Time for a boring old update

(this entry was “pre-recorded”, I made it last weekend or so)

I haven’t been updating nearly about this whole Norway thing nearly as much as I was the previous few weeks. I should rectify that…is what I would say, but I honestly don’t know what to talk about. Apart from a few exceptions, the weeks have been relatively normal. I have done the following things last week.

-Had group meetings, clarified one project and got started on the other
-Protested SOPA and PIPA on line
-Made a presentation for the United States for when we’re up at the international presentation thing at the student pub
-Practiced ASP.NET MVC framework (glad I trained myself on basic C# beforehand, it let me do some “tricks” that seem off the beaten dev path, which is good).
-Researched change management in ITIL
-Talked to people back home.
-Resolved a financial situation
-Indirectly ordered a few things
-Went to a house party that was being held at the dorm/apt complex I live at (not my room, it was on the floor above). Helped a friend out who partied a bit too hard.
-Ran myself ragged in the week and just slept all through the weekend.

I suppose it does seem more full when you look at it like that. However, I’m not doing anything major or super Norway cool. I’m not going on next week’s skiing trip (I never learned to ski and I am needed with my group), I am not learning the language in the free class (I felt that class would be too disruptive, I need to be on the same academic schedule as my group). I didn’t see anything new or significant in Norway, and I probably never will. I could be back in Omaha doing this project, and assuming all things (classwise, groupwise, and projectwise) are equal, then apart from a few subtle changes it wouldn’t make any difference. It kind of makes me mad that I am in such a position, but I am a student first. If my friends take me back here years later, they’ll ask about all the cool stuff and tourist traps in the country. I’ll just tell them “I don’t know, I spent all my time getting my group project done. It was too intense a semseter, I couldn’t afford to do anything else.” Then agian, this is EVERY semester for me. I just feel like I am losing more then normal because of it this time. Ehh, oh well, I’ll gain more then enough to be usable for my future, and that’s what counts in the end.

Join me next time when I panic and complain about the non-classified parts of my project(s).

We’ve won the battle, but the war is far from over

The blackout protest hit hard, much harder then I thought. Overnight, the support for SOPA overwhelmingly shifted against it. Supposedly, protests against it were so intense that it Overwhelmed the personal contact addresses of US Senators. As a Nebraska native, I am pleased that every congressman we have except one (Ben Nelson, whom is not re-running) has pulled support for this bill. I am (MUCH) less pleased that one of our congressfolks (Lee Terry) helped sign and initially support this bill. He pulled his support, so I am going to give him one last chance*, but he’s got an uphill battle.

Maddox (whom I have mixed feelings about) has suggested that it would have been better if SOPA had passed. I don’t agree with that for a number of reasons, however I definitely appreciate the sentiment behind it. It’s what I call the batman principal. A dramatic example is needed to shake people out of apathy (and despite all the “occupation” of various places and increased desire to be at least minimally activist, apathy is the order of the day). Here are the following things that seem to be needed to really “wage war” against the system as it stands.

-A grave injustice (already there, but see below why what is already there isn’t “enough”)
-A powerful example or figure to rally around
-A culture of belief that their actions matter.

These kinds of grave injustices are there, and within the last couple of decades, have become increasingly common. So why haven’t people bothered to act. Well there are a lot of reasons, but one major one is that these have become so common that it is culturally accepted to be a matter of course for this kind of crap to occur (particularly within major government or corporate infrastructure). I have also been saying that people have become more selectively in-taking information to preserve their view of reality being a nice place, or more accurately, that the life they are living isn’t a “part” of the world where all the various problems of the world happen. “Sure, people get shot and killed all the time, but that’s ‘over there’ in _____, it won’t happen to me or my family.” As long as people are content with whats within their life and scared of everything outside of it, they will be numb to the problems around them. However, with the extreme starkness of the problems at hand, it’s getting increasingly difficult to keep up that illusion. It’s at a very minor and frankly, ineffectual scale, but people are beginning to act again. More on that later. My point being that these things are considered common and contextually acceptable in the United States, and it almost seems like people are testing to see how far they can push it.

The second factor, a powerful example or figure to rally around, is what Maddox is effectively stating SOPA would be. I’ll be honest, he would be right (I still think it not passing is for the best, but more on that later). Charismatic leaders are effectively neutralized by the entertainment media. A group desiring ratings who feel (or whose parent companies feel) things like SOPA (for example) is in their best interests. In the past, people like MLK Jr got on meet the press. Many of the people in the hippie movement used the power of the media as an (effective) weapon. Nowadays, that would never happen. It is painfully obvious that the media is being sat on by various interests. I speculate what changed them from straight shooters to more party liners and parrots was the Vietnam war, but I digress. People like Dr King or Gloria Stienem could never be created in today’s framework and do what they did on a national level. Even if they were born with all the right tools and the right motive (and there is no shortage of reasons for the latter). They would quickly be suppressed, character assassinated, and diverted from. Anything to keep the people in the necessary state of docile apathy to maintain the status quo. A terrible incident that can’t be swept under the rug like SOPA passing would presumably qualify (although if they are subtle about how the law is implemented, it might not be enough until it is too late. Even I didn’t know about the DMCA until 2005). Once a society is accustomed to a freedom and it becomes a fundamental part of their daily lives, removing it is almost impossible. Also, while this is largely reduced to romantic tales and excuses to go to war, a national identity of freedom of expression and winning that from the tyrants of the era is still enough of a driving force. Also, the national distrust for the Chinese regime that dates back to the cold war would have an impact too (since we would essentially be doing what they’re doing and helping other countries try to escape from). Again, it has to be something to shock people into action. At the risk of invoking a trigger, look at the after effects of 9/11. A tragedy pure and simple, but it completely changed the national paradigm. A US senator can safely say with a straight face “free speech is nice, but we’re at war” when supporting something like the PATRIOT act. Before that tragic incident, anybody who said that (even if there was a real war going on) would be duly shouted down for sacrificing the very things the US is supposed to stand for for the sake of winning that war. However, I digress.

This leads into the last point. Because of the saturation of corruption, a complete lack of trustworthiness in the media, etc., people have come to believe their actions don’t matter. I don’t blame them one bit. On every level in US culture, I hear 2 messages. The broadcast message is the national identity of “everybody matters.” The un-communicated message is much more harsh. It broadcasts a narrative of how nothing we do will ever matter. Read this list and tell me you are still convinced that average US citizens are unjustified in this defeatist view!

-Since the mid 90′s, the US has been semi-consistently getting involved in conflicts that the citizenry largely didn’t believe in.
-The youth demographic (among the seemingly most dejected) are being flat out ignored by politicians
-The outcome of the 2000 election (where it is widely thought Bush Jr didn’t really get elected, but he got in anyway).
-The electoral college system (particularly “winner takes all”)
-Job listings that say unemployed need not apply
-An extreme disparity of wealth, a gap that only grows wider
-The US is arguably one of the least socially mobile countries in the first world. “If you want to live the American Dream, go to Denmark.”
-The aforementioned corruption of the government and media
-A sharply negative cultural stereotype about people who protest and act in an activistic manner (“They’re all just hippies with no concept of reality”).
-Very little evidence that any sort of activistic activity has actually mattered (tell me, how many states reformed their stance on rape after the slutwalks?).
-An extreme disconnect between the people and their elected representatives (which is really how this SOPA thing could POSSIBLY exist)
-Very clear proof that lobbyists and money is a LOT stronger. Proof that in order to influence the government, you have to “buy” it.

The fact that the protests have been appearing at all show that people have reached the breaking point. However, I once again am forced to question the effectiveness of such. One of my metrics of how strong a protest is is how much I hear people talking about it. I haven’t heard the phrase “occupy ______” since last November. A sad fact is that while I was impressed it lasted as long as it did and was as strong as it was, the average person it SHOULD be reaching and encouraging them of the economic situation doesn’t care. It isn’t new and entertaining, it is old and “meh.” If people can tune out SCHOOL SHOOTINGS within the space of a week, what hope is there here?

However, that is slowly eroding…for now. The occupy movement and the slutwalk, although off the radar and largely ignored now, did show people ARE willing to act at least a minimal amount. As is often told to the trolls at Manboobz.com (fun site BTW), there is a difference between bitching on the internet and actually acting (…I am aware of the irony. Before you say anything, I wrote to all Nebraska Senators about how I feel about SOPA). The internet blackout attack worked wonders to strike SOPA down. Victories like these are needed to convince people that what they do actually counts. Remind them that victory is possible and they’ll commit to more of it. It will take a lot more for people to boycott major media companies, but if you can give clear, concrete proof that such an inconvenience will pay off against the SOPA supporters, then more will follow. This scares those who owe their power and wealth to the lobbyist oligarchical model of government that could be argued we are in right now.

In theory, SOPA would have possibly roused the people into action the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades, and best case scenario, it would have shattered the system that lead it into being forever. However, I doubt this would have had that effect. It would have roused the sleeping giant, but it would have simply lead to it being permanently put down.

Here is why that despite the potential unintended benefits, SOPA’s passing will do more harm then long term good.
-The EC will push very hard to follow suit with its own version of the law (see also, the EC version of the DMCA).
-Other countries would follow suit. Now that net censorship is “ok”, other countries will enforce the laws that they hold sacred
-Internet law treaties will be made to lock it in place permanently. According to a journal article I read opposing ACTA (forgot its name, but it was in the Yale Law Journal I think), international treaties are traditionally given precedence to internal laws. Even if it goes against the US constitution, it will be locked in place by international treaties that would be, by design, almost impossible to get out of.
-Government sovereignties will find that they like the new fractionated view of the world. Since it toes in line with the unilateral media model where end-users are only consumers that the companies crave so much, they would like it too (although they would wish they could do it more globally). It would increase the idea of territorial sovereignty in cybersapce, which makes the nation feel more powerful. Nations would not want to go back to a free internet when it would feel like they are effectively conceding territory to “terrorists” (and that is what people who long to go back to the free internet model will be called).
-Since people have been docile so far, they’ll adjust to this too. It won’t ignite a fire, people would just get distracted and the people involved will be slow to implement it. It will be done in a way that sneaks up on people until it’s gone so far that there is no way out.

We won the battle, but not the war. Several bills like this have been attempted (some have passed). This has been going on ever since the media saw the recorded tape as a threat in the 1980s. The US trade office has made it its mission to globalize the DMCA for the sake of economic hegemony. ACTA was initiated in 2006 to do much the same thing (despite its initial secrecy, public pressure managed to set in after it was leaked. It was enough to reduce it to the initial WIPO treaties, considered a failure by the USTR). It was particularly aimed in getting Canada to have a DMCA like measure (which recently did happen because of the conservative party sweeping the entire senatorial body). They will make a bill like this again. The only thing the IIPA people here have learned is to not make it so overt. The theory is that the next bill will be hidden inside some sort of child protection bill. Anybody who opposes that would be committing political suicide (after all “____ is someone who opposed a bill that would protect your children from predators!”). They will do it. The only thing we can do is be ready and keep fighting. Don’t stop now because we won against SOPA. If anything, this is a perfect chance to mount an assault. They are wounded. We need to show them that we won’t tolerate any more bills of this nature ever again.

*Whoever runs against him has to be as bad as Rick Santorum to get me to overlook him for his amount of support on this bill. I’m giving him at least that much, but not an inch more unless he really owns up to his opposition of the IDEA behind this bill.

This group project is going to be hardcore

As I have probably alluded to earlier, I have two major group projects this semester. These are going to take up the majority of my time. However, the way this is going to be handled is a bit different then I am accustomed to.

As a group, we are probably meeting every weekday (class or no class) to either discuss this and that about our project, or to proceed forward on it. We are going to dedicate the majority of our time to working on these projects. I might propose a lull period between project 305 and project 304 when it comes close to exam times so that we can study and manage to dominate those (depending on when we get done). That being said, it isn’t utterly all consuming. We have agreed that our “work days” are from 8AM to 4PM, and we don’t formally “work” on weekends unless we agree to it in advance.

There are some advantages and disadvantages to this method
Advantages
-We will all be in the same place working on what is presumably the same task
-Clearly defined hours of when we do and don’t “work” will keep things sane
-It allows us to have lives outside of our project provided it doesn’t interfere with the project proper.

Disadvantages
-It is a (very) different methodology of programming then what I’m used to. I usually just slam code at home when I am awake, with my resources (pop and snacks) nearby, awesome music in my ears to help faciliate my “programmers trance.” I oftem push myself extremely hard
-Programming in an environment I feel less comfortable and accustomed to doing that kind of work in might be detrimental to the results.

Would I recommend all my group projects in the future do this? Not in the slightest. While it does seem like an optimal method in this case (even if I would have to get up early on MANY days I have no class…), there is one very important factor that makes this possible. Academically, every one of us has the exact same schedule and class loadout. This makes keeping in communication about what we’re expected of outside our projects and in our other classes a non-issue. I can’t count the number of times I wanted to help people with assignments/study-groups/etc, only to have to reject them because I had homework or other such things in other classes. This time it’s a non-issue, because our entire scholastic existence is more or less synched up. This is a rather rare scenario in US education IIRC (not sure how common it is here. It seems this way by design in this specific course, but doesn’t seem to be common as a system wide phenomenon). This has NEVER EVER happened with any of my other classes (then again, I am doing two majors, so it’s even less probable for me then it is for others). This is the reason I, with the utmost reluctance, rejected that free norwegian crash course class. I felt keeping my schedule aligned with my group was the highest priority.

I would give more “Norway-esque” reports about the my experience here, but there’s really nothing to say. My days have been relatively dull and repetitive (not in a bad way though). Go to class (or group meeting), go home, sleep, wake up, practice IT skills for project, try to sleep for next day class. Rinse-lather-repeat, etc. Granted, tomorrow’s class doesn’t start until rather late (AND THANK FUCK FOR THAT), and we as a group don’t have a morning meeting (one of our group mates is going to the dentist I think), so I can actually get enough sleep not to go home ragged and not thinking “I have crap to take care of, but I’m TOO DAMN TIRED” like I have the last couple of days. Oh well, there are things to be said about predictability. It’s controllable, it is (in my case) affordable, etc. Still, there are things I do really need to do at school before the week is out, and a day where I don’t have the severe fatigue that prevents that from happening would be optimal.

What’s the point of school if you don’t learn anything?

Last Saturday, I was sitting at home. I was turbo-ing pop, eating snack foods when needed, and deeply engrossed in getting my C# program done (it was a duplication of the 1400 “numerology” assignment, with a twist that it could optionally output the result to a text file). It was at that moment I took a look at myself and realized that I was no longer “visiting” Norway, I now truly feel like I -live- here. Granted, I miss doing the tourist like stuff (visiting the center, etc) and having the time to do the same. However, I feel that this is proof that I have truly settled in to my spot here. I feel I’ll miss a lot of things people who are back at home would see if they came here right now. However, I also feel a kind of acclimated familiarity. I feel I could with at least a minimal amount of authority, say what it’s like to live here from the perspective of someone who is currently doing it.

With that it mind, it should come as no surprise that my days are probably going to be a lot more boring compared to the previous ones. “I met with my group, I came home, did grocery shopping, practiced C#, and made a blog post” is not exactly an interesting thing to write about (that was also my day today in its entirety). Since I can’t talk about the only other major interesting thing I’m doing (my project), I’ll go with the primary reason I’m here. What am I learning from my classes (either directly or indirectly).

IS-304:

First off, I learned of a classic agile programming methodology that comes highly recommended. It has the…seriously weird name “Scrum” (that sounds like either pirate jargon or a cleaning product). What it entails is daily meetings discussing progress, quick spurts toward immediate goals, and frequent meetings with the product owner to meet with any potential changes zie might have. Comes highly recommended from the teacher. The opinions of the corporate contacts are…more varied on it.

Also, some things I learned about project management as a process.
-Sometimes those above you might not really grok that you aren’t as familiar with the assigned task as they are. Ask them specific questions that force concrete answers when seeking clarification
-Concentrate on the user-design first rather then the technical stuff. Find out what user X wants to do with it before deciding the best way to get that done, no matter how cool the ideas you have to do that are.
-Even in the most blindingly abstract conditions, find the right starting point and you’ll have some idea of how to conceptualize, model, and eventually solve the problem before you.

IS-305:

The lecturer here reminds me of Azad. Of course, this is probably in part the circumstances in which I attended Computer Architecture class (which he taught). The class is 3 horus long, and there is one 15 minute break in the middle. He goes through a lot of concepts, but he goes slower then you’d think, explaining everything along the way. I’m trying my best to retain what I think is a priority of what he’s saying. Some factors make it tough, but I’m trying to write them down as best I can. Hopefully, his exam isn’t as tough as Azad’s assignments (THAT was what I disliked about his class). I don’t know the nature of the project in this class yet (we have some idea of where to proceed, but I don’t know what he wants us to DO for this project, so it’s awfully tough to proceed beyond a concept). We shall see what’s going on there. When the IS-304 project picks up and that one (and studying for the exam in Mid March)…that’s going to be mega-crunch time. Hopefully, despite how the 304 project will be on full steam, it will feel good to concentrate on one thing.

Personal learnings.

During this relative moment of downtime for home tasks, I have decided (for many reasons) to learn C# and SQL. Granted, these weren’t on the TOP of my list of languages to learn (they both were up there though). However, since I am going to be taking a databasing class when I get back (which inevitably uses SQL somehow), and I will try to take game programming as one of my electives (which uses C#); I figured it’s best to get a leg up on these early on. There are (many) other reasons for this, but those are the ones on the forefront of my mind right now.

C# learning notes (keep in mind I have prior experience in C, C++, Java, and Perl)
-Why is the input always read as a character or string? Why do I have to parse the raw input EVERY TIME? Doesn’t that make an unnecessary extra step?
-Structurally, this is a lot more like Java then any “classic C” based language I am familiar with
-csc.exe (MS’s compiler) packs everything into one windows EXE file. Makes classes less easily portable between file collections, but it does make applications more compact.
-The C-style string non-literal (char array’s without need of an API), Java style appending, perl style regexes. I gotta say, I like the way it handles strings so far (even if it is the default input data type despite variable styles).

SQL
-This is EASY
-…REAL easy
-…I’m talking learning HTML easy
-I’m sure there are a lot more complex and skillful ways to do this, but MAN. I was slightly intimidated by the ubiquitousness and power of the language only to find that it is the second easiest language (after HTML) that I have EVER bothered to pick up.

Well, I’ll leave it at that. Time to crash before my 8 AM class tomorrow (blerg).

Finacnial follies that need to be resolved

The situation with my financial aid at school is what is medically known as fucked up. Here is the situation right now.

I have received a confirmed 7,108.00 from finacnial aid. This was all from grants and loans.
My bank account shows that I was initially given 6,794.00. I initially thought this was plus the stipend.

I later received an e-mail saying that they accidentally didn’t charge me tuition in error. Instead, they only charged my international student fee. They had overpaid me by 3,483.95 (so sayeth my bills). I paid it off of course, I still have the money and figured I had the back up loan (although I’d rather not use it). The initial difference was due to my having paid off the study abroad cost (which is apparently $314). Factoring in other things such as the small bit of cash I had on hand when I got here (enough to survive until my loans cleared), I currently have $2710.04 in reserves. This is not enough to pay (all of) my rent off during my time here (and prices will only increase if I make multiple payments, since the bank takes a cut each time).

Here are some complications that show my financial situation shouldn’t be like this
-I have an honors scholarship pending (about 1.7K). I’m not really counting on that one, since I honestly have no idea why I was awarded it (my GPA is awesome, but I never actively applied for it).
-I was promised a $2,000 stipend. I did some digging and e-mailed the people who were behind it. I was told I should have got that in my financial aid. However, even before they made the mistake, I saw no evidence that I had ever received it. This could be the difference between whether or not I take out that backup loan.

It still will be a tight budget. Even with the exchange rates being the strongest for the US dollar versus the Norwegian Kroner in 6 months (it’s been steadily rising too, currently 6.06299451 NOK per 1 USD), my budget after my rent will be roughly $1,700. However, my rent will be paid in full (if there is an overdraft, they will return it. I am making a somewhat generous overestimate to be sure (6 months rent plus potential transfer fees). With this much, I should have enough to get by I think. I am not paying for gas/driving (thank all deities for that), and even if I wanted to head out, and I’ve got all my “one time purchases (I might get a rice pot or pizza tray later though). This means that all I’ll be paying for is food. I think I can get by. If it gets too low (what that is depends on how far along the semester I am) I can always take “option B” that I’ve been avoiding. However, the point now is that I wouldn’t yet HAVE to, provided I get this stipend. If I got the stipend and the scholarship, I would probably be set for the rest of my time here barring anything unexpected (something you should ALWAYS put emergency money aside for if possible). However, it all depends on if the financial people come through. I have the evidence to back up my case.

We’ll see where this goes, I’ve talked to all the people I can talk to. There’s nothing else I can do.

UPDATE (01/17/2012)
After launching an investigation, it had shown that because of the need for an adjustment of my study abroad costs for documentation purposes, they tripped up again. However, they have promised me that all the money in the scholarships I have been awarded (I am told I will receive 1.1K for the fall retroactively and 3,946.25 for the Spring). It should be in the bank in 5 business days (aka 1 week). I will see if this happens. With luck, my tuition is covered (although I should play it safe for the worst case scenario and the honors payment is retroactively retracted). This should be MORE then enough to ensure my continued survival in this nation for the entirety of my stay here (in fact, this was the estimated maximum amount that one loan was supposed to give). I still had paid off my tuition with my credit card and all that. I choose to think of it as being awarded a small boost in my credit score in paying off that purchase as payment for the mixup.

It will soon begin

Tomorrow I have my first experience interacting with a real program-contracting company (due to my busy schedule and 2 majors, I never had the chance to do that in the US yet, something I plan on rectifying once I get back home). I don’t know the name of the company, but it is a pretty major firm (yet a bit under the radar). Maybe it’s for the best because of the nature of my project, I’m going to be signing a non-disclosure agreement. I just hope it’s not so intense that I can’t use them as a reference later if the project goes particularly well.

I’m super nervous about this. Sure, I’ve been forced to conform my code to naming, structure, and documentation standards I’d rather not (see also: 1400 and !John_Clark 1620). However, my instincts say this is on a whole different level (major firms usually are to keep everything integrated). Furthermore, I’ve never really worked with a group that really gave a damn before. Well, I take that back, I’ve had some good groups before. However, I’ve never made a collaborative program with them. The closest I’ve come is helping people on personal projects by writing small methods for them. It was never a project I was at all involved in. It was more of a “could you help me, I don’t really know how to _____”, and if it was within my power, I would hammer together a small method that would make it happen and let them use it.

I’m also worried about the pacing. Normally, when I don’t understand why something is failing or how a critical function works, I write a small separate program (which can take a few hours) showing how it works, hammering out the details, and getting functional results. From that I can reference it every time if I need a reminder of how it functions. It works wonders, but I don’t think I have that luxury now (unless my back is to the wall and I absolutely need to figure out how a function works).

There’s also the fact that I (and my entire group) have a concurrent project that we need to do before a certain point in March (luckily, I have the same group for both). This one isn’t for a real life company though (come to think of it, I don’t really know the details for this one). The company project is supposed to theoretically be 26.7 work hours per week (about 5.34 hours a day, assuming I don’t work weekends…which I inevitably will), but there’s no way to know if that’s the case, and no way to know what effect concurrent development will have on each project. Not sure how much my other group project is going to be. Between that and the final for the non company group project class, productivity will inevitably suffer for the big company project (particularly between February and March). I don’t want to make a super push during April, but that’s probably what’s going to be done.

I’m probably over thinking things. I know I’ll have to make some sacrifices, mostly involving things like hanging out with the International students (although I don’t want to completely cut them off), seeing the country, etc. Hell, I already rejected a free Norwegian language crash course that I really wanted to take (I feel it’s important to keep the same academic schedule as the group). However, one thing I will NOT sacrifice no matter how high my demands are is I will not cut off GF or my family back home. I want to communicate with them at regular intervals. I know this sometimes happens with real life intense projects (to the point where they ARE your life and you forget how live outside that workspace for a while), and sometimes they yield awesome results (see also: how they make SouthPark episodes). However, I am not willing to give that up if I can help it. Considering the two females of my group have boyfriends that they visit on the weekends, I’m probably not alone in this mentality.

Well, no use in fretting about it, we’ll find out how it pans out tomorrow.

————

The next day (why are these always in 2 day spurts)

Woke up (kinda tired, since I stayed up late practicing my programming) and wandered over to our meeting site. Our group is meeting at [NAME OF COMPANY REDACTED UNTIL I AM SURE I AM ALLOWED TO MENTION THEM] to discuss our project. IMO, people behind the project are still in a bit of a theoretical phase themselves (in some ways), which made things kind of vague. I’m honestly extremely nervous.

I’m trying to brainstorm ideas for a Scrum backlog for this to find a starting point. However, I can’t think quite where to begin. The group is meeting on Monday, we’ll see what we come up with. I’m told this project will have 3 touchstone meetings. What I picked up about this is that we are going to show what we have of the project to a group of people who will be as tough and demanding as John Clark (and possibly as blunt, minus the cursing). I’ll be the stronger for it, but as someone who takes failure/under-perfomrmance/etc extremely personally, this is going to be a rough ride. I don’t want to be someone who blames my group (unlikely, they seem competent), and I CERTAINLY don’t want to be a burden that the group would legitimately blame.

After that I was stupidly nervous. Also, I know I am going to miss out on the secondary experiences of living in Norway, just like that one guy said I shouldn’t. However, I have to give EVERYTHING to this project. The Norwegian language crash course, the various trips to wherever, the parties and gatherings…all must be sacrificed. My schedule should stay the same as my group (all of us have only those two classes). If I have time to drink, I have time to code. If I have time to go to Oslo, I have time to go to group meetings. I think our “official” work days are during “regular work hours” (8AM-4PM, M-F). I think this is in part because one of our group members has a 5 year old kid. However, I plan to work whenever I am awake (I might take a nap during my “work day” if we aren’t skype contacting if I am permitted, so it balances out). I KNOW I am the kind of person to deeply and completely immerse myself in identifying, understanding, and completing my tasks. This is the commitment I signed up for. I am a student first, and I am STUDYING abroad. Granted, I would LIKE these secondary experiences, but to slightly modify a quote from KOS-MOS, “I believe it is obvious what gets priority” (I changed “who” with “what”).

Apart from that, all I did was some banal grown up stuff. I Bought groceries and things I couldn’t carry on an airplane (got a decent Razor for ~75NOK (a little over 20 bucks, which by Norway standards is a good deal)). I did my Laundry (it is kind of hard to decypher those machines at first, I am so accustomed to the machines at my folks house they graciously let me use, as well as the detergent that is easy to identify whose lid doubles as a measuring cup). I was going to practice with my devtools I was told to use for the task after I had downloaded them (the freeware ones, the remaining 2 I am going to see if I can requisition from either the school or the company [I prefer the former, as I can keep it that way]), however I decided to give myself a night off and spent it melding with various sites I love and have lost touch with given how busy I’ve been. I plan to mess with the tools tomorrow (as well as talk to GF a lot). I think since I don’t have one of the key tools though (the one that’s not freeware), I’ll have to re-evaluate my plan. However, I do plan on advancing critical knowledges and/or skills some how. I don’t want to be inert just because it’s Saturday (I do plan on allocating some time to talk to the awesome one and/or the folks, but still). We shall see what’s going on.

Anyways, Week 2 of school complete. Since I’ve been cloistered away doing school work of various forms, I am not going to be taking as much pictures (which is too bad, I like doing that). I’m sure these entries will get sparser once the work piles up (since we are compiling our backlog and don’t have a certain key tool, we aren’t making anything quite yet).

Insert creative title here

The event at the student pub was an…amusing presentation about Norway (I need to ask them what youtube video they used, it was great). The pub itself is something that seems surreal to have on campus considering I come from a “booze is PERMA-BANNED” campus. The policies are that you can’t bring any liquids in (people inspect backpacks and such). Also, they can’t serve anything over 21 proof. Like all bars, you can’t take it with you.

The presentation they delivered was about Norway traditions. Apparently, HS graduates wear either blue or red overalls (blue for economics people, red for…anything else). They traditionally do a lot of things that would get them in trouble, but it’s tolerated because of the tradition of celebration. Another way it’s different from the US. While there are some pranks near the end of High School, they are firmly cracked down on by the overseers there. Of course, it may be in part that I went to HS during a climate of fear (the Columbine incident happened during my Junior year IIRC. That…really changed things). Supposedly, I get the opportunity to do this myself as an exchange student to experience a part of growing up in Norway. I don’t know if the Authorities will give the same leeway to a 30 year old 4th year college student from the US (plus I will probably be neck deep in my group projects).

One part had 5 exchange students participating in a traditional norwegian “kick a hat off of a stick.” Kind of like limbo in reverse. You miss, you’re out. Every “full circle”, the hat is moved higher until we only have one left. I participated (I figured my old Kung Fu training and 6′ of height would help). I took 3rd place (I ALMOST got it that one time).

After that, a group of students went off to this one bar/dance area (kind of like…that one place I went with my friend HCS a while back). Tuesdays are “half price wine night.” It was still expensive for a bottle of white, but half price is half price, and I wanted to say I did it at least once. Unfortunately, the experience wasn’t the greatest because I was sitting in an area where I couldn’t hear ANYBODY, so I couldn’t follow any conversations. Also, I had…very little food so the wine had an especially strong punch. I showed myself out a little early because I honestly think I would have gotten kicked out if I went any farther. Hopefully, if/when I go next time, it will be with people I can more actively engage in (I am told some people got so wasted they didn’t go to class the next day XD).

The next day (I always do these in 2 day formats despite myself).

Luckily my Wednesday class is later then the others (good way to shake the Wine out of my system, luckily no hangover). Like I said before, this first unit is OATS class in a nutshell. My first group meeting is on Friday. We don’t have a project idea yet (the task this week was to make and sign a group contract, which we did yesterday).

After that, it was time to go to get my vaccination record confirmed…or so I thought. The e-mail we got said 3PM, but the official planner said 2:30. I just hung around with 2 other US exchange students (one from UNO, one from Minnesota) until it was time to head out. All the people at the office did was ask me if I had been to other countries, my address in Norway, and my cell phone number. After that I talked to some asian girl from Poland for a while to kill time and then headed home. After that it is just a simple routine thing (ate food, took a nap, did my required reading for tomorrow’s class, etc). Now I’m just writing this and hoping the ice stays melted today (it was pretty nice today, it got above 40. Just like Omaha, it’s been an unseasonably warm winter).

Well, it’s time to get some sleep (that’s what I tell myself but I know I’m not tired yet). I have an early class tomorrow. It supposed to cool down a lot back home and not here. Never thought I’d be significantly warmer up in Norway, but again, unseasonably warm winter.

—–
Here’s some random things I’ve noticed that I haven’t found a way to work into any other entry that I want to put before I forget.

-European credit cards and ATM cards have a chip inside of them. As a result, some (especially older) card readers can’t handle US credit cards (they also all have PIN numbers)
-Ice on the sidewalks is not treated (well, there is sand, but not anti-ice chemicals or that kind of stuff).
-The side roads have 2 lanes, the right lane is presumed to be for people on bikes.
-Temperatures are a lot more…stable here. The difference between daytime and night time seems relatively negligable. I haven’t seen a day where the high and the low are more then 10 degrees (Farenheight) apart. Any Nebraska native KNOWS that isn’t how it is back in Omaha (both a blessing and a curse. I wouldn’t want those heat waves we got last summer stay 90+ at night).

Back from classes

Now that I’ve experienced my classes, I figured I’d babble on those. Like with previous entries, this will be divided into 2 days.

01/09/2012 (yep, I am still putting dates in US order)

I woke up from various weird dreams and had to shake the cobwebs out. Thankfully, most of the ice on the roads had melted by then. I try not to grumble in envy about things back home, but I do miss how back in Omaha, it has been a record warm winter (the first snow here it was 61F there). Where the only snow we got COMPELTELY melted away in 2 days because of unseasonable warmth. Granted, it’s been a warm winter up here too (less warm, but Norway standards are probably different), but…AUGH, THE ICE!

Like I thought, IS-304 is a class about doing a huge group project for and approved by a real-life company. Most of the people knew each other (that seems to be the effect of being in the same department and on the same year, although in Omaha it’s less so because of the detached and solitary atmosphere), so the groups were already made. Me and one other international student introduced ourselves and said what our skills were as “free agents.” Since I have a strong programming background (although I’m not nearly as good at it as I’d like to be) and speak fluent English, I was quickly recruited by a group (apparently, English speaking programmers are in demand). I’m not sure if I’m allowed to speak of the details of our project (the company involved does seem to be strict about confidentiality), but it did say reports had to be submitted in English. Unfortunately, the language they seem to want is C# and possibly a dot-NET background. Well, I’ve been meaning to learn C# anyway (it was tied second on my list with ruby and Lisp, first place being Python).

Sidenote: For some reason, I can’t help but reflect that each member of my group also seems to share something different with me. One member is male (the only person physiologically male* besides me), one member started late in life like I did (she is a year older then me), and one who went to UNO (she studied abroad there, she took 1840, 2850 (aka Bob’s class) and one class I couldn’t identify).

For lunch I went to the student cafeteria. For price reasons I can’t make a habit out of this. However, they had this awesome thing that was like a cinnamon roll with vanilla cream in the center. Between that and their strong coffee, I think I found my ideal breakfast if I want to dine Norwegian. I know I can find those at grocery stores, so I might treat myself to one after I accomplish something significant on my group projects or something.

Speaking of food, I’m happy because after doing requisite shopping (the book store wouldn’t take US credit cards because they don’t have that “chip” that EU ones do, so I had to get money from the ATM), I now have enough food to pick and choose what I get to eat among them. I know this sounds minor, but prior to this, I only had chips (which lasted a little more then a day) and bread. When chips ran out, it was literally bread or nothing. Since grocery stores (at least ones nearby) aren’t open on Sundays (the day I am accustomed to shopping), I literally subsisted off of bread and water. I feel like a peasant. Oh well, at least the water is covered in my rent.

I spent the rest of the day teaching myself basic C#. I learned some things about it I never suspected. First of all, that it is a Microsoft initiated language (it would explain why it feels more like Java then classic C/C++, even though they are all in the same general family). Second, I had to find where the C# compiler was on my computer and do some system digging to set the path (also did that with the JDK while I was at it). I’ll be blunt, MSDN’s site on the various methods and keywords is not that helpful for me. Also, I don’t think the bookstore has any resources on it (I’ll look, rather not have to pay a “Norway Price” for such a thing). Between that and talking to GF, I got lost in my doings and couldn’t get my Laundry done (I was going to, but the Laundry room is closed at 10PM). Plus I’d probably have to get a bit of help doing it (the machines are almost certainly in Norwegian).

01/10/2012 (today, as of the time I type this)

Once again, I had nightmares. These are getting disturbingly common. If this keeps up all week, I may seek psychological assistance, but I should be fine. This class is an hour earlier. That means I walk in the dark and the roads are frozen over. As much as I like the wealth of info intellicast seems to give me, it was always below the predicted low temperature today, and you didn’t bother to change that (hence why the roads were frozen). It was actually not bad out (wind-chill was pretty bad though, plus it is stupidly humid here).

My second class is a lot like my Organizations, Applications, and Technology Systems class (OATS for short, back in my day it was CIST-3100, although I think it’s CIST-2100 now). However, this class is a LOT more hardcore. We go over things like Enterprise systems versus Silo systems and that kind of thing. The class has one major test and a group project. Because most (if not all) of the people graduating this year are taking IS-304 and IS-305 concurrently just as I am, I got the same group people. This makes things a lot easier (I assume most if not all people did the same thing).

One of the crazy things is that this class apparently has its final exam in March. Meaning the project will be done before then (as it being satisfactorily completed is a prerequisite to take the final exam). This is going to be a much shorter project then the other one (I’m hoping we can get effective credit for the same project by doing the more theoretical business side of things there). This is going to be a brutally hard core semester earlier on.

Looking in to my schedule for 304 and 305, by the time easter break is over, I have no more lectures. The “week no” part is the weeks class is in session (classes are longer, but not always every week). This week is week 2. Also, the 305 teacher said that by the time February comes around (I think), we won’t be having Tuesday class anymore. This means that after that after that point, I will only be having class on Wednesday and Thursday. Furthermore, after between weeks 4 and 7, I will only be having class on Wednesday. The exam for IS-305 doesn’t count as a “class”, but it’s really the last one I have to visit (it’s a written exam) until the oral test for IS-304. Meaning that as of April, I don’t have to attend any classrooms whatsoever. This is definitely different. We’ll see how this plays out.

Now I have some class reading to do (I’m going to concentrate on reading ahead on the IS-305 slides and making notes for them before anything else). I am supposed to meet up with the Erasmus students in the on-campus pub (which I am having trouble finding to be honest). I might do that, depending on how much I feel I got done. I need to keep one ear open on my group though. THEY are going to be my “buddies” in work for the coming semester, so as much fun as the Erasmus folks are, the group gets priority.

Well, I’m off to be scholastic (or worst case scenario, pretend to before I get distracted or tired XD)

*I identify as agendered, but I my body is male.

And now for the rest of the week

I doubt I’m going to be as thorough once classes start next week, so I am trying to get as much as I can done now.

Day 2

Got up and and did the old walk to school bit. After staying with the international crew, those of us who don’t have class on “week 1″ (most of us) went to the Museum. It was a fascinating look at how buildings were in the past in Norway (most of them are older then the US itself). However, the experience was dampened a bit by how ****ING COLD IT WAS (it wasn’t super cold, but having to stand around outside a lot exaggerates the effect). Walked back home and did some minor shopping (got a good deal on Salt ).

One nap later it was off to the pre-party with my erasmus group (our group tends to do that). After some drinking games we hoof it to the party proper. I went through…a lot of booze, and the next day I have mysterious bruises on my knees (when I dance, I go all out). Also, I managed to avoid a hangover (a lot of water and some ibProufin).

Day 3

I had some WEIRD dreams that night. It’s hard to explain, but between them and some potent hallucinations…well, I’m glad I’m all better now at any rate. I walked to town and took the guided tour. My group wasn’t there (they were meeting somewhere else, and my cell phone doth not work on Norway, so I didn’t get the memo). After a lot of that (and the most walking I did all week) we went back and hung out (well, first I got groceries and took a nap). I was going to hang out with the group before we went to the student pub (Pir6), however I had a kidney stone that was really acting up. SO much so I had was throwing up and had to call an ambulance (actually, I had to go to the nearby grocery store and have them make the call). The EMT’s here wear red with yellow vests, and ambulances are yellow. It was long and painful, but treatment was administered. Medicine costed 301 NOK. I was told to show the recepit to BlueCross/BlueShield and I’ll get a refund (doubt it, that’s basically my required copay). I was given a cab ride back, I was going to pay for my way back (130 NOK), but the state covered it. The medicine was a suppository, and since I’ve never personally applied one of those, it was a different experience. However, it did work wonders, and my back is better.

I’m definitely not minding this whole socialized medicine thing (especially because in this country’s standards, I am relatively poor), however I have mixed feelings about their difference in Methodology. Going by both what happened to me before and what happened to my grandma, the first step is usually an X-ray to see where the stone is, how many there are, etc. Here we just operated under the idea that it was a stone and went from there. It is a probable guess and saves money, but at the same time it might be a lot worse and we don’t know it. I don’t want to question the ways of things in other places, but I’m wondering if that approach is better strategically.

Anyways, getting back on topic, when I got home I was loopy and just rested a lot. Not much to report, I am sad I missed the thing at the Student Pub (I didn’t get back from the Hospital until 9:30, and I was really loopy and tired from the medicine, so that wasn’t going to happen).

Well, that’s my life up to the present. I know it isn’t as thick as my usual stuff, but trust me, the days were just as dense.

Days 0 and 1 of school.

Yesterday (as of the time I type this) was the day before the first official day of school. Dragged myself out of bad at 8:00 AM. Luckily “the buddies” (the Erasmus student helpers) were at my place to direct me school. It is a ****ING 45 MINUTE WALK. I’ve made (much) longer walks, but I was never in a situations where I was expected to do so daily. I’m one of those rare birds who never learned to ride a bike. I could take the #19 or #1 bus to school, but I don’t know the stops well enough. After the experience I’ve had, I have a feeling I’m going to be predominantly walking everywhere despite the bus system. I am going to be in a LOT better shape when this year is done.

We (the interneational students) were given speeches in exactly this order
-”The school is so awesome” (standard speech. Glad they are proud of their school)
-We were given a speech about how to be a student here, and how to get the most out of your international experience (I’ll go into that later)
-We were given a speech on how things are scholastically (apart from the extremely rigidly proctored test system, it’s quite similar to the education I’m used to).

The way I’m told to get the most out of my international experience is “not just be in your room, getting TOO immersed in your studies. True you are a student, but you are here for more then that.” I agree and this is what I would LIKE to do, just like at home. However, life rarely allows this sort of thing. I take these studies very seriously, and I only have limited time. I am a student first and foremost. I do enjoy being with the other internationals (for the most part), but I have a strict policy of business before pleasure (it has the sad side effect of being a bit confusing when I truly enjoy my work). If I have homework to attend to or a group project that I need to get my part of done, then I will do my utmost to get it done satisfactorally BEFORE doing anything. That way if I need to improve it, I can still look at it and tweak it and (if possible) still make time for my friends.

As I alluded to earlier, the way they explained the envorinment here reminds me a lot of the school I went to. The atmosphere and approachability of the teachers is really almost exactly like the US (or at least UNO). While classes aren’t inherently every school week in Norway (and a bit longer), my schedule did end up looking a lot like one I would have in the US. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the way things seem to be (and have been described to me), as well as a lot of my other expereinces, have really hit the uncanny valley. The only real differences in the town (apart from the whole being halfway around the world thing), is that it is costal (Kristiansand is on the south coast) and smaller then Omaha. The population has a “more friendly then other parts of the US, but still detached and somewhat dull” kind of motif about them (although the people I met in the Center were ABSOLUTELY FASCINATED that I was a USian who just got off the plane). However, I digress.

After that we toured the school and it turns out the IS dept is with the business people. Well…at least it isn’t UNO’s business department. I have an instinctive aversion to this department because back home, GF’s mom works for that department (whom I am on rather bad terms with). However, I quickly overcame that. It would explain why EVERYTHING here is MIS like (my course credit for this trip abroad is pretty much an entire MIS minor in one semester). I’m not taking the 20 ECTS group-project course because I WANT to, but that’s the only way I can get a full courseload (I need at least 24 ECTS to get the funding of a full time student, all of which must be approved by the department).

We got free food from “the buddies” through today (a ****ING GODSEND in this expensive country). One thing I found out, Noreweign coffee is STRONG, just the way I like it . I hung out with the various international students (one Polish student found out I am a rather infamous critic of my nation*). I walked back to Roliegheden (which a lot of us have come to call the “far dorm”, it’s about 45 minutes on foot) with two other male students (one Australian, one British). I got back and then after a brief rest I walked AGAIN to one of the “buddies” dorms in the Center (SO MUCH WALKING). We hung out for a bit, and then it was a walk back. Again, I am going to be in so much better shape when I am done with this semester form all this walking. Oh yeah, I found out that non-beer is hard to come by in Kristiansand (you can buy beer in Kiwi…for a brutal price, as with everything else), but anything else is only in one shop (or you can go across the water to Denmark and get it that way, or you can be like that one person we met and make it, something I’d like to try. This has been way too long for a parenthetical aside).

*Don’t misunderstand, I love my country as much as I ever have. My relationship to it is as though someone you care about that you see engaging in some very bad and dangerous habits. You beg, plead, and yell and wish every day for it to stop. However, no matter how far it falls, not matter how twisted up inside and out it becomes, I’ll never turn my back on it.

THE NEXT DAY

Today (as of the time this is typed) I got up a little earlier. No buddies to guide me this time, but I could figure the general vicinity. Most of the side streets on the way there are named after Nordic gods (makes sense, given where I am). Odin’s gate, Tor’s Gate (before you ask, yes, there is a Balder’s gate, in fact, it’s on the way to school). Today were were given a speech about registering for classes and one about culture shock.

Culuturally, I find myself very detached. Sure, there are things I bring from the US despite myself, but I have spent a lot of my life questioning things that are “given.” Some things I agree with (rape is bad, and I will never accept otherwise), but I ask hard questions about what I truly believe versus what I am told to believe. Things like social roles, expectations, etc. Another thing I swear by is I try to live my life without presumptions of places. I didn’t have much presumptions of Norway apart from it being cold (it hasn’t been as much this year, and for that I am eternally thankful), so I’m good there. Countries I’ve more immersed myself in the pop culture of (for example: Japan) I’d probably have a harder time with.

After that, we took a group photo and went to IKEA. There isn’t one of those in the Midwestern US (is there any in the US at all?). They only contact I’ve had with it is the magazine (and the movie fight club, that iconic line kept playing through my head). It’s big, bigger then any Wal-mart I’ve been in. It’s cheap for Norway but expensive for everywhere else. I bought the absolute minimum for what I needed (a few towels to help spread out Laundry trips, Some cookware (although I didn’t get my rice-pot), one knife-fork-spoon set, and 2 plates (incase one gets too dirty to eat off of). I have enough to cook very basic stuff, and that will save me cash (and I have learned very quickly that that is the one thing I need to save. I had a bit more plans to expand this further, but with the “norway prices”, I’m not sure I’ll go through with them. At least the bus was awesome enough to take us back to Roligheden and not make us walk with those bags.

Sidenote: Proof that Scott Village was expensive. The price of rent there is COMPARIBLE to the price of rent for a 4 bedroom appt at Roligheden. If you have been paying any attention to what I’ve been saying about the prices here (or especially if you’ve been here), you know how brutal a claim that is to make.

Other sidenote: Apparently, phones in Europe all generally work here (or at least they can get unlocked). If I did that to a US phone, I would void my contract (possibly pay a fine). I don’t know if phones are covered under the whole EULA “you own your phone, you own a license to use it” thing like some software is. I do know that one of the new exemptions of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act put in place last year said that people are allowed to unlock their phones (the phone company doesn’t have to contractually allow it, but they can’t make a copyright case if the customer does it).

After that it was a walk (again) to the school to get a free dinner (again, a godsend) from “the buddies(tm).” Had some interesting chats (one para-buddy from Oslo is what I would call a “kindred opposite.” We have very different worldviews, but the same kind of core persona in a weird way. She and I had much debate). After that, my buddy group decided to call it a night. This time I DID have to hoof it back to Roligheden.

Now it’s sleepytime. Supposedly tomorrow, we’re gonna see the Museum (this also means I have to wake up earlier and walk to school on a non school day. Oh well, the museum sounds interesting, and it’s free. I’ll take all the “free” (and not poisonous/unnecessarily-dangerous/etc) I can get in this county.