No Green Vegetables...

Today was a more travel heavy day - after lazing in the hostel for a good chunk of the morning, I wandered around a garden in Porto before almost missing my flight to Madrid. Some final thoughts - wow, everyone in Porto is so friendly! Even at busy streets when I'm waiting at a crosswalk, locals will actually stop in the middle of heavy traffic so I can cross, despite the fact that I am perfectly happy to wait till the light turns green. *sigh*, why is Toronto so horrible?

For lunch I had some sort of tripe stew - it was tasty! One thing that is bothering me though, is that the lack of green vegetables =P I think I had a carrot piece today (might have been a sweet potato), and last night I had a homestyle codfish which was delicious of course. Half the time I really don't know what I'm munching on, but I get fed in large quantities.

As I was flying out of Porto, the greenery is lovely and there are lots of green valleys and trees. Then a while later I look down and wow, it looks like Alberta - flat, brown, land. I think I'm in Spain =P Eventually though we flew over these baby mountains (so cute!), and landed in Madrid. 34 degrees celsius, and soooo humid!! It makes me want to be on a beach all the time! My friend lives in this cute apartment in Madrid near the university, and we spent some time eating ice cream on the balcony, as I wonder how people manage to park/unpark in such tiny spots on the street. She also lives across from a pastry shop...=D

Tonight is giving my poor feet a rest, and spending an hour blowing up an air mattress. I shamelessly watched The Glee Project - and I'm totally hooked!!

While flying out of Porto I read through Ryanair's magazine and discovered that there is a festival in Barcelona this weekend - Festival of St. John. I'm excited, it sounds like people come out and just like to burn things on the street. I should have brought my notes =)

*Dreaming of Churros and chocolate*
- S

Porto!!

Wow look at me posting all the time! lol it's only cuz my feet are so tired of walking, and I already finished one ebook. (Side note, ebooks are awesomeness. I just don't like how they cost so much....I guess I should just download some, but can you do that for iphone?)

The first word that comes to mind when I think of my afternoon in Porto, is charming. There is this old world look and feel, especially to the Ribeira area. I could easily spend hours watching the boats of tourists sail by, and then taking the trek up the hill to the wineries for tastings.

The path to the wineries was interesting - almost deserted, old cobble/brick roads, and a steep incline. You know you are on the right path when the roads themselves start to smell of wine =) My favorite part was actually coming down, because when I was walking up I didn't think to stop and look behind me. On the way down you get this lovely view of Porto city center and the river again. I looooove the river, definitely my favorite area right now. I am really kicking myself that I didn't budget more time here...

One of the best experiences I had today though, was the Cathedral. The organist was practicing, and it was amazing to have them echoing throughout....also, the inner courtyard was used to film some scenes in Harry Potter!! =D =D

More Porto tomorrow!

- S

Crocodile Tears

Have you ever heard the expression? I used to accuse my brother of crocodile tears whenever he would fake cry for attention.

So Porto flight...first of all, has anyone else noticed there's always a difference between Domestic flights and Vacation flights? There's always more kids on vacation flights, and people always want to clap at everything.

As expected, there were a lot of kids on the flight, mostly toddlers. I wondered if they would be noisy on the flight, but nooooo, it wasn't the tiny tots making noise, it was the big 6 year old girl that I couldn't stand.

For some reason we spent 40 minutes taxing around the airport. Just as it started, this 6 year old girl in the row in diagonally in front of me starts sobbing and yelling things like "I don't want to go", "I want to go home", "Let me go let me go". Fuuuun. Finally when I start think the plane is going to taxi all the way to the ocean, we finally take off, and this only sets the girl off into more hysterics. Think lying across 3 seats, waving all arms and kicking legs. *sigh* Most of the crying was also half-hearted, just like the crocodile tears I mentioned.

Throughout the flight, she alternated between screaming, yelling, tandrums, talkings very very loudly, or jumping up and down by holding the headrest of the person in front of her...(I felt terrible for him). Most children I have encountered in this age range are usually pretty good on flights - looking with disdain at the kids who don't behave. But I've never seen a child be so disagreable for so long!!! *sigh*. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep on the plane.

Oh, also, hello, a metro that has an airport stop? Hmm, how convenient. Like, genius really. What is WRONG with Toronto and Waterloo?

Off to explore Porto. There are palm trees here! I loooove palm trees!!

- S

Hello from Grenoble!

Dear all,

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Grad school is keeping me busier than I expected. Motivated by S's post, I decided that it was time for a new entry. I am currently at a conference in Grenoble, France. And wow, what a beautiful city! Grenoble is known for its scenery associated with the Alps. Let me summarize the trip so far:

Pros:
- Gorgeous scenery! It's so breathtaking, and I can see the amazing scenery right from my room. Here is a picture of my dorm from the outside:
My dorm is at the top, which is why I have such a great view of the city.
- Great food! My lunch today was better than most dinners I've had in North American dorms. Duck, delicious salad, and a pear for 5 Euros. Kind of pricey, but oh well. My dinner was bread, salami and cheese, which was just as delicious, and cheaper. You really can't go wrong with food in France!
- Brushing up on my French skills: I haven't really used French since grade 9, but I did read French things when I had the time, and some of my math articles are in French, so I guess I wasn't totally rusty. I was able to navigate using mostly only French, and I'm so proud of myself!

Cons:
- Horrible itinerary: I will never use Delta airlines again. They were unhelpful when their flights got delayed (13 hours!) and they seem unsafe. As we were about to take off from Atlanta, a thunderstorm hit, and the pilot discovered that the windshield wiper wasn't working. They took it to the gate and had an 8-hour maintenance. Had it been a clear day (and god forbid, pouring in Frankfurt), worse things could have happened.
- My dorm: Let's just say, I don't know how the French students survive here. It's cozy in a way, and has a great view, but the toilet sucks (there are no seats! Can you imagine what it looks like?) and the hygiene level of the room is very, very low. I'm off to buy a bug spray tomorrow, because I'm afraid of falling asleep!
-Location: As I said, Grenoble is known as the capital of the Alps. Guess what that means? That means you see the Alps everywhere. In particular, to get to my dorm, you have to walk up the very steep stairs for 25-30 minutes (in the above picture, my dorm is the top building, I think). Very very tiring, but I guess if I do it with friends, it makes things better. And I'll really be in shape by the end of three weeks.

Well, I doubt anything significant will happen in the next few days, I'll probably update when S gets here (sometime next week). And I should really sleep - I was terrified because I saw (and eventually killed) a centipede in my room. But alas, there are classes tomorrow!

Good night, and bon voyage, S!

No Turning Back Now!

This it, I am in the airport, boarding in a hour. After two days of last minute purchases (and a new airport watch...) my backpack weighs 20lbs. At first it sounded so light, and then I put it on. Wow it was heavy!! Bleh. I am somewhat used to the weight now, but it definitely a good way to make sure I don't buy anything I don't need!!!

Waiting for the plane I notice two other backpackers, but everyone else checked huge luggage. Then there was the odd thing that my ticket and the tv screens all list a different gate number...but so far that seems to be the worst of it!

C was super helpful and found a Lonely Planet Western Europe Phrasebook at Chapters for me. Considering I made no effort to even dust off my French before heading to the airport, I think it will be worth the $13 investment. My friends in Europe already, such as J, have also been helpful in packing and figuring out what I needed to bring.

I called my

Right now I am definitely not feeling super confident, or confident at all. But my stmach is getting excited at the prospect of all the food!!!! My 20 mins of Porto research tells me the local speciality is tripe and wine...both of which I like =D

Goodbye Canada!! Portugal, here I come!!

On My Own...

Hmm, it's been a while since we last posted!! Well, needless to say, things have been busy, but I am now the proud owner of a very, very expensive degree.

Now that I'm done...I'm travelling!! Yes, very excited in theory, but to tell you the truth, terrified!!

I am scheduled for a 14 day trip to Europe, leaving tomorrow night. Toronto - Porto - Madrid - Barcelona - Madrid - Paris - Grenoble - Paris - Madrid - Porto - Toronto.

For much of it, I will be travelling on my own, while my friends are in school or at conferences in Madrid and Grenoble. Now, the issue is I'm not a very adventerous person, probably the complete opposite. I doing like going places by myself, I don't really talk to strangers, I get lost all the time, and I'm a tiny asian girl who probably looks bewildered most of the time. Heck, I don't remember the last time I went to a restaurant by myself. So this is a big step outside of my box...

Well, one challenge at a time right? To start..I'm going to bring a backpack, that's it. Since I'm used to bringing large suitcases everywhere I go, this will be interesting =P The clothes were the easy part...kinda. I spent a week finding a rain jacket...apparently places don't sell them under $60 very often, and if they do, then not in June. Ah well, that was kind of fun, planning/buying a minimal amount of clothing to bring, and switching things out for lighter fabrics for the summer weather. Also, the threat that I have to carry all my stuff with me all the time is a good way to convince myself that despite the fact that I like THIS sweater more, the other one is lighter and easier to carry on my back!

Anyways, I have to go out to buy a power adapter. Eeep, so it begins!

University fees

As a co-op student in Mathematics at the University of Waterloo, I am obliged to pay co-op fees over eight academic terms. In any given term, the co-op fee is the same for all co-op students regardless of where they are in first year, fourth year, or anywhere in between. This term's co-op fee is listed as $609. It seemed like a large sum, and I decided to look back at my previous statements to see how much the fee used to be. Here is what I have paid:

Fall 2006: $510.00
Winter 2007: $510.00
Fall 2007: $535.00
Spring 2008: $560.00
Winter 2009: $560.00
Fall 2009: $587.00
Winter 2010: $587.00
Spring 2010: $609.00

I'd completely forgotten that the termly co-op fee was so much lower when I started university. Roughly a 20% increase in 4 years (19.41% to be more accurate), it just didn't make sense. Yes, the Illustrative Life Table that the SOA provides for its exams assumes an annual interest rate of 6%, but surely that can't even be close to reality! I decided to do a little bit of math.

I vaguely remembered hearing somewhere that the annual inflation rate can range from 2-3% per annum. Assuming the high end, 3%, the fee should have gone up by 12.55% over 4 years. In this case, the co-op fee should be $574 now.

Then I went to the inflation calculator provided by the Bank of Canada.

To my surprise, the answer turned out to be a mere $545.96. Round that up to $546, and there's a $63 difference between the expected and actual fees. Co-op fees don't seem to fall under any of "food, shelter, furniture, clothing, transportation, and recreation", but the hefty increases still go unexplained. Where is the extra money going? Updating the system at the heart of the co-op program?


While discussing these numbers with S, it hit me that I could do the same thing with tuition fees, too. I decided to look at the 1A Co-op Mathematics tuition for Canadian citizens and permanent residents, assuming a 5-course workload. The U of Waterloo registrar's office website has fee schedules dating back to Fall 2007, and anything before that I gathered from my own statements from first year, as well as a friend's statement.

A grand total of 19.30% increase over 4 years, averaging 4.5% a year. Heck, GICs only yield a fraction of that interest these days.

Even with my salary slowly increasing with each co-operative work term, it's no surprise I felt more and more strapped for cash as the years went by. At this rate, "one of these days, we'll catch up to the US tuition," to quote J. One of these days may just be when we are parents of soon-to-be university students....

What is your take on your tuition "inflation"?



Addendum: It seems that Statistics Canada agrees with my findings.