Term 1

The last two weeks I've spent almost exclusively in my apartment or in the library reading, writing, and studying, but the sun is shining again because the first term is complete!  5 more to go.  I wrote 30 pages for 4 different papers and took one 3-hour exam that wasn't nearly long enough for all I wanted to write.  I know I've been out of school for, oh, 10 years or so, but I wonder if things have changed drastically in the states, because our exam here wasn't what I was expecting.  It was taken at a computer terminal.  I took both the GMAT and the GRE at computer terminals, but this was different.  We were handed paper copies of the test questions, but we were expected to write our answers a Word file, which got saved to the hard drive.  We were allowed to perform calculations in Excel and save that file as well.  When we were done, we printed out two copies of each, put them in separate envelopes, and sealed and signed them.  I can't remember the last time I wrote 7 pages in 3 hours.  Have I mentioned that the standard paper here isn't 8.5 x 11?  Its something called A4, which is 8.25 x 11.75.  It means more words per page.

I think I did alright, I won't know for a few weeks.  I certainly wouldn't want to be tasked with grading 43 10-page papers or 43 7-page accounting exams.  I'm confident I passed, at least on the Danish scale, which runs from 12 to -3.  An A is equivalent to an 11 or 12, a B is an 8, 9, or 10, a C is 5-7, a D is 1-4, and failing is 0 to -3.  I was wondering aloud how there could be different degrees of failing when a classmate explained that in Germany you can receive a few -1s or -2s, on exams and still work hard and pass the course if you pass other exams.  But if you get a single -3, you've failed the class.  I think I like the alphabet system better.

What did I do to celebrate?  I caught a movie.  Yes, it was in English, but it had Danish subtitles.  Skyfall opened here a week ago and I've been dying to see it.  It was pretty fantastic.  I paid 85 DKK for the ticket, which is the equivalent to $15.50 for a matinee.  In Hadley I think I was paying $8 or $9?  It gets pricier for evening shows.  Popcorn starts at $5 for a small and goes up to $10 for a large, so that isn't too different from home.  There's almost no limit on what I'd pay to see Daniel Craig as Bond, though.  Oh, and they have assigned seats in Danish movie theaters.  I could have bought tickets online and chosen my seats if I'd wanted to.  Even buying them in person, the clerk asked me where I wanted to sit.  Jury is still out on whether its a better system.  More research is needed...