The Gang of Five
Beyond the Mysterious Beyond => The Fridge => Topic started by: Mumbling on June 14, 2012, 11:07:36 AM
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I did it! After 7 years of high-school I finally managed to get my VWO diploma, guaranteeing me access to universities around the globe. I will receive my piece of paper on the 28th, but now it is time to relax and be happy :D :birthday
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Congradulations. Guess it's time for a party to celebrate. You have plans on what to do next, besides taking some time off to relax and rest?
:smile :celebrate
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I'm getting my eyes lasered in july and will be moving to another city in august to study there :) I also have a goodbye meeting with friends right before the graduation evening where we'll go swimming and have a BBQ, fun fun!
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Congratulations! :celebrate: When I graduated HS it felt like the first step to being an adult. I had to to wait a few months to register to vote, another 3 years to legally buy alcohol before I really felt all grown up. :yes
Any plans post-high school? Other than kick back and celebrate, of course
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Congratulations!
God I hate to have my eyes lasered so I wish you luck for July! :DD
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Haha crazedwriter, I can already vote and buy alcohol for a long time now :p Thanks you guys :)
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Congratulations, I'm glad it worked out for you! Are there any universities you have your eyes on at the moment?
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Congratulations Iris :)
Then the summer can really begin at last ;)
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Congrats :DD :) :celebrate :cheers!
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Have a blast! :D
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Congratulations, I'm glad it worked out for you! Are there any universities you have your eyes on at the moment?
I'm lame and actually not making use of my opportunity to go to uni... So I'm going to college and take a 4 year course in translating :)
Thanks all!
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Yay! I bet it feels good to have graduated, huh? :lol: Congrats!
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Congratulations fellow graduate!!! :D
Great job!!
Good luck with whatever comes next!! ^^
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Thanks Linda! Glad to hear you've graduated as well.
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Thanks ^^
I almost thought I wasn't going to as I was failing English all year xD I kind of loathed my teacher lol
However, all was well in the end and I graduated with honours in fact! It made me super happy!!! :)
... I don't know what to do now though other than getting a job...
Anyway, super happy you graduated!!! You're brilliant and awesome and will do well in the future ^^
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Oh, dang…I still haven't posted my congratulations in this thread? :blink: :oops
Huge congrats on graduating, Iris! :smile And wow, it sounds like you'll be making some pretty monumental steps in the near future. :blink: You say you're getting laser eye surgery? I didn't even know you had an eye problem. :o You tell us how that works out.
Congratulations to you too, buffypii! :D And to everyone else who graduated this year, for that matter.
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I've had my eye surgery by now! Will post a more detailed update soon. Thanks! :)
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I've had my eye surgery by now! Will post a more detailed update soon. Thanks! :)
The more detailed update that never came to be...? :lol
Anyway, wow it has been 7 years since you graduated high school! Hehe, it's the same amount of time it took you to get your diploma. VWO is the Voorbereidend wetenschappelijk onderwijs school, correct? I simply searched up that acronym and found that. I'm interested why High School starts at such an early grade level for you people in the Netherlands. Maybe you could explain the school system to us people not native to the Netherlands? :)
At first, I honestly thought you were held back for 3 years and I was pretty shocked about it. Haha, I hope you don't take offense to that. :p
Yep...as you may have guessed, American High School is four years. First year is Freshman, second year is Sophomore, third year is Junior, and fourth year is Senior.
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Haha wow, someone has been time traveling! I sometimes feel like this forum was my teenage self's digital journal that is free to read to anyone :PCera
Eye surgery... 7 years later it's still one of the best investments in my life. I have not had any issues with my eyes and they are still as strong as they were right after they got lazored! There seems to be some more info on my eye surgery in this topic:
http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=10970
That's correct! The name stands for pre-university education. To explain the Dutch system you'd first have to realize that we basically combine junior high and high school and call that 'high school' (hence the confusion). The years that you would call junior high are formative and determine what 'level' you're on in terms of learning, as well as what direction you'd want to go into (alpha > languages, economics, geography, history, or beta > maths, sciences). So first lets explain levels (things might have changed since I graduated but this is roughly how I remember it):
- BB/KB > these are usually separate schools, meant for those who have trouble learning. They learn the most basic things, focus on practical education and continue learning a trade, usually. This takes 4 years total.
- VMBO/MAVO > this level is slightly more theoretic than practical, but is still intended for those who learn a bit more slowly. People who graduate on this level either learn a trade or can learn to be doctors assistants, business managers, etc. This also takes 4 years total and grants access to either finishing a HAVO diploma or continuing to MBO (which is where they would learn their trade/profession)
- HAVO > As mentioned before, this is one 'level' up from VMBO/MAVO. This is intended for kids who learn quicker but would not quite be suitable for a university education (writing papers is just not their thing). It's again more theoretical than the above level and is usually followed by either getting a VWO diploma to steam them ready for actual university, or they go to a HBO, translated as university of applied sciences. This is basically university, as you are able to get a bachelors and masters, but focuses less on the papers and more on the practical side of things with big internships and the like. HAVO takes 5 years total.
- VWO > This is the highest 'level' and there are several variants of it that are too much to share here. This is intended for those who want to attend university. You have to take final exams in 8 subjects minimum. VWO takes 6 years total. My personal journey took me 7 years to finish this.
Please note that while you might be intending to go to university, with a VWO diploma you actually have access to all levels of 'lower level' education. So a person who finishes VWO can go to university, a university of applied sciences, or even MBO if they wish to do so. I personally finished VWO but did not look forward to being all scientific, so I got a HBO (university of applied sciences) degree.
Thanks for explaining the American terms! Not sure if they'll stick :D
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Wow Mumbling, that is a lot to read and take in I'll admit. So with pre-university education, junior high and high school are combined, and there are multiple levels depending on how competent is a student is in their ability to learn. That actually seems like a pretty fair school system, as it gives everyone equal opportunity to succeed and get a choose a career that they want to do. Seems pretty neat, I must say.
I read more about your laser eye surgery, and the way you described it was pretty quick and painless. Although I did imagine that the healing process would be very irritating at worst. You still have no problems with vision?
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Wow Mumbling, that is a lot to read and take in I'll admit. So with pre-university education, junior high and high school are combined, and there are multiple levels depending on how competent is a student is in their ability to learn. That actually seems like a pretty fair school system, as it gives everyone equal opportunity to succeed and get a choose a career that they want to do. Seems pretty neat, I must say.
I read more about your laser eye surgery, and the way you described it was pretty quick and painless. Although I did imagine that the healing process would be very irritating at worst. You still have no problems with vision?
Haha I realize it was a pretty long post, but I enjoy learning about other school systems and like to share the in-depth knowledge rather than just scratch the surface. It is a decent school system, I agree.
Yep! The surgery itself was painless because of the pain killers I got beforehand. The healing took a while (about a month worth of eye drops in total), but really only the first 3 or 4 days were truly annoying. I was unable to really do anything with my eyes because they did hurt once the pain killers finished working. They were (and still are to a certain extent) really sensitive to light, so I'd basically sit inside all day with sunglasses on. There's no way I could look at any screen (tv or monitor) and even stuff like reading the paper was difficult. If I look back now I probably would have invested in some audio books or podcasts to spend the time, because it gets really boring after a while. Then again, it was only for 3 or 4 days, after that I could function like a normal seeing person again ;)
And yes, still have perfect 20/20 vision :D