Scandinavian Studies

heathcoter

ooo, if you could PM me yr PS that wld be GR8!! :smile:

I spent quite a lot of time rifling through the personal statement library, I've got to say, who the hell is this person!?!. Last night I mindlessly got a bit carried away in voyeuristically reading personal statements for subjects I've actually no interest in whatsoever.

Thanks for the advice, a couple of points I was thinking over is that I've spent a fair amount of time in Sweden with Swedish musicians, music was what got me 'in to' Scandinavia, as I ran a monthly club in London called 'Club Wanderlust' for two and a half years and I ended up having booking of music from Scandinavia. I love (excuse the inept alphabet) Bjork, I'm from Barcelona, Suburban Kids with Biblical Names, Bob Hund, Sigur Ros, Mum, Olafur Arnolds and guiltily enough, Robyn.

Since then what's really interested me is the Film (Moodysson, Trier and Andersson when I was yonger, Bergman and Dreyer now I'm less younger), Literature (I'm Strindberg obsessed, I also love Söderberg, Laxness and Hamsun, and more contemporary authors like Sjon and Peter Høeg) and Politics (I was in Iceland just after the crash of last October and find that fascinating, particularly the Dreamland response, when I was in Iceland someone said that the main result of the crash they saw was that the previously empty libraries were now full because people wanted to know what is going on! I'm also interested in recent Swedish political history, Pirate Party and the 'modernization' of social democracy, I want to know as much as I can about 'The Nordic Model' in politics as I believe it would do the rest of the world a lot of good emulating it! (even if they are more densely populated and less rich)

Swedish would be the language I would work on; anyone here doing SS at UCL?

Just having a go at writing without thinking about who it's for or why I'm writing it too much and I got this out last night. I'm aware it's not much about me and it's possible a bit fantastical/fanatical but it's a start, right? :woo:

I'm also unsure of how Academic they'd want me to be? To be honest, I'm not even that sure what constitutes 'academic' in this context...

Hej! I thought I'd better add my 50 öre.

I am studying Swedish as part of my course: Scandinavian Studies and History.

Hmm, personal statement. Mine was relatively easy to write as I actually only applied to UCL. But, that's obviously very much the exception rather than the rule. I'll happily send you mine if you like though.

But, I don't think you will have too many problems writing your statement. You sound like you have a pretty rounded basis for your interest in the region, so it's just a case of articulating that in the statement plus what you want to get out of the course (and a bit of other stuff).

On the Nordic Model, it would do you no harm to read 'The Nordic Model: Scandinavia Since 1945' by Mary Hilson, who is a lecturer in the SS department. It's very readable and a very good overview. It's also good to find that someone else out there likes Suburban Kids With Biblical Names.

You mentioned that you spent a lot of time in Sweden. Did you live there or just constant, long-term music-work related visits?

Reply 982

heathcoter

I've bought the Nordic Model! Not read it yet though, is it good? Is Mary Hilson nice?

I'm only really intending to go to UCL, but I thought I might as well apply to eddyburra as it'll be a fun experience going up there for the interview, maybe get some scottish whiskey down my throat!

I've just gone on Holidays there, but I have friends who will feed and house me so I can essentially save money going there and not spend anything :P I've spent a bit of time in Jonkoping, Stockholm, Malmo and Gothenburg, I've also been to Arvika festival 2007, was so amazing! The best music festival I've ever been to. I hope to maybe go again this year...is anybody else? :smile:

Reply 983

heathcoter

I've bought the Nordic Model! Not read it yet though, is it good? Is Mary Hilson nice?

I'm only really intending to go to UCL, but I thought I might as well apply to eddyburra as it'll be a fun experience going up there for the interview, maybe get some scottish whiskey down my throat!

I've just gone on Holidays there, but I have friends who will feed and house me so I can essentially save money going there and not spend anything :P I've spent a bit of time in Jonkoping, Stockholm, Malmo and Gothenburg, I've also been to Arvika festival 2007, was so amazing! The best music festival I've ever been to. I hope to maybe go again this year...is anybody else? :smile:

I don't believe that Edinburgh interview... but, I think they do hold some kind of open day for applicants holding offers. They do have a bit of a reputation for not answering until fairly late in the day. But, I guess that does not really matter (other than possibly causing a bit of frustration) - it doesn't make any difference to your UCL application. But, Nearlyheadlessian is your man for info on Edinburgh. Edinburgh is certainly a great city.

Aha, Arvika. Sounds good. I had some friends who were there this year too... they had a fantastic time. I really want to get myself to one of the Swedish festivals in the summer. Last year the ones I wished to go to all managed to clash with something else or otherwise be at awkward times for me. 2010 will be different! I am at least going to try and see Kent on Åland. How do you like Stockholm? I used to live there.

Mary Hilson is sadly on sabbatical this year. But, she will be back next academic year. Yes, she is a very nice person - very approachable - and modern Nordic history, but especially political history, and even more especially social democracy/the welfare state are her key interests. I am hoping to take her course on social democracy in the forth year. Sadly, I couldn't take any of her units this year (it's my second year) because of her being away. She did teach us some classes as part of a survey course on Nordic history and culture in the first year. In my opinion, the classes that she taught were the most interesting during that course. I liked her Nordic Model book.

Reply 984

heathcoter

sounds good! I guess it's lucky for me that she's taking that year now because (if I get in) that means that she would not really be teaching me much anyway, and I can have her lots next year :xmasgrin:

I'm going to try and read her book before my interview as it's an area I'm really passionate about but don't know too many hard facts or specific examples. Does she mention anything about Olof Palme in her book? There does not seem to be too much good stuff around about him but he sounds very interesting, someone at the better end of hollywood should do a biopic, I guess it would never happen though, considering how lefty he was. Has anyone looked at him on their courses?

So...hehe...who's the best lecturer and who's the worst? :p:

Reply 985

heathcoter

sounds good! I guess it's lucky for me that she's taking that year now because (if I get in) that means that she would not really be teaching me much anyway, and I can have her lots next year :xmasgrin:

I'm going to try and read her book before my interview as it's an area I'm really passionate about but don't know too many hard facts or specific examples. Does she mention anything about Olof Palme in her book? There does not seem to be too much good stuff around about him but he sounds very interesting, someone at the better end of hollywood should do a biopic, I guess it would never happen though, considering how lefty he was. Has anyone looked at him on their courses?

So...hehe...who's the best lecturer and who's the worst? :p:

There does seem to be a surprising shortage of good stuff on Palme (even in Swedish). I wrote an essay partially on him last year and it was a pain to find any good texts. Even the UCL library (which is normally extremely good) had very little (and of what it did had, much was written pre-1986 and his death!). Actually, you've just reminded me, the Scandinavian section librarian wanted me to email her a list of books on Palme for her to buy... and I haven't. I should get on that. Sometimes the modern end of things in the Scandinavian section of the library does seem a little neglected, especially when it comes to new acquisitions. I think that is because the faculty as a whole is skewed towards mediaevalists (coughVikingscough). But, they are very good with buying things if you ask them. The library always seems to have budget.

'The Nordic Model' is more general and does not go into any one person, Palme included, in any great detail. I am sure he must get a name-check though!

I don't know how much Swedish you understand, but SVT has a lot of stuff from Palme's assassination from its archives here: http://svtplay.se/t/102993/oppet_arkiv?sb,k103107,1,f,103153
Chilling to watch today. I find the recordings from the news bulletins announcing Anna Lindh's death even more chilling (also on that site).

As for who is the best and who is the worst? I am not sure I am really qualified to answer that one. As I do a joint degree, I do comparatively little in the actual Scandinavian department. But, so far, I have not had a bad experience of the teaching there. The Swedish teacher is very good too. Meg can give you more details on the content of the straight Scandinavian Studies degree programme.

Reply 986

The department certainly isn't skewed towards Vikings, Mumin, except in regards to history and that's only due to a lack of modern history teachers. When I first started, there were more modern history courses than Viking history courses.

If anything, the department is skewed towards modern literature.

Reply 987

Hylean

The department certainly isn't skewed towards Vikings, Mumin, except in regards to history and that's only due to a lack of modern history teachers. When I first started, there were more modern history courses than Viking history courses.

If anything, the department is skewed towards modern literature.

Yes, that is true. My views also reflect the fact that I am skewed towards history. So, that's what I notice. As I have only 2 credits to spend in Scandinavian Studies each year, I haven't taken any literature. So, I am sort of oblivious to that side of things. My reflections should be taken with regard to my own bias.

Reply 988

Heh, you biased towards history?! Nevar!

Nyah, the department is slowly changing to reflect the current head's interests. Literature remains strong because most of the lecturers teach it, but media courses are becoming more common due to her. Not something I'm terribly keen on as they seem to be at the expense of things like Runology, history, etc. but not really much I can do about it, heh.

Reply 989

Hylean

The department certainly isn't skewed towards Vikings, Mumin, except in regards to history and that's only due to a lack of modern history teachers. When I first started, there were more modern history courses than Viking history courses.

If anything, the department is skewed towards modern literature.

This. Dislike.

Reply 990

heathcoter

you don't like that or you don't like that he thinks that?

Reply 991

I don't like that. Much as I like disagreeing with him, he's right on that point. I have a mild hatred of studying literature (not the reading of it, that I have no problem with, but being made to analyse it I don't like) and the current make up of staff (i.e. lack of Mary) means the course options are biased towards literature at the moment. Hey ho.

C-

Reply 992

You like disagreeing with me?! Who knew. I am shocked and appalled.

To be fair, a language department is always going to be fairly biased towards literature. It's one of the best forms of language acquisition.

Reply 993

ticktockharlequin

heathcoter

Literature (I'm Strindberg obsessed, I also love Söderberg, Laxness and Hamsun, and more contemporary authors like Sjon and Peter Høeg)

I am in love with him. Hunger is like The Catcher in the Rye, but more Norwegian, and more insane. :biggrin:

Reply 994

Sult/Hunger just made me want to hit the main character for being such a moron. Sympathy is not my forté, and he deserved none anyway.

Reply 995

ticktockharlequin

Yes, he's a moron - but a lovable moron! Like Holden Caulfield. They both feel so sorry for themselves when it's perfectly clear their problems are all their fault, and then they feel sorry for themselves because of that. :biggrin:

I loved Hunger deeply.

See that's what made it such a frustrating read for me, I just ended up thinking "If it's that awful why don't you actually do something to fix it?!"

Reply 996

Sounds like a pile of :snow:

, I'm with Meg on this.

Reply 997

barefootfiona

nearlyheadlessian

My personal statement is available to read in the library - it's under modern languages (although maybe easier to find through the university of edinburgh link). It probably isn't very helpful - I didn't discuss Scandinavian Studies that much in it.

Estonia as a nordic nation isn't as daft as it sounds - they along with Latvia and Lithuania say they're interested in joining the Nordic Council. At Edinburgh, we had one class during Scandinavian Historical and Cultural Topics which covered the first half of the 20th century in the Baltics - that's it.

Anyway, everyone have a good Christmas?

A good Christmas, thank you very much! And you?

I have a question, by the way: though I do really love Out Stealing Horses and Ibsen, I much prefer the old-norse-viking-saga-edda stuff to the modern stuff. Please tell me there is SOME of the old stuff in Edinburgh?

Oh, you know what? As long as I get in I'm happy :smile:

Reply 998

nearlyheadlessian

barefootfiona

Please tell me there is SOME of the old stuff in Edinburgh?

There's an honours course in Old Norse worth 20 credits that you can take in 4th year. And you can obviously lots of that sort of thing in your year abroad if you like.

Reply 999