Wednesday was my first official day back to university after summer vacation. When I woke up that morning, I knew I would have a busy day ahead of me:

Before getting on the train to go to Oslo, I was supposed to give my house keys to my friend Nina. She was going to spend the night at our house, because she was flying back to Grand Forks, ND, to start her last year of college.

In all the excitement, I’d forgotten to remind her of the name of the station, and so she didn’t get off when she was supposed to (Eidsvoll verk stasjon). Fortunately, the train turns around and goes back only one stop after (Eidsvoll), but I was getting on, and so I only had about 30 seconds to give her my keys before going to Oslo.

On campus, I was meeting one school friend for coffee - the coffee shop there makes the best white moccachino ever! - before she was going to the airport to get her kid. After that, I was having lunch - home made chicken salad by yours truly! - with two other school friends, before meeting with my MA thesis adviser.

I ended my day at the university with the first lecture of the semester...

We have a few more additions to our schedule.

When we come back from Argelès, we will probably spend at least a couple of hours with Nico and Sophie, two friends of Sylvain’s from Rennes. They are visiting Sophie’s sister Hélène who has been in Oslo this past semester with the Erasmus exchange program. For those of my readers who speak French, Hélène’s blog can be found here. We will only have the one day to see each other, because they are going back to France two days after we come back.

Secondly, Sylvain’s dad is coming on a weekend visit the weekend after our return.

Thirdly, I have two friends coming from England for a long weekend in the end of June.

But before all this, I have to finish my semester. I have to hand in a second term paper in a little over a week, and an exam in the beginning of June. On Friday, we are having Sylvain’s boss and his wife over for dinner, and next week, we will also have electricians come fix our electrical system, and a locksmith to reinforce our locks.

I will also slowly begin the work for my Master’s thesis...

So, I got me an adviser for my MA thesis :D Incidentally, he’s also my grammar teacher this semester.

We had a meeting a couple of weeks ago, to discuss my MA project. He listened to my ideas, and agreed with them all :D. If you didn’t know already, I’m going to immerse myself in French sociolinguistics, and write about the vous-tu distinction in French.

Someone at the university had already written a MA thesis on the subject a couple of years ago, so I thought for a moment I wouldn’t be able to complete the project I’d been thinking about for the past five (and a half) years. Fortunately, you just have to find an original angle, and then you’re fine.

What the other guy did, was study the linguistic elements of the area (pragmatics, etc), and he also used a sample of Norwegians having spent a few months in France as part of their degree program. I would like to concentrate more on the sociological aspects, and use a French sample. We’ll see if I can pull it off...

I don’t officially begin my thesis work until next semester, but I thought I’d get a little head start. For that purpose, my adviser gave me a reading list for my immersion into the subject matter:

• Approches de la langue parlée en français by Claire Blanche-Benveniste
• Le français dans tous ses états by Bernard Cerquiglini
• Le français ordinaire and La variation sociale en français by Françoise Gadet
• Histoire de la langue française : 1945-2000 by Bernard Cerquiglini and Gérald Antoine
  

We signed the contract today, and he’s going to pass it on to the proper authorities.

I've been accepted into the French language MA program (page in Norwegian) at the university, which takes two years (four semesters) to complete.

Most of the Master's programs have the same duration as mine, and is thus worth 120 ECTS credits. The degree is ended when the Master's thesis is handed in and validated.

Some Master's programs offered in English takes from one to two years, according to the international agreements in which they are a part.

My degree is as follows: 

This semester, I take three classes; two in French grammar, treating adverbials and appositions, and one in English linguistics called Contrastive analysis: Syntax, Lexis and Discourse.

Lånekassen is a national association providing loans to Norwegian studying at domestic or foreign institutions, and, I think, for foreigners studying at Norwegian institutions. This includes English speaking countries (UK, US, etc...), although with some restrictions because of high tuition and such.

You are eligible for loans for a total of eight years (16 semesters). After you’ve passed a semester, a certain percentage is converted into a scholarship. You won’t, however, know the total deduction until the degree is complete.

You can apply for a loan either online or by a form sent to you by mail, or obtained at a secondary school.

I called Lånekassen today because, this fall, I’d applied for a loan on the basis of my admission in the Language Bachelor’s program. In reality, because I was only completing the "80-group" (2 2/3 semester) I needed for Master’s admissions, I wasn’t going to use my BA spot anymore after Christmas (provided I passed the classes needed, of course). This is what I learned:

• I can transfer from a BA to a MA in the duration of the year and not inform Lånekassen, provided the transfer is within the same educational institution
• All that counts is that I pass my semester/year
• At the next application (this fall), I can change my admission data from a BA to an MA, no problem (!)

I finished the last of my three exams yesterday... The results of the first two decide whether or not I'm accepted to the MA in languages.

I had the first oral exam - for my sociolinguistics class - the second week of December. This was a very pleasant, first encounter with exams at the university of Oslo. I've loved attending these classes, and doing the written qualification papers for it. I've been a bit disappointed, though, that these wouldn't count for my final grade, but I've done my best all the same, and have learned a lot in the process.

The exam went very, very well; I've officially gotten my first university 'A', which is as high as it can get, because we can't put a '+' after the grade. My only regret after this class, is that I can't have my teacher as my MA adviser, because she belongs to a different department.

The grammar exam went alright, too... I have no idea what my grade will be, but I need a C average to get into the MA program. I already have a 12,xx/20 average (equivalents a B) from Poitiers, so it should be alright.

I should get a letter from the university soon concerning (temporary) admissions...

Exams are approaching.

The first one is tomorrow, at 10:30am CET, for my sociolinguistics class. This is my first oral exam in the Norwegian university system...

I have a written exam for my French grammar class on Dec. 13 (Thursday next week) from 9am CET.

I have to get good grades for these two to be able to start my MA after Christmas... So happy thoughts everybody!

The Eidsvoll railway station was the endpoint of Norway’s first set of rails, and put into use for the first time in 1854. When Gardermoen became Oslo’s main international airport (before there was Fornebu and Gardermoen airports), they built a new set of rail road tracks, for fast trains (flytoget) initially, between the airport and the capital. And with the new set of tracks, they had to build a new station at Eidsvoll, which opened in 1998.

The distance between Eidsvoll station and Oslo central station is 67.51km, or about about 42 miles.

It takes me between 15 and 20 minutes to walk the 1,8 kilometers (1.12 miles) from my house to the station.

Two trains go to Oslo every hour: one local and one intercity train. The local train leaves Eidsvoll every 24 minutes past the hour, and takes 51 minutes. It stops at Eidsvoll verk (where the Eidsvoll building is), Oslo Airport Gardermoen, Kløfta, Frogner and Lillestrøm before Oslo Central station.

The intercity leaves every 57 minutes past the hour, and arrives in Oslo 37 minutes later, after stopping at Gardermoen and Lillestrøm.

When I come to Oslo central station, I take the "T-bane" (subway, metro...) to Oslo University campus. It’s a four minute walk from the station hall to the subway, then 12-15 minutes subway ride to get from Oslo S to Blindern, which is the name of the main Oslo university campus. To get there, you have to catch either the 3 train toward Sognsvann, the 4 train towards Ringen or the 5 train towards Storo.

On a good day, when I take the Intercity train at 8:57am, and manage to catch the first subway from Oslo S, the 3 train at 9:47am, my travel time is about an hour, excluding the 15 minutes walk to the station.

If I don’t catch the 3, I have to wait over 10 minutes for the next (the 5) to arrive. In that case, I take the first train that arrives to Majorstua station, which is the crossing point for all the subway lines, and walk the rest of the way, 10-15 minutes, to campus.

I’ve started to make up for my lack of reading during my bachelor’s. I’ve read a Que sais-je? - a series of short books summarizing a theme each - on sociology of language and a part of a book by Pierre Bourdieu, who was a very famous sociologist.

Bourdieu was known for, amongst other things, writing VERY long sentences, with a lot of digressions. I’ve (voluntarily) read parts of "Ce que parler veut dire", which precedes "Language and symbolic power" (Langage et pouvoir symbolique), and I’ve counted one sentence to be 15 lines long (!). But then, the subject is interesting.

I’m also going to read books by Erwing Goffman and Harold Garfinkel, although those are in English...

All very exciting :P

One of the things I was unhappy about in Poitiers, was the lack of work requirements during the semester. I’m not saying we didn’t have any assignments during semesters, it’s just that I felt I needed more language practice than I did. In addition, I highly prefer writing papers and essays to scribbling a barely understandable French down on a piece of paper during exams. I figured my awkward phrasing would give my foreign status away, but would, just in case, drop a few Norwegian or English/American examples here and there... just to be sure they got the message...

Neither were there any mandatory reading requirements. Some mandatory reading wouldn’t have done any harm, in my opinion, because you would at least have some outside information, other than your teachers. And, maybe, it would encourage you to do some reading on your own...

At the University of Oslo, which is quite influenced by the British and American higher education system, I might add, the policy is entirely different. Here, I have to hand in at least two essays per subject per semester, and have either an oral or a written exam at the end.

There is also some mandatory reading. I have on average two books to read for each subject. In addition, I’m reading books for one of my essays in the sociolinguistics class. For the latter, I’m actually catching up on some of the reading I should have done during my bachelor’s... better late than never, right?

This semester, I’m taking three French classes:

- Advanced grammar (FRA 2111), where we are studying verbs during a whole semester. Might sound boring, but it’s actually good to get a little more insight into the structure of the language I’ve been learning since middle school (fall 1995-spring 2001, fall 2002-spring 2004. And I’m not counting my BA years, which came after) Don’t really know what I can use it for later, but who knows!?!

- French sociolinguistics (FRA 2103), which is a subject I’ve wanted to study for quite some time. It combines the two main subjects from my education so far - French language/linguistics and sociology, if you were wondering :p - but mixing them together just the right amount. Sociolinguistics emphasizes more on the linguistics part of the subject, whereas sociology of language, its sociological counterpart, is more interested in the social impact of language usage. 

- French "culture studies" (FRA 1501), a combination of social studies and French history from "la Belle Epoque" (end of 19th century) to today. I did take a history class (actually, two, one each semester) during my French degree in Poitiers. That year gave me insight on French society before, and during the French Revolution, as well as the two Napoleonic eras, the monarchies in between, and the three first, French republics. The course I’m taking now, which, by the way, is meant for first year students, continues where the Poitiers course left off...

If you looked at the link in the last post, you saw that the main campus is situated in a limited area, kind of like an American campus. And if you looked at the names under the map, you saw that many have full names+the word "hus" (= house), for example 6. Henrik Wergelands hus. Those "houses", if I’ve understood things correctly, aren’t really assigned to specific subject areas.

The names ending by "bygningen" ("the building"), however, do have a more specific designation, f.ex. no 23 "kjemibygningen"/the chemistry building.

The humanities faculty, where you can study

- archeology, conservation

- history (ideas, art)

- linguistics, and classical, oriental, Nordic and European languages

- philosophy

- culture studies

- literature

- area studies (linked with languages)

- media and communication

- science of music

has people in Niels Henrik Abels hus (14), Niels Treschows hus (8) and Henrik Wergeland’s hus.

Besides the different faculty buildings, you can find a gym/swimming pool, a two floor book shop, several food stores, cafés and coffee shops, several cafeterias/restaurants, a hairdresser, and a few libraries.

If I were to compare it to the Poitiers university campus, I would say that the Oslo campus is more "student friendly", because you can find almost everything you need within a few minutes walk. In Poitiers, the campus does have a gym, but the buildings are dispersed on too large a surface for it to be convenient. It does have restaurants and cafeterias, and libraries, but you need to go into town if you need paper, pens, etc. I did miss a book shop there, too, but then, the French don’t really have to buy books for their classes.

If you know me well, you know that I’ve got a lousy sens of direction, and need to go places quite a few times before finding my way. The only place I don’t seem to have much trouble is Manhattan, which is a bit weird, but that’s for another entry.

Before starting in Oslo, I hadn’t been much to the university campus. The only time I’m sure I was there, was when my dad got his Ph.D. When I was registering, I went up from Halden by train with my dad, who has been working at the university’s teacher’s training department for almost two years now. This meant, of course, that he had a better idea than I on where things were.

During the first few days, I needed a map to find my buildings. My dad’s is number 21 (bottom right), and my classes were  at the other side of campus, numbers 5, 7 and 13. Weird thing is, though, that I had less difficulty finding my dad’s office in the "maze" of corridors in his building than I did getting from his office to classes.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long to get my bearings straight.

I applied in April, but had to wait until mid/end July for an answer. Then, and only then, could I apply for student loan with Lånekassen.

I got into both the "single subject" and the bachelor program, one right before the other. The adviser had said that if I got into both, I could give up my spot in the BA-program, which wasn’t that easy to begin with. I ended up leaving it as it was, and just hoping for the best...

Around the same time, I got my validation paper for my French degree (the 60 ECTS I was talking about earlier). However, it said that, if I wanted to use my credits for further studies, i.e. a Master’s program, I needed two grammar and language courses on first year level (FRA 1000-something), plus a self elected course on second/third year level (FRA 2000-something). This I found a bit weird, because my old French degree was supposed to cover the 1000-level, so why did they want me to take two more?

Come August, I was supposed to register for classes online. Problem was, with both my programs, I only had access to 1000-level classes, and I also needed 2000. In addition, one of the classes they wanted me to take is only offered in the spring, when I’d wanted to start my Master’s program.

And, because I’d decided to follow the "single subject program", I could only register a week (a Tuesday) after the other students, when they’d taken their pick.

The day before registration, I’d talked to the adviser in person, and we’d established - after consulting with the Master’s admission people - that I could get away with taking two classes on 2000-level, and none on 1000-level.

Before having decided upon my master’s, I’d done some research into the matter. One of the persons I talked to was a student adviser at the University of Oslo language faculty, as I wished to emphasize on French sociolinguistics for my master’s project.

(I’d also talked to one of my sociology professors in Poitiers, to get some information on my possibilities in France, and done research online...)

From what the person said, all sounded simple and easy to get through, but nooo... First of all, there is some paper work involved. I had to gather information on my French degree from before my BA in sociology, and my BA, which included:

- grade transcripts

- Credit value lists for all the subjects

- In-depth description of all the subjects (which is not available to regular students, by the way, unless you ask)

(- grade and grade compensation systems, which I included since I figured they would need it to understand the rest)

    All this to get my French education validated by a Norwegian educational institution. Sigh...

Second, to be able to do a Master’s, you need 80 credits (ECTS) on Bachelor level in that specific area. Seeing as a year accumulates 60 ECTS, you need to spend another semester accumulating the last 20. But, ever since the new university reform, they want less and less students not following a specific program (just doing single subjects), so I was told to do the following:

- apply for a spot in the BA language program

- apply for a spot in the "single-subject" program, where you basically can chose any subject you want within Humanities and Social Sciences (for my sake)

- come talk to the adviser before beginning of classes to sort things out

I’d started my research on Master’s last fall, and for a time, I thought I was to continue in France. But, fate would have it otherwise...

When I started my bachelor’s degree three years ago, France and Europe was starting to convert their local university and degree systems into a common European one. But, as it turns out, much of the local, French system didn’t change. For instance, the Master’s degree is supposed to be a two-year block. In the old, French system, these two years were the equivalent of two separate degree combinations; Maîtrise+DEA or Maîtrise+DESS, the DEA preparing for a future Ph.D., and the DESS preparing for working life. The thing is, the selection isn’t between the Bachelor’s degree and the Master’s degree, but between the two years of the Master‘s degree, which I find a bit weird, but that’s just me.

In any case, during a dinner thing with students and teachers right before Christmas, I realized that I didn’t know if I’d have a good chance of finishing a Master’s degree in France, one of the reasons being that they prefer a rather high minimum grade average for validation. The average has to at least be 15/20, which equals an A, but bare in mind that it’s more difficult to get a 15/20 in France than an A in the US, especially for subjects like languages or social sciences.

With this in mind, I thought it better to go back to Norway because there, if I was admitted in a Master’s program, I was sure to stay there for the two years necessary to complete my degree.