First Oral Exam

I had my first exam the other day. It was a strange experience, as it was an oral math exam. I sat in the prof's office, while he put problems on the white board and I had to solve them in front of him. It sounds a little nerve racking, but having been through it, it's really not so bad. In this case, the prof was cool enough to guide me along if I got a stuck, or if I made a stupid error, one that would normally screw up an answer and require lots of my time going through everything to find it, he would let me know that it should be a '-' here, etc.

It seemed like all of my complaints on how math was taught and tested in the past were addressed. Normally, we would memorize some key problems that we knew were going to be on an exam and then regurgitate them back onto the page during the exam, and the real trick to doing well was to not make stupid mistakes. This seems to test how well we can focus on the little details, although really doesnt test our true understanding of the topic. This individual testing seems to take care of that, as he could ask me anything he wanted, and all he really wanted to see was that I knew the general process for solving certain problems.

All in all, it was a strange experience, but I have 3 more.

On another note, Omar and Nina are coming down today...although I havent heard from them yet, they should be arriving at the main station this afternoon, hopefully good times will be had. I did a once over spring cleaning of my room, its almost spotless now, just like when I moved in.


k, I have more books to bury my face into...

View into our past...

I found this pretty awesome site through StumbleUpon!, its a large shot of the Hubble Deep Field image taken by the one and only Hubble Telescope. Its as far into (meaning the furthest back in time) the universe as we have ever seen. You can scroll around with the green circle and the magnified image appears in real time in the main area. Very interesting stuff.

As a measure of scale, keep in mind, every blip, and spiral you see is in fact another whole galaxy, just like our Milky Way, comprising of millions and millions of stars just like our own...

yes, we are that tiny....

Good way to kill a half hour. enjoy

...To the Roots of the Civilization...

-----I booked a flight today to Tunisia on a whim by my buddy Aaron in Australia. I found a good deal on a flight and decided to go get some culture and sun and see the place where our Western culture originally stemmed from.

Im going for a week after my exams are done, late March.

I'm excited, but currently must tend to the issue of my exams, starting in a couple days...it's time to break out the books...

Trying week

Well today classes are finished. This means exams are only around the corner. I like how we choose when we do our exams here. If I dont think I'll be ready till April, i dont take the bitch till April. Its a nice easy feeling. I have decided, however, to do these Canadian styles and get em all done ASAP. Im used to cramming for about 2 or 3 weeks to get everything done, so thats what im gonna do (actually, I still feel as though im giving myself lots of time as I have about 2 weeks between exams...2 WEEKS!!! what the hell am i gonna do with all that time?!)

so I scheduled my first one for Wednesday, its the math course Ive been taking, and most of it has been review so Im not too concerned about it. Although, it is my very first oral exam so I dont really know what to expect, but we'll see how it goes. The Europeans think Im crazy, as they take around 1 month per exam. If you ask me, get it over with, no use dragging out that much torture; crazy bastards, I think. Plus, I want some time to travel.

As the post suggested, it has been a very trying week for me. Not only was I sick as a dog with one of the worst flu's Ive ever been hit with, but my dad's brother passed away as well. Its really sad, as he was a great guy with a huge heart, but the cancer did him in. It wasnt a surprise, as he has been really sick for a while. I saw him over the Christmas break, and I knew that was the last time I would see him, but its never easy even when youre prepared. I wish I could have been there for the funeral, its strange grieving so far from everyone else.

So it's been an emotional rollercoaster for me, but I hope after exams start going, its going to be
a bit smoother. I can immerse myself in physics for a month and hopefully get something out of it. Im also starting to talk to profs about thesis projects. I'll post more when I start really talking to them, but there are many various themes and topics for me to choose from, I really have to make a solid decision in the next couple months though, so I can prepare all my coursework, etc, and whatever else is needed for me to do it properly.

Anyways, I have my last class of the term right now. Take care everyone

t

3 Great Days followed by 3 Shitty Days

Good 3 days:

Alex and Mark left for India, if youre curious how theyre doing, check out Mark's Blog, he just got started, but I'll be checkin in to see how he's doin.

We had a really good time in the 3 short days that we saw eachother. We froze our butts off in Zurich, ate the fondue (I'm sorry, but is there anything more than cheese and bread?), and realized in a matter of minutes that this place is far too expensive for us. It really is ridiculous, but you can get by for relatively cheap if you look hard enough.

For the most part the Swiss were really nice people, but we also got the impression that the Swiss have to get over themselves (and their fondue).

To save money, we took the slower train to get back to Stuttgart, we passed into Germany in Constance, which is a really nice lake (pretty much the only lake of any size in the area). The Passport Control was a completely empty room, with two guys who polk their heads out, and give ya the wave through. We also saw a rare sighting of our childhood Nintendo hero:

Megaman!!!! It was noted that if one looks very closely, one can see an arm cannon.

hehe, we then made it back to Stuttgart, enjoyed a few evenings of drunkeness, and international dinners and other brew-ha-ha's. They then left as quickly as they came, and headed for the long haul in India and South East Asia.

Haha, I got this message from them as they were stuck in Zurich in the dead of night with many many hours to kill before they leave.

TIM FREEZING IN ZURICH 9 HRS TO KILL. LOOK LIKE 2
FAGS IN PHONE BOOTH. MAY HAVE TO RESORT TO GAY SEX.
MARK WILL CATCH. FOUND OUT RED AREA IS COMMY. HAVE
PHOTO TO PROVE. ONLY 240 CHARACTERS ALLOWED. MUST GO.
MARK AND ALEX.

They sent it from a payphone. I got a laugh out of it.


Bad 3 Days:

Those Canadian Germ machines gave me the flu thats goin on in Toronto, this has been my personal proof that I have gone Euro.

So Ive been holed up in my room, trying to get sleep and watch lots of movies.

Oh yah, the dudes filled me in on this new trend about 'Chuck Norris' jokes, they found it hilarious. Any good ones that you can post?

Arrived in CH

just got here in Zurich, this internet is bloody expensive so I only have a minute to really write this. Gonna pick up the dudes at the airport, looks like everything is gonna work out....it always seems to. I like that.

2 things that bug me about travelling...

1. The Keyboards are SO fucked in most countries, they place random keys all over the place
2. The outlets are always a different shape, why

Off to Zurich!!!

Im on my way out to the train station to make my way to Zurich. I'll be picking up Mark and Alex, two fine and available Canadian bachelor's (well, not really mark, but well see how that goes). Theyre arriving tomorrow early and I have to be there to catch them as they come off, should be a good time for all. We'll be heading back here by the end of the weekend.

Ugh, last night there was a party here in my kitchen, I drank WAY too much Sangria. Life lesson learned: only let the spanish make the sangria, anyone else, and things turn ugly...Im starting my trip with a hangover, lovely.

And to boot, I have to finish up a fair bit of schoolwork on the way there and maybe in some downtimes, I know once mark and alex show up its all over, but I'll try to get as much done as possible, its kinda crunch time here.

If I had more time, I would give a little story as to a new observation I had of European Students versus North American...in short, they would crumble and die in our system. I'll explain more later. Off to Switzerland, where the chocolate is even better than here, and the language is barely German (I have no idea what theyre talking about, even though its technically German)

out