h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just saw I missed your post on PC's journal - and didn't want to do too much topic drifiting there.

I'm honoured, anyway

Cool!

Just wanted to tell you that I'm in art school in the UK as a mature student, and am trying to decide between product design and interior architecture for next year, although that would be the start of a BA, as opposed to the end which is where you are, obviously.

Have a tutorial tomorrow and then my first semester assessment next week, so I'm sitting in front of the laptop, hammering away..

Ooooh, good luck! I'd go for design, but that's just because interior decorating is a "women's subject", so being a woman, I refuse to do it

If you want to lurk around in my journals, I'm currently trying to decide where to do my Master's and what to do it in, so a similar situation.

I want to get out of Germany for a bit.

See this is the thing!

There is a difference between interior architecture and interior design/decoration.
Interior architecture is more focussing on commercial products, and is closer to architecture.

Interior design is more fluffy bunny nicey nicey and not what my school teaches.
However, that was sort of what I wanted to do, despite not being very fluffy bunny myself. Hence why this is actually quite a difficult decision all of a sudden.

The guy who is the lead teacher in product design used to work for Phillips and taught in Eindhoven, where for instance Hella Jongerious and some of the Droog Design lot studied, so that could be quite cool.

School is currently planning a trip to Berlin in February, although I'm not sure I'm gonna go.

I don't think the UK falls into the affordable category though for post-graduate degrees, although I believe they are very good. I'm lucky enough to have lived in the UK for 5 years now, so they count me like a 'home' student, which cuts my fees a lot.

More prejudice, I guess Sounds more interesting than what I thought you meant!

(Speaking of prejudice, all I know about Iceland is that you have the best horses. )

S'ok - usually I turn into a little diplomat whenever anyone asks any questions, so fire away.

Good news is I just finished one of my papers and have just started a new one! woohoo.
(they're little mini papers of about 500 words, but there's 10 of them and they're due on the 17th along with everything else)

What I did was started this 1yr access diploma - which is a kind of a foundation diploma for mature students. And having to decide what to study in the future after only 2 months-ish of the diploma is actually quite hard! They all seem really heavy on throwing you in at the deep end, i.e. the deep end from where I'm standing, 2 months in. I'm hoping that come May this will all seem nice and easy and I'll have no worries, but I'm not betting on it.

Plus, us mature students find this whole decision a little harder than the 17-18 yr olds as well I think. They can get it wrong and it's no big deal, they have plenty of time. Us mature lot though have done it all wrong before or haven't done anything and this is kind of the last opportunity we have and if we make a mistake it'll be very very pricey!

Anyhow, that's one of the reasons this is tricky. I really don't envy you your decision at all. I can say that the UK has plenty of schools and as a foreigner (i.e. paying foreigner fees) you'd be very welcome. I'd also say that there are plenty of schools outside of London and that London is HUUUUUUUUGE and I wouldn't want to live there. But then again, I'm from Iceland, pop. 320 000.

That's fewer than this town!

I've already spent three semesters more on my BSc than I should, so I think I can't *really* afford to make mistakes. But then, I also can't afford to pay high fees.

At the moment, it looks like I'll be going to Sweden or Norway, though.

Good luck with yours! Sounds like they're really weeding you out

Denmark is cool as well especially for design. I know some people studying in Sweden and they love it there.

Know a German girl who lived in Norway for years (now lives in the UK) and she loved it there, BUT it is expensive.

Out of the three, Denmark is probably cheapest to live in, but I don't know about the cost of a degree in the three countries, comparatively speaking.

Yes, I'm still very much in the research phase. I've been to Sweden and Denmark, so I suppose I have a good excuse to go to Norway...

Where are you from originally? You're in / near Wuppertal?
Is travel and links going to be an issue?

(used to do travel arrangements at w@rk before quitting to become an art student)

Copenhagen is generally cheaper and easier to get to than Oslo. Denmark also has a lot milder climate, but it is very flat.

Do you know 'Himmelbjerget'?

Originally is hard to say. Through no fault of my own, I was born in Bavaria. But I've moved so often that though I finished school in the standard 13 years, it took up to 12 different schools, depending on how you count.

Most of my family is in Lower Saxony. My sister's in Berlin, and my father's off near the French border, but I ignore him anyway as much as possible. He's Dutch.

It would probably be Trondheim, anyway, so 300km farther north than Oslo

And no, I don't know 'Himmelbjerget'

W!ki has some info on Himmelbjerget - basically it's a hill of 147m, celebrated as the highest point in Denmark. It is a very very flat little land.

My point about originality was just where you'd head off to or whether you'd stay in the country you study in?

Where would you go in Sweden or Denmark? Any ideas?

Coming from Iceland, I feel (uniquely) qualified to tell you that Trondheim is fu@kin cold! And not very large, actually.

Well, everything off that way is pretty flat. Good for cycling... And I won't miss having to climb up here every day!

I'll probably end up working in the UK or Ireland, at least for a while. After that, who knows! I'm ready to move around, though I'd prefer to stay in Europe. That might change, too.

Not sure where to go yet, otherwise. I shall see. Trondheim was just an idea because we have an exchange programme with my current Uni.

I kind of envy you, actually. Both because you are this far along in your education, whereas I'm really just starting, but also because of your freedom to go where you fancy.

It's not that I can't move, but having moved to the UK permanently and settled in and so on doesn't make me jump up and down about the idea of actually moving anywhere else. I fantasise about it, but the reality of it would have to be pretty damned good to make me move!

How about Spain? That would be warmer than Trondheim for sure!
Like you, I've picked up a few languages, but Spanish isn't yet one of them.

Well, not being tied down has its disadvantages, too

And I really prefer both the climate and the people in the North or East, I think. Can't stand excessive heat and excessive machos, for one thing!

Fair enough!

(In a bit of amazing timing I haven't been online at all today cause I've been studying and I thought, 'oh, I'll quickly check stuff online' and I've caught your post within the minute!)

With everyone migrating South, it just leaves more places for me to go fill the gaps

And That is a coincidence! Because I was just about to go to bed.

Scotland could be good.

I'm working on the theory that when the glaciers melt it'll be high enough up to be OK and property will therefore remain of value.

Plus from my perspective it kind of looks like Iceland.

Do you know Eddie Skoller? Danish comedian, did a song called 'what did you learn in school today?'. Very good, if you can download (honestly, obviously).

I find it extra amusing as I know the languages involved...

Scotland's expensive, though, tuition-wise

No, don't know him. There are countless versions of that song, though, all with different lyrics.

I seem to be stuck on little islands - next one I thought of was Eire..