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December 31, 2006

2006

January

I just finished a great book - Freakonomics!

February

For de av dere som ikke har fått det med seg så har nå byrådet bestemt at alt giftslam i havnebassenget skal graves opp, flyttes 2 km og dumpes utenfor Malmøya!

March

Hvorfor vil alle bli journalister, mens ingen vil lese aviser?

April

I have found yet another mission in life.

May

The sun is shining, and I feel far from stressed, but somehow I can't fall asleep at night, I can't wake up in the morning, and this is my first entry in over a week!

June

Første dag på sommerjobb i dag.

July

Hvordan handle på IKEA:

August

Hver tredje student opplever at de har for dårlige kunnskaper fra videregående skole.

September

Et av mine fag dette semesteret heter "Neighborhood Bully? Stormaktene og Midtøsten siden 1945" (ja, det stemmer: kurset er oppkalt etter en Bob Dylan sang).

October

In the debate about convincing high school students to learn math, I haven't read much about what kind of math these students should be learning.

November

I wonder if real diplomats come home after maintaining international peace and security and think: "Oh crap, my basil plant died while I was sending an envoy to Iraq and now the only thing eatable in my apartment is a bag of peanuts."

December

Some time during the stress of exam preparation (currently three exams down, one to go), I watched a talk show where one of the topics was: "What would you do if you only had six months left to live?"

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December 25, 2006

Skrivetips

Dette burde være pensum for alle jeg må ha oppgaveseminar med.

Posted by Julie at 5:15 PM | TrackBack

December 17, 2006

Bra matbutikker i Oslo

Hvis man, som jeg, har lett byen rundt etter maismel, gresskarpaifyll eller ingredienser til samosa, kan denne lille guiden være nyttig. Hvis det er noen som har flere tips, er det flott - kommenter enten hos meg eller hos Jorunn.

Posted by Julie at 6:25 PM | TrackBack

December 14, 2006

Posted by Julie at 6:02 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Verden - et flattbrød

Tittelen er fra en kommentar jeg fikk på dette innlegget fra Espen Antonsen.

I denne artikkelen, som jeg leste for lenge siden og tilfeldigvis lagret på min Bloglines, anmeldes Friedmans The World is Flat. Artikkelen avsluttes: "Det finnes mennesker med andre mål i livet enn å åpne nettbutikk. Andre målestokker for fremskritt også. Det vet Friedman, men han har store problemer med å skjønne det, for han har en visjon. Om en flat verden."

Nå er det sant at Friedman til tider kan virke som et eksempel på "expanding a moderately original idea into 300 pages of anecdotes", men jeg legger vekt på til tider i den setningen. Han har mange gode poeng og gode historier, selv om det til tider kan bli overforklarende og til tider virke som om han bare prøver å bevise at han har reist mye og opplevd masse spennende. Jeg kan imidlertid til en viss grad forstå anmelderens tanker om at den flate verden er Friedmans "visjon" som hindrer ham i å se den mer komplekse sannheten (ikke at jeg er 100% enig med anmelderen, men jeg ser poenget).

Det er imidlertid den første setningen i det avsnittet jeg fester meg ved nå, og jeg tror den setningen er årsaken til at jeg lagret dette for lenge siden. Det finnes mennesker med andre mål i livet enn å åpne nettbutikk. Faktisk tror jeg ikke det finnes mer enn noen få spesielle mennesker som har nettbutikk som livets mål i det hele tatt. Derimot tror jeg det finnes mange mennesker - svært mange - som har som mål å tjene tilstrekkelig til at de kan finansiere en viss levestandard for seg og sin familie. Blant disse tror jeg det er mange som ønsker å tjene disse pengene gjennom salg, og blant disse ønsker de fleste å nå ut til mange kunder. Derfor åpner folk nettbutikker. De åpner dem ikke fordi nettbutikk er kult eller moderne eller fordi nettbutikker flater ut verden. Nettbutikken er ikke målet; den er middelet.

Det er nettopp det som er et av Friedmans mange gode poeng i forrige bok, The Lexus and the Olive Tree: det holder ikke at bedrifter legger til en nettside som bare delvis fungerer ved siden av sin gamle ineffektive måte å produsere og selge på. Vi må bruke ny teknologi til å gjøre reelle endringer, fordi ny teknologi, spesielt internett, medfører reelle endringer i samfunnet. Internett skal ikke brukes for å vise at man kan bruke det, men fordi det virker. En nettside om deg eller din bedrift er ikke en god nettside hvis det eneste budskapet er: "Se, dette er min nettside. Legg merke til at jeg følger med i tiden og derfor har en nettside." For hvis man tenker slik, er man akkurat som tiåringer som ønsker seg nye mobiltelefoner fordi de vil ha bedre ringetoner og spill. Da betrakter man teknologien bare som leketøy, og da er det ikke rart man ser bort fra at den kan ha noen egentlig økonomisk eller politisk betydning.

Posted by Julie at 1:18 PM | TrackBack

December 13, 2006

Stengt for studenter

Lesesalen er stengt for eksamen. Det er merkelig stille og øde på samfunnsvitenskapelig fakultet. Nesten ingen i kaffebaren, kantinen eller gangene. Utenfor toalettene står en gjeng pensjonister og sørger for at ingen av studentene som har eksamen prater seg i mellom.

På biblioteket har det roet seg nå som det nærmer seg jul, men i forrige uke var det kaotiske tilstander. Jeg var der halv ni og tok den siste plassen i hele bygningen. Alle lesesalene var opptatt. På denne siden kan man se de dystre fakta: i hele eksamensperioden er det nesten ingen steder man kan lese på Blindern. Enkelte dager er til og med "alle lesesaler UiO" stengt for eksamen.

Eksamensvaktene skuler på meg når jeg fyller vannflasken min og tar frem bokskapnøkkelen. Det er nesten så jeg får lyst til å rope ut noen tilfeldige samfunnsvitenskapelige fakta for at de skal anklage meg for å jukse. Jeg prøver jo bare å forberede meg til min egen eksamen. Jeg prøver bare å finne et sted hvor jeg kan lese. Jeg vil jo bare studere. Men det er visst for mye å forlange. På Blindern skal man bare ta eksamen.

Det er litt symbolsk det der, ja...

Posted by Julie at 10:03 AM | TrackBack

December 11, 2006

You know I can't handle stupidity...

One of my earliest childhood memories is blood, or more precisely: my neighbor's arm bleeding. I was about three at the time and the reason she was bleeding was that I had bitten her. And the reason I had bitten her was that she had asked a stupid question. Not a rude or cruel question, a stupid one. She was my age, and I was going to show her something. She asked if it was "over there" pointing in the exact opposite direction of where I was taking her. I thought this was so dumb that I grabbed her lower arm and bit her.

In retrospect, I know that she can't have been bleeding as much as I think I remember, even though I certainly didn't choose the safest place to bite her. Her mother was of course not only furious, but also terrified, and I wonder if she ever stopped feeling that way about me. When I met this girl about six years later, we had a good laugh about this shared memory, then basically forgot about it and went on being classmates and neigbors. Lately though, I've been thinking about why I did this. I wasn't scared or angry, I was really only annoyed. I've stopped biting people now, but I still have extreme reactions to stupidity. So when I say: "You know how I get around stupid people. I can't handle stupidity," I guess this is proof...

Posted by Julie at 2:46 PM | TrackBack

Harry Potter and International Relations

Sometimes I get the feeling that something is made just for me. Like the shoes in the window next to where I work: the perfect combination of the right kind of heel, the right kind of toe, the right colors and a butterfly! (Wrong price tag, though.) It seems that the many contributors to this book thought: "Well, let's take two topics Julie's always reading about, and combine them!" And so they wrote the book "Harry Potter and International Relations". 

Posted by Julie at 9:11 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Mens jeg venter på at Ingvild skal synge på God Morgen Norge

1: Ta den boken som ligger nærmest deg, slå opp på side 18 og finn den fjerde linjen. Hva står det?
"Hessel Park was scented heavily with cheese from the massive Kraft factory, at Champaign’s western limit, and it had wonderful expensive soft Har-Tru courts of such a deep piney color that the flights of the fluorescent balls stayed on ones visual screen for a few extra seconds, leaving trails, which is also why the angles and hieroglyphs involved in butterfly drill seem important."

2: Strekk ut venstrearmen så langt du kan. Hva berører du først?
(tenker øyeblikkelig på en nederlandsk barnesang med lignende tekst som spørsmålet... takk for den!) En hvit pute med et tre på. (Ble nå minnet på at de menneskene som plantet den sangen i mitt hode også har sånne puter og at jeg faktisk er glad i dem tross sangen.)

3: Hva var det siste du så på tv?
Huff. God Morgen Norge går uten lyd nå. Venter på at Ingvild skal synge på tv.

4: Bortsett fra pc-en din, hva kan du høre akkurat nå?
Biler som kjører utenfor.

5: Hva har du på deg?
En brun bukse. Og brun genser. Dette er ikke så ille som det høres ut. Håper jeg.

6: Drømte du i natt?
Ja, men jeg husker ikke hva.

7: Når lo du sist?
I går, tror det var av noe Helene sa da vi lagde romkuler.

8: Hva henger på veggen(e) i det rommet du befinner deg i?
Lite. Men det er bokhyller oppover veggene da.

9: Sett noe snålt i det siste?
Nei, ikke mer enn vanlig.

10: Hvilken film så du sist?
Istid 2 (siste film på kino: The Departed)

11: Hva ville du kjøpt først dersom du ble mangemillionær over natten?
Hvor mange millioner? Leilighet. Eller kanskje: først kaffemaskin, så leilighet.

12: Fortell noe om deg selv som andre ikke vet…
Å nei, ikke sånt. Enten er det ikke interessant, eller så er det en grunn til at dere ikke vet det, ikke sant? Men her er i hvert fall en barndomshistorie som mange ikke har hørt.

13: Hvis du kunne endre én ting i verden, uavhengig av politikk eller skyld, hva ville det vært?
Uavhengig av politikk eller skyld? Skjønner ikke spørsmålet. Endre noe i verden uavhengig av politikk? Gi enkelte representanter for menneskelighet høyere intelligens kanskje.

14: Liker du å danse?
Ja!

15: Driver George Bush virkelig på med Dick Cheney?
Jeg vil ikke vite det.

16: Hvis ditt første barn blir ei jente, hva skal hun hete?
Godt spørsmål.

17: Kunne du tenke deg å bo i utlandet?
Absolutt.

Posted by Julie at 9:00 AM | TrackBack

December 8, 2006

How to stretch a paragraph into 300 pages

Sometimes it feels like studying for political science exams is all about reading different versions of what should be obvious in the first place, each version declaring that it is presenting a revolutionary idea and that none of the other (nearly) identical ideas are right. And sometimes it feels like writing a political science exam is all about taking a point that could be adequately explained in five sentences, and then somehow managing to stretch it into 20 (wrist-straining, handwritten) pages. 

Usually, I know that there are important differences between neo-realism and neo-liberalism, that it is important to write definitions of words like "power", "effective", "legitimate" and "nation" when using them in an exam and that references are all-important. But sometimes it feels good to read a rant about bad "academic" writing and just think: "Yeah, I'd rather be reading a novel right now." 

Oh, well. It's almost over. 

Posted by Julie at 4:40 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

December 5, 2006

If there were only six months left...

Some time during the stress of exam preparation (currently three exams down, one to go), I watched a talk show where one of the topics was: "What would you do if you only had six months left to live?" The discussion wasn't particularly interesting, but that opening question was. At the time, I was feeling guilty every day I didn't study at the University from 8AM to 8PM, constantly worrying that I wasn't worrying enough about my frighteningly near future. I thought: "Well, I wouldn't have to take those exams if I only had six months left - and would that be a good thing?" Bored with the discussion on the tv screen, the turned to my laptop screen and wrote what first came into my head. I didn't write it for this blog, or really for anyone but myself, but oh well, here it is:

If I found out that I only had six months to live, there isn’t much I would change about my life style. I would still spend the majority of my time reading, quite possibly at the university, but I would only read what I felt like reading – novels, newspapers, textbooks for random subjects I would never have thought of studying before – instead of signing up for three or four subjects that I need to complete a major. I would tell as few people as possible that this was no ordinary semester – if I could get away with it, I wouldn’t tell anyone. I wouldn’t want them to treat me differently. My closest friends would know of course, but only because they had to. After all, I couldn’t just tell them that I was dropping out of my bachelor studies, that I had decided I had no ambition to do anything with my life beyond reading for classes I wasn’t taking. I would follow the classes I felt like following, reading the required books and going to lectures. No one would have to know that I didn’t plan on taking any exams.

 

Freed from the obligation of actually having to prepare for my future, I would spend more time with friends. I would meet them when they had the time, instead of the way it is now, where we compare busy calendars and hope they show empty space on the same dates. I wouldn’t worry so much about getting enough sleep or eating the right food or not wasting money. I still wouldn’t be rich, but if I used my savings, I would have more than enough. I would buy people the Christmas presents I really wanted them to have. I would buy the clothes I really wanted to wear. Maybe I would quit my job so that I could have Saturdays off. But then again, I could have any day of the week off if I wanted to. I would have more dinner parties. I would have more parties. I would stay later at parties that I was enjoying without worrying about sleep, and leave parties where I wasn’t having fun, without worrying about seeming impolite or boring. I would eat at fancy restaurants more often. I would go the movies, on my own if no one else was available, when there was something I wanted to see. I would spend more time in used bookstores, wishing I could read everything, but finding some strange joy in at least reading every title. I would spend whatever time was necessary to read all the books friends and family have recommended to me over the past few years.

Why wouldn’t I spend my last six months traveling the world? Even if I could afford it, who would go with me? I wouldn’t want to be alone, while experiencing so many exciting things. I wouldn’t want to spend time waiting for buses and trains and flights, forgetting my belongings along the way, wondering what my friends would say if they were with me. And I wouldn’t want someone to take a semester off to spend it with me, just because I was going to die soon. No, I would stay where I am now, but take some short vacations – expensive weekend trips to European capitals, a visit or two to my friend in France, a few weeks in Massachusetts to say good-bye to the places where I grew up. I’m not sure if I would have time to go to China again, or to India or Japan or any African or South American country; maybe if I found out I had a whole year.

I suppose what I should say is that I would spend my last six months doing charity work or saving the world in some way, since I didn’t have to worry about money. I would certainly try to do something, maybe exchanging my current Saturday job for volunteer work somewhere where I was actually needed. But it would have to be in Oslo. I wouldn’t be willing to spend my last six months far away from my friends and family. This is arguably a selfish choice, but I think I would be entitled to a little selfishness if I were dying.

About six months later, the University of Oslo would be starting the spring 2007 exams. My friends would be anxious and sleep-deprived, and I would be happy whenever I could pretend to someone that I was stressed about exams too. I would be stressed though, but in the way much worse than I can really imagine now. I would be thinking: “If my friends don’t finish this book by tomorrow, they won’t know what they need to know for an exam, but if I don’t finish this book by tomorrow, I will never know how it ends. If I don’t see this movie soon, I never will. If I don’t have lunch with this person now, I may never have the chance to see them again.” At that time, I would wish that I didn’t know, that I had signed up for the boring subjects and was getting ready for the difficult exam and that I was falling asleep over my notes and spending coffee breaks staring out the window, shaking my head and murmuring: “This will never work out,” without any idea that it didn’t matter. I would miss the sense of accomplishment and moving forwards that comes with preparing for an exam, even when you don’t feel ready. I would remind people that: “Hey, you’re doing this out of your own free will. This is something you want to do, for fun!” and they would shake their heads at me and ask if I was trying to make it worse. But if I could really choose, I wouldn’t want to know ahead of time that I only had six months. I would gladly choose the stress of preparing for the future over the stress of not having one.

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