Ten confusing facts about Russians!

I realize I've been a little absent as of lately. One of the explainations behind this "mysterious" absense is that I relocated to Russia (3000kms from my home) nearly two months ago as a volunteer. In honour of this move I've made a little list of what have confused me about Russians so far (mind you some things might be a little generalising - be not offended, I like Russians, this list is just for fun).

• They're not quite Asians, not quite Europeans - what they hell are they?
• They tend to ONLY speak Russian (east of Skt. Petersburg & Moscow).
• When celebrating nothing goes quite - everything must be larger than life!
• They tend to rely more on "that's how've always done it" than the law.
• They are extraordinarily hospitable to their guests, to a point where, sometimes, their hospitable is like taken out of a victorian novel.
• They will sometimes give you presents - just for being a foreigner!
• They will sometimes threaten or hurt you - just for being a foreigner!
• Don't think you're always the one worst off, Russians are very tough and rarely complain about pain or physical uncomfortability.
• One language, 5 different 'S' sounds - WHY!?
• 95% of buildings look almost the same (at least 15% are orthodox churches) - the remaining 5% tends to be either "polish" (catholic) churches or government buildings.

 And with that I will have to leave you - as Russians doesn't tend to smoke inside their homes (another fun fact for ya'll) I will have to jump to the other side of the door too. But if you're bored 'till the next post check out my new personal blog telling all about my crazy Russian experiences and other trivial things:  

www.glamorousretrospect.blogspot.com 

пока!

Change of heart?

Seeing as how I'm about to start a blog on my upcomming experiences as a volunteer in a foreign country I am strongly considering turning this blog into my new blog, and create a mix up of the currently writing style and the new, much more personal blog, especially seeing as how I feel the name as well as the design of the blog and the Mark Twain quote at the top is only all too fitting for the new blog as well. Hmmm, what to do, what to do??

UPDATE: (nearly 3 months later) Not gonna happen, will stay two seperate blogs -click here to check out the other one! ;)

Mission Complete

Just a quick update to share the wonderful news: my International Baccalaureate Diploma was officially awarded on July 6th 2011.

 Mission complete, Russia here I come!

Studying for exams (tips)

Study-guides

I am not entirely confident that all (high school levelled) educations have published study-guides, nevertheless I can tell you IB, for example, does. They can be found at the IBO´s website store (www.ibo.org), or bought used on ei. Ebay. Instead of reading the entire school book again right before exams, you can get through a study-guide in half the time, and refresh all the important information, formulae, points etc. Saves you time (but not money). The only bad side of a study-guide, is that it's not particularly  useful if you haven't already read the regular book/attended classes, or if you're having a hard time understanding the subject (if so, remember to check out khans academy!).

Khan academy (www.khanacademy.org)
This website saved my life as far as biology goes. If you have difficulties understanding a subject in general, no matter how much time you spend studying, or if you need a quick recap of a subject. Khan academy is basically a website full of free online lectures, and has excellent standards. While they do not always go completely in depth, they explain the basics of all you need to know, in a way which is incredibly easy to understand. Personally I only used Khan academy for biology, but the also have videos on many different subjects incl. mathematics and economy.

Past exam papers
Reading the books themselves aren't always enough if you want a good grade. You also need to be used to/understand the exam´s form. Therefore, ask your teacher (or google) for past exams papers in the subject, and do these papers, preferably with access to the mark scheme for the papers afterwards, so you can check your answer, and see what gets you the maximum mark. You might have to use a few minutes to find the websites with the right exams papers, but it is definately worth your while. My personal preference is www.xtremepapers.me , it has papers from all different educations and on many different subjects, often with the mark scheme as well.


Bedtimes

Go to bed in good time. Don't pull an all-nighter studying the night before your exam. It can only work against you, because buy the time your exam starts your brain will be working slower than usual! You also have a harder time concentration on the subject. Set a minimum of 6 hours of sleep. If the subject of your exams is one you have difficulties with, 6 hours of sleep is acceptable, as it gives you two hours more of studying. If it's an easier of the subject, sacrifice the two hours of studying on sleep, so your brain can process at the knowledge within the time frame of the exam.

Stay sober!
For some of us, exam preparation temps to drink (the nerves away). But for goodness sake don't! A buzz will only make it more difficult to remember what you studied, and rob you of your energy the next day. Whether we like it or not, alcohol kills braincells, and therefore alcohol does not go well together with your studying. Have a piece of chocolate or some soda instead to help calm and paper yourself a bit.

(Try) to make a plan
When your study-break start, attempt to make a plan of your revision period. What do you study which day. How many days are you going to study during the week? How many hours of the day? What time of the day? But while doing so remember to be realistic: Try to take account for potential procrastination in advance, prepare for unexpected events (visit from family, getting sick, etc.), and give yourself a break once in a while if the study-break is long term (2-3 weeks in a row or more), to see friends and family and put your brain on hold for a moment.

Check your syllabus
What do you actually need to know, and what is just filling in your books? Especially American schoolbooks tends to be bigger than necessary, because the authors gets paid for the quantity instead of quality. But in European (and many other) countries part of what is in the school books is non-important information. Also some books has both the high level and standard (and lower) levels content in them. So if you're, for example, standard level, there might be content it the book you need not know. The easiest way to keep yourself from wasting time reading things you do not need to know, is to read and follow your syllabus. Usually the best way to get the syllabus list, is to simply ask your teacher, as they are always given your syllabus.. even if they aren't smart enough to share it with their students.

Know the differences between the exams
In IB you only have written exams during your exam period (and 2-3 during the 2 years in IB).  In all subjects you have 2-3 exams: Paper 1, paper 2 and paper 3. What you need to know for the different papers (which are usually on different days) tends to be quite different areas of the syllabus. Therefore there is no point in preparing, for example, the content of a paper 3 exam for your paper 1 exam. Therefore be sure to know what it is they want from you in the different exams you have to go through, regardless of their structure (written paper 1-2-3 exams, or a combination of oral an written exams, etc.).

Eat something
What ever you do, don't let your blood-sugar get low in exams, it will make you tired and unfocused. Eat some kind of breakfast in the morning, even if you usually don't. If you're too nervous or too tired to eat proper breakfast, eat some fruit. Generally try eat a healthy breakfast, rather than a sugar filled one, because with a sugar filled breakfast your blood-sugar might rapidly increase, but it will also rapidly decrease, and you don't want to end up with super low blood-sugar in the middle of the exam.

Move on 
During your exam period take it one day of the time. Prepare for you exam, take it, and then - regardless of how it when: good/bad/okay - MOVE ON and focus on the next exam. Spend maybe an hour after the exam processing it, discussing it with others, cope, etc. and then move your focus on your next exam and don't linger on it. What´s done is done.


Best of luck to everybody who´s going through either their exams or their study-break at the moment! :-)

Speaking of the devil, I have to get back to studying for my biology exam tomorrow. 2 days 'till graduation!!

Today life is good

Tickets for Krakow in summer - Done!
Last day of school wrapped up - Done!
Partying after last day of school - Done!
Ton of application for summer jobs sent - Done!
Finally some summer wheather - Done!
Exans in may - Pending.
Gotten a job for the summer - Pending.

You live, you learn.

I am now officially closing in on the end of 15 years of school. For the most part I have enjoyed the learning process, even if not so much the homework and getting up early for school, but for the past year the learning processing itself has become an issue for me. It´s not that I do not believe in educating and better myself. But being forced to comprehend new knowledge non-stop for the past 15 years of my life on command have started to take its tole on me, and it has make me strongly question the system in place (at least in western society) that we are to constantly learn in school 'till the day we are so far in our education, that we can now start the job we expect to do for the rest of our life.

Personally, I can expect another 4 years 'till I'm holding my university degree in my hand. And what this last year of school has made me realize, I will not get this degree, do my best, and learn the most, if I continue on this path of non-stop school, with only vacations and no real breaks.

This has made me wonder, how we are expected to spend 15-20 years of learning a very long list of curriculums, in addition to learning how to live and function as humanbeings, and actually gain the full benefits from what we are taught. Being taught a long list of theories without a breake to reflect on what we are to taught, and how it relates to our reality, is not the most productive solution for the individual nor the society.

If we are not given the opportunity to reflect and relate our knowledge to life, the end game is that we simply learn a lot of theories, which we are not able to appreciate. Furthermore, because there is such a lack of practical demonstrations, we cannot necessarily understand the use of what now know. From my personal experience, from myself and those around me, society often end up with a larger amount of well educated, but very frustrated young adults, who are not able to stand the idea of embracing new knowledge.. in fact they are much more likely to develop allergies against it. De facto they become part of a large group which has the tendency of turning into very close-minded individuals.

My now slightly obvious point, is that our system´s idea of finishing our education as soon as possible, so we can go out and be a profit for society and the pressure it puts on young people, is a serious issue. I am not encouraging people to take a break from the education system to do nothing, but solely considering that old cliché that there is important facts to know about the world, you can not be taught in a classroom: Travel, live, experience the many theories in real life, grow, bond, get to know yourself and and the people and cultures in this world. Live a little, is allowed, even if the system does not condone it. The world does not spin around the educational system.. or at least it shouldn't.

Quick how to: Writing CAS self-evaluations

In my early IB days I remember having some serious issues writing CAS evaluations, so here's a quick CAS report guide for anyone else in need.

Step 1 Short summery of what you've done. Additionally tell about your expectations before the activity, and what your goals was
E.g: "I decided to take part in arranging a fundraiser for the victems of hurricane katrina in order to help develop my management and people skills, and help those in need, to get a more global perceptive, as I figured this would be a challenging task".

Step 2 Tell about the procress. What was good? What could have been done better? Did you succeed in reaching your goal?
E.g: "Primarily this task required us to make a lot of communication with various charities. Another part of the process was getting the community interested in participating. We were required to research our case futher in order to also enlighten the people attending. The communication went very well, and was very professsionally done. However we found it quite difficult to motivate the community to attend. But in the end we managed to create a small but very successful fundraiser." etc.

Step 3 How has it changed (read: improved!) you and your outlook upon the world? Did it improve any of your skills (communication, cooperation, persistance etc.)? Did it make you view the world differently (understand the dynamics of the world better, appreciate others more)? Compare the actual experience of the activity with the expectations (step 1) you've had for it, and thereby demonstrate what you've learned.

And you're done!

(Additionally remember to always relate it to 1-3 of the 8 learning outcomes IBO has set.. and yeah, it's okay to be a little dramatic when you evaluate. )