Oh yeah.

[Vera]

I ...kind of fucking finally got into university.

I was supposed to make a topic on Friday but I forgot and then I was busy working so yeah. It feels ridiculously surreal, even now that the forms have probably reached the uni that I've accepted the student seat. I have plans! I have to move out of home! Out of Helsinki!

I'm going to be majoring in Ethnology, which is basically Cultural/Social Anthropology under a different name. So like, people in cultures, people in societies.. No idea what I'll be minoring in, or what I'll be able to become with this degree but uhh, it's something I find super-interesting and am really excited to be studying. I'll probably at least study some languages on the side, like I told Sim that it's the only uni in Nordic countries with Slovak courses .. who knows. ;]

So yeah, yay for me.

Another thing, last night at work I was *really* bored and fiddling with my phone and ended up texting three of my RL friends (no replies) and ..Rag Doll! Because of the NYC trip I had her cell # as a back up, and I just randomly texted her and it worked. Now I google searched how much it ended up costing me and WTF, it costs just as much as a regular text to a Finnish cell! Sooo if you want random txts from yours truly, PM me your digitz and I shall give you mine. (I have too little friends or something. Clearly.)

[Oxygene]

congrats.. my cusin studid anthropology at the LSE... she can't find a job yet in her field tho, but good luck :)

Going to UNI is awesome :)

[Andy]

Congratulations! Normally, I would try to offer some advice, but I'm not excatly a great authority on University life.

Er... Have fun? No, that's lame. Work hard! No, even worse.

Take lots of money! Yeah, that's it.

[Camilamazed]

Congrats Sanni. It must feel really good!

=]

[nieh]

Congratulations. When do you start classes?

[HeadAroundU]

Great. Congratulation.

Are you interested in my language?

[Rag Doll]

I already told you congrats, but you totally deserve another one, so congratulations again!!

and i still feel so special that you texted me ;p

[wheelchairman]

Wow it did take you forever. And I think this choice of courses is much better than your original choices. :) I kinda want to study ethnology.

I would be careful with language courses at Unis though, they tend to focus largely on the linguistic side of things. Where is your uni, Helsingfors?

[Little_Miss_1565]

Congratulations again! woooooo!

[Vera]

I have to move out of home! Out of Helsinki!
^ Your answer, Per. And yeah, it did take me a small forever but I know people who've taken more gap years. My 2 is nada compared to some people's seven, and really I'm just glad I got in with a major I'm really interested and motivated to study. Maybe uni will kick my sorry procrastinating ass, who knows, but at least I'm going in thinking "I want to learn this crap" instead of "eh I guess I should study something .."

Yesterday at work me and this girl who only just graduated high school talked about education and stuff and while I wouldn't encourage people to take gap years (especially if they have a good feel of what they want to do after graduating high school), I wouldn't advice people against it, either. You remember my original choices? Wow! :D

I'm pretty sure the uni would offer some more practical language courses but I'll be wary before I sign up for German or Slovak as a minor, yes.

HAU - Slovak was introduced as 'lingua franca' of Slavic tongues, which got me curious. I always meant to study a little Polish but never got around to it.. There must be a small Slav inside me or something. lolz cue fat joke.

Oxygene - Yeah, it's a difficult field because you don't really have 'anthropologist' as a profession. Oh well, I shall welcome the life of an unemployed academic..

nieh - Sept 1st is orientation week, so I guess the week after that..

[HornyPope]

The classes are indeed very interesting because they are very diverse. You will be exposed to different cultures, different groups, different time periods and different perceptions.

Expect to write a loooot of essays. In this program, the two technical skills they will teach you are writing and conducting research. So when you search for a job in the future, these are the skills you have to pimp out. Simply look for a position, regardless of discipline, where the candidate is expected to write a lot or carry out research and you should be able to make a convincing case for yourself. The knowledge itself is not as important because unless you continue in the field of academia, no one is going to ask you to recite the texts you studied. What they will expect from you is to be able to carry out basic tasks that go with a white collar, desk job (where you will likely find yourself) and the rest you will figure out on your own.

I know you're already pretty good with writing and you also read so that's a big plus, but remember to be flexible. Forget whatever style it is you have because you will have to change it upside down. Academic writing is somewhat specific and can be really anal at times so pay attention to these little nuances. If you have a feminist teacher--they are the worst--you will be expected to write using only gender-neutral pronouns. Other teachers may crticize you for being too wordy ("less is more"), lacking proper transition words etc... References always a must, but that's easy.

Enjoy your program babe and good luck!

[Bipolar Bear]

Good luck, have fun.

[Camilamazed]

^And yeah, it did take me a small forever but I know people who've taken more gap years. My 2 is nada compared to some people's seven, and really I'm just glad I got in with a major I'm really interested and motivated to study.

I have this gap too. But I've finally decided what I want to do. I don't regret waiting for so long. I have lots of friends that went straight to Uni, but stopped and started lots of courses for not knowing what they really want. I also have friends that finished college but they don't like their carrer and now they went to Uni again to study what they want. Crazy, eh?

[Nina]

I am really happy for you! I know you've waited a long time so I really hope you'll like it. But I dont see a reason why you shouldnt.
Since I am in a similar situation (actually, exact the same situation, just a different subject :/ ) I know how you felt in all that time.

[HeadAroundU]

HAU - Slovak was introduced as 'lingua franca' of Slavic tongues, which got me curious. I always meant to study a little Polish but never got around to it.. There must be a small Slav inside me or something. lolz cue fat joke.
I checked wiki, being "lingua franca" doesn't seem very special. In what sense Slovak is lingua franca? Why not some more massive lingua franca? =)

Fuck Polish. It's funny version of Slovak language. :d

[Vera]

Expect to write a loooot of essays. In this program, the two technical skills they will teach you are writing and conducting research. So when you search for a job in the future, these are the skills you have to pimp out. Simply look for a position, regardless of discipline, where the candidate is expected to write a lot or carry out research and you should be able to make a convincing case for yourself. The knowledge itself is not as important because unless you continue in the field of academia, no one is going to ask you to recite the texts you studied. What they will expect from you is to be able to carry out basic tasks that go with a white collar, desk job (where you will likely find yourself) and the rest you will figure out on your own.
Good stuff, though I understand what anthropology means in Europe is quite different from the US major. I have an online friend whose studied in ..Boston and Oregon so far and majors in Anthropology and her interests are mostly in Archeology and all that Homo Erectus type of stuff. But you're probably right that there will be lots of writing involved, which I am *all for*.


If you have a feminist teacher--they are the worst--you will be expected to write using only gender-neutral pronouns.
Got ya covered there, as Finnish only has one gender-neutral pronoun ("hän" = he/she). Complete lack of gender in the language, apart from actual words referring to people (man, woman, girl, boy).

Camila - Oh definitely. I have some friends starting uni right now who are kind of 'eh' about their subject of choice and unsure whether they'll finish their degree and I have one friend who studied in this particular uni but quit after she just couldn't be interested enough to put in the hard work finishing her courses required. She wanted to study something else but it was hard to get into (as in touch entrance exam) so now she's going in for a new thing, starting this fall.

Nina - Thanks. Wait, are you saying we were in the same situation or are in the situation?

HAU - The biggest lingua franca is English, which I already know.

[JohnnyNemesis]

Oh yeah!

http://i34.tinypic.com/7263w9.jpg

[Tizzalicious]

Congrats on getting in! :)

I had the same thing with my phone for a while. I had 100 free texts a month, and they weren't supposed to include texts to foreigns phones, but they did anyway. Niiiiiiiiiiiiice.

[Nina]

Oh sorry, I meant to say were in the same situation. I didnt get into university yet.

I used to get horribly anxious over the fact that I'd have a gap between high school and university. But now I generally recommend it to others. Working naturally made me grow up a lot more and gain important experiences. When I compare myself to friends who went to university straight away I can see the differences; it may not be a bad thing in general but it would have been for me I guess.

[Offspring-Junkie]

Yeah, university. I used to study myself... not for a long time. And I bet some here would be surprised to read what I studied. It's a subject you could (at least they told me so 2 years ago) only study in Vienna.

[HeadAroundU]

HAU - The biggest lingua franca is English, which I already know.
Lol, that wasn't a very exhausting reply. :p

Ok, I'm giving you the time to study it first and then you will tell me. :D

Or, Simonka, where are you!? :(

[jacknife737]

Wow, congrats!

And good luck choosing a minor!

[Llamas]

Congratulations, Sanni!!!! :) Make us proud!

[Tired_Of_You]

Congratulations!

I'm studying in Antropology and it's fun, though I'm scared I might never find a job in that field. At my university, we study the "4 sub-fields" (bioanthropology, archaeology, ethnology, linguistic anthropology).

Anyway, good luck with university and hope you like it.

[Izie]

And congrats again!

It's such an awesome feeling when you finally find the thing you want to do and actually start doing it! I hope this does turn out to be that way for you.

My mom's old boss used to say that if there was one thing he'd find interesting to study after being a businessman for a few decades, it'd be anthropology - pretty much in the sense that you're doing it now.

So yeah, good luck and have fun :D

[Dive]

Awesome. A girl who lives down the hall from me studied ethnology in France; she works on Wall Street now :confused: I only had a vague idea what I wanted to do even after finishing university, so I went back and did a graduate program, and I'm about to start a job that I'm going to love. Good luck.

[Betty]

Congrats Sanni!

I think you're a super insightful, intelligent, and well-spoken gal, so I believe you'll kick some ass, and I'm excited for you that you got this opportunity.

[Vera]

Thanks guys, your encouragement means a ton. :]

Dive - wow, dude, you're still around! Awesome. And yeah, anthropology can lead to world business for whatever reason. I'm not sure if I personally wanna take that route because not into math and somehow I feel like business would require it but who knows..

Tired_of_You - Yeah, so I've heard. That's why Anthropology here is a little different than over there. (Thank god too. :p)

Izie - I think this really might be the thing for me because whenever I tell somebody I got into uni and they're like yay congrats and eventually mention the infamous student parties I'm like "Yeah, sure, whatever" and instead think gleefully about something actually study-related. I'll try to be very social and stuff but I can't let that get in the way of my studies.

[T-6005]

Congratulations, Sanni!

I'm in Anthropology now, and it is a very interesting subject, particularly when studying cultures. To be honest, there is a lot of research involves for relatively little payoff in your essays (well, my essays), but it's still interesting.

Reading it in English, though, I've noticed that Anthropologists like to cover their tracks by putting shady or improper words in quotations to make them seem important or "mean" something else. Also keep your eye out for some hilarious titles of essays, like "Jumping the Gun: Gun Control, Gender Relations and Extreme Sports in Rural Nevada".

I mean, I'd read that article.

[Vera]

"Jumping the Gun: Gun Control, Gender Relations and Extreme Sports in Rural Nevada".

!!! I love stuff like that, was looking through pro gradu titles (pro gradu is the study you do to get your Master's degree in Finnish uni's) and some of them were pretty awesome in that ridiculicious way. :]

And yay, Anthro-bro!

Zee, meh, work. :p I applied for AMK at one time but it's just so not my thing.. I hope my personality is more fit for this sort of academia.