studying
Medicine at the University of Buenos Aires but I'm thinking of changing to Biology (to specialize myself
in Biotechnoly). I love science in general (biology and chemistry in particular). So i knew that
i needed to study something related with living creatures and i always found human anatomy amazing, i remember going to the morgue of the hospital with my uncle (who is a physician) and watching each organ, It was awesome. My problem is that i'm a person who is always interested in EVERYTHING, I think that every career is amazing; luckily, some more than others.
Taking up the issue, I've been reading a lot about bio-tech advances lately and I'm too excited about it.
Also I checked the Biology's program and It's moresuitable for my plans, not because it's easier, because
it's better organized... medicine has a lot of burocratic issue (annual courses, correlativities between
them) and I really want to start working this year, I need to finance some travel plans. On the other hand,
I'm going to miss the anatomy class and touching corpses (Yeah, Creepy guy FTW!)

Things that i like... I truly deeply love traveling. Last summer(Your winter, yeah! I'm talking to you, north hemisphere people),
 I was in the USA (East coast: NYC, Miami,Orlando, Philadelphia and Boston) and the summer before I did a student exchange
in France, after that i backpack through a part of Europe (England, Italy, Holland, Spain, Germany). Well, I don't know why I'm
telling you this, but the point is that i love the freedom and the excitation of knowing new places. My plan for next year is
traveling to either Australia or Canada. And also, i love learning languages.

Hobbies... well, I like to read a lot. I haven't read a John Green's book yet (I know I'm a failure as a nerdfighter, they aren't
published in my country but I ordered Papertowns and TFiOS on Amazon, so I'm going to read those soon). My favourite authors are
Douglas Adams, Jane Austen, Herman Melville, José Saramago, John Steinbeck, Osvaldo Soriano... It's so difficult to choose favourite things...
I'm also a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes stories and Arthurian Mitology (The Vulgate Cycle is an incredible way to see the medieval way of thinking)
And also I have a great affection for Harry Potter because I grew up reading those books, but i'm not into the fan circuit (on the other hand, one
of the "few" things i buy at USA was an replica of Sirius Black's Wound, F-YEAH!).
I love watching movies too, favourite directors... It's probably a tie between Wong Kar-wai, John Ford and Takeshi Kitano. I'm also particulary interested in animation films and classic horror movies.
Favourites Bands: If I have too choose a few... Belle and Sebastian, Jamie T, Streetlight Manifesto, The Rural Alberta Advantage, 65daysofstatic and Rancid.
Shows i like/d: Grey's Anatomy, Misfits, Sherlock, Doctor Who, Star Trek (every series, Benjamin Sisko fan), American Horror Story, Gilmore Girls, Everwood,
The Office and probably a few more i can't remember in this particular moment.
Also I enjoy reading graphic novels (and sometimes comic books but when they have a recopilatory volume), Football (yeah, FOOTBALL, not soccer:P)and time
to time playing some magic the gathering with my highschool friends.


Things i dislike: I can't remember anything i truly dislike in this moment... I don't know what's happening to me right now... I'm in carebear mode?!


And probably that's all i can write for now.

Best Wishes!

Lucas

PS: It's my first post in any blog and my english vocabulary is pretty lame. So let me know if you notice any mistake.
PS2: I noticed that I didn't speak a lot about my academic situation but it's because I'm going through a confusing situation, I promise more information in the future.

PS3: I'm too lazy to take a photo of myself in this moment, next time it will be one. So I put a picture of my favourite animated character, yes i'm that childish... so what.

It's me, Rocky!

Ahoy there, mateys.

Who are ya?
My name’s Rocky, which is short for Rockwell. (Yes, there’s a story behind that name. One day I might even tell it.) I’m 19 years old, and I’m studying a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Western Australia.

Whatcha studyin’?
I’m double-majoring in Communcation studies (which, in Australia, is more like media/film/journalism studies - I’m told in the US especially Comms is more about rhetoric and speeches) and Linguistics, although the latter might well change. I’ve taken Classics, economics, and Français as electives. It was a toss-up between this course and Astrophysics - I chose the one with less maths and marginally more career prospects. Not being in the northern hemisphere like (almost) everyone else, I’ll be starting my second year in February.

Why’re you here?
Perth is the most isolated major city in the world. It’s expensive to fly out of, and boring to fly into, which earns it the nickname ‘Dullsville’. While this isn’t entirely fair (I love it... well, I don’t hate it.), any contact with them foreign types is difficult to come by. I’ve always been vaguely envious of people with friends overseas, so you guys are my shot at being one of those people.

Whaddaya like?
I’m a big fan of space, and space exploration, and astronomy (which I’ve been meaning to get properly ‘in to’ for a while). I read boatloads of books, especially classics (I once read Great Expectations in one weekend, although it was for a Lit class. I don’t recommend it. Reading it in a weekend, that is.). I’m on a fantasy hit at the moment, so if you have any recommendations let me know. Since everyone’s including it, I’ve yet to read TFioS (no spoilers please?). I like Doctor Who, Firefly and (don’t judge me) Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother. I like too many movies to list. I don’t listen to a lot of music, mostly comedy stuff like Tripod and Weird Al. I’m an archer, though not a brilliant one. I can program a little and I use Linux, throwing me in the deeper end of the nerd pool.

Where else do you internet?
My wobsite: http://rockym93.net/
My blag: http://blog.rockym93.net/
My (rarely updated) Twatter: @rockym93
My (even more rarely updated) YowTube: youtube.com/rockym93

What’re you gonna do here?
That depends on what we decide! I’ll probably be the one guy posting when everyone else has exams (and vice versa), because I live in the wrongbest hemisphere. I’d also like an excuse to post campus-based shenanigans - pranks and stuff - so maybe some of that? Who knows?

DFTBA!
-Rocky.

Sarah 101

Hello guys, nice to meet everybody!

My name is Sarah, I am 21 years old and was born, live and study in Innsbruck, Austria. No, we don't have kangaroos here and you would be surprised how often people ask me this. Mozart, Freud, mountains, people who lock their children in basements? That's us.
I'm studying medicine in my 5th semester, but actually the semester ends on Tuesday, so let's already say 6th. Vacation, yay!
I have a sister who just started studying medicine too, but in Vienna. My parents are both judges and hope that at least one of us would study law, so they were very disappointed that we are both becoming doctors. I also have a cat called Mischa (I know it's a guy's name, but she's female. She is named after Hannibal Lecter's sister Mischa in Hannibal Rising), who is a big hunter and managed to bring home animals of ten different species. She's also very aggressive and very cute (deadly combination).

So why am I studying medicine? That's a difficult question with an easy answer: I did not have a plan B. When I was 16, we went with school to some "Day of the Brain" event in university and we listed to some lectures and could hold brains and I thought: that's cool, that's what I want to do later. I never really found any other field that would interest me as much as medicine does. In order to study medicine here you have to pass an entrance exam (2500 applicants for 400 places), I passed on the first try and so the situation was quite clear. Now, if I could not study medicine anymore, I would probably study shipbuilding. I can't really explain why, but I love ships.

I want to become a neurosurgeon - I knew that already before I started university and I knew it before Grey's Anatomy. My parents want me to look into other fields too, but the more I see of other specialties, the more I'm sure that neurosurgery is the way to go. I definitely want to become a surgeon of any kind, I loved the dissection course we had, I like anatomy and the brain just fascinated me. A lot. I did a four week long internship at the Neurosurgical Department of the hospital in Vienna and I had such a great time there. I loved finally learning something practical, not all the boring stuff like biochemistry that we learn in university. I was also able to attend a microsurgery course and I love suturing, especially with teeny tiny threads and instruments (the thread is thinner than a hair and the needle is only a few millimeters long).

I am traveling a lot, unfortunately so far only inside Europe. My boyfriend lives in Poland, so I'm spending a lot of time there and he is a journalist for ski jumping, so if I have time I accompany him to competitions. I like the north of Europe a lot, I love Finland (contrary to common prejudice, I find Finnish people very kind and helpful. Hi, Mia!) and Norway, in fact, I'm applying for an Erasmus spot for a semester abroad in Oslo at the moment.
My dream is to go to New York City soon and I'm hoping to fly there in April for a short vacation.

I like to read, of course, but I'm having troubles finding time and attention to read because I spend most time in front of my computer. The last book I read was The Fault In Our Stars, which is one of the most beautiful and heart-breaking books I have ever read and I always find it difficult to read any other book after reading something so great. By the way, I have an unsigned copy of TFiOS because Amazon DE had a big screw up and apparently employ people who can't read and calculate how many preorders they will need.
And TV shows. If you already think you watch too many shows, what should I say then? I am watching (in no order whatsoever): How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, Grey's Anatomy (or as I like to call it: How Not To Be A Doctor), Sherlock BBC, Bones, Dexter, Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, Community, New Girl, 2 Broke Girls. I watch Doctor Who from time to time, but I got stuck in season 4 and I can't really bring myself to watch it on a regular level. It's a great show, but for me it's hard to watch it one episode after another like I do with other shows.

Things I dislike: fangirling over Youtube persons (especially Charlie - I know he is cute and funny, but he is also just a person and in my opinion a tiny bit overrated. I find Alex Day funnier and Eddplant the better singer. That's it.), people who always have to say something even if they don't know anything, fishing for pity, vegetables.

And some random facts about me: I'm messy, but everything needs to have a system. I'm very meticulous, for example everything that I write that is related to each other has to be written with the same pen and I sort my socks by color. And I love nail polish, the more colorful, the better.

That's it for now, I'm really looking forward to read more of your blog post, you all seem like such interesting people and I can't wait to get to know you more!

DFTBA,
Sarah

An introduction to Kate :)

Well hello everyone!

Well my name is Kate, 18 years old and currently studying my first year of Countryside Management at university in England. Now, Countryside Management may seem a bit of an odd choice for a degree. However, I am born and bred in the countryside. I come from the North West of England from a small village on the coast and I grew up with a deep love and respect for the countryside which surrounded me. I knew there was no chance I was going to be stuck in an office job my entire life as I would go even more insane than I am now. I am happy when I am outside getting mucky and exhausted from outside work.

The countryside makes up a huge part of me, not just my choice of degree. It also makes up a lot of the hobbies and activities I have when I am not studying. I love walking and going on adventures with my boyfriend (we manage to always get lost and find new paths and trails we never knew even existed, everytime we go out!), walking my totally adorabubble dog, photography and I have started riding at university although I am still not the best (also I am allergic to horses so come away from lessons with big red puffy eyes).

Other interests of mine include but are not limited to: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I adore this programme and has to be my favourite TV series in the world to date. Doctor Who, Merlin, Pokemon (game and have started to rewatch the anime), writing although I always seem to get sidetracked eventually and have all sorts of unfinished projects on my computer. I also love reading although I cannot narrow down the list of books I love to tell you my favourite.

Things I dislike: Selfish people, spicy foods and when cars run through puddles fast and splash you (with the amount of rain here in England this can be a problem).

Random facts about me:.......erm....... I can click my shoulder out of place and then click it back, it is a great trick at parties. Also I am a huge John Wayne fan, as in mega huge. AND I still have a teddybear in my room called Big Ted (no laughing!).

I think that is everything. Although no doubt once I publish this I will remember something else. I can't wait to get to know everyone better.

Tatty bye and DFTBA

Kate

Millie says Hello.

Hello everybody! I'm Millie and I'm a 19-year old Psychology student from Malaysia. I just started my second year at HELP University. The reason I got into Psychology was merely cause it seemed like a darn interesting thing to study and I just couldn't see myself studying anything else. I figured if I could sit in a shopping mall watching people and wondering about them, I could sit in a lecture hall and learn about them for real. I also did like the idea of it being a social science in the sense that there's a somewhat methodological approach to it, but there's an element of never really knowing what's going on. It can get quite frustrating when everything is in the grey area, but it's fascinating all the same.

What am I going to do after? Well right now I am merely drifting about aimlessly with a really vague goal of continuing on to getting my Masters and becoming a practicing Clinical Psychologist. At times I choose this goal just because it seems one of the harder things to do and I want to be motivated to go above and beyond to get there. At the same time, I have an inkling that I will be staying in the academics line and might just end up as a lecturer. But we'll see.

I'm one of those people that really enjoys learning things, but never really puts a lot of effort into it. If I had to really strive to learn things I would actually not like it very much so it all works out. Admittedly, I am blessed with the ability to catch things at an above average rate. I'm also the kind of person who people stare at for acting really childish and weirdly. But at the same time, I am also the person people commonly call out to be the most "adult-like". I do quite enjoy having dual roles to play in my life.

What do I like? Books and music are the two top things that come to mind. I love reading, but I have slowed down over the last couple years because the internet killed my attention span. But I've been working on that and am going to try and read 50 books in 2012 as a challenge. I'm already five books in so I'm on track so far. I absolutely love Harry Potter and most recently, the Hunger Games. Other favourites are The Picture of Dorian Gray, Tuesdays with Morrie and the list goes on.

Now for the music I like. I, unfortunately, have not been blessed with an inclination to instrument playing so I am merely a listener. I lean more towards the indie genre, with a fair dose of Alternative and Folk. My favourite bands are The Hush Sound, Relient K, Owl City, Noah & The Whale.... and so on. I also really really like live gigs.

Other things I like are TV shows like Community, Big Bang Theory, New Girl, Grey's Anatomy, Bones and some others. I have been told I watch too many tv shows. Other than that, I like potatoes, collecting pins and badges, hanging out with my friends and talking. I really like talking.

Stuff I don't like : Overplayed music on radio, people that think reading is boring and people who demand respect without returning it.

Random facts: I'm short. Even by Asian standards. 5'1" yep.

Till next time then! DFTBA.

Introducing Alexandra

Hello everyone, I'm Alexandra! I'm a third year Honours English and Film Major at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada. Ever since I was little I always wanted to go into movies... as a Director. I'm not a big fan of being infront of the camera, I belong behind it, but I have acted before. I have another year in this program and then I hopefully ship myself off to proper film school somewhere for a couple of years. I haven't really decided where to go yet, and I'm trying to put it off just a little bit longer and focus on my last three terms her. My interest in filmmaking caused me to jump on the youtube wagon, which I don't update as often as I should. It's mostly filled with film projects from High School, University and the few I've done just for fun. I don't really vlog, most of what I've posted is either an adaptation of something or an original project of some sort.

 I'm also half of another project online: Death of the Author Reviews. We look at teen books and review them. It's a lot of work, but it's also a lot of fun. We recently just did a review of John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, so you all should go check it out. Death of the Author Reviews is loosely based off of the literary theorist Roland Barthes, essay of the same name. Barthes argued that once the author finishes their book there is no one interpretation of it, it's up to the Reader. We thought this would be a direction to take our reviews in. On top of that I have a blog where I talk about books and movies (my two biggest loves).

Other facts about me: I'm a trained and ranking Archer in Ontario, I used to compete during high school, but haven't been able to since I went away to university. I have a total fangirl love for Doctor Who, the BBC Sherlock, The Lord of the Rings (books and movies), fantasy books in general, Shakespeare, movies and musicals. I love camping, hiking, long walks and travelling. I'm off to San Francisco for my Winter Reading Week Break, so I may end up posting about that here at some point if people are interested. I can play the flute (not that well) and last but not least, I'm left handed.

Things I dislike: baseball, people who mistreat books, giant squids of anger and having to wake up early in the morning.

All in all, I'm a gigantic nerd, and love Nerdfighteria for letting us all connect. it's great finding people that love certain things as much as you do. I can't wait to get to know everyone on this blog and watch it grow into something awesome.

DFTBA

- Alexandra

Mia's Uneventful Introduction

Hello, everyone!

I am Mia (also known as sterling on YourPants), a 21-year old archaeology student from northern Finland. I specialize in human osteology, the study of human skeletal remains, which is pretty much the reason I am studying the field of archaeology in the first place. I entered university in 2009, so I am currently paddling through my third year - time goes by way too fast if you ask me. I initially double-majored in archaeology and cultural anthropology but after the first year we were to make a choice which one to throw our full weight at. I went with the one that included the human remains. I intended to keep anthropology as a minor but the fact that it has a very small amount of courses sent me on a search for another option. I’ve since landed on museology as my minor.

I started my B.A. Thesis during the summer between my first and second year of studies, helping to produce information for an article, which I ended up co-writing. I’m still working on that same thesis because I am very skilled at procrastinating. In fact, I hold a PhD in procrastination and my work on that field has been well recognized by my peers.

So. “Why human osteology?“ I hear you ask (because you figure that is a better question than "why archaeology?"). I should probably word this in a different way or simply come up with a better reason, one that doesn’t make me sound demented, but, I like dead people. They are fascinating - human anatomy, pathology, causes of death, the decomposition process, I could go on... but I won’t. Generally being able to tell things by looking at a piece of bone is simply interesting to me. In addition: Dead people do not judge you, puke on you, pee on you, say or do rude things to you…they are generally more agreeable than the living, hence great people to work with. Also, they are already dead, responsibility over their life has been lifted! I’m pretty sure I would have gone on to study to become a Medical Examiner if I wasn’t so lousy at math.

Now, when I’m not looking at dead things or things that dead people have done hundreds if not thousands of years ago, I’m pretty much glued to my computer like a proper geek lady. Here, in the world of Internet, I watch episodes of shows that I love, chat with online friends, do play-by-post forum role-playing (and help maintain some related forums), watch Youtube videos, spam people with my art, and mindlessly refresh my Tumblr feed, grinning at gifs.

I draw quite a bit, these days mainly digitally. I’m decent at it and occasionally I even manage to make some money off of it, if I get lucky. (Wanna buy art? Buy some art from me. No? But look at this pretty. Oh please, god, please buy art from me! *falls to knees and bawls* WHY WON’T YOU BUY MY ART?) Krehm. Anyways. I like drawing.

I can’t bring myself to make a particularly smooth and wordy transition into things that I like and dislike, so, here, have some lists:

Some TV shows that I like(/d): Battlestar Galactica, Gilmore Girls, The West Wing, Castle, Bones, The X-Files, Stargate SG-1, ER, Body of Proof, Grey’s Anatomy, Friends, CSI Las Vegas, 30 Rock, Firefly, Futurama, The Rachel Maddow Show, Doctor Who.

Some things that I like: Cats, drawing, instrumental movie/TV show/game score music, play-by-post role-playing, writing, the book Bossypants by Tina Fey, winter, snow, caps lock as a humorous effect, being able to use my open window as a fridge or a freezer during winter, documentaries about serial killers, the English language, Tumblr, making quote graphics, the comfortable position I’m lying in right now.

Some things that I dislike: Warm summers, black flies (Simuliidae), the Tea Party movement, Comic Sans font, most chat/text message speak, when people use your instead of you’re or vice versa, those teenagers on the train who I had to listen to while they pondered on whether B.C. is ‘Before Christ’ or ‘Before God‘, most Reality TV, most music doing well on the billboards these days, public restrooms, the fact that I'm not lying in that comfortable position anymore.

P.S.: Enjoy the stick figure version of me that I doodled up a while back. It makes me look like a skinny person. Also, I'm guilty of making the banner image. That is all. See you all around!

Hi! (Matthew's Introductory post)

Hey everybody!

My name is Matthew (or Matt, that’s what my friends call me, so you can call me Matt J) and I’m 21 years old. I’m from New Hampshire in the United States, but most of my high school years my family and I lived on a military base on Kwajalein, an island in the Marshall Islands. We’re not a military family my dad just got a job out there. If you have no clue where that the Marshall Islands are, they’re in the middle of the Pacific Ocean near the Equator about halfway between Hawaii and Australia. My family moved back to the US about a year and a half ago.

Right now, I’m a student at Knox College in the state of Illinois. I’m in my third year of college, junior year, and I’m studying philosophy primarily with a side focus on history and religious studies. I’ve also taken creative writing classes.

Why study philosophy, history and religious studies? I love to think and imagine. I enjoy thinking about philosophical issues and how they relate to ethics, politics, history and religious beliefs. Knox is also a small school and I really love it.

I’m a writer. I hope to become an author someday (John Green is a huge inspiration to me). I’m currently working on a fantasy novel/series about a boy named Aaron and his sister Katrina that is based heavily on the Norse myth of Ragnarok, but it’s still my own interpretation and it’s not a carbon copy of the original myth. I also have tons of other ideas I want to work on. Haha.

I also run another blog, probably not as faithfully as I should, but anyway… if you want to look at that go here: http://dmmaster42.wordpress.com/ . I wrote a review of The Fault in Our Stars which you might particularly enjoy.

Some of the things I like to do when I’m not thinking about or talking/debating about philosophy with friends or writing: Watching online videos: Vlogbrothers and Yugioh the Abridged series are my two favorites, but Scishow, Crashcourse, and Hankgames are right up there as well. I read a lot, mostly fantasy and sci-fi but I do read other genres as well. I loved The Fault in Our Stars of course. I watch the news a lot but I also love a lot of TV shows and movies. I’m obsessed with Doctor Who and Merlin! I listen to music a lot while I work (lots of Hank Green songs of course!). I play video games. I also do a lot of role-playing, mostly D&D probably my favorite activity apart from writing. Other than that I love just spending time with my friends and girlfriend, who is also a nerdfighter (yay for nerdfighterlike!).

Things I dislike: Anything to do with increasing world-suck, serious arguments and tension, and rap.

Random facts about me: I’m ginger and left-handed.

I think that’s pretty much it about me for now. Welcome to this new blog! I’m really excited about it and can’t wait to see it grow and get the chance to get to know you and lots more nerdfighters. So have a great day and, as always, DFTBA!

Matthew

Meet Ali,

Hi, Hello, Good day to you all :)
My name is Ali and I'm a 19 year old Maths student from Bath, England (home of famous people such as Anthony Head, Jane Austin and Charlie McDonnell).

I go to Keele University, a smallish University with a wonderfully big campus and lots of lovely people. I'm currently half way through my second year of my Maths degree. This makes me half way through my degree overall, so the pressure is really getting going!

So why am I studying the degree I am studying? I've always had an interest in maths as it's a very black and white subject. There's no opinion in maths really so you're either right or your wrong. My aim is to go into teaching and was originally considering doing a teaching degree instead. However I choose to maths instead as it gives me far more options and I feel it pushes me further than a teaching degree would. Why Keele? This University just felt like home the first time I visited. The wide open green spaces at the Keele gives you a break from the concrete jungle we live in. Also, we're all one big family here and it's a very wonderful atmosphere.

So when I'm not doing maths what do I do? I love watching tv shows such as  Doctor Who and Glee, I love everything Harry Potter and I spend a lot of time stalking following youtubers such as Charlieissocoollike, nerimon, and the vlogbrothers to name but a few. I'm a practicing Christian and a lot of my time is taken up with Church events both at home and a University. I very much enjoy sleeping :). Other than that I enjoy spending time with my wonderful friends and boyfriend and just having generally silly times.

Things I dislike: The feel of cotton wool, arguments, period dramas, missing friends and family when I'm away from home and rap music.

Random facts about me: I play Clarinet to a grade 7 standard, I really like stationary and I've met the Brian May (the lead guitarist from Queen, whom my boyfriend is obsessed with).

Well that's all the important stuff I can think, so I'm looking forward to get to know everyone over the next few weeks.
Toodlepip for now and DFTBA
Ali x

"Hello world"! (Tangerine's presentation)

Hi, everybody!
Well... Let's get started, shall we?
My name here is Tangerine, (which makes my first name quite obvious, actually), I'm 18 (till March), and I come from France (near Paris)!
(French the llama!) (OMG I found an orange baby llama picture! <== This is me!)

 
I finished high school two years ago; I'm at the moment a student in what is called in France "Classes préparatoires" (2nd year), which means that I will have to go through some competitive exams between April and July in order to become an engineer in geology. (I will get back to that during the presentation of the school system).

I'm currently studying biology, geology, physic and chemistry, plus some maths (of course). That amazing formation allows me to learn more and more about the way the world works, and that is truly amazing, a never ending wonder. In biology, for example, we saw how a cell works, divides and communicates with the body, how a plant grows and goes through the winter, how neurons work, how a tadpole becomes a frog... plus a lot of other things! It is just so interesting, fascinating, overwhelming!

Then... What do I like? My classes, obviously, learning new things, useful or not, philosophy (when I have time), and reaaaaaaaaading (and I no longer have time for that either, sadly), mostly SF and French poetry, I must say. I also love wind surfing. I'll always be in for sports, or a talk, or a dance, or a trip... you can even call me to take me see a sunset, I'll come in a hurry! I also like teaching stuff, and it seems that I can be quite good at it.
About more "nerdy" things, I like Sherlock BBC and Games of Thrones, O.S.Card and Bradbury, the Vlog Brothers and Charlieissocoollike, jmtb02's games, xkcd... and so much more!

There are not a lot of things that I dislike, but I don't like talking about celebrities just because they are known, (I never quite got the point), and I really can't stand the people that won't listen respectfully to what the other side has to say in an argument.

Fun/useless facts: People think I look like a cat, I know the first 50 decimals of pi, I speak English and French fluently, I sing a lot, and I love tickling people. =D

Well... That's it for today, then! See you next time! (And DFTBA!)

PS: I you ever notice a mistake in one of my posts, please tell me.