Topic: University/College (Read 453028 times)

Barmymoo · « **Reply #1850 on:** 23 Oct 2013, 08:32 »

Oops, sorry, I have to admit I forgot how draconian student loans are over there. But even so, you have a few months to find something that pays well enough to cover those too. It doesn't have to be your forever-job (do they even exist any more?).

Method of Madness · « **Reply #1851 on:** 23 Oct 2013, 08:54 »

I can probably make the payments somewhat manageable but that'll already be on top of rent/utilities, car, phone, gas/food/etc. Oh god, and health insurance starting in January (I get to keep the school's through the end of the semester since I've paid for it, but...ugh, not looking forward to that)

lepetitfromage · « **Reply #1852 on:** 23 Oct 2013, 09:02 »

Don't forget to look into income based loan repayments! If you took out private loans, they may not have a substantial difference, but the income based system for federal loans is incredible. After I sent in all my paperwork, my monthly payment on my private loans went from about $300 to $190 but my federal loans went from $300 to $20! (And that is WITH a full time job. You may even qualify for hardship forbearance)

Method of Madness · « **Reply #1853 on:** 23 Oct 2013, 09:03 »

I actually used a hardship forbearance in the six months preceding law school. And my loans are all federal, so I'll look into that sometime in the next six months.

Barmymoo · « **Reply #1854 on:** 23 Oct 2013, 09:07 »

Repayment of student loans in the UK is entirely income-based. After 30 years, the remaining loans get written off.

lepetitfromage · « **Reply #1855 on:** 23 Oct 2013, 09:07 »

It's also worth noting that the $20 payment I make now is from the second year that I had my income assessed for my loans. The first time, I was only working full time half the year- and they informed me that because of my income, my payment was "$0.00". According to the federal government, I was too poor to pay my student loans.

So, you may still end up paying nothing without having to resort to the forbearance.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #1856 on:** 23 Oct 2013, 09:12 »

Honestly, if I can afford to do so, I'd like for that not to be the case, because interest still makes it grow.

lepetitfromage · « **Reply #1857 on:** 23 Oct 2013, 09:37 »

Fair enough. I've accepted the fact that the only way for my loans to go away is to bank on the forgiveness aspects. After 25 years, anything remaining on my income based is forgiven. BUT- my federal loans will be forgiven after 10 years of paying them while employed with a non-profit or public service job. I've clocked 2 of my 10 thus far.

My private loans will haunt me forever. $:-\$

Method of Madness · « **Reply #1858 on:** 23 Oct 2013, 10:13 »

Well I'll definitely go the forgiveness route if I can find a public service job.

Metope · « **Reply #1859 on:** 23 Oct 2013, 10:22 »

I'll have to pay back everything, Norway isn't very forgiving. My loan is massive since I decided to study abroad, so yeah...

In other uni related news, my essay isn't going so well. However, I did clean the bathroom and kitchen, made a big batch of veggie soup, and organised all of the photos on my computer today, funny how efficient you become in other ways when you really don't want to do what you're supposed to do. Go productive procrastination!

Welu · « **Reply #1860 on:** 23 Oct 2013, 13:45 »

Today I had to buy an £8 16g usb drive to put my presentation on to hand it in officially. Powerpoint presentation was just over 4 gigs. MEDIA!

Pilchard123 · « **Reply #1861 on:** 23 Oct 2013, 13:46 »

A daft question maybe, but did you compress it at all?

Welu · « **Reply #1862 on:** 23 Oct 2013, 14:23 »

Yeah, it would only go down to 1 and a half gig and the only other thing I had was 700mb CD-Rs.

ankhtahr · « **Reply #1863 on:** 23 Oct 2013, 15:16 »

I remember a guy at the Chaos Communication Congress, who said that the greatest accomplishment in this talk was the 1.9GB Powerpoint. (He had drawn all slides on an iPad)

Here's the talk, it's right at the beginning:

(click to show/hide)

Welu · « **Reply #1864 on:** 23 Oct 2013, 15:26 »

That is impressive.

Mine was only so large because I directly embedded videos into it. Opposed to linking the files because sometimes those just decide they don't feel like working when it comes to presentation time. Also I used GIFs! I felt so cool.

94ssd · « **Reply #1865 on:** 23 Oct 2013, 15:29 »

Quote from: Welu on 23 Oct 2013, 15:26

That is impressive.

Mine was only so large because I directly embedded videos into it. Opposed to linking the files because sometimes those just decide they don't feel like working when it comes to presentation time. Also I used GIFs! I felt so cool.

My powerpoint for my Appalachian Folklore final clocked in at around 1.5 GB, but that was with embedded clips on each slide.

Barmymoo · « **Reply #1866 on:** 23 Oct 2013, 23:46 »

I had a self-directed study day yesterday. I'm usually pretty productive on those, either doing work or cleaning, cooking, washing up etc but all I managed to get done was laundry and I had a whole load of vegetables which needed cooking and freezing before I go away for a week today. Also I actually did have some work I was intending to do. But instead I sat around in my pyjamas and watched catchup TV. I am so glad reading week is nearly here.

Metope · « **Reply #1867 on:** 24 Oct 2013, 03:18 »

We don't get any reading weeks this year! I think this week is kind of supposed to be one, but I really do need more time than this to get both my essay and paintings done. At least it means we get more time off for the holidays so I get more time with the boyfriend, so I'm not really complaining. Okay complaining a little, can we just add another week to this year? I'm sure that can work.

benji · « **Reply #1868 on:** 24 Oct 2013, 10:20 »

Quote from: LTK on 22 Oct 2013, 13:11

What did you write the paper on?

The assignment was to write about the theological and ethical principles that guide my thinking about international affairs. I was the only one to start by clearly locating myself within a theological tradition and to draw heavily on concepts from my tradition. But I'm the only non-Christian in the class, so I wasn't all that surprised that other people weren't as thorough in locating themselves. Still, it was an ethics paper, and I want to pursue doctoral work in ethics after finishing my masters, and this is an ethics class, and the professor that wrote the comment is officially a Big Damn Deal (tm) in the field, so that's pretty awesome.

Quote

I just got feedback on an assignment that I essentially didn't do: It asked me to design an experiment to test the idea that consciousness is the basis for action planning and decision making. After wracking my brain for an hour I made some remarks on the vagueness of the assignment, how you can't test an idea if there's not a theory behind it, how experiments on humans wouldn't work, how experiments on animals wouldn't work, etcetera. I got a 6.5/10. Eh, works for me.

This is why I study humanities: I can write a paper saying "I don't think there's a right answer to this," and so long as I'm thorough enough and sight some good sources, my professors just think I'm being all post-modern.

94ssd · « **Reply #1869 on:** 24 Oct 2013, 11:36 »

Quote from: Metope on 24 Oct 2013, 03:18

We don't get any reading weeks this year! I think this week is kind of supposed to be one, but I really do need more time than this to get both my essay and paintings done. At least it means we get more time off for the holidays so I get more time with the boyfriend, so I'm not really complaining. Okay complaining a little, can we just add another week to this year? I'm sure that can work.

Not only do most U.S. university's only get a "Reading Day," ours is on fucking Saturday.

The point of a reading day is supposed to be that it is a day off CLASS in order to study, you morons.

cesium133 · « **Reply #1870 on:** 24 Oct 2013, 12:52 »

When I was in college we had a "Reading Day" on Saturday like you described. My senior year they had to push graduation up by one day, so we didn't even get that: we had exams on Saturday.

94ssd · « **Reply #1871 on:** 24 Oct 2013, 15:01 »

We have the potential for weekend finals if there's snow during the Fall exam period.

So, every Thursday at my school's dining hall is "Breakfast Night," but they still serve non-breakfast food as well. In the past, I have used this to create Bangers and Mash. Right now I'm enjoying some Chicken and Waffles.

cesium133 · « **Reply #1872 on:** 24 Oct 2013, 15:06 »

Ah, the art of combining cafeteria foods in unexpected ways. In my days, we called it "Cafeteria Chemistry." Incidentally, the combination of apple juice and ginger ale is delicious. We also had a combination that we called "Corrode" which basically consisted of mixing all the fruit juices available with Mountain Dew and Pepsi.

LTK · « **Reply #1873 on:** 24 Oct 2013, 16:29 »

Guess who's on a study trip? Me.

Guess who's going to regret drinking an entire bottle of vodka once mornibg arrives? Several people, not including me.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #1874 on:** 24 Oct 2013, 16:49 »

An entire bottle? Like...a regulation 750 mL bottle?

Metope · « **Reply #1875 on:** 24 Oct 2013, 16:51 »

If several people were in on it, it's not that bad. At my flatmate's party we finished off a big bottle of vodka all together, and no one got stupid-drunk, just happy-drunk. It was fun, and I didn't even have a hangover!

Method of Madness · « **Reply #1876 on:** 24 Oct 2013, 16:53 »

Ah, just realized he meant several people finished the bottle, and he was not one of them. Gotcha.

94ssd · « **Reply #1877 on:** 24 Oct 2013, 18:13 »

Quote from: cesium133 on 24 Oct 2013, 15:06

Ah, the art of combining cafeteria foods in unexpected ways. In my days, we called it "Cafeteria Chemistry." Incidentally, the combination of apple juice and ginger ale is delicious. We also had a combination that we called "Corrode" which basically consisted of mixing all the fruit juices available with Mountain Dew and Pepsi.

The summer camp I worked at in high school had a trading post with a slushie machine. A popular off-the-menu item was a "suicide," every fruit flavor and every soda mixed together.

It always tasted strongly of pineapple to me even though that was only one of like 20 flavors mixed in.

Carl-E · « **Reply #1878 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 00:37 »

I remember killing about 2/3 of a bottle of vodka one evening in college.

Didn't notice the broken elbow until about halfway through my Russian final the next morning...

Loki · « **Reply #1879 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 01:07 »

Confession: I realized an hour ago that due to my heavy workload this semester I switched my aspirations from "have weekends off" to "have Saturday and Friday morning off" within a week.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #1880 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 01:27 »

At a friend's 21st birthday party (I was 21 as well, just barely), I remember finishing an entire bottle of whiskey by myself. I don't remember anything after that...

(click to show/hide)

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #1881 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 06:00 »

My record stands... (according to everyone else at this party, I blacked out so hard I might as well have been concussed) at 5 bottles of hard booze.

I earned the call sign "Iron Liver" the hard way.

I do not reccommend it. I woke up 13 hours after the last time I can remember drunker then I have ever been in my life. I had to crawl to the head.

I was not however hung over.

Metope · « **Reply #1882 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 06:10 »

How is that even possible! The most I've ever drunk is one bottle of hard liquor shared between me an another person, and I ended up with the worst hangover in the world which lasted at least two days... Granted, I'm a small, skinny person who doesn't drink that often and I've always been a lightweight, but jeez.

lepetitfromage · « **Reply #1883 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 06:10 »

The most I've ever consumed in one evening was a half a bottle of Absolute Vanilla (mixed with vanilla coke it's THE BEST) and about 3/4 of a bottle of Bailey's.

I couldn't drink Bailey's for almost 10 years. I'm just now getting over the aversion.

Thrillho · « **Reply #1884 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 06:20 »

I have no idea what the most I've ever drunk is, but in my prime drinking days at university I'd need in the region of 14 measures of whiskey to even get a buzz.

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #1885 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 06:27 »

Quote from: Metope on 25 Oct 2013, 06:10

How is that even possible! The most I've ever drunk is one bottle of hard liquor shared between me an another person, and I ended up with the worst hangover in the world which lasted at least two days... Granted, I'm a small, skinny person who doesn't drink that often and I've always been a lightweight, but jeez.

I was at the time, 5'9 and 175 lbs of solid muscle (13% body fat or so) all I did besides work, shoot and play video games was drink to excess and PT.

I cannot even theoretically do that any more. I quit drinking for about two years after I got out of the Marines as I had a close shave with becoming a full on alcoholic, so I stopped drinking and reevaluted my relationship with the fruit of the barley.

I only had my first hang over after... seven or eight years of fairly dedicated boozing this last summer. My blood brother got out of the Marines so we celebrated. Blacking out was involved. We wake up right around the same time. He's on the couch, I'm in my rack "Dude?" "Yeah?" "I don't think we can keep up with the puppies any more" "...Yeah let's not do that again".

I do not know how much we consumed but we killed two six packs and a bottle of shine, THEN we went to the bar. Rang up large bar tabs. Then this dude invited us to his nearby apartment, the last thing I remember is "You guys gotta try this scotch!" We know we left his place around 0130. We did not make it to my house, which is about 10-15 minutes brisk walk till 0400 or so. Pretty sure we both passed out on the side of the road somewhere.

Moral of the story: Don't cash checks your liver can't pay.

Sucks that you can't drink Bailey's cheese, I love that stuff! I had a similiar relationship with vodka for awhile... I don't remember the circumstances that created the aversion but it just did not gel well with me for YEARS. I finally renewed my relationship with vodka a few years back and we enjoy each other's company in White Russians, Mud Slides, etc.

Any one tried venom booze? Like the tequila with a scorpion in it? Or Habusake which has a snake in it? That stuff's... interesting to say the least.

cesium133 · « **Reply #1886 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 06:28 »

The most I've ever drank in one evening is about 3/4 of a bottle of rum. I ended up going with my roommates to a strip club, and then I tipped the waitress at Waffle House $20 on a $10 bill.

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #1887 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 06:30 »

Waffle House waitresses love drunk people for just that reason.

We had a table reserved for us at the IHOP just off base. Some Fridays they'd just partion off part of the resteraunt. "Oh you don't want to sit over there, the Marines will be coming in soon" (it was not just me and my group of inebriated degenerates)

Barmymoo · « **Reply #1888 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 07:50 »

I think I must be missing the part of the brain that makes people enjoy drinking. I mean, I have been a little bit drunk a couple of times but if someone told me that I would never drink alcohol again I think I'd sort of shrug and say "oh well". Same with tea. I think people are often surprised I ever socialised at all at Cambridge, since basically the only things people ever did for fun were drink alcohol or drink tea.

Metope · « **Reply #1889 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 08:02 »

I think I'd shrug at not drinking alcohol anymore as well, but if someone told me I can't drink tea or coffee ever again I'd be devastated. I don't really drink those socially anyway, I just love the taste and coziness. Especially my morning routine where I just have a nice moment to myself with a cup of coffee and my computer (talking to my boyfriend and catching up on news/websites) is important to me before I start working.

Barmymoo · « **Reply #1890 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 09:51 »

My comfort drink is a mug of cocoa

Metope · « **Reply #1891 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 09:53 »

Oh yeah me too, but that's more of a treat than an every day thing. And usually in the evening, not morning.

Barmymoo · « **Reply #1892 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 10:07 »

I never want a drink in the morning, I have to force myself to remember to drink water. Drinking cocoa daily is a lot healthier if you use soya milk instead of dairy - less fattening, at least.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #1893 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 10:14 »

I love iced tea. I cold brew it, so I have two pitchers in rotation (I fill one up as soon as it's empty and drink the other one while the first one prepares). It's fairly cheap and it's delicious. I realized the other day if I drank soda like I've been drinking iced tea the past few weeks, I'd have spent so much more money and consumed so many more calories (thousands as opposed to, well...none).

Metope · « **Reply #1894 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 10:17 »

I'm not thirsty in the morning either, but coffee doesn't qualify as just a 'drink' for me, it's more of a 'necessity'.

@May: And I usually make cocoa with soy milk anyway, can't really remember the last time I had dairy milk... Also great news, one of the shops in my home town in Norway has started stocking soy milk (yeah, Norway is always years behind), so we can make cocoa when you're over for Christmas!

Method of Madness · « **Reply #1895 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 10:19 »

Almond milk >>>> soy milk, at least to me.

94ssd · « **Reply #1896 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 11:14 »

Quote from: Method of Madness on 25 Oct 2013, 10:19

Almond milk >>>> soy milk, at least to me.

Almond milk would at the least make me very ill.

I like a good cup of (hot) tea with milk and honey in the morning. Coffee has too much caffeine and I'll crash before my first class is over.

94ssd · « **Reply #1897 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 14:04 »

It's a bit outdated now, but this article is pure gold - http://thebunionpaper.com/post/62812832443/student-government-also-shuts-down

Method of Madness · « **Reply #1898 on:** 25 Oct 2013, 17:54 »

Barmymoo · « **Reply #1899 on:** 26 Oct 2013, 08:48 »

Quote from: Metope on 25 Oct 2013, 10:17

I'm not thirsty in the morning either, but coffee doesn't qualify as just a 'drink' for me, it's more of a 'necessity'.

@May: And I usually make cocoa with soy milk anyway, can't really remember the last time I had dairy milk... Also great news, one of the shops in my home town in Norway has started stocking soy milk (yeah, Norway is always years behind), so we can make cocoa when you're over for Christmas!

Yay! I was wondering whether I should bring some. Do you have vegan butter replacement of any kind? As long as we can get those and possibly some vegetable stock without milk powder (WHY WHY WHY would you put milk powder in stock cubes? I have never understood this) then I'm all set

Almond milk does taste nicer but it is also three times the price. Soya milk is the same price as dairy milk here, and often cheaper.

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Author Topic: University/College (Read 453028 times)