Oh the weather outside is frightful
And a fire would be delightful
And yes I've got places to go
But there's snow
But there's snow
But there's snow
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
The weather outside...
Oh the weather outside is frightful
And a fire would be delightful
And yes I've got places to go
But there's snow
But there's snow
But there's snow
Saturday, December 01, 2012
Snö!
The snow has arrived! I had a three day physics lab starting on Wednesday (same day the snow started) so I haven't had the chance to enjoy it, or blog.
Many people still bike everywhere. I've switched to walking. My walk back from class on Friday (it wasn't much lighter when I walked to class.)
And a daytime picture.
Currently it's -8C outside, feeling like -12C. On Monday it's supposed to feel like -16C. I learned while walking to class that I need warmer clothing. The sun also rises at around 8:30am and sets at 3pm. So I didn't get to see the sun the last three days because of class.
A few words about physics labs. I think we should use the same system at UVic. On the one hand, you spend three days (8:15am-5pm) in a lab which is a really long time, but, you can take breaks whenever you want, you have enough time to finish the lab (left an hour and a half early), and don't do a formal lab report. Before the lab we had to do some preparatory exercises and hand them in. If we got any of them wrong we were handed them back and we redid the incorrect questions until we got them all right. During the actual lab, we would call one of the lab assistants over after we had completed a section and walk through the questions with them. We had to write down are answers to the questions. Mine look like this.
Again, if we had something wrong they would help us get the answer. And we were allowed to ask questions during the lab. My partner and I asked lots of questions. Basically, you couldn't fail. It's going to be hard to go back to UVic labs.
Anyway, that's all for now. I will right about Helsinki, I just need to do two projects and an assignment first.
Many people still bike everywhere. I've switched to walking. My walk back from class on Friday (it wasn't much lighter when I walked to class.)
And a daytime picture.
Currently it's -8C outside, feeling like -12C. On Monday it's supposed to feel like -16C. I learned while walking to class that I need warmer clothing. The sun also rises at around 8:30am and sets at 3pm. So I didn't get to see the sun the last three days because of class.
A few words about physics labs. I think we should use the same system at UVic. On the one hand, you spend three days (8:15am-5pm) in a lab which is a really long time, but, you can take breaks whenever you want, you have enough time to finish the lab (left an hour and a half early), and don't do a formal lab report. Before the lab we had to do some preparatory exercises and hand them in. If we got any of them wrong we were handed them back and we redid the incorrect questions until we got them all right. During the actual lab, we would call one of the lab assistants over after we had completed a section and walk through the questions with them. We had to write down are answers to the questions. Mine look like this.
Again, if we had something wrong they would help us get the answer. And we were allowed to ask questions during the lab. My partner and I asked lots of questions. Basically, you couldn't fail. It's going to be hard to go back to UVic labs.
Anyway, that's all for now. I will right about Helsinki, I just need to do two projects and an assignment first.
Friday, November 09, 2012
Physics and Winter
I started two physics courses last week. Instead of having 2 hours of class a week I have between 10 and 14 hours. Technically I have 116% course-load right now. (My English course ends in a few weeks and then I go down to 66% course-load.) This is around half of the number of hours I have at UVic when I have a full course-load. Oddly, I'm just as busy. They seem to expect a fair amount of outside work.
My first physics course, which isn't really a physics course, is called Considerations for Effective Physics Teaching. We meet one or twice a week to discuss the readings that we did. This means a lot of your own time goes into the class. It's a very interesting course and is amusing to be taking at the same time as my other physics course where my professor does everything we've learned you shouldn't do when teaching physics.
The other course is Nuclear Physics. The structure is quite different from UVic. At UVic, your class is generally made up of other students in your year with a few older students. Every week you have a lab and hand-in assignments. Then there are one or two midterm tests. Each week we also have a tutorial where we work through some problems with a grad student. My nuclear physics class is a mix of bachelor and master students. I haven't figured out how they are able to teach us all together but apparently it's common. We have one assignment with 7 questions that is due in the middle of December. We were recommended that we hand-in the questions as we finish them so that we get them back quicker. And it sounds like they only count if we do them, not if we get them correct. We also have tutorials; although, here they are called lessons. In December, I have three full days of labs in a row, instead of having shorter weekly labs. There aren't any midterms, just a final exam which we are given all day to do. Our teacher told us that the final should be 70% concepts and only 30% calculations.
Also, winter is coming. Last week it started snowing slightly while I was cycling to class. Luckily for me the ground wasn't frozen and the snow wasn't sticking. I may have to start walking.
This picture was taken another day around 10am. Some days it's still quite frosty.
This picture was taken around 4pm. It gets dark very fast now.
Today around noon the internet is claiming that it is -2°C outside. Luckily I don't have anywhere I need to go today.
A post on my trip to Helsinki coming soonish.
My first physics course, which isn't really a physics course, is called Considerations for Effective Physics Teaching. We meet one or twice a week to discuss the readings that we did. This means a lot of your own time goes into the class. It's a very interesting course and is amusing to be taking at the same time as my other physics course where my professor does everything we've learned you shouldn't do when teaching physics.
The other course is Nuclear Physics. The structure is quite different from UVic. At UVic, your class is generally made up of other students in your year with a few older students. Every week you have a lab and hand-in assignments. Then there are one or two midterm tests. Each week we also have a tutorial where we work through some problems with a grad student. My nuclear physics class is a mix of bachelor and master students. I haven't figured out how they are able to teach us all together but apparently it's common. We have one assignment with 7 questions that is due in the middle of December. We were recommended that we hand-in the questions as we finish them so that we get them back quicker. And it sounds like they only count if we do them, not if we get them correct. We also have tutorials; although, here they are called lessons. In December, I have three full days of labs in a row, instead of having shorter weekly labs. There aren't any midterms, just a final exam which we are given all day to do. Our teacher told us that the final should be 70% concepts and only 30% calculations.
Also, winter is coming. Last week it started snowing slightly while I was cycling to class. Luckily for me the ground wasn't frozen and the snow wasn't sticking. I may have to start walking.
This picture was taken another day around 10am. Some days it's still quite frosty.
This picture was taken around 4pm. It gets dark very fast now.
Today around noon the internet is claiming that it is -2°C outside. Luckily I don't have anywhere I need to go today.
A post on my trip to Helsinki coming soonish.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Classes, or lack of...
Uppsala University has a very different system than UVic. At UVic, you have a fixed set of classes for three months and then an exam period. Week to week is exactly the same and your four or five courses last for the duration of this period. At Uppsala, you generally take one or two courses at a time and then they finish after five or so weeks.
In August I took a five week Swedish language course. I had class for three hours Mon-Fri. This was very similar to UVic; however, it appears to have been an exception at Uppsala.
At the beginning of September I started a Swedish history class after finishing the language course. Each lecture was two hours long. The first two weeks I had two lectures, the third week I had three lectures, and then I had two weeks to write a 12-page paper. That was all there was for the class. And it was a full course load. Also, every lecture was in a different classroom, had a different teacher, and was at a different time. (Luckily, the day that I showed up at the wrong time, I was an hour early.) We were supposed to also have a final exam but our teacher decided against that because he didn't want to mark that many exams. (Apparently we had a large class at 25 students.) This structure of changing time and a lot of independent study seems to be the norm.
I've started a new course called What Happened to the Novel? We're comparing the movie adaptions of the books "Frankenstein" and "The Scarlet Letter". Last week we had one class. It was a two hour introduction were we talked (7 students and 2 teachers) about our thoughts on movie adaptions. We have a bunch of small writing assignments (one to two pages each) and then a final presentation. This week, I have two small writing assignments (900 words total). As well, I need to read "Frankenstein" and get together with three other students and talk about the book. We got together in a coffee shop and discussed the book while having fika. Next week we're watching the movie on Mon and then discussing it on Wed. This isn't quite a full course load because I couldn't get my schedule to work out so in a few weeks I'll have several weeks of over 100% course load (I don't expect this to be much of a problem.)
As mentioned, I'm started more courses in a few weeks. They're both physics courses and one of them conflicts with my English course. Apparently conflicting schedules are quite common, partially because you don't get your course schedule until a couple of weeks before class starts. When you sign up, you just hope everything works out. Luckily, the two conflicting lectures are both days where we'll be watching movies so I'm just going to rent them and watch them on my own.
Physics appears to have much more lecture time but they still change time, place, and teacher. I'll let you know how they go.
In August I took a five week Swedish language course. I had class for three hours Mon-Fri. This was very similar to UVic; however, it appears to have been an exception at Uppsala.
At the beginning of September I started a Swedish history class after finishing the language course. Each lecture was two hours long. The first two weeks I had two lectures, the third week I had three lectures, and then I had two weeks to write a 12-page paper. That was all there was for the class. And it was a full course load. Also, every lecture was in a different classroom, had a different teacher, and was at a different time. (Luckily, the day that I showed up at the wrong time, I was an hour early.) We were supposed to also have a final exam but our teacher decided against that because he didn't want to mark that many exams. (Apparently we had a large class at 25 students.) This structure of changing time and a lot of independent study seems to be the norm.
I've started a new course called What Happened to the Novel? We're comparing the movie adaptions of the books "Frankenstein" and "The Scarlet Letter". Last week we had one class. It was a two hour introduction were we talked (7 students and 2 teachers) about our thoughts on movie adaptions. We have a bunch of small writing assignments (one to two pages each) and then a final presentation. This week, I have two small writing assignments (900 words total). As well, I need to read "Frankenstein" and get together with three other students and talk about the book. We got together in a coffee shop and discussed the book while having fika. Next week we're watching the movie on Mon and then discussing it on Wed. This isn't quite a full course load because I couldn't get my schedule to work out so in a few weeks I'll have several weeks of over 100% course load (I don't expect this to be much of a problem.)
As mentioned, I'm started more courses in a few weeks. They're both physics courses and one of them conflicts with my English course. Apparently conflicting schedules are quite common, partially because you don't get your course schedule until a couple of weeks before class starts. When you sign up, you just hope everything works out. Luckily, the two conflicting lectures are both days where we'll be watching movies so I'm just going to rent them and watch them on my own.
Physics appears to have much more lecture time but they still change time, place, and teacher. I'll let you know how they go.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Day Two in Oslo
On our second and last day in Oslo we went to Vigelandsparken - Sculpture Park.
There are some very... interesting sculptures. Almost all are naked.
The monster eating the woman.
The far end of the park.; the entire park was filled with tourists.
The only sculpture I saw with clothing.
The fountain which was turned off due to construction.
Babies in a tree.
And the ground was a maze.
One of the more bizarre sculptures. There was also one of a man kicking a baby.
A pile of babies.
I guess this could be considered the main sculpture. It was very tall.
Looking back at the park.
Some hugging girls.
Past the main sculpture was a sundial.
With the zodiac carved around its base.
And the sculpture at the end of the park.
Where, again, you could see the ski-slope. It looks really steep to me.
Afterwards we went to the National Museum of Art where we saw The Scream by Edward Munch. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures of The Scream but we were allowed to take pictures of other paintings.
Spring by the Seine - Claude Monet (1875)
Self-Portrait - Vincent van Gogh (1889)
Guitar - Pablo Picasso (1912)
A Picasso piece that I can actually tell what it is. From 1903 Man and Women by Pablo Picasso.
And my favourite artist there. Larvik by Moonlight - Johan Christian Dahl (1839)
And that was my weekend in Oslo.
There are some very... interesting sculptures. Almost all are naked.
The monster eating the woman.
The far end of the park.; the entire park was filled with tourists.
The only sculpture I saw with clothing.
The fountain which was turned off due to construction.
Babies in a tree.
And the ground was a maze.
One of the more bizarre sculptures. There was also one of a man kicking a baby.
A pile of babies.
I guess this could be considered the main sculpture. It was very tall.
Looking back at the park.
Some hugging girls.
Past the main sculpture was a sundial.
With the zodiac carved around its base.
And the sculpture at the end of the park.
Where, again, you could see the ski-slope. It looks really steep to me.
Afterwards we went to the National Museum of Art where we saw The Scream by Edward Munch. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures of The Scream but we were allowed to take pictures of other paintings.
Spring by the Seine - Claude Monet (1875)
Self-Portrait - Vincent van Gogh (1889)
Guitar - Pablo Picasso (1912)
A Picasso piece that I can actually tell what it is. From 1903 Man and Women by Pablo Picasso.
And my favourite artist there. Larvik by Moonlight - Johan Christian Dahl (1839)
And that was my weekend in Oslo.
Tuesday, October 09, 2012
A Weekend Trip to Oslo
Back in August I went with three other exchange students to Oslo, Norway for the weekend. The train ride their is beautiful.
We spent two days in Oslo. This post covers the first day.
Slottet - The royal palace
The guards have entertaining hats.
The tram system. They go everywhere and are a very good way to get around. You do have to buy your ticket before getting on the tram.
There was some interesting art near the harbour.
The harbour.
Interesting building near the harbour.
More from the harbour.
Looking out.
The Eternal Peace Flame.
More interesting art in a restaurant.
Some ice. I saw two of these in the city. They were melting.
Part of the Akershus Fortress. Originally built around 1300.
The view from the fortress.
The castle in the fortress.
From the fortress you could see one of Oslo's many churches as well as the ski-slope - Holmenkollen.
Gamle Oslo - Old Town. There were many brightly painted houses.
Elsewhere there was interesting architecture including some very interesting windows.
And more interesting architecture.
Out in the bay.
The Opera and Ballet House. We walked to the top and got another nice view of the city and water.
From the top of the Opera House.
Day two coming soon.
We spent two days in Oslo. This post covers the first day.
Slottet - The royal palace
The guards have entertaining hats.
The tram system. They go everywhere and are a very good way to get around. You do have to buy your ticket before getting on the tram.
There was some interesting art near the harbour.
The harbour.
Interesting building near the harbour.
More from the harbour.
Looking out.
The Eternal Peace Flame.
More interesting art in a restaurant.
Some ice. I saw two of these in the city. They were melting.
Part of the Akershus Fortress. Originally built around 1300.
The view from the fortress.
The castle in the fortress.
From the fortress you could see one of Oslo's many churches as well as the ski-slope - Holmenkollen.
Gamle Oslo - Old Town. There were many brightly painted houses.
Elsewhere there was interesting architecture including some very interesting windows.
And more interesting architecture.
Out in the bay.
The Opera and Ballet House. We walked to the top and got another nice view of the city and water.
From the top of the Opera House.
Day two coming soon.
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