I've arrived in Norway to discover that setting up internet is not as easy as one would expect it to be. I have also realized that living in a country whose first language isn't english means that your years of language education immediately go down the tiolet. I don't know quite how to describe this weeks experience. Sofar I have met students from France, Germany, Turkey, Italy, England, Poland, Eithiopia, Tanzania, Austria, Israel, California and Minnesota....just to name a few.
There are a total of 240 international students studying at UMB this fall. The campus boasts a wide variety of PHD, graduate and undergraduate programs in fields related to math and science; which means that students come to this campus to study anything they are most interested in. Many of the international students are on exchange for a semester or year or are here for a 2 year master's program. Everyone I have met sofar has a real sense of vocation, especially the African students here on scholorship programs. Their knowledge will be essential to their people's future once they return home. One lady which I met left her 1 year old baby boy to enter a 3 year PHD program here.
I hope to catch a little-bit of this vocational feaver and decide which areas of landscape architecture and planning intrigue me most by taking a variety of courses this next year. In addition, communicating with students who have lived in 3rd world countries may lead me towards what to do once I graduate ( which is coming sooner each day!).
This week was international student orientation and next week we have a one day orientation with our departments and begin our august block courses on teusday. Everything is begginging to become a blur, but as soon as I take the time to walk the Norwegian countryside time stands still.
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