Lessons

Just caught Sixth Sense on TV. Wow, can u imagine this movie is already 8 yrs old? Joel Haley Osment is already 19 yrs old now! Anyway, wonderful movie and one of the movies that was memorable- scary yet touching storyline.

Lab 2 : finally completed. Went in fully armoured- read up on Linux commands, prepared all the source code, dug out all the answers for the questions first.. coz I would hate to encounter what I did for Lab 1. And hahaha, ended up not only knowing more than my lab partner (which is the same Bangladesh partner for Lab 1), also helped the others sitting near me! Feels good.

10 quizzes completed too, which means I've read 378 pages of the txtbook! Ok ok, most of it, coz halfway through, decided to take the shortcut method- only read the related materials that are in the notes, ha!

The exam format is strict. 2 sections, and although Section A is either MCQs, or 'choose correct options' type of questions, we must get 26 out of 30 questions correct, else they will not even mark Section B! And that of course is equivalent to a fail grade since they dun even bother to find out how well u do in Section B. When we were briefed on this exam format, the whole lecture hall erupted into displeasure, notably by the Nigerians.

Realized Nigerians are very vocal. When they feel strongly abt certain stuff, they will go all out voice their thoughts in class. They will argue with the teacher, which sometimes can be abit menacing to me. This was not the first time- when we were first briefed on the online quiz methodology, (where we need to click submit button before the time limit is up, else the entire quiz is graded as fail and not marked according to how many questions were already completed), they started hurling their opinions at how unfair and 'wrong' it is etc etc..

There was once , when a Nigerian was queuing up to ask teacher some questions. A Pakistani, who probably din see him queuing, conveniently approached the teacher and thus 'cut the queue'. So, an argument erupted. The Nigerian went, " U shldnt have....." The Pakistani went, " Then what do you want me to do?!" They started shouting at each other, and others had to come forward to help restrain them. I still remember, that was a day after the Virginia shooting incident, I was so worried that I was thinking if I shld start evacuating first..

Since we are on the topic of classmates.. during our Swedish class yesterday, our teacher was sharing with us that it is very easy and common in Sweden to get a divorce and re-marry; and that they do not practise staying together with the grandparents. Remember that my class is 100% Middle-East + Asians, so everyone started bombarding my poor Swedish teacher about how this type of culture can be accepted, it was so hilarious.

Everyone also started volunteering their family nucleus information back at home and it was so interesting. 1 pakistani was sharing he had 30+ members under 1 roof. Everyone will pool their earnings together, and only the head of the house will decide all the financial matters. Before he came to Sweden, all these members + extended family-total of 100 of them, had to come to vote if he could come to Sweden to study!

Also realize everyone here is very proud of their own country and culture. When chitchatting with them, they will always volunteer their home country information to me. There was once during a short break, a Bangladesh was saying something abt his hometown, and he asked me as a matter-of-fact:
" hey, u know that Bangladesh used to be East Pakistan, right? "
"Erh.. no.."
"Oh, but u shld know that Pakistan used to be part of India?"
"Hmm..."
"Oh, its ok.. let me tell u.." and launched into details of their past history.

Then once on the bustrip back home, chitchatting with a Lebanese, I casually asked him where he obtained his degree. After telling me it was from Lebanon, he happily went on to elaborate on how Lebanon universities also offer courses in English, and the education system.. blah blah blah

Do u all know that Bangladesh has the longest sea beach in the world? My lab partner told me! He also assured me that Bangladesh is safe for tourists...

Wow, its really alot of Geography and History lessons to learn here.

And my Swedish final exam- is to do a full page oral presentation of "Mitt hemland" = My homeland. I'm sure everyone has so much to share, judging by it.