My Bellybutton Ring

When I was a kid I was under the belief that as long as I paid attention in class and technically did my homework (meaning writing one word on each question), I was being a good student. Turns out, I was wrong. I got by with pretty good grades all the way through 7th grade. My teacher had told me several times that I had to write full sentences and read what I was supposed to, but homework was boring and I did not want to waste time on it. When I started 8th grade, which is junior high in Norway, I wanted a bellybutton ring. Looking back I find it ridiculous that somebody THAT young would want to pierce their body. Anyways, I wanted it pierced. I asked my mom, and we made a deal. I would start doing my homework and I would get my bellybutton pierced. Who would have thought that at that moment my life changed? Not immediately, but over time. I kept my promise and I studied better than I had. As the years went by, I never forgot the promise I made to my mom about studying. I do not know how to say this without it sounding super nerdy, but I like school. I like learning new things – I just hate homework. There is something you should know about the Norwegian school system. Teens can pretty much chose what they want to be at the age of 15, which is good for some and bad for others. There are different lines you take in high school. You have one direction which I am going to call; work directed lines. Some examples of this is the mechanic line, health service line (Kindergarden and nursinghomes), electrician line, transportation line and so on. They go two years in high school from their 11 -12th year. After that, they are done with school forever and they go to a company where they start working. They start off getting very little money, but as time goes by, they get more and more. After two years they get a certificate. Because of the Norwegian school system, a lot of people will never have to set foot inside a university. The way to get to college is through the college line in high school which is from the 11-13th year. Instead of taking mechanic classes you are taking French, Chemistry, Biology, Accounting and all that other fun stuff. After 3 years on the college line you feel like a raisin. Once a grape with a lot of knowledge and spirit, now a raisin with so much useless knowledge and completely drenched for all sort of spirit you once had. A misconception many Americans have is that high school in Norway is fun. WRONG! In Norway there is no school sports, no drama department, no nothing. School is school, and school is A LOT of school. Back to my story; I decided to take on the adventure of the college line which led me through the good, the bad and the horrible. I had no idea what I wanted to be when I was done studying, but I knew the college line would take me there. A lot of people say that the college line is just something you have to get through, and I agree. A friend asked me if I regretted my choice of going to the college line. I don’t, I really don’t. I think we’ve all cried, gotten discouraged and been in a dark tunnel with no light in sight. Not all the things we do in life are fun, but it got me to where I need to be. I am currently attending the business school of the University of Northern Iowa. I am done with my 3rd week of college and it is very challenging, but every day I learn something new, something to keep me going. So where would I be if it had not been for the metal bare that goes through the skin on my stomach? Forever grateful - Julie By the way - does anybody know why my paragraphs disaprears when I publish a post?

A little something to think about. . .

I had a wakeup call today. It was not the regular 7,05am wakeup by an alarm you want to hit with a hammer. It was the kind of wakeup call that a professor gives the student when they say; Do you really think you know it all?! The reason I had a wakeup call was because I have for a long time tried to get a better understanding of how to make the world a better place. Very little done so far, but I have always thought about these huge companies who uses people in developing countries to make cheap stuff for them. I have seen the label "Made in China" more times than I can count and I have still bought it. My professor gave me the example of lets say; Tiger Woods. Lets say he earns 50.000$ per hour, which he probably did before he got stuid! Anyways. He is awesome at mowing his lawn. The opportunity cost - meaning the things he has to give up to mowe the lawn is the 50 grand he could of made by being in a commericial. Let's say Tiger Woods has a neighbor boy who works at McDonalds and earns 7$ per hour. Tiger Woods figured that he could just let the neighbor boy mowe the lawn - and just to be nice he pays him 50$ per hour. You could say that Woods is being really cheap because he is - after all saving 49 950$ on letting the neighbor boy mowe it. The neighbor boy on the other hand does not complain beause he gets over 7 times more than he would at McDonalds. They both gain from the trade. However there are some people who thinks Woods is being such a sly person that they start to protest against the unfair wages of the neighbor boy. After a while and some bad publication later Tiger Woods decides to just mowe his own lawn because he is sick of the drama around it. The neighbor boy now has to go back to making 7$ an hour and Tiger Woods has to mowe his own lawn instead of getting 50.000$. I feel like this example is comparable to what multinational companies are doing to a lot of developing countries. I am not saying that some of the working conditions that the people in developing countries have to deal with are okay, but it made me think about how, little me could make it better, seeing as I live in a country with a completely different culture, economic system and have very different options as opposed to many of the people there. It is not fair that a "rich" person as myself living in a country that offers all these opportunities should just give my opinion about something I do not know a whole lot about. I know I am against child labor, but how can we get rid of it without destroying families and putting children out on the street? I am a student on my first year of college and I hope that over the next 3 years I will learn a lot more about myself and a lot more about the things I care about. Is it possible as a business major to care about things that does not neccesarily give me the biggest outcome of money? Will these years of college change the way I feel about so many things like fairness and caring? Or will these years help me broaden my prespective above and beyond what I thought I ever could. I realize - unlike so many other students in this country that I am very blessed to be able to attend a university and that I have the choise, as a woman to become exactly what I want. I can only hope that more people as the days and years pass by - will be able to see that too! Untill I write again, - Julie-