Back from third visit to Finland

Ah... It's just damn hot over here...
It was pretty nice and cool in Finland :( Sunny, most of the time... and still it remained at a bearable 17-24 C.

Well... This was something I had never done before. Sitting in the car for sooo many hours. First, driving up to Lapland, then driving in Lapland, then driving up to Norway, then driving back from Lapland. We made around 4000 kms (rough calculation) in 2 weeks. Of course staying at the summer cottage in Finland didn't require moving anywhere :)

It was a nice cottage, and the area around is exciting enough if you are nature type of person. There is hill and forest and river and swamp :)

And we met lots of reindeers. No surprise in Lapland, but for a newborn everything is new.
I heard stories before about crashing cars to reindeers. And I asked why does it happen? Well, there are a whole lot of mosquitoes up there. Humans don't like them. Reindeers either. So they kind of escape to the roads. Because it is windy there...

Roads. Roads are funny things in Lapland. Mostly they are 1,5 lane wide. And like roller coasters... So you can never know if there is a deer on the other side of the bump.


Of course I did some "studying" too. I received couple books finally :) I will comment and share thoughts while going through those books.
They are quite interesting...

One-to-one teaching

It has been in my mind for while. That I could hold some private lessons. In what subject? Hm, maths maybe, or english...
But it became my "criteria" to deal only with people who want to study. I'm not willing to correct mistakes made by other educators. I would like to start from the beginning.
Then I started to think why I liked to study english... or how I actually learnt.
Definitely movies had a big impact. My aunt lived in New Jersey and each time she visited home brought us some presents. Apart from usual chocolate stuff I got videotapes such as

The parent trap
Shirley Temple movies
Mary Poppins
Miracle in the 34th street (can't remember exact title, translated back from hungarian)

I watched them a hundred times... of course without dubbing and even subtitles. But I almost know them by heart.
It was quite an intensive experience... from Mary Poppins I remember all of the songs, and not just the lyrics. I could remember the melody and play it on the piano without the notes, though I have never learnt to play the piano.

I just loved the characters - who cannot love Shirley Temple?? - it was so easy to imagine myself being part of the movies. And picking up the language easily.

Other thing was the history of all those countries where english is spoken as a mother tongue. I enjoyed learning about the history of England, Scotland, the USA, ...

Yepp, why not to learn WITH somebody?
But then this training of accelerated learning came. Which got me puzzled a little bit. First I should learn about learning... to figure out the best possible way to treat, to learn with somebody.

I do not believe in the superiority of the teacher. Why are they so sure they know things better then the students? Most of the kids spend their free time on the internet. Some of them can be more up to date than his teacher.

...

I am sitting at the airport waiting for the flight to Helsinki... I should learn more finnish :) But finnish movies are boring.. baah ;)
But I love the country...
It's not going to be a "normal" holiday. Pepez's brother is going to get married. In Lapland :)) We might also visit the fjords in Norway, we are going to be close anyways. Fingers crossed!

"Rational" or "not persistent"

People usually judge other people's decisions... (in a worse case the person himself).

I got some too, both negative and positive.
But the thing that matters is how I feel about it!

There is this uni, where I study at the moment, and I'm just thinking how much it helped me to grow professionally and/or personally...
I met AIESEC here, that is the only thing for which I cannot be thankful enough. However, it's quite an indirect effect of uni. Then there are some people who helped me. By talking to me. Listening and questioning. Discussing and arguing. NOT teachers!

On the other hand, I haven't done everything to get the most from it either... Though, I don't feel sorry for it.

I do value the time I have spent here... I wouldn't be where I am now otherwise!

It's just that I got to a point from where I want to direct my life towards a specific goal... in which this uni doesn't have a role.
I spent already 3 years here... should be graduating now according to my age. I started in the credit system, not really following the "role-curricula", or how to say. Mostly I pick the subjects that I either like or easily pass. Actually, I will finish my minor even before taking the major.
Hm... you can say I am lazy, or "weak".. not persistent. But I think I made a rationale decision leaving it behind, not going for this degree. In the given situation I would still need 3, maybe 4 more years to go. I don't want to waste my time... I have gained everything that was in it for me. That's it.

You can judge, if you want, but better start with yourself...

Quote of the week

“It's kind of fun to do the impossible.”
Walt Disney

The training...

Well, it was definitely fun.

It's usually done in a very small group. Yesterday it was a very small group indeed. Me and the trainer... :)

The most important thing I got from it was encouragement. That I am on the right track...

What happened there, I will post later.