I screwed up in a major way and I forgot to register for the GRE subject. I found out that I can do standby testing in two places, so I am going to try seeing if I can get slots at both. Does anyone have any experience with this that they can share? I am taking chemistry. I wanted to take the test on November 8th, but I think I should try to take the one next week just in case. However, I am feeling woefully underprepared.

Glargh...

Thanks for listening.

Hi everyone
I am looking to volunteer abroad during Spring Break in March (mainly Central and south America) but am open to other areas..
I am mostly interested in dealing with children (teaching or orphanages). I am willing to look into community building activities such as building houses etc but I am not very strong and don't have a lot of experience with such activities.
I do not hold a TEFL certificate yet (am planning on getting one this summer) but if absolutely necessary can try to get one earlier but I am hoping to dedicate that time to studying for the June LSAT.

I am looking to go for about 5 days - at the most 7.
I have looked at some volunteer abroad programs but they are all so expensive especially only for one week.

Does anyone have one they have heard of or participated in to recommend?
Lastly, does anyone have any idea how I could do this on my own (aka - no actual program) and would this be cheaper?

It would be especially helpful if any of you are actually abroad now or have been in South America and have contacts through whom I could do this on my own.

PS - I would prefer not to stay in a homestay if I did go with a program.
and I would like to stay in a major city if possible.

This post will hopefully not pertain to most people in this group.

I'm looking for anyone who has a parent or family member living with a terminal disease, most specifically ALS. My mother was diagnosed with ALS a year and a half ago. Please contact me if you would like to talk. : twilightmagi@gmail.com

thanks

Belgian Witlof (chicory) in ham and cheese sauce.

For 4 people:

* 1 kg witlof (or 6 pieces)
* 200 grams boiled ham in thin slices
* 25 grams of butter
* 25 grams of flour
* 2 deciliters of milk
* 2 teaspoons of mustard
* 1 soup spoon of dry white wine
* 250 grams of grated old cheese (I used shredded emmenthal actually)
* 1 egg yolk
* white pepper and salt
* nutmeg

Preparation:

Put the chicory (after washing it thoroughly) in a pot of boiling salted water for 12 minutes. After that get them out the boiling water and let them leak out in a strainer. Keep 2 deciliters of the cooking fluid.

Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour. Fruit the flour on a low fire for 2 minutes while stirring. Add half of the cooking fluid and let it cook through until the sauce thickens. Keep stirring. Add half the milk. Let it cook through and then add the rest of the cooking fluid, the white wine and the rest of the milk.

Let the sauce simmer on a low fire for 5 minutes. Stir through three quarters of the cheese through it, add the mustard and keep stirring until you get a slick thick sauce. Take the sauce pan off of the fire and add the egg yolk, season with salt and pepper. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Cut off the ends of the witlof (chicory) and cut them in half lengthwise. Wrap the chicory in the ham. Put the wrapped chicory in a big oven dish, season with pepper. Stir the cheese sauce one more time and then pour the sauce over the wrapped chicory. Cover the whole thing with the rest of the cheese, season with a touch of nutmeg and put the oven dish in the preheated oven.

Cook the dish for 20 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius and then up the temperature to 200 degrees Celsius for 10 more minutes or until the top layer of the cheese sauce starts showing a nice light brown crust.

Serve with mashed potatoes, bread or just regular boiled potatoes and a nice glass of white wine.

Bon Appétit.
:)


The reason I like this dish so much is because to me, it's the most typical Flemish dish I can think of and also because both my mother and my grandmother could make them better than anyone. I think it's mostly childhood memories revisited when I eat that dish.

I have a bit of a conflict here. I'm applying for a program in library science. I'm trying to decide which professor I should beg to write a letter of recommendation for me. One person that I have in mind advised my senior thesis (Professor G), but I received a B+ on the thesis. I had an additional class with Professor G during my sophomore year (a LONG time ago). The other two professors (Professor W and Professor K) are in fields that I eventually intend to study (18th century British history and literature), but not until after I receive my MLS/MLiS degree. I've had several classes with Professor W in which I've received A/A minuses. I've had one class with Professor K and she was one of the readers for my thesis. The only issue I have with asking Professor K is that I've asked her to write a letter of recommendation for an Americorps program in 2007 so I'm not sure that I should ask her to write one for me this time around. I'm also not sure that my senior thesis advisor will give me a strong rec because of that B+. Should I ask Professor G anyway or should I ask the other two professors?

Two of my former professors are on the "core faculty" of the MA program to which I would like to apply for Fall 09 admission (this is at the same university where I earned my BA). Is it appropriate to ask either of them for a letter of recommendation? My concerns are that it could be considered a "conflict of interest" because, ethically, they must remain objective in the admissions process or, on the other hand, that it may seem redundant because they're already out there and can make positive input on my behalf, firsthand.

Luckily, I am not short on professors that I can count on for letters of rec, but I was just thinking that it might be more impactful to have a LOR from a professor in the program to which I am seeking admission.

Thoughts?

Halloween icons part 1/08
All images are taken from Flicker.com and are made from vintage cards!

 

( More Halloween Icons Here )

from an older collection of recipes some friends and I once put on-line.

Grandmother's Rabbit by Belga (BEL/USA)
presoak 12-15 pitted prunes.

3 lbs rabbit, cut into serving pieces
4 large onions, coarsly chopped
1 bayleaf
2 sprigs thyme (or 1/8 tsp dry)
3 cloves
8 juniper berries
3 tbsp. vinegar
1 can beer (flat)
2 cups chicken broth (canned is fine)
2 slices country bread, generously spread with Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper

In a large dutch oven (or other heavy cooking ware) brown the rabbit pieces on all sides in butter or olive oil. Salt & Pepper. Remove the meat, add the chopped onions and cook, stirring, until dark golden . Return the meat to pot, add all the other ingredients, (except the prunes) stir well to mix. Cover and simmer over low heat until meat is nearly done. Add the drained prunes and continue cooking till meat is done.
The juices should have reduced, mash the bread well into the sauce, but if the sauce is too liquid it can be thickened with flour or corn starch.

Serve with Belgian fries (AKA french fries) mashed potatoes or noodles.
2" cubes of beef can be done with the same recipe.

Hello there,

I'm currently investigating having my university qualification (in Australia) recognised in France. As part of the process I need to send them:

• Photocopy of a document showing proof of the official duration of the studies leading to the qualification(s) (this may be a diploma supplement, marks sheets, certificates of attendance, etc.)

I don't actually know what this is? Can anyone explain? Australian universities don't keep or give attendance records (it's university, not highschool). I don't have a marks sheet but I have a transcript with the courses I took and the grades, is that what they mean by marks sheets?

Thanks in advance.

Here's a request. Please post your all time favorite Belgian food recipe. Also include any special tips or tricks you use to make it unique and please do explain why you like this particular dish so much.

The reason for this request is simple. Let's show people passing by our community how diverse and tasty our Belgian dishes are so they'll know we're not just about waffles, chocolate, French fries and beer.

Thank you.

I'm a few drafts into my SOP and I'm in need of some feedback from all you wonderful, talented people on LJ! Please be honest and critical - I'm eager for some opinions on what's good and what needs to be changed.

Here is the prompt:

The statement of goals should be approximately 500 – 750 words in length, and should include the following elements: a clear statement of your interest in the doctoral program at in History at University X and how the program meets your needs, your major historical interests, your career goals, and your academic and research achievements, if applicable.

 

( SOP )

holdup123
gradstudentsSo i'm a new grad student and i've been feeling akward lately, especially after some office drama that occured earlier in the week, and I just kind of realized why. See academically, i've been surprising myself, I have an A in all of my courses and so far have been handling the courseload+lab+TAing quite nicely. I turn things in way early, all my papers are graded far before anyone else. But socially I don't feel like i'm prepared. I skipped a year in elementary school and never really caught up maturity-wise, even in college. I finally started getting serious about something my senior year in college, first time ever. And because of this, I took a year off so I could "catch up". But now that i'm here, I still don't feel like i'm where i'm supposed to be. I feel like I have nothing in common with any of the grad students. A lot of them are married/engaged and I can't imagine being in a relationship past 3 months, a party to them is dinner and wine and to me is a beer pong championship. I feel like when I try to weasel my way into a conversation with a joke, it comes off as offensive. And I feel myself falling back into the role that I always have been in, as the baby in the group. I've always been the aloof one, all over the place, the one that people kind of shelter in my social groups. I'm afraid of doing this because I know it'll lead to people not taking me seriously. I'm just so much younger than anyone else and I never thought i'd be 23 and complaining that I'm not mature enough. I find myself relating much more to the undergrads that I TA then with any of the grad students, even the newer ones (there's only 3 of us- well thesis option, so those are the only ones I know).
I'm sure i'm not the first person going thru this, but does it get better? Do I just have to ride it out? Is there an online program that will give me life experience?

edit- it doesn't help that I look 16 either. lol

I'm looking for help from anyone who knows anything about grammatical aspect. There's a verbal suffix in Ubykh that I used to think simply intensified a negative (hence I didn't do it would become roughly I absolutely did not do it), but I've just come across an example in which it is used in a question, with no trace of a negative affix. I've become of the opinion that this suffix isn't a negative intensifier, but rather means "ever" (as in Have you ever been to İstanbul?). This looks like aspect to me, but I can't find a term for this specific aspect. Do any of you know if the "ever" aspect has a specific term, and if so, what it is? Otherwise, if it isn't aspect, what would you call it?

wɜn ɕʷɨʃʷɜqʼɨnɐχ (thank you)!

Hi All,

I am applying to grad school, fall 2009, I have a question regarding the transcripts.
Do I need to get transcripts of all the courses I have completed since high school or is it the recent degree transcripts that matter?

I hold an BA, MA , Mphil degrees and since I am applying for another MA which degree should I include in calculating my GPA ? Also , Is it possible to omit the grades of a course ( in my case the Mphil) which isnt very impressive, unfortunately!

please advise

Today was Grandma's funeral.  It was tough.  But we had a lot of family around so that helped.  But it was still tough.  We're at the in laws tonight spending time with the fam. 

The service was nice and the picture slide show that Angie's husband put together was beautiful.  Lots of happy memories.  It was hard to say goodbye to such a beautiful person.

I still can't believe she is gone.  We stopped by her house on the way out of town and found a few books and memento's to remember her by.   A vase we bought her for mothers day a few years ago, a decorative bell that Jason got her.  A few pics. 

Jason gave a really lovely and touching speech at the cemetary.  I think everyone was really please by what he had to say and then he played the flute for Grandma one last time. 

I dont think i've ever cried as much in my life as I did today..tears of sadness but also tears of joy at the memories we all had of Grandma.

I know that it'll take a long time to shake the sadness...but she will never be forgotten.  She was probably the closest thing I've had to a granparent in a long time apart from Lala, (my paternal grandfather).   He was the only one I had a relationship with that I can remember clearly.

Oh.....

I'm applying to PhD programs for Fall 2009 admissions. I've already done the GRE+TOEFL, obtained my transcripts, got a working draft of my SOP, asked for LORs and handed out packets to my recommenders. My writing sample is a published paper, so I'm not going to revise it (except maybe the format, which I suspect is quite different than what is usually required). Obviously, I'm still revising my SOP, though I've tried to put it aside for a few weeks so I can look at it again later with fresh eyes. I'll probably get back to it in a week or so.

I guess my question is, what's left to do?
I'm going through the application process pretty much by myself (I'm in Europe, and most of my profs really don't have a clue about applying to programs in the US), and keep getting a feeling that I'm either behind schedule or forgetting to do something important. It's probably just me worrying, but still - what are you guys doing now? Any advice on what my schedule should look like, assuming that I have about 10 weeks left before my first deadline?



P.S. this may be a dumb question, but I did the GRE and TOEFL in July and asked that the scores be sent directly to the schools - was it too early? How do I find out if the schools received my scores?

What is the correct way to write "three times is a charm" when you contract the is to 's?
When I googled that phrase most results were either "three times a charm" or "three time's a charm" which both don't seem to make much sense to me.
I do know what this phrase means but I don't know how the grammar is supposed to work.
And is this phrase particular to certain dialects or sociolects or is it a commonly used colloquial term?

ETA: Thanks for all those fast replies! :o
I just guess that the version I heard was humorous and whoever said it assumed the listener would know that it's actually "third time".
(=

[9] Beetlejuice: Laugh of the Party
[2] Betty Boop's Halloween Party
[13] Doug's Halloween
[17] Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge
[10] Pucca: Them Bones

SAMPLE:

HERE @ moonswing

Hi everyone -- I am halfway through the first semester of an MA program that is completely wrong for me. I have already started applications to more appropriate programs, but it is too late for me to drop my current courses. I would have to simply withdraw from the university, receiving Ws on the three classes I am currently enrolled in. I would love to do this, but I am pretty sure this would not look good to the programs I am currently applying to. Does everyone agree, or could I actually just withdraw from this university without looking like a flake who can't complete things?