======= Date Modified 10 Oct 2008 09:49:25 =======
PS



Lara, I think honey is meant to have some healthy aspects--I have read it has some compound that helps fight off colds.
Some years ago I had a horrible ear infection, which besides being painful, left me weak and dizzy for 2 or 3 weeks, literally unable to get out of bed! The only food I craved this whole time was toast with gobs of honey, lots and lots and lots of honey--and later I learned that honey was supposed to provide some natural defense against the cause of the ear infection. No idea how true that is, honey is not normally something I crave or eat, but I must have eaten it by the gallon when I had the ear infection!

Its said that eating protein fills you up more ( and probably with less calories) for longer than eating other things--so for instance Lara's meal of fried eggs is not an unhealthy one, its a good source of lean protein and probably kept her feeling more full for longer than a meal of toast, or crisps! I try to eat healthy, but sometimes very long days and limited access to food alternatives ruin the plan! And eating an evening meal late at night, well, usually after 9, is of course a dieting no no, but so be it. I have started bringing a protein canned drink to my office at the uni for a lunch or late morning snack, depending how hungry I am. I wish I could find a low sugar one! There is probably one at the far away grocery store that is about a 50 minute round trip walk ( yes that would be healthy.......maybe a trek this weekend!). Sometimes, instead of worrying about what is healthy, I am just worried about having ANYTHING on hand to eat, that seems like it can be a huge challenge! I am trying to keep fresh fruit and some raw veggies in my office, currently bananas and carrots. And I got a huge tub of fresh strawberries I must eat before they go off!

I say, Go for it. If you don't like it you CAN always go home again! I moved to the UK to finish off my PhD, and while its been an up and down experience to be away from family and hometown, I would not trade it for the world. Its rare in life to get experiences like that, so take it, run with it and go. I have to say that the hardest part of my PhD work has been the being away from home and family factor, not the actual research work itself, if that gives any perspective on where I am coming from! You will find ways to enjoy where you are, there are conferences, for instance that give a built in chance to travel, there are weekends, and so on, and your supervisor might be flexible in the amount of holidays you can take. Go for it. Australia's a wonderful country, and my philosophy has been that I would rather regret what I did, than what I didn't do. It gets infinitely harder as you get older to get the freedom to be in another country--if you get married, or have a S/O or family, family obligations, etc. etc, etc.. Not to say it cannot be done, of course, but your home and family will be there for you. Three years is not forever.

I am teaching tutorials in something that could not be LESS related to research topic. But that is where the teaching was available, and I wanted the experience. Actually, I think its fine that I am doing this away from my research topic. Its a break from the same ole same ole. Its refreshing to look at something different. And it broadens my scope, so I can point to a diversity of topics I can teach in or have experience researching in. I don't know that its necessary to have a passion for your topic of teaching so much as a passion for TEACHING! I thoroughly enjoyed my first tutorial teaching this week. Thats not to say it was all perfect, but I try to approach it with the attitude that LEARNING is enjoyable, that one of my tasks is to get students interested in the topic, and urge them to stay interested, to mix up the learning methods, keep everything lively, moving at the right pace, and engaging. If you have a choice to do something other than straight lecture, look into different interactive learning things that can be done. Lectures make time stand still........interactive learning seems to be the thing these days, and there is a wealth of material out there on it.

Good luck, hope things get better!

Let me know, Juno, if you need any extra translation help and I would be glad to email and see if I can get some translation for you. One person who comes to mind has done some translation relating to helping people get medical benefits based on medical conditions or disabilities, so she MIGHT have some insight in translation of medical terms.

I don't speak Spanish well enough to help you, Juno, but if its any consolation, by coincidence, I am trying to READ an academic article in Spanish this morning. Its hideously slow going, but so far, so good (I think). If I am not sure on some terms I am checking them on translation websites, but am surprised at what I do understand. If you do not have any success, send me a PM, I have some friends in the US that are Hispanic and speak Spanish, and might be able to give a translation--I could email them and see if they might help.

De nada, H, hope there was something helpful for you there. Good luck with it!

Oh, this may not be relevant, or you may already know, but fees for tuition are not uniform in the US for first degrees. A lot can depend if you are going to a public ( ie state) versus privately run university. State run universities have different tiers of tuition, based on whether or not you are a resident of that state ( something similiar to the Home/EU fee structure in the UK?). Tuition is usually charged per credit hour, and I think 15 credit hours ( ie 15 hours worth of class) is considered a full time academic load for under grads.

if this was word association,you could say PhD!

but...

HILL

Free food has no calories. So if someone offers to take you to a meal or provide you a meal, it has no calories. Same as the biscuits and things that universities sometimes offer, they have no calories, so you should eat as much as you want guilt free.

bream

( not quite as nice as trout!)

The courses usually start in the fall, yes, but because the US is mostly on a semester system, it might be possible to start a first year degree course in the second semester, which would start in most places in early to mid January. The US first degree courses are much different than the UK in some respects.

First of all, you do not have to specify a subject when you start. You just start. You have to meet whatever the admissions criteria are for that university ( "college" is used in the US to refer to universities, it means the same thing as "university," and in fact is more commonly used than "university"). Then you can decide to do whatever subjects you want, within some restrictions. You decide you whether to pursue a Bachelor of Arts, or a Bachelor of Science, ( BA or BS), and there is a set of core subjects you have to do for that BA or BS. Then in about your third year, you have to decare a "major". This is your major subject, and to get a degree in that subject, you have to take whatever the requisite courses are for that. Remember a US bachelors degree ( first degree) is a four year one, not a three year one, and you receive grades ( marks) for each course ( class) that you take.

If you are checking with US universities ( colleges) their Admissions Office would be able to give you the specifics on starting..and when. Students for instance can transfer universities between semesters, so I would guess that its not that hard to start in the second ( spring) semester. In the US, also, the term " first degree" is not likely to be understood, talk about your " bachelor's degree" or "undergrad" and that will be understood. Also "graduate" means the same as " post graduate", if you talk about " post graduate" in the US its likely to be understood as " post-doctoral".

I hope that is of help. If you have any specific universities in mind, best thing would be to place a call ( I mean ring, now you have my brain working in American and not British English!) to the admissions office and they should be able to help you. There is no such thing as the placement via exam results and clearing that the British university system has. Or if ringing is not an option, I would guess most of the Admissions offices have email contacts you could find on the university webpage.

Anyway hope that helps, I will try to check back to see if it did and if you have any other questions I could try to answer.

hull

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaGHVq4zYLQ&feature=related

and why not feel groovy?8-)

"A likely impossibility is always preferable to an unconvincing possibility." -Aristotle



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