Buddy Program

One of the most wonderful initiative @ NTNU is the BUDDY PROGRAM

both international and Norwegian students sign-up in the buddy program by filling a web form
with some information about them ( country, gender, campus, interest, wished buddy's interest, wished buddy's gender and so on).

Around the third week of classes, the buddy program system will match each Norwegian with one international student and send their contacts to each other by e-mail.
Both will also be subscribed in the buddy program mailing list, where they will receive information about all the events ISU will prepare for the buddy program.


I compiled the form and that's the screen shot (click to enlarge) :


The website suggests some interesting activity to do with buddy


# If there is no rain, your buddy will love to see some trails and lakes in the Bymarka... or take a pancake dinner at Studenterhytta.

# If your buddy is learning Norwegian, she or he might want to visit some easier theater play?

# You should definitely visit the international basement at Moholt - Herman Krags veg 24. There is an open bar for you on Mondays (around 9 p.m.), and movies on Wednesdays and Sundays.

# If I was a guest, I would go jogging with my buddy ;)

# Did you get some Norwegian relatives close to Trondheim? Showing your buddy to them is a good opportunity to see them again :-) Well, if not relatives, you got some friends, hopefully :)

# You say you both like cinema?

# Maybe later, your guest can make a dinner with her or his national food at your place - perhaps with a few more friends?

# Every foreigner is dreaming about going fishing with real Norwegians!

# I wish I met my buddy for lunch tomorrow! ;)



Here is a transcript (in Italian) of a private conversation talking about buddy program with one of my friend that last year spent 6 month at NTNU:


@hotmail.com: sìsì l'avevo fatto anch'io
@hotmail.com: quando ho saputo che gran parte dell buddy erano biondone norvegesi
me: ahah
me: strabell
@hotmail.com: però erano già finite quando ho fatto richiesta :(
me: cavoli
@hotmail.com: quindi falla subito
me: si si già fatto
@hotmail.com: sìsì un mio amico si è ritrovato fuori dalla porta di casa sua una bionda con 6 birre in mano
me: ahahah
me: strabello
me: birre gratis !!!!

Choosing Exams

is a very large and interesting University

• 7 faculties and 53 departments.
• 30 000 students, half of these are studying technology or the natural sciences.
• 48 per cent of NTNU's students are female.
• About 3300 degrees awarded each year: 1100 bachelor’s, 2200 master’s and 260 doctoral degrees.
• About 750 international students.
• Dozens of international student exchange programmes and bilateral agreements
  with numerous universities around the world. { one more :D ME !!! }
  
• 4200 man-years. Over half in academic or scientific positions.
• About 2000 R&D projects at every time.
• More than 100 laboratories.
• 11 Libraries
  
• Participate in 60 projects in the European Commission’s 6th and 7th framework programmes.
• Close cooperation with SINTEF, an R&D organization with 1800 employees (located both on the NTNU campus and in Oslo).
• Sponsorship and cooperation agreements with Norwegian and international business and industry.
• Annual budget NOK 4.2 billion (approx. USD 800 million)
• We own or rent premises with a total area of 550 000 sqm.
• NTNU Library has 2.8 million printed volumes, 37 500 electronic books and
  
• 10 000 electronic journals, and access to 1200 international reference databases.

NTNU is beautiful too

Well...


Now I have to find 3 or 4 exams to do @ NTNU

after looking for days and days in the Complete Course catalogs, more than 3500 courses available,


I found these exams for my Spring Semester 2009:

TDT4171 - Artificial Intelligence Methods
MA2201 - Algebra
TTT4110 - Information and Signal Theory
TTM4120 - Dependable Systems
TDT4102 - Procedural and Object-Oriented Programming
TDT4125 - Algorithm Construction, Advanced Course

That's enough for a Provisional Learning Agreement

Boooked !!!

I booked a flight from Orio to Torp, but ryanair's backend website sucks and I booked the wrong flight date (24-dic instead of 26-dic)

So I have to book another flight to Torp { Torp is an airport near Oslo the Capital of Norway }

If someone is interested in visiting Oslo on X-mass day, let me know, I'll give away my ticket for free!!!!

I have a departure day now !!! 26 Dic 2008 14:20

I booked my travel from Oslo to Trondheim too;
I dicided to reach Trondheim by bus it takes about 8 hours ... eheh 540Km along a snowy road by night.

If all goes well I'll be in Trondheim at 07:30 on 27 Dicember after 17 hours of travel !!!!

My mind is already there.

English Test...

15-Oct-2008

Today a multiple choice PC based test proved that my English Skills are enough to study in an European University ...

69% of correct answers ( thanks Alessia for your useful help )

This made me laugh !!!



GREAT !!!!
I'M IN
I'LL LEAVE SOON really soon !!!!!