Hey all,
How are you doing?? I feel that my mind is empty! I've thinking of something to write about in the blog, but my mind is suddenly out of ideas. I have written a long post lately, but I haven' published it cuz I decided to save it for the Baghdad-Diary project with the German magazine. I will post the diareis here as well as soon I start with the project. I got an email from the same journalist asking me to send some photos (not personal ones), but rather photos of interesting places or things near home and university. Luckily, I am a "photo-ist"! I have dozens of photos to almost everything in Baghdad as I like to take my digital camera with me everywhere I go. Sometimes I think that I should have been a photographer or something like that!
I applied for a visa to Dubai. Mom will go there this month, and I want to go with her cuz I have nothing to do here except for staying at home all time switching between the national and the generator electricity! And also cuz I want to see my friend Attawie. I haven't seen her since October 2003 before she leaves the country. But there is a problem! I might not be able to get the visa cuz first, my passport reads "Student", and they might not agree to issue me a visa!! A second reason is cuz it's so hard for an Iraqi to get a visa nowadays, especially after Amman bombings
:(
But I want to goooo!! Pray for me that I will get the visa easily!
Another thing, we got an email from the Fulbright lately telling the students who will take the Official TOEFL Test to prepare themselves to get scores higher than 575 cuz the High American universities will look first at them when accepting the Grantees in the colleges. Ta da!! My Official TOEFL scores are 557!! Can't I flip the numbers to make it just 575 instead of 557 ??!! I thought of retaking the test to get higher scores, but the deadline for registration was two days ago! Now this doesn't mean that I will lose my grant, it only means that high rank universities might not look at me!! Mom says that any university will be ok and I should not feel bad about this. I don't know!
I have some sort of obsession these days which is getting to each website of an American university! I'm checking all the colleges to get an idea about, and to see which one is better for my major field of study "Modern American Novel". I still have no clue! There might another test which the Fulbrighters and I should take. It's GRE Test. Some might take GMAT according their fields of study.
Dad was in Germany on a bussiness trip for two weeks, and he just got back home two days ago. So now you can imagine what did he bring with him ;) SHOPPING IS SO GREAT!! Especially if it's from a place like Germany! He's been talking about his trip telling every detail. Many photos were taking.
What else?! As if there was anything in the begining! Sorry for bothering you with this piece of junk called "post"!
Good Night, and please keep commenting!! ;)
13 comments:
Haneen, this is the first time I have visited your site. I love your post and your English ability. I would like for you to consider the university ot Tennessee, located at Knoxville, Tennessee. I know you would like our part of the country.
Good luck on your visa application.
Thank you for your post.
Hi Haneen,
I've been reading your blog for a while, but this is my first comment.
I can relate 100% to the "bored" thing, although in my case it's usually what I'd call "drawing a blank". I sit down and realize I haven't written a post for a couple of days and that I probably should, but can't think of what to write about.
I'm surprised on the TOEFL - your English seems very good here.
Lisa is right on the GRE - don't go into it unprepared, it is difficult. There are some good self-study books, websites, and even computer software to help prepare for it.
I'm sure you'll be fine with or without TOEFL.
I took the ESL and it's not that easy as you heard form others but the problem for me was in the UA contemprary writers. I did fine with British old, middle and modren literature.
I wishing you luck with the visa and I really need to see you and have a real chat not via PC screan.
American literature, novel? I do not know what to recommend except, perhaps, Indiana University. I studied folklore there and the faculty was outstanding. That's what makes a good university. I don't know about any of the other departments, but I suspect they are pretty good. I'd also look at the University of California at Berkley because of its library. Though with the Internet you don't actually need a library like you once did.
Good luck.
Thank you, Lisa, for the links :) I don't remember anything about mathmetics either! I hated it so much when I was at school. I checked some sample questions, they really seem tricky ones. Well, the Fulbright didn't tell us about this test officially yet, but we knew about it from some current Fulbrighters in the U.S.A. as they said that they took the test.
Wayne and mad canuck, you are most welcomed here :) I'm glad to read your comments. Thank you on the university suggestion, Wayne. I can check as many universities as I can, but the Fulbright will choose me the college I will attend according to my grades and other qualities. I mean they will give me some options and I will choose one of those options. But I also have to know a bit about the universities in the U.S. in order to be prepared for everything.
Mad Canuck, I had the TOEFL test last March when I was still a senior student with no much practice and experience on my English langauge! Maybe that's what affected my scores, although I thought that I would get more. Now I know that I might get even more scores if I can take the test again, but 557 isn't that bad :)
Melantrys, I was thinking of you when I wrote that Germany part in the post, I was kinda sure that you would comment on this part ;) He spent his time in the southern part of the country in "Obramargau" I'm not sure of the spelling!
AC Blue Eagle, my friend, many people told me about Indiana university. I checked the website, it seems very cool. All I can say is that I hope to be accepted there!
Attawie, pray for me that I will get the visa soon! I want to see you toooo
I spent many years in University here is the US. I loved it. There are many good ones. I would check the subjects you are interested in. Then, read the courses offered by the school in your subject,..and SEE who teaches them. then google the teachers and see what you can learn about them. There was no google whaen I was in school, but I did a lot of checking, and it really was worth it.
From my experience I learnt that comments do cheer up people..
The best way to avoid being bored (I'm not an expert by the way) is to find something to do.. Surf the Internet and find something interesting to research.. Or read the new blogs!
Reading your post, I get to see that there are many interesting things going on in your life nowadays..!
Are you reading the books you got by mail? A book can keep you busy for hours!
For the whole week, I form ideas about a post to write in the weekend, but there's something magical with Blogger, it steals your thoughts!!
awesome post. I think you will be happy no matter where you go. have you looked at many schools in chicago? I'm reading your blog.
Sur and Jeffrey, welcome to my blog :) I was just about to search about courses of some universities! Abd searching about who teaches those courses and know about them seems a vwery good idea. Thank you for the tip
Hey Najma, long time no see! How are you doing? Yes, I'm reading the books I got by mail. I finished one book so far, and I started with a second book just yesterday. It's a novel "To Kill a Mockingbird".
Cooper, I'm actually looking at the universities websites one by one to get an idea about the universities in the U.S., there are many great ones and I guess that any university will be so ok for me as long as it gives me a good education and knowledge in my field of study.
Jeffrey, I will check University of Iowa. The Iowa Writer's Workshop seems very interesting.
Thank you all..
Hannen,
this is great. u know, some times when u write from the heart, it is much much better than what you plan to write. i really believe in this.
dont worry about the toefl stuff. any american university would be thrilled to have an iraqi student, i hope.
thanks for sharing.
Omar
i misspelled your name, as usual. HANEEN
Hey Omar, never mind about misspelling my name. I sometimes misspell it too! Thank you for the words, I hope that my journey there will be as excited as yours. I bet everyone is interesting in what you write about :)
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