Easter is here, easter evening now, and I am back in Munich finally after having travelled first to Spain and then to Bergen, western Norway. That getting robbed experience I could do without, but now slowly things are getting back to normal.. Which means focus on work.. Hehe

Two weeks now before the General Meeting takes place.. Two weeks of documents writing, and preparing whatever.. Bleh!

Through GKD, a mailing list I am on, I got a notice about a document regarding promoting youth employment through ICT. Check out that paper. GKD has the following archives of messages online. I am a big supporter of the use of mailing lists for spreading information and experience. The GKD list is packed with very resourcefull people.. Once I get more time on my hands I will work more focusedly on the use of ICT in education.. Anyway more on that in the future.

My gf and I went to see a typical Bavarian Castle, called "Neuschwanstein". It was Really beautiful. Tooo bad I dont have the digital camera anymore, but I found a picture
online.

happy easter! :)

In Madrid now, since it is easter coming up, and to spanish ppl (like many others :P) easter is a special time so they all want to travel home or away or something, so when I arrived Madrid today from Granada, there were 321 people standing in a queue to book tickets... I luckily only had to wait for 3 hours for getting to the international counter, and then i finally could book reservations for a train going to Paris, which means that I can get out of this country soon :) Not that I dislike Spain, far from it, but right now I guess I have got a bit too much of this travel. Lots of hassling, lots of frustration, and I miss my digital camera buuhuu :P Anyway, I have been doing different things here including walking around just licking sun. It was something like 27 degrees here. Very different from Munich (snow?) or Bergen (snow which melts and makes a sloppy soup of snow-water which makes you feel utterly horrible while walking on the streets). I like Sun :) But I guess I dont like it hotter than hmm 30 degrees. When it becomes like 37, its too much for me.

Before I now go and catch my train I want to write down a story I read some years ago:

"There was once a man who opened a restaurant, with a good kitchen, attractive tables and an excellent mednu.
One of his friends came along soon afterwards, and said:
"Why have you not got a sign, like all the other eating-places? I suggest that you put on it "RESTAURANT: FINEST FOOD""
When the sign was painted and put up, another enquirer asked: "You have to be more specific - you might mean any old reataurant. Add the words "SERVED HERE" and your sign will be complete".
The owner thought that this was a good idea, and he had the signboard duly altered.
Not long afterwards someone else came along and said: "Why do you put "HERE"? Surely anyone can see where the place is?"
So the restaurateur had the sign changed.
Presently a further curious member of the public wanted to know: "Do you not know that the word "SERVED" is redundant? All restaurants and shops serve. WHy not take it out?"
So that word was taken out.
Now another visitor said:
"If you continue to use the phrase "FINEST FOOD", some people will be sure to wonder whether it really is the finest, and some will not agree. To guard against criticism and contention, please do remove the word "Finest".
And so he did. Now, just the word "FOOD" was to be seen on the notice, and a sixth inquisitive individual put his head through the doorway. "Why have you got the word "FOOD" on your restaurant: anyone can see that you serve food here."

So the restaurateur took down the sign. As he did so, he cold not help wondering when somebody who was hungry, rather than curious or intellectual, would come along..."

Thanks to all for your comments and encouraging words, it really helps.

Thing is, I got my passport, that is the most important. And the railpass, by some luck in all the unluck, is also still here. And I met Todd this Canadian guy whose cards were not stolen, and he could lend me some money untill I get back on track. So basically I feel lucky, in a way. They didnt kill me, they didnt rip out my eyes or something, and well, I am able to survive this, even if it ment me losing $ 450 and a digital camera and my cell phone, as well as the credit cards etc. I got all the cards cancelled, and they had seemingly not been abused. Phew. Dont want to go through all the hassle of proving that hey I didnt use my card at X position at Y time..

Anyway, hmm, in Barcelona now, i just love this city, and well too bad I cant take any pictures with the dig.camera and post it on the web, but hmmm i guess such is life....

:) Besides, well, it is through losing something that one begins to feel how attached / not attached one is to it. Often it is first when something is gone that one really finds that one misses it, or in terms of material things, really found it usefull.

oh darn it, anyway, will update again soon

in barcelona now, got robbed on the train from Marseille towards the Spanish border last night, in the middle of the night i woke up on the train by someone patting my jacket, i had my wallet on the inside of the jacket, and my bag between my legs... somehow they had been able to take the bag, and when i woke, i saw the backhead of some people going out of the train (the compartment was dark, it was like 3.30 AM), and it was probably them, i was in shock like what the fack is going on? why did he touch my jacket? then i noticed the wallet really was gone, and my backpack was gone too. jesus. are people this cynical/rude/cheap/brave here? my passport, wallet, digital camera, cell phone, everything was gone.

i ran out of the train but saw nobody with a bag running/walking away.. and no conductor in sight. so i went back inside and started asking people around me if they had seen anything, and only few spoke english, and nobody had seen anything, then i heard another guy asking "is your bag also gone"? and well his name is Todd and he is from Canada and he is studying in Marseille and his bag was also gone, but luckily his passport was still safe, and his railpass, and well my railpass was also safe,a ctually the railpass was the only thing I had then, and the funny thing is the railpass had been in the back of the seat in front of me, .. guess that saved me from being in the middle of nowhere (Narbonne) without any way of even getting to Barcelona...

anyway, we decided to wait untill the end of the journey, and then ask the conductor, there had been no conductor on the train at all (???¿¿¡¡) it seems, and well nobody really seemed to care about my stuff, except Todd, and well, when we arrived this border station, the end of this train ride, we asked around, and looked around, and then some guy came on the train and went through the train, turning off the lights and blah, and voila, he had Todds bag, someone had found it and gave it to him, he didnt speak english but finally i got him to understand that my bag was gone too and well, he went looking further, and we all looked, and then he came back with my bag too, without the money, the digital camera or the stuff, BUT my passport. so i am in barcelona now with a bit of money i borrowed from Mat (his credit cards were in his bag??) wow, and a passport and rail ticket, going to Granada still for this meeting, and then home, wherever that is.

i am pretty sad at the moment, at my own naivety, and that people can be This rude. i will explain more later, but in either case, this was a last 24 hours i could easily do without.


dltq :/

The meeting of Spot + in Erlangen near Nürnberg in Germany went good. I met quite some interesting people during the day, including a swedish guy who is working with.. well communication. The meeting itself was also good. We discussed student perspectives on ICT in higher education. The Spot + project, which is funded by among others Sokrates and Minerva, is going to be a very good arena for students around Europe to give input on the question of ICT. There will be a questionnaire, which will be distributed to about 1500 students, and there will be practical discussions on how to best implement ICT in higher education. But mostly, the attempt of the project is to actually hear the students views on the matter. The Spot + website will be up within a month, I will post the link once it is up.

Otherwise, I am now back in Brussels. I will be having a meeting with a guy in Leuven this afternoon, and then tomorrow morning I will be taking the train towards Madrid.. Gawd, I am so tired of trains now. I took the train from Nurnberg last night, and my back feels horrible :/

ok forget that, leuven meeting cancelled :(; will go to Madrid, Spain now. seeyou

today, I sent out another letter to representatives of the Coimbra Group, and here is the text of the email version of the letter:



Dear Coimbra Group representatives,


I am sure all of you are very much aware at this time of the Coimbra Group General Assembly to be held in Leuven (Belgium) between the 17th and 20th of April. Indeed preparations for the event have long been underway and I hope this will prove to be yet another successful annual meeting in the Coimbra Group’s history. I would like to take the oppurtunity here however to talk about Mosaic’s General Meeting, also hosted by KU Leuven, but taking place slightly in advance of the GA, between the 13th and 17th of April.

In many ways the strengths and overall credibility of the Coimbra Group as a network are both conditions and products of the academic, cultural and national diversities this name has come to represent. It is partly for this reason then that a high turnout to the GA is particularly desirable (besides the obvious democratic considerations). Since its establishment in 1986 Mosaic has aimed to provide a similar platform (this time for students of the member institutions) for the dissemination and exchange of ideas within the context of ongoing Higher Education issues, as well as matters pertaining to student cultural and social life. It is again for this reason that this year’s General Meeting should be, as far as possible, an oppourtunity for discussing the whole spectrum of student concerns, desires, and in general, experiences.

In order to make this event a success then, I hope to see at least thirty five student representatives at the General Meeting, that is to say, at least one from each member institution. Agendas and invitation letters have already been sent out to student unions at the majority of memebr institutions. Where an adress could not be found, the same information was instead sent to the relevant EPET teskforce members. More information, including practical advice, can be found on the Mosaic website ( www.mosaic.st ). Whilst KU Leuven has kindly offered to provide accomadation and food for student delegates, travel expenses will unfortunately have to be covered by individual institutions.

I feel that for this event truly to represent those laudible objectives and ethos of the Coimbra Group, attendance should not be limited to insitutions who have a Mosaic representative. It is for this reason then, that I request you to pass this information (and of course Mosaic’s web address) on to the student union or any other student board or body in your institution.

I thank you in advance for your help and if you have any questions or comments, please do send me an e-mail.


Yours sincerely,

Raymond M. Kristiansen
President, Mosaic
Brussels, March 15, 2002

So now this letter has been sent to 35 university representatives, most often leaders of international offices or similar university administration offices.

The meeting in April is going to be good, I guess :) At least, I hope so. Oh well, back to work.

What inspires me is people who believe in something, happen to get good at working towards what they believe in, and then do NOT lose their heads in the process.


I get inspired by young people who dare, who have passions for something, be it art, computers or sports. People who really want to share with others, who do not only think about their own ego, and who are just cool, down-to-earth humans :)

Today I found a link to the list of the Global Leaders of Tomorrow, (profiles), where Jennifer Corriero is one of them. I find it interesting, very interesting indeed, to be in a community like this one where people who are hockey stars, successfull company builders or just simply People can meet and exchange ideas.

The power of sharing ideas is HUGE. And this is one of the reasons why I find ICT so immensely a usefull tool. With the technology, one is to a large extent empowered.

Tonight, I also found another link, being to the Dudley Knox Library, a military homepage which gives access to lots of research material.

Once I am done with my presidency in Mosaic, I hope to be able to get updated on simple programming, but more in how the technology can be used for Online Learning. I know some people working with TV technology, and I also know lots of people involved with ICT/Education, and I hope to get involved with a project of dissimination of ICT in Education in for instance developing countries.

Could one use a technology enabling students in Uganda using a simple TV to get directed signals from say the UK, or Bologna? Is it possible? If so, is it being used today? If not, why not? :) And so on. I am not a whiz on computer technology like tons of others, and neither am I a gifted politician, but if there is anything I can do, tell me :) Oh and I prefer team work, not just doing things on my own.

Actually, I already volunteered to be a scholarships and grants opportunities researcher here at TIG. I am not too happy with it so far tho. It seems like every researcher just does his/her own little thing, and there is not many common facilities one could draw upon. Maybe I should just explore the website more, it Might be hidden somewhere on the admin pages like the lower left corner (kidding), but in any case, I will look into this more as well after the 20th of April when the General Meeting is over :))

Hmm going to meet some more friends now, americans who are at the US delegation to EU as trainees. Brussels is fun in this way, you can meet so many different people.

In Brussels now, finishing this weeks work tomorrow. Then tomorrow night going to Munich again :D and then sunday night going to Erlangen near Nurnberg, and then monday have a meeting in the SPOT + project group, and then monday night going back to Brussels, and then on tuesday going to Leuven to have a meeting with the previous treasurer of my board, and then on wednesday morning going to Madrid via Paris by train, and then on thursday morning next week going to Granada from Madrid, and then thursday and friday have meetings with students and staff members of the University of Granada. Oh yeah, spending my birthday (friday) in meetings all day sounds soo fun :/

Oh, and then on saturday 23rd I will be going to Madrid, and then I would Really like to spend the Sunday in Barcelona (vacation) before going back to Brussels. :)

I really want to see this Goada (sic) church, as well as the rest of Barcelona.

I love Spain. I love the spanish girls (even tho I guess more french girls are pretty in terms of statistics), i love the warmth, the culture, the food. In general I really like southern europe. Italy, oh mamma mia :)) (Firenze, Roma, Siena...)

I am going to Granada in order to persuade the student union there to hold a big seminar in april 2003 there, and also to be the secretariat of Mosaic untill then :) Hehe, gotta do some good preaching. Nah, really, what I need to show them is that things are not really that complicated.

I have given up trying to learn powerpoint, will just use plain old pen and paper for now, and then wait untill I can get a machine with scanner (for textures scanning), all the necessary adobe products (i love adobe's products, anyone know about other companies which give out better products in the same fields?) and a smooth net connection.

For this General Meeting of Mosaic in April, we are planning to have two workshops and one seminar.

The workshops will be about:

1) Student mobility in Europe. [What is happening now with the creation of an European Area of Higher Education?]

2) Cultural aspects of student mobility [How to get foreign students really integrated to the host university student culture while they are visiting this university?]

Seminar: Student Views on ICT in Higher Education.


We hope that the sessions will be fruitful to the participants.. :)

dltq

President Mugabe of Zimbabwe has done it again, somehow managed to remain in power. According to state media, he won with over 50 percent of the votes during the election saturday-monday. I have followed the situation in Zimbabwe for some time and must say that I am really disappointed over this development.

I had hoped that Mugabe would be taken down from power after 20 years of rule. Gadhafi has also been in power too long, and Fidel Castro, and Saddam Hussein.

I am trying to figure out how to use MS Powerpoint better now. Oh, I wish I had more programmes available :(

It is sunday, and tonight I got to go back to Brussels. :(

The situation in Zimbabwe really worries me.. The students there are really being pressured. Did you know that last year president Mugabe ordered a 3000% increase in study fees at the universities?...

The most recent issue of Ingress, a student democracy magazine I started in Bergen, has a copy of an email I got from a student politician in Zimbabwe in which he explains the situation from a more personal point of view.(page 17).

The situation in the Middle east seems to be escalating further, with 40 killed last friday, and over 11 yesterday became the victim of another suicide bomber..

This is starting to look more and more like a war.. :(

how utterly stupid.

but then again, let me see, how many places are there war/armed conflict right now?

Phillipines, Colombia, Guatemala?, Afghanistan, any other forgotten conflicts? Oh yeah, Sudan! :( any else?