Missed deadline

I've said before that I would try to post every 2 weeks, and if you check the dates you'll see that I missed last week's post, but luckily I have a good reason: I was in Canada! One of my best friends was getting married and I went back for about a week for the wedding and to catch up with friends (it had been about 2.5 years since I was last home). When I got back to Uppsala I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of snow and relative warmth compared to a week ago.

The clock is ticking!

There is no break right now (in fact there aren't really any official breaks at all during the year, but that's another story), so I had to miss some class. Actually quite a lot of class, since I have Quantum Field Theory every day, and Mathematical Methods doesn't have very many lectures so missing even one (or in my case two) is a big deal. I also have an assignment due today for QFT about the material I missed, so the stress is on.

Luckily for me, the attitude in Sweden seems to be pretty relaxed about this sort of thing. This is not to say that there isn't any work involved with the programme - I'm finding it very challenging (in a good way). However, people here are generally very reasonable about not arbitrarily enforcing rules. When I asked for an extension for the assignment, I was told: "The course manual demands the demonstration of knowledge and ability, not knowledge and ability per time." In another course, when we asked for a deadline to be pushed back, the lecturer said something along the lines of "well, if you hand it in late, it's not as if I'm going to just throw your work in the garbage." (I wouldn't have thought it was unreasonable to not grade work that was handed in late, but I obviously didn't say that).

Again, this is not to say that you don't need to bother with timing at all (Swedes are known for their punctuality), it is just an example of how I've noticed that in general authorities here seem to be reasonable about working with you when you are in an exceptional circumstance. Obviously since the physics master programme is fairly small, this effect is amplified: in smaller groups you're seen more as a person and less as a number.

All that being said, I've told myself I'm going to get caught back up by Monday, so I'm king to have to keep this short and get back to work. Wish me luck!