do well at university

Wohoo, I finally have the 10 study points I’ve been waiting for! So I’m all up-to-date right now, summer courses cleared up and only working on my new courses.
The best thing is that I got a 4 for both of the courses! Yay x2×1000! That really surprised me; no one got a 5 from the course Swedish film & I still got a 4 from the course that had been hanging for over a year! Very impressive.
^{And I also got my student grant money yesterday, I was so relieved.}
Out of curiousity, I just checked my GPA. It’s 3,60 /5, woot. I got it to rise a bit!

The first week back at university went nicely, I enjoyed being back there and the courses seem quite interesting, for the most part. I’ll just have to write tons of lecture diaries, eh.
More courses start next week. I’m waiting in line for a few of them and I’m guessing I won’t get in – I’m number 51 & 55 on their lists, and they only take 15 & 18 students. Sigh. Must do those courses next autumn then, they’re mandatory for graduating.

Tomorrow the new semester begins. My third year at the university of Tampere.
I figured out my timetables and course selections two weeks ago, I’ve enrolled myself into the courses that needed enrollments – this year will probably be very, very challenging, by the looks of it. But I’ll try to do my best, once again. I’ve survived everything so far, I’ve even gotten some really good grades, so I’ll try to make the rest of the time that I have left at the university productive and good. I’ll tell you more about my new courses once they’ve started and when it’s confirmed that I’m actually attending them. If I manage to get into all the courses I’ve wanted, I’ll be getting tons of study points from this semester. But my schedule is also very full, I’ll be very busy indeed.

^{I’m rather worried about my student grant at the moment – I still haven’t gotten the study points from my teacher for the courses I finished this summer and I’m worried that since I’m lacking study points, KELA will not put more money on my bank account this week. This is making me pretty nervous, because I’m running out of money here. :x I have to pay September’s rent during the weekend. I just have to hope that I’ll get the money on Friday like usual.}

My final projects!

Overall grades:

Photography/Photoshop: A
Analysis of Form: A

I felt like Photography was a pretty easy class, as long as you followed instructions, but I really had to work for every bit of the A in Analysis of Form, because that was very challenging, and graded hard.

So, I am achieving this goal… for now.

I finished writing my very last assignment (about the cultural identity, language etc. of the people in Åland) and sent the six pages long baby to my teacher a moment ago! I’ve finally done it, wohoo! Over a year’s worth of guilt has been lifted off of my shoulders now. :D Freedom, of freedom, oh freedom ~
And that means that my summer studies are also over now. The new semester starts in September, before that there’s only the mess of the new curriculums left. But that’s not terribly urgent, I’ll figure my way through it in good time.
^{Photo taken by me, at the end of May when we we’re on our way to Stockholm and France. Our boat was stopping at Mariehamn, in the Åland islands. I’d love to visit that place someday, especially now that I’ve familiarised myself more with Åland.}

I just took a look at the new curriculum for next semester.
I’m completely gobsmacked and getting so freaking furious that it’s not even funny. They’ve changed everything in my major, Nordic languages! The courses have new names, new contents, new study point ratios, even new teachers!
And the worst part is: the old courses have disappeared completely. So what the hell am I supposed to do when I haven’t done some specific course earlier, it doesn’t exist anymore and it also doesn’t correspond with the brand new courses?! I’m totally screwed.
I hate this, I totally hate this. How can they do something like this?! And apparently they’re also changing our variant of the Swedish language being used – before we were studying in rikssvenska, the Swedish spoken in Sweden. Now it seems we’re switching over to the Finnish version of Swedish, finlandssvenska. This is totally ridiculous!!!

Right now I can only say: WHAT. THE. HELL.

Been experiencing some odd backlash from friends and artists about the subject of art school lately. I guess it’s no secret that there seems to be an endless feud going on between self-taught artists and those who went to school. It’s perpetuated by both parties, whether they want to admit it or not. That it’s all being put towards me right now is a little much though. Don’t get me wrong- I GET IT. I’m 26, have been neck-deep in art since I was wee babe (and have no money to prove it), so suddenly going to art school feels like turning on my own wolf-pack at times. But I’d NEVER say to someone that they were less of an artist for NOT going to school, so to say to those who went to art school (in general) that they’re just rich kids without talent is too much. To act like it’s not something that people have to fight for is a little ridiculous. I’m not rich, and I wouldn’t be going without a boatload of poor-people grants. What makes it even more confusing is that these are people who majored in other areas. They went off to do accounting, english, something else. You never hear, “oh, that rich kid just floated through engineering school, but they have no talent.”

I probably sound like an idiot bitching about this, but I just can’t understand faulting someone for wanting to learn more. Or for not wanting to go to school, for that matter.

That being said, University is going very well. All As so far. Almost near the end of the summer semester, but I don’t really want it to end.

I just finished writing the final paper for the course Swedish film and sent it to my teacher. Half of this summer’s required credits acquired now, it feels good. I wrote about the stereotypes and cliches in vampire films, as my group’s film project was about vampire films in general. I’m hoping I’d get a 3 from this course; I dare not quite hope for a 4 and apparently no one got the full 5 from our teacher. A 3 would we very good. I shall remain waiting for the results.

For the rest of the summer I have a couple of tasks left. One of them is to write the 5-page long paper in Swedish for one of our basic courses. (And yes, it’s the one that is now over a year late.) I should finish it before August, as I need the 5 study points for the summer study grant (I have 5/10 credits at the moment) and well, I really do need to get rid of that course finally, it has been left hanging for far too long. It will be quite a project to get it done, but I’ll try my best.
I also need to determine next semester’s schedule, see what courses to take and most importantly, finally decide on a minor.
I already paid next year’s tuition fees, so I’m for sure enrolled for the next semester. Just gotta go fetch a new sticker for my student card sometime in August.

• English: text comprehension (exam) – passed, no grade
• Introduction to translation processes – passed, no grade
• Introduction to literary studies – passed, no grade
• US Presidential Elections – 5
• Basic course in Women’s Studies – 3
• Beginner’s course in Latin – 4
• Societies and cultures of the Nordic countries – passed, no grade
• Swedish literature in historic light – 3
• Translation Finnish-Swedish I – 4
• Basic course in translation science – 4
• Introduction to literary translation – 4
• Phonetics (Swedish) – 3
• Basic course I in Czech – 5
  (grades go from 1 to 5, 5 being the best possible grade)

When I add those results to last year’s results, my GPA is 3,57. (Just this year’s GPA would be 3,88.) Hmm. I wouldn’t mind it if it was a bit better than that, but oh well. I’ve still done well.

New courses start in the beginning on September. We’ll see what becomes of my third year at university. I’m hoping I’ll keep doing well – I have a feeling that the new semester will hold a lot of challenges for me.

This was my first week… we’ve been focusing on the usual value studies, which are a lot of fun.

I’ve been making myself a schedule every day to help keep on track. I don’t feel as adrift this time, even though we’re doing things twice as fast during the summer semester.

LOVING the classes. They’re challenging and informative, which I didn’t find at other universities.

I saw my teacher at university today, when Juho and I had lunch there – so he’s obviously not on holiday yet,
so why is he not responding to my email!? :’D
I’m so impatient these days, ehe.

Oh! I got a 4 from the course “Introduction to literary translation”! This is surprising because we weren’t even supposed to get grades from that course! :D I don’t mind, yay!

It’s not even 4pm here yet, but I’ve finished all but one of my remaining assignments! I wrote the two Czech essays and the last movie review and sent them to my teachers. Waiting for replies now.
I also asked my Swedish teacher if it would be possible to finish one course during the summer and get study points for it before August. If he says yes, I’ll apply for the student grant for June and July, even if I’d get a job. I probably won’t be getting the money right away, but it’s still better than nothing.

Still no results from some of the previous courses and I’m about to lose my mind. I want results!!! :’D