paper news :)

http://penmasters.net/

Hey folks!

Just writing to let you know that my paper is going well. As you have probably heard before, the title of my paper is "Erasmus – or the never ending story of recognizing your courses". I think it is pretty interesting and affects especially students studying at the Department of Applied Translation Studies in Graz, because it would be important for us to go abroad in order to improve our foreign language skills. 

As I have been an exchange student  myself I know the difficulties that can emerge during an semester abroad. This is also the reason why I have not really had problems structuring my paper. Due to the fact that I know exactly how I am going to structure my paper, the personal experience I have on this field and that I found enough useful sources, in my opinion,  the job of writing the paper itself, it is to say the writing process itself does not appear to be that hard any more. 

As far as my progress is concerned I have already written half of the first version of my paper. I would not hand it in yet, of course, but I think that I will have finished my paper by Christmas. 

Elevator pitch...

After we did this little elevator pitch in class today, I thought maybe I could also advertise my paper by writing a blog post about it ;) 

Actually the topic of my paper affects all of you in a way. At least the ones that are planning to do an erasmus semester abroad . It’s about the never ending story of recognizing erasmus courses. I am sure that most of you have heard about that problem before. 

Every year more than 230 000 students take part in the Erasmus program. This education and training program enables students to study at a partner university in the European Union for a period of 3-12 months. Its goal is to promote lifelong learning and to encourage mobility within the EU. A great opportunity for students to improve their language skills as well as to gain valuable experience and to broaden their horizons. Participating in the Erasmus program, however, does not always bring the success and the results the students hoped for. Many people do not take into account that studying abroad also has its disadvantages, the greatest being the problem of recognizing absolved courses. Why do home university often not recognize courses taken at the host university and how can students prevent that from happening? The aim of this paper, that is based on personal experience is to investigate these question in order to illustrate the problems of studying abroad and to show what can be done to try to solve them. 

http://www.eng.notre-europe.eu

“The debt deflation theory” by professor Irving Fisher would take EU authorities far in the battle against rising debt. As the American Revolution has shown, deflation is an underestimated danger with the potential to lead to economic disaster. If total debt grows too high, as happens in Western Europe, deflation gets mortal. The eurostat index depicts that deflation has dropped. The tendency of falling prices is seen in many countries. Similar to Japan’s crisis, the eurozone economy is in endangered by high debt ratios and sustained deflation. Zsolt Darvas from the Brussels think tank Bruegel equates deflation with bleakness. He accuses the European approach of the debt crisis and mentions the dilemma of states being pushed to “internal devaluations”. Vicious dynamics such as the “denominator effect” are witnessed in countries like Italy, where debt rises faster than GDP. The same is true for private debt, where with crash diets for erred states, economic self destruction was only enhanced. For Mr Darvas, let inflation elevate means escaping from the deflationary spiral. Responsible for money shifting to Germany is the ECB and non counteracting member states which fear Germany would leave the eurozone. Europe hope for global growth to fight the deflation virus.

Comments: 

This summary undoubtedly contains the most important information from the text "Europe already has one foot in ‘Japanese’ deflation grave", nevertheless in my opinion it is too detailed. A five-year-old would not really get what is written here. Maybe because the author of the summary uses many expressions that have also been used in the original text. 

Furthermore the beginning of the summary is too abrupt, not showing information regarding the author as well as when and where the article was published. By reading the first line "The debt deflation theory by professor Irving Fisher..." one gets the impression that this is the name of the original text and Mr. Fisher is its author. In addition the following historic facts do not have to be necessarily mentioned in this summary. 

In regard to coherence the text is missing some linking words. In the middle of the text the author of the summary speaks of "internal devaluations" for example, and in the next sentence he uses the term "denominator effect" without linking these two sentences. Another aspect why the text sometimes appears to be incoherent could be the fact that it is not divided into paragraphs, it is to say it is not really structured. 

Why was the EU founded?

Paragraph brainstorming:
- WWII
- communication, cooperation
- ECSC
- Treaties of Rome --> EEC and Euratom --> EC
- Treaty of Maastricht --> EU
- enlargements
- peace and unity


Original paragraph:

The European Union was founded with the goal of establishing communication and cooperation between countries that had been separated during the Second World War. The devastating effects of World War II and the atrocities that had been committed during that time led to the idea of a unified Europe putting an end to the seemingly endless fights. People were convinced that history must not repeat itself and wanted to find a way to ensure long lasting peace between the different european nations. The first step towards a unified Europe was taken in the 1950s, when the European Coal and Steal Community (ECSC) was established and six countries, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg agreed on running their heavy industries under a common management. Given the success of the ECSC, the Treaties of Rome was signed in 1957, creating the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) that formed the three communities (EC). In 1992, with the Maastricht Treaty, the European Union we live in today was established. Many countries have joined the EU since then and there are many more to come. Today, as then, the EU pursues the same goals: establishing peace and keeping Europe unified. 


Feedback Summary 1: 

- the topic sentence is not introductory 
- the paragraph is too long 
- a little bit wordy
- missing link between the foundation of the EC and the EU 


2nd version: 


The European Union was founded with the goal of establishing communication and cooperation between countries that had been separated during the Second World War. The devastating effects of World War II and the atrocities that had been committed during that time led to the idea of a unified Europe putting an end to the seemingly endless fights. People wanted to prevent history from repeating itself and tried to find a way to ensure long lasting peace between the European nations. The first step towards a unified Europe was taken in the 1950s, when the European Coal and Steal Community (ECSC) was established and six countries, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg agreed on running their heavy industries under a common management. Given the success of the ECSC, the Treaties of Rome was signed in 1957, creating the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) that formed the three communities (EC). In 1992, with the Maastricht Treaty, the European Union we live in today was established. Many countries have joined the EU since then and there are many more to come. Today, as then, the EU pursues the same goals: establishing peace and keeping Europe unified.

Comments:
-still a little bit too long
-commas 
-register

Final version: 

  
The European Union was founded with the goal of establishing communication and cooperation between countries that had been separated during the Second World War. The devastating effects of World War II led to the idea of a unified Europe, putting an end to the seemingly endless fights. People were convinced that history must not repeat itself and wanted to find a way to ensure long lasting peace between the different European nations. The first step towards a unified Europe was taken in the 1950s, when the European Coal and Steal Community (ECSC) was established and six countries, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg agreed on running their heavy industries under a common management. Given the success of the ECSC, the Treaties of Rome was signed in 1957, creating the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). In 1992, with the Maastricht Treaty, the European Union we live in today was established. Many countries have joined the EU ever since and there are many more to come. Today, as then, the EU pursues the same goals: peace and unity.

Corrected version: 

The European Union was founded with the goal of establishing communication and cooperation between countries that had been separated during the Second World War. The devastating effects of World War II led to the idea of a unified Europe, putting an end to the seemingly endless conflicts. People were convinced that history must not repeat itself and wanted to find a way to ensure long lasting peace between the different European nations. The first step towards a unified Europe was taken in the 1950s, when the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was established and six countries, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg agreed on running their heavy industries under a common management. Given the success of the ECSC, the Treaties of Rome was signed in 1957, creating the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). The European Union we live in today was established in 1992, with the Maastricht Treaty. Many countries have joined the EU since then and there are many waiting to join. Then as now, the EU pursues the same goals: peace and unity.

paper ideas and possible titles

I finally came up with some ideas and possible titles for my paper on the EU: 

• Recognition problems of ERASMUS courses

I know I still have to work on the title. This topic is very important to me, as I spent a semester abroad on ERASMUS in Spain. The time was great, the parties didn‘t seem to stop (actually they never did, but that‘s another story), it was just an awesome experience. However, when people think of ERASMUS they only see the bright side of going abroad. Many don‘t know how difficult the recognition of courses taken during an exchange semester can be. In my paper I want to state some academic problems that may occur on an ERASMUS stay and try to show why these might be caused, as I think we all have to know that going abroad is not always a piece of cake. (BTW, this doesn‘t mean that you shouldn‘t do an exchange semester. Didn‘t want to scare you off. Everybody should go on ERASMUS. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience!!!).   

• Bee deaths and the EU's reaction to it  

We all read about the vast amount of bees dying lately. Many people, however, don't know how important these little insects are for our survival. There have been a few reactions to it by the EU. But are there ideas sustainable enough to prevent the situation from getting worse?  

• EU farm subsidies – always supportive? 

The EU farm subsidies provide financial support for farmers. That this is very important is out of the question, but what exactly do farmers have to fulfill in order to receive these and which other restrictions do they have to face? (EU curvy cucumber laws). I think we also have to focus on the negative aspect of this topic. 

• Refugee policy in the EU – How does Lampedusa cause any changes 

Due to the current events, the Refugee policy has become a highly discussed topic within the EU. What is the European Union going to do in order to prevent such tragic incidents in the future. Have there already been some changes or did they at least come up with some reasonable plans?  

• How does the EU support people with disabilities? 

Two years ago the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 was adopted, which states that people with disabilities have the full right to participate "fully and equally in society and economy". Does this strategy work, has the EU put it into practice, or do disabled people still have poorer opportunities than other european citizens? 

Culture Days

The Culture Days are over and I have to say that I really liked the presentations. 

I watched the following presentations: 

• GAA outside Ireland
• Willie Daly - Matchmaker 
• Gaelic and its use in Northern Ireland 
• Driving habits in the U.S.
• Walt Disney (Mickey Mouse: how a mouse conquered the world)
• Oprah Winfrey: perhaps the most influential woman in America
• Basketball 
• The big four: Sports in the USA
• Why on earth would anyone live in Tornado Alley?!
• Painted America: American culture represented in paintings

In general I really liked them all. I chose to see these 10 because I thought they sounded interesting. And I have to say they were really good. I learned new things about Ireland. Before I saw the presentations for example, I had never heard about the fact that there is a profession called matchmaker. I am not a really big sports fan, nevertheless I also liked them and in addition I know more about sports in the States and Ireland now. 

The five topics I would like to be tested on in the KGP are: 

• Driving habits in the U.S. 
• Walt Disney (Mickey Mouse: how a mouse conquered the world) 
• Oprah Winfrey: perhaps the most influential woman in America
• Why in earth would anyone live in Tornado Alley?!
• Painted America: American culture represented in paintings

I chose these topics for my final exam, because I have heard about them before, but I didn't really know much about them. I always thought, for example that many more people own a car in the States, or that Mickey's original name was Mortimer mouse. As the topics were really appealing and well presented and I wanted to know more about them, I thought it would be a good idea to choose them for my final exam, because it is easier to memorize things you are interested in. 

Good people still exist

http://mihaelaterzieva.deviantart.com/art/Saint-Dobry-327114414

I recently came across an article about a 98-year-old man from Bulgaria. Dobri Dobrev is one out a very small amount of people who does something most people are not able to do – not only think about himself. This man who is said to have lost most of his hearing during WWII as a shell fell nearby him, has travelled for decades 25 km from the village he lives in to Sofia in order to raise money for the restoration of churches and monasteries throughout Bulgaria. In this vein, over the years, he has collected almost 40,000 lev (approximately 20,000 euro). He didn‘t spend one cent for himself. All Dobri needs for a living, he produces himself. His clothes, for example, are homemade, as well as his leather shoes. Until recently he did the 25 km a day on foot. But due to his old age he can‘t rely on his legs anymore. Nevertheless he didn‘t give up and now he covers the distance by bus. As almost all people in Bulgaria have heard or read about Dobri and know what he is doing, he usually doesn‘t have to pay for the tickets, though. Despite this, many other people from Soria and other parts of Bulgaria that know him give him food or other things he might need. A nice gesture in a big cold word. Or as Elin Pelin, a famous Bulgarian writer, would put it: “It is my native village, it is good but very poor.”