15-12-2002 16:03									#31
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Yeah, I am British...and teaching isn't my cup of tea and I've realised in recent month, nor is research

	15-12-2002 16:06									#32
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I left my highschool in Canada (for a variety of reasons) and moved to England to attend Sixth Form. It means I'm basically repeating Year 12 and I'll be the oldest person in the student body but it puts me in a far stronger position for getting into university.

I've had to deal with leaving my mum and sister, my best most loved friends, and the country I knew to move to a "home" country that I've only spent a few summers in, living with my grandparents, and having to make new friends.

Fortunately, it's worked out spectacularly so far.

Je ne regrette rein.

	15-12-2002 16:07									#33
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I advice you to join the army and go do some fighting in Iraq. Put yourself in dangerous places.. if you have near death experience, I think you know at that same second what you really want to do with your life.. Or get wounded and then you go 'Oooh all I ever really wanted to do was teaching!'. Then you know.

	15-12-2002 16:09									#34
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My politics and pacifism get in the way there

	15-12-2002 16:12									#35
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Starchild, now that is taking chances. Sounds good, and you're making the best out of it.. that's cool. I'm pretty much the old guy too when I enter.. and I hope to really enter the university this time. Maybe I should send applications to UK schools too..

I'd be closer to Provost Harrison, if we decided to go on that killing spree anyway..

	15-12-2002 16:14									#36
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But it's all good, since I'd be 27 or something, tutoring these 19 year old hot chicks who just got in and party with them all night long, every day. I heard uni girls like to get drunk, naked and go down on each other. So that's not a bad place to be for near 30 year old guys.

Provost Harrison, ok.. Well I think near death experience or getting wounded badly will do the trick too.

	15-12-2002 16:18									#37
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quote: Originally posted by Pekka Starchild, now that is taking chances.

Once you've gone and kissed another boy, nothing else seems that frightening anymore.

	15-12-2002 16:28									#38
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I think I'll have that near death experience instead of that one .

	15-12-2002 17:09									#39
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Bored, and feel like your life is going nowhere?

Join the French Foreign legion!

	15-12-2002 17:12									#40
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Azazel, Yeah.. sure.. but it's not exactly getting stationed in exotic places, and fighting, experiences and all that.. That's what I wish it would be, but it's not..

	15-12-2002 18:58									#41
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I had planned to study Political Science at Helsinki University, too, but then I went on this "preppauskurssi" which is a course where you prepare yourself for the entrance exam. I noticed that many of the other participants of that course were much smarter than I, possibly politically active themselves, that they had unsuccessfully tried to get in numerous times before, and that they had with fanatical meticulosity memorized the books the exam questions were based on. Yet only a few of them would pass the exam. If I remember correctly, the guy who ran the course said that he had himself read the Pol Sci book 13 times before getting in. He also told that your getting through the exam could well depend on whether you remembered correctly the birth date of some guy called Jan-Magnus Jansson who was briefly mentioned in the book. It was ludicrous, really.

After a while, I started looking for alternative education opportunities, and found out that you can actually get into the Pol Sci faculty of the Swedish Åbo Akademi in Turku without participating in any entrance exam at all. Guess it has to be easier for those Swedes because otherwise they wouldn't be able to maintain their disproportional representation in the Finnish political and business life. They did have a Swedish test for Finnish speakers, though, but it wasn't all that difficult. Certainly not as difficult as Helsinki University's entrance exams are. I don't know why there aren't more Finns that use this opportunity instead of banging their heads against a brick wall.

Pekka: http://www.cs.abo.fi/

	15-12-2002 19:30									#42
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They seem to make life so hard for everyone nowadays (like with those entrance exams and crap). People need to start living their lives for themselves and not having career dictate every little minute of their day. Work to live, not live to work!

	15-12-2002 19:31									#43
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Pekka:

Yes, I've done it, several times in fact, and never regretted one of them, even though sometimes the outcome was not what I was looking for, but that was more since I didn't know what to look for in the first place.


I have quit my (architecture) studies with only the final test (design) to go. Then, after a few months, I took one of the many opportunaties that came along (now that I had an open mind again). I went for a job in Syria , working in archaeology.

The next year I went back there, since I had to leave home for 18 months, in order to avoid the draft. I had secured 6 month work beforehand, and had to figure out how to survive there longer on the spot.

Turned out to be OK. Ended up in Beirut, Amman and other places.

Now I'm almost ten years further down the road, and now I'm directing excavations in Holland. I love my job, and I make a very good living out of it.

Taking chances has served me well.
(although it hasn't been easy )


Pekka: what have you got to loose? Nothing much from what you write. And even if you do, you seem to be very willing to put that what you have to loose on the line.

Go man, take your chance.

	15-12-2002 19:40									#44
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I know how you feel Pekka. I'm thinking about doing the same.

	15-12-2002 19:46									#45
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Well I have a similar sentiment. Luckily I am making more money than I spend and I have been able to put it aside. So if I haven't found a job yet I have enough money, I am going to bugger off round the world somewhere and f**k it...I just find it all so depressing and frustrating

	16-12-2002 05:29									#46
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germanos, I have nothing to lose. Well the security of course, but I'm ready to leave everything behind in able to move forward.

PH & Saint Marcus, yeah it's frustrating. You just know this is not what you want, and you don't know what you have to do, but you know this is not the way. I think the worst part is te feeling that you're wasting your time. That's the worst for me. Missing out all the time.

Well, maybe it will change in the next 6 months, if not, then I just make my move what ever it is.

	16-12-2002 07:40									#47
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Wow, after reading that post from JohnT........damn. That's cool how everything kinda did a 180.

As for Pekka.....I just gotta say that you got some balls to break outta the complacency that you (apparently) have gotten tired of.

I'd say go on a do it. It'd be a good personal experience and you'll find that it'll be arright in the end.

Last edited by Frankychan on 16-12-2002 at 08:49

	16-12-2002 08:29									#48
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I did

	16-12-2002 08:38									#49
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Monolith94, share it with us, what did you do?

Frankychan, thanks for your kind words. I can forgive myself the mistakes I've made, and will make, but I couldn't forgive myself for not trying. I don't want to be old and think about what I could've done instead of what I did. Sure, mistakes can't be avoided, but at least then I know. I just have to know . The timing is soon right for me, it's soon now or never, if I don't go for it (the unknown), I can't do it later either.
It's scary and great at the same time. Just go without bigger plans, and never return, let the chips fall where they may.

	16-12-2002 12:22									#50
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quote: Have you ever taken a chance

Not really. That's part of my problem, I think.

	16-12-2002 22:57									#51
	I am leaving science and never, ever going back. Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

What else can I say, my recent interview was a complete failure and has confirmed something I was sure about. I should never have gone down this path in the first place (biological sciences), but we can always be wise in hindsight. I have brains but in reality I was poorly suited to my subject of study. If only you could turn back the clock and start all over again...

	16-12-2002 23:01									#52
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PH, I remember you saying something about having troubles finding a new job some time ago.. so no change in status. Can't you go back studying? I know, I wish I could turn back the clock and start over, I know what I would do different.. I try not to think about it too much, since there's nothing I can do.

	16-12-2002 23:05									#53
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It is the expense of undertaking another degree...so I don't know...I don't know what I want but no employer seems to want to touch me with a bargepole.

	17-12-2002 00:27									#54
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quote: Azazel, Yeah.. sure.. but it's not exactly getting stationed in exotic places, and fighting, experiences and all that.. That's what I wish it would be, but it's not..

that's exactly what it is. From your posts you seem like a guy that enjoyed his time in the military. take it a couple of steps forward, esp. since you seem to like it, and have nothing else to choose from ( unless you call eating chips, working at McDonalds, and watching TV a life )

	17-12-2002 17:28									#55
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Azazel, that's what the poster says, but I have my doubts. If it was all that, I'd be going already. I've been doing research about it (read books, spent more than enough time in internet etc) and I'm afraid chances are slim to none for that happening.

I'd have to make 5 year commitment, adapt to French culture (which they drive hard in there), learn french and do everything in their way which seems the opposite I'd normally do. So 5 years in there, with salary we can't even start talking about since I'd left it with little, or no money when I'd get out. That's not a problem, I'm not in it for the money. But I'm looking for 5 years of service, with huge chance of never seeing combat, or even close to one. More like maybe one year of peace keeping or so. As far as exotics, I might be going to French Guyana, guarding the space launching stuff etc.
Now these are not huge problems, but it's 5 year commitment. French style. Most likely no action what so ever. French style. 5 years.

	17-12-2002 17:42									#56
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I did something similar to PH. After spending 4 years on an undergraduate degree in Molecualr Biology and then the best part of 2 years doing a PhD in a related subject at Cambridge, I decided that "wet work" (lab science) was really not my cup of tea. I had a decent amount of cash saved up however, and applied to a MSc conversion course in Comp Sci at a "lesser" university. I am having much more fun now, my life quality has improved dramatically. So yes, taking a chance sometimes turns out fine.

As for you, think about studying in England. An undergrad degree will only set you back the £1000 tuition fee, as as a EU student you will be classed as Home and will have your fees paid for you. No dumb entry exams either, just have to a good high school diploma.

	17-12-2002 18:18									#57
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Hey I got a question for PH. I don't know if you know, but you know I'm EU guy too, so do I need student visa or something if I come to study in the UK? I'm starting to send applications soon.. so I was wondering this.

I'm again trying to get my funding to university in US or maybe Canada, and I think I might have a shot here.
Only thing is I'm soooooooo stressed out and worried about student visa, because I got fined for smoking weed some years ago. Nothing serious, but the nazis in consulate will tear my ass apart, I'm sure. And it would be so bad, if I got accepted in uni in for example the US, everything worked out, financing etc, and then some guy decided I'm not getting a student visa because of what I did when I was teenager and had to pay less than hundred bucks. I don't even drink coffee or alcohol for christ sake . It was only misdemeanor, but I don't think they'll appreciate it.

	17-12-2002 18:20									#58
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omg I just realised I have had thread about these before, and I'm just whining little butt. But I'm so worrieeeeed!

	17-12-2002 18:31									#59
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I dropped out of high school half way through grade nine, I've slacked off the past few years and done pretty much nothing. I'll need to get some sort of job soon, but I don't really have any idea what I want to do. (I have lots of ideas of what I don't want to do, though)


I think that it was the best thing that I've ever done in my life.

	17-12-2002 18:47									#60
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quote: Originally posted by Pekka Hey I got a question for PH. I don't know if you know, but you know I'm EU guy too, so do I need student visa or something if I come to study in the UK? I'm starting to send applications soon.. so I was wondering this.

No you're in the EU, you can go and do whatever you want wherever you want. I am Dutch, from Luxembourg and have lived in the UK for the last 6+ years. As a EU member national you have the same rights as any Brit here. This means you also get free healthcare, and that you have to pay your taxes here if you work (which you are also allowed to do). Same goes for the fees, you'll pay the same any UK student will pay. The only extras will be travel to and from Finland, although going back to Luxembourg for me costs about as much as going to Manchester by train