Study technique: conscious, effective learning

By: Anna Birk Hellenes, 3IBH

Many students find it quite tricky to "absorb" information and to make it stick. The purpose of this section of the newspaper is to make you aware of psychological and neurological concepts of permanent learning. By being aware about what the world of science knows about our brain, as well as our own experiences with learning, one can find good strategies handling obstacles when it comes to learning. After reading this small article, I want you to be conscious about how you work, and what may be improved. Ultimately, you can end up spending much less time on non-related material, and perhaps even enjoy some of the exciting parts of learning.

It is well known that awareness and repetition of material strengthens pathways in the brain where information flow automatically. However, before you had learned for example how to ride a bike perfectly, you most likely found it relatively hard. This is because such permanent patterns of pathways in the brain were not yet established. However, now it probably comes as naturally to you as breathing. You are less aware of how hard the seat feels, how the cold air finds its way through your hair etc., as a consequence of your brain focusing less of its consciousness on the act of riding the bike, as you have done it so many times before. It is an act which in some sense has become normalized because of repetition. The required motoric movement has been learned and become part of your long term memory. You can access this skill whenever you want, in contrast to something in which you have not yet repeatedly practiced and learned. Here is some information about how study techniques can help you to access your long term memory (LTM).

While short term memory (STM) is easily accessed, 80% of what you have learned in for instance class will vanish within 24 hours, if not making these memories long term memories (LTM). In order for this to happen, repetition is crucial. You can repeat by using visual material such as maps, tables, drawings etc. You may read material loud and discuss with friends, or perhaps rehearse whenever you are on the move. Find what fits best. You may be a “visual”, “auditory” and/or “haptic” (you cannot sit still) learner, which varies from person to person. Be creative, because research show that the more brain areas that are activated during learning, the easier the learning process, and the more you will remember. You have probably experienced that if taking notes by hand, you remember so much more than if writing it on the computer. It causes more brain activity, put in a simple way.  In other words, as a general rule of thumb, the larger area of the brain that is actively used while learning, the better.

This, of course, requires that you are conscious about what information you are actually reading or listening to. For most people, it does not really work out staying up late watching your favourite TV-show while also acquiring understanding of why a particle theoretically is not necessarily a wave. But the photon you just read about was massless… does it not have energy, because E=mc²? And there you go… many people’s experience with quantum physics.

Now, let’s look at a concrete study technique method, namely SQ3R (survey, question, read, recite, review). Many students have fount this very useful, and it can be used both when reading books or notes.

1: Survey.

Use five minutes to scan the material: look at headings and subheadings to see the organization of ideas/information. Look at visuals, and read introductions and summaries. Now, you know what it is about, and when you read through it, it is already your second time.

2: Question.

Ask yourself what the main points of the chapter are, and keep this question in mind when reading, in order to filter out what you should and should not focus on.

3: Read

Be an active reader. After you have read a paragraph, you may underline,. Be selective (thumb or rule: do not underline more than 20% of the text). Additionally, in your own words, summarize important concepts in the margin. Use your own words.

4: Recite.   

For every page or so, recite main points while not looking at the text.

5: Review.

Read over notes/the chapter every now and then, interpret and try to find linkages in information, like supporting facts/counterarguments (if analytic interpretation is required for your test, exam, presentation etc.) for the main ideas.

  

Do you have some thoughts about your working techniques as they are today? Maybe you can practice SQ3R? When using this method, be prepared that it is a bit more time consuming in the start. However, when getting used to it, you learn the technique like you learned to ride the bike, and it becomes a rather nice habit for effective learning. Remember: quality over quantity. It is much better to be aware and open for information than to exhaust yourself reading a whole book that you do not understand.

Sources/further reading:

http://www.answers.com/topic/electrochemistry,

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002261.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulator_(genetics)

http://www.tlrp.org/pub/documents/Neuroscience%20Commentary%20FINAL.pdf

http://psychology.about.com/od/biopsychology/ss/neuronanat_5.htm

http://biology.about.com/od/anatomy/p/Brainstem.htm

http://www.lifepathunlimitednobleduo.com/?p=358

http://www.academictips.org/acad/tipsforeffectivestudying.html

http://www.oby.no/?page_id=3

http://unina.stidue.net/Universita'%20di%20Milano/Biotecnologie%20e%20Bioscienze/Lecchi/Bio%20Avanzata2010/bibliografia%20Schiavon/COLLINGRIDGE%20BLISS.pdf

http://www.jneurosci.org/content/20/11/3993.full

Simple science: Dreaming

By:  William Lohrmann

We spend about one third of our lives asleep. Sleeping is what we do the most, yet there is no definitive answer to why we do this. Perhaps more interestingly, we are not even sure why we dream. This mysterious, seemingly unconscious state of mind have made people ponder for centuries, and with modern tools and instruments, we have come much closer to solving this riddle. Theories have been stated, tested, and some have passed. But there is still much to be known about this. The questions are still there: Why do we sleep, and what’s the big deal with dreaming?

Sigmund Freud was a well-known scientist who specialized in neurology. He is most known for founding the study of psychoanalysis. However, he also worked with dreaming. In The Interpretation of Dreams (1900), he concluded that our dreams are influenced by our hidden desires. Not surprisingly, the important principles of psychoanalysis are also about desires and sexuality. Freud wrote in The psychopathology of Everyday Life that all human behavior is driven by our sexual desires. He meant this was true even for infants.

At Freud’s time, there was no way of knowing what a person was thinking about without asking.  Even to this day, we are far from figuring out exactly how the brain thinks but we have a much better idea than we had before. When our brain is working, millions of electric impulses are sent back and forth between nerve cells. Often, these impulses behave according to special patterns, creating wave signals that can be measured. The scientists Eugene Aserinsky and Nathaniel Kleitman developed an instrument based on these principles so they could study sleep and dreaming more accurately.

 Aserinsky and Kleitman found out that sleeping is not as simple as we thought. It turns out that sleep can be divided into two separate stages. In the first type of sleep, we do not dream much, and the brain is not very active. Fittingly enough, this is called deep sleep. REM-sleep, on the other hand, is so interesting you’ll wake up from it – literally. The REM stage is in many ways very paradoxical. To Aserinsky and Kleitman’s surprise, when they studied brains in REM-sleep, it did not seem as if the test objects were dreaming at all. Their brains functioned very much like when they were awake. Therefore, it is no surprise that REM-sleep is the sleep stage when we experience the most life-like and vivid dreams.  Now, before we go on, you may wonder what REM stands for. When scientists have studied sleeping, they have found that most of the body does not move. This is to prevent the person from responding to things inside the dream.  However, the eyes are free to move. In fact, there is Rapid Eye Movement during REM-sleep (You may now guess what REM stands for).

 There are several theories as to why we dream as we do in REM-sleep. One of the more prominent ones says that we use REM-sleep to make connections between our newly acquired knowledge and memories. By processing through the events of the day, the brain is able to relate experiences with each other to learn more about how things work and equips us with tools to predict the outcomes of future events. A transformation of short-term memory into long-term memory is one way to put it.

Another theory## claims that REM-sleep is vital in developing the brain, not just sorting through new information. The fact that infants sleep in the REM-stage about 80 % of the time, as opposed to about 40 % for adults, is evidence for this.

Yet another theory## states that REM-sleep is a form of simulation that helps us train for dangerous situations in a safe environment (our beds). This suggests why we can have such weird dreams as we have. The unpredictability of our dreams is also an indication of this. However, as mentioned earlier, the brain remains almost completely active during the REM-stage. The only part that remains inactive is our dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain responsible for predicting outcomes and planning ahead. This may not be so surprising, since our dreams can be very unpredictable sometimes. What would then happen if we allowed this part to “wake up”? The consequence is what we call lucid dreaming.

During lucid dreaming, the dreamer is aware that he or she is dreaming, and therefore able to exert some control over the “plot” of the dream. Most people have experienced at least one lucid dream. It varies greatly from person to person, as some people have them more often. Other than the relevant brain parts, scientists do not know much about lucid dreaming, such as why we have them and how they are beneficial to us.

Now, don’t fall asleep! To conclude, we may say that there is still a lot to be known about the workings of our brains and the function of sleep and dreaming. We have come far in our studies with the help of brilliant scientists such as Aserinsky and Kleitman and new instruments and methods are just waiting to be discovered. This would benefit curious minds all over the world but also patients with sleep disorders who struggle with this every day. No matter the motive, there is definitely a huge need for more information on this topic. That’s all for today… zzz…

A Fooled Mind

Herman Wuttudal, 1E

Every day our mind is being triggered to act or feel a certain way. We continuously attempt to perceive the universe in which we find ourselves in, but often without luck. The way we perceive the world is through a neurological (related to the nervous system) process called perception. Our mind might pick up some ideas when we walk in the park, watch a film or talk to a friend. There will be mental images coming up during these encounters. However, did you see them coming? Did you now that this would happen? Most likely no, but spontaneous ideas can be out of our control. And we met them on a daily basis non-stop.

Have you ever found yourself wondering about why you think the way you do? Has there been any moment you’ve questioned your behaviour or why you felt so miserable that other day? I’ll bet you are thinking about something at this instant, right? Maybe regarding that test you have tomorrow or that application you hope so endearing to be accepted. Or chalk being dragged along the blackboard making that harsh, piercing sound, and you therefore feel obliged to recall memories of elementary school. Or not. Thinking comes as naturally to us as breathing.

It is so that the environments we find ourselves in continuously trigger our mind. Take for instance the classic “knock on the door.” You are not expecting anyone, and you question yourself a couple of times: who is it? You open the door and it’s your mom. It seemed that this didn’t meet your expectations, because you had an idea, or the slightest belief, that something mysteriously would stand by the threshold of your door. While being aware of this, you felt a slight of adrenalin. The door is red by the way. Even though these circumstances occur to us regularly, as for being most conventional, they regulate our setting of mind. You cannot know for sure who is outside your door, but you can imagine who it is. The idea, despite what you think, becomes unavoidable. Because it’s late evening, and the contrast between the night and the colour of the door makes it effortless to spot. The colour makes us think spontaneous because of its intensity. The phenomenon of the red door creates rapid responses in our mind. We recognize this, distinguish it’s form and color from your other surroundings. It is a relatively prevailing experience, of a neurological concept.

As we were mentioning the colour red, imagine yourself this red door. What geometrical figure was that crossed your mind? Think about it once more. If it’s a square, despite for the rectangle shaped door, you are mighty correct. If not, it’s not your fault; it just doesn’t work for everyone. What red and square have in common, is that they are both acting dense, as red is a distinct and strong color, and the square is one of the most “area efficient” shapes there is. Let’s give you another example having to do with red.

Two years ago (2011) a couple from Yorkshire decided to bring their son to a centre for kids with mental disabilities. Since the parents believed that their child had a modest version of autism, they wanted to understand his relationship to colors. As for the kid he was feeling pretty excited. There they were presented to a red room. He became rather enthusiastic by the rooms color, while the others (the parents) became slightly lightheaded.

The colour itself is triggering their mind. One cannot prevent it. The colour is not responsible by itself, but the parallel between it and our interpretation; an abstract feeling that affirms we perceive the color. Therefore, this perception is determined by our mind whether we like it or not. We realised that the red coloredroom made the parents dizzy. Taking in account the boy’s reaction, he was obviously a special case. Then again he proves that everyone doesn’t function on the same mandates. Now we’ve learned that red is influencing our unconsciousness. However, for some individuals we cannot see any change, while for others, big difference.

In summary, red is irresistible and strong. It projects and brings forward emotions as happiness and exhaustion. There is a variety, but depending on whom the person is. It triggers thoughts in our mind against our will. Now as the advertisement firms are in action, I can assure you of that they’ve triggered your mind already. They are the craftsmen of deceit and fallacies. Triggering one’s unawareness is a part of what we call the Subliminal Priming studies.

Our mind is divided into three levels that we call the “selfs”*: The conscious-, subconscious-, and unconscious-self. These three levels are the ruling faculties of our mind. Firstly, the conscious-self is the aware part of our mind where we are dealing with experiences and sensations. This is where one’s consciousness takes place, though the unconscious-self actually is the greatest part of our mind. We cannot enter or fully understand this self of our mind. However, there is a way of triggering it. At last, but not least, the sub-consciousness is where unaware thoughts have the potential of being triggered back in the consciousness.

* The different levels in our mind are referred as a ”self”. It is an idea used to identify a part our mind. Example: conscious-self. The self’s are distinctive to each other but can’t be separated.

Every thought we’ve had resides in our subconscious-self. By explaining Subliminal Priming we see what relation it has to the conscious-self. A great example is when someone is learning glossary: you work hard to learn your entire glossary-list to the forthcoming day, and when it finally arrives, you somewhat forget them. Afterwards, while looking onto your fact sheet, you realise at that very moment you knew the words and that you could have done better. This is something most of us have experienced and acknowledged, and it drives us nearly mad. Not literally, though... The reason we remember all the words after the test was because of the fact-sheet, which I indeed hope you made. It triggered our subconscious-self. In other words, there was inactive existing knowledge that had potential to be activated. Therefore, you become aware of this – it’s in your conscious-self. Subliminal Priming is you recalling thoughts and emotions, while the Subliminal Messaging is the triggering process. Consequently, there is no secret that the advertisement firms are like madmen in Subliminal Messaging.

We have now “confessed” that colours and shapes have the capability of reactivating our previous experienced thoughts and emotions. It can adjust our mood and behaviour. Look up from the paper and review the setting around you. What colors are there? What shapes? Nevertheless, what is your association to such a scene? You may feel emotionally influenced some way or another. For all we know, you might not be aware of it, though it does indeed happen. We are all different, and some are very unlike most others. We create our own perceptions and relations to the world and its features.

We are the fooled mind. Tempted to act according to our thoughts and mood, treat others as what comes natural to us, and trust our intuitions. We believe that we are rational and logical beings that understand the world as it is, but we don’t. We are fond by the idea of it, though. And that is also prevailing.

  

Inspiration

Michael Stevens is an American physicist, psychologist and entertainer. He has a Youtube channel called Vzauce. There he brings up fun and unusual, random subjects like what would have happened if all people on the planet jumped simultaneously. Worth watching!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjfaoe847qQ&feature=plcp

"The Egg" by Andy Weir

By:  Marcus Johansen

Andy Weir is a relatively unknown author, and it seems that he wants to remain anonymous. His novels and stories have been published; however he himself has remained unheard of. There are little or no information on his life. His stories have very interesting subject, for example “The Egg”

“The Egg” touches upon a sensitive subject, the afterlife. The afterlife is a touchy subject because we still do not know if we loose consciousness when we die or not. Weir scratches the surface of an untouched theory, instead of explaining the afterlife through religion, he focuses on a more bizarre and philosophical theory, exterminating time itself. Reading the story would be highly recommended, as for this article Weir’s ideas will be analyzed and discussed.

The idea of an afterlife has always been haunting our minds, as people we often fear the unknown, especially the unknown in which we can’t explain. As often as it happens and as casual as it is, death is still feared. Dying has its many mysteries, what happens? Where do we go? Is there an afterlife? Through time many have tried to explain it, mostly through religion. That is what makes Weir’s story unique, religion isn’t mentioned once, and he doesn’t claim that one thing is neither right nor wrong. He raises the idea of reincarnation; however he doesn’t side with the many upon many whom believe in it, but puts his own twist to it. In “The Egg” the afterlife is not an afterlife.

Now you are most likely wonder, “what does he mean by that?”

Well, with the elimination of time, in theory, everyone could be the same person, with different lives and minds. So technically the afterlife would just be another life; over and over again. “There is no such thing as time, only clocks” This idea is very hard to put down in stone; it is a mind blowing theory. Of course it is just a fictional short story. But what if? Who is to say that a theory proclaimed in a short story is any less relevant than the theory of, let’s say a Heaven and Hell. 

The moral of the story is to be open-minded. Now, we don’t know what the afterlife will unfold, or even if there is an afterlife. We can’t prove nor disprove any theories, because there is simply no evidence. We have not even begun to scratch the surface about death, other than myths and beliefs through religion and storytelling like Weir does so well in his short story. In my own opinion I believe that doubt is a virtue, question everything be like Weir, create and share. For all we know, the theory of an eight year old might be right! Who knows!

The History of English

By: Lars Andreas Bockman

Many of you probably already know some of the history of English. No doubt you have learned about how the Anglo-Saxon tribes of Northern Germany conquered Britain, and brought with them their language. This language was changed and influenced by many other people, Vikings, Normans, Spaniards and Shakespeare, to form what we know as English today. However, the history of English is much longer than that, and to get a full sense of how English was formed, we must look at the very first languages we know of.

The common ancestor of among other languages Hindi, English, Latin, Greek, Persian, German and Punjabi is today known as Proto-Indo-European (from here referred to as PIE). This was spoken by a large number of tribes, known as the Indo-Europeans, who lived in Central Asia. However, about 6000 years ago, these people migrated, of unknown reasons, South, West and East, and eventually came to become the dominating group throughout the middle-east, Europe and India, and brought with them their language. PIE diversified and created many new languages, many of which were unintelligible to each other, and by 1000 BCE the Indo-European languages had become so different that many subcategories of languages had been created, including Germanic, Latin and Indo-Iranian.

One of these languages was proto-Germanic, and the Anglo-Saxons spoke a dialect of this language. Proto-Germanic was the main language of all the German tribes during the Roman period (who of course spoke Latin,) and the Scandinavian peoples also spoke German. Of course, these were all divided into dialect, but we can be fairly certain that all northwestern Europeans could understand each other. At this time in Britain, people were speaking Latin in the roman parts (Brittania) and Celtic in the non-roman parts (Caledonia, Ireland), however, almost all of these languages were gonna give way to the anglo-saxon dialect. Some of these languages are still spoken, f. ex the Gaelic languages of Ireland and Scotland, and Cymraeg, spoken in Wales.

When the Romans pulled out of Britain in 410 A.D, their place was taken by the earlier mentioned Anglo-Saxons. These were German tribes, who lived in Northern Germany, but migrated into Britain between the early 5^th century and 6^th century. These eventually became the dominant force in Britain and the Anglo-Saxon language became the commonly spoken one. “Old English,” as it is called, is the basis for our modern English language, and 93 of the 100 most commonly used words in English are directly from this.

The next major impact on the English language came in 897 AD when the first Vikings invaded Britain. The Vikings settled Britain and had a couple attempts at conquering the British Isles, such as the Canut the Great’s campaign (Knut den Store in Danish) in 1035 AD, and Harold Hardraada’s (Harald Hardråde in Norwegian) failed invasion in 1060 AD. It is believed that over 600 English words stem from Scandinavian languages, in addition to words that are only used in parts of Britain (such as “dale”, from “dal”). These words include “give” and “take,” “ski” and “cross.” The Vikings also introduced the “æ” letter into English. However, this has been phased out of the English language. Also, If you’re a geek like me, check out http://anglish.wikia.com/wiki/Headside, which is a wiki written as it would have been if the Normans had never invaded Britain.

Perhaps the biggest shift in the English language took place between 1066 AD and the 13^th century, after the Normans invaded. The Norman kingdom existed in Northern France, and spoke a language very similar to contemporary French. When William the Conqueror conquered Britain in 1066 AD English experienced a large influx of French words. Almost a third of English words are from French (and by extension, Latin), but few of these are very common. As opposed to the Anglo-Saxon language, which is Germanic, French comes from the subfamily of Indo-European called Italic languages, as does Spanish, Latin and Italian The reason for this is that while the nobility and upper class population of Britain was French, the general populace still spoke mainly Anglo-Saxon. This is especially apparent if you look at the words for animals. The main producers of animals were farmers who spoke Anglo-Saxon, so the general words for animals are of Germanic descent, such as “pig” and “cow.” On the other hand, the words for the produce of these animals are of French descent, as the main consumers of meat were nobility. Thus we have the food names “pork” and “beef.” The French invasion also complicated the spelling of English, adding f. ex the silent –e and many other affixes.

Over the 800 years the language wasn’t changed so much by diplomatic and geographical reasons, even though more words were added as the British empire expanded into South-East Asia, the Middle East, America and Africa, as it was by technological and scientific developments, and, believe it or not, Shakespeare. Shakespeare was a very creative writer, and, as it turns out, word creator as he created hundreds of new words by adding affixes to already existing words (like “assassination”), by connecting words that had never been connected before (like “eyeball”) and by even creating completely new words (f. ex I bet you didn’t know that the word “swagger” was first used in “A Midsummernights Dream”). Words like dawn and revenge were added and went into colloquial use, and according to some sources, over 1700 words and phrases were invented by Shakespeare.

Perhaps the biggest influx of words into the English language came with the enlightenment and the following industrial revolution. As scientists and historians developed new theories and inventions they required new words to describe them. The answer was the classical languages of Greek and Latin. These modern Latin/Greek words are called modern Latin or neo-Latin words. Words in this group are often mixes of Latin roots and Greek or Latin affixes (like telephone or homosexual), but can also be Germanic roots with Latin or Greek affixes or even proper nouns with affixes. Most surveys find that about a quarter of English words come directly from Latin, but it is worth noting that very few of these words are used often, and many of them are even almost never used outside of a strictly professional context. In addition, most words of French descent come indirectly from Latin, like “library” which comes from French “libraire” which again stems from Latin “librarium.” Latin also further complicated the spelling of English (to the point where it doesn’t even make any sense anymore.” F. ex in the Latin word “monosaccharide” the “cch” is pronounced like the “k” in “make.” Why? Because English doesn’t make any sense

Finally, as mentioned earlier, English have gained many words from other languages. Languages such as Swahili, Sanskrit, Japanese, Russian and Spanish have all made an impact on English with words such as “voodoo,” “guru,” “sumo, “mammoth” and “buccaneer.” 6 % of English words come from “other” languages, that is, languages other than German, Greek, Latin, Celtic, Norse or French.

To summarize, English has a long and complicated history, longer than the story I’ve told here, as the history of language prior to PIE is unknown. The language has been influenced by the migration of peoples, technological developments, invasions, imperialism and Shakespeare. All these factors have contributed to the modern chaos of a language we today call English.

You might be wondering how this ties into our greater theme of consciousness. Well, the truth is, subconsciously you know a lot of this from before. You may not have known that the word monosaccharid comes from Greek and that “give” and “take” came from Norse, but you will likely have noticed the difference between different words, and divided them into the long complicated ones (that generally are Latin and Greek) and the shorter ones, which come from Norse, Germanic and French. With this knowledge we can navigate our way through the English dictionary. When we see the word monosaccharide, we automatically realize that the “ch” is pronounced like a “k” instead of ch as in chapter. This is because you realize it is one of the long complicated words, and not the short words, so you apply different pronunciation rules to it. Sometimes you of course don’t realize the difference and so mispronounce it anyway, but everyone does that once in a while (except me, I never make a mistake, ever).

Lunsjpausen

By: Håkon Laurås Gaude

“Og i lekse har dere resten av Andre Kapittel; Sinuser og Cosinuser” sier læreren i det han visker ut en altfor lang likning han har brukt halvannen time på å tegne opp. Jeg sitter igjen, og hjernen min føles enda tommere ut enn da han begynte. Et unisont sukk går igjennom klassen. Det er lunsjpause.

Jeg kaster et blikk ut av vinduet. Utenfor pøser regnet ned, og skyller bort det lille som er igjen av snø etter gårsdagens nedbør. Tankene mine vandrer ufrivillig til bilder av snøkrystaller på kloss hold. Folk sier at ingen snøflak er like, men hvordan er det mulig? Har forskere faktisk samlet opp alle snøflakene i verden og tatt bilder av dem før de smelter? Har de analysert snøflak i et iskaldt rom, eller har de bare hatt en gedigen snøballkrig? Uansett hvordan, har de sikkert “bevist” det på et eller annet magisk vis. Tankerekken min blir avbrutt av en merkelig rumling. Etter et par forvirrede sekunder innser jeg at kilden til lyden er min egen mage.  Se for deg at noen sier “legg merke til at du klør på mins ett sted akkurat nå”. Vel bekomme, nå kommer du ikke til å bli kvitt kløen, uansett hvor hardt du prøver. Slik er det med sult også, så fort du har lagt merke til den, blir du ikke kvitt den uten å måtte trykke ned en uspiselig brødskive med svett salami på.

Jeg sukker og reiser meg. Lar meg apatisk flyte med strømmen. En strøm som utvilsomt vil ende i et usunt, godt måltid og en lettere lommebok. Jeg åpner døra, og kjenner den milde novemberluften skylle over meg. Jeg har aldri forstått meg på landet vi lever i. Den ene dagen feirer man årets første snø ved å pakke den sammen og kaste den på hverandre, og dagen etter...”overraskelse! ” ti grader og regn. I skolegården ser jeg at det allikevel er en gruppe elever som forgjeves prøver å beholde vinterfølelsen ved å hive klumper med slaps på hverandre. Leken slutter brått i det en av dem får en hel pøl i ansiktet. Han slutter å hive slaps, og setter i gang med en rasende krigsdans som består av å brøle av smerte og skrape grus ut av øynene. Ut av vinduene titter det forvirrede ansikter. Idet jeg går videre, prøver han å dytte grus og slaps opp i nesa til gutten som kastet på ham.

I det jeg slentrer ut gjennom den åpne porten, bestemmer jeg meg for å lytte til hva folk snakker om. Foran meg ser jeg et par elever som følger den samme strømmen som meg. Jeg følger i kjølvannet deres mens jeg spisser ører etter interessante samtaler. Det er ingen grenser for hvor mye rart en kan høre hvis man lytter til elever i fritiden deres;

«Fikk han seriøst nedsatt ordenskarakter?»     

«Å ja da. Han kom nesten aldri i tide, særlig ikke til tysktimene.»                                        

«Du tror ikke det kan ha noe å gjøre med selve tysken da? Rimelig drøye saker...»       «Å neida. Han kom etter hvert trekkende med rarere og rarere unnskyldninger, og til slutt virket det som om han ga helt F.»

«Hva slags unnskyldninger?» Den andre gutten virket som om han kjempet med latteren.

«På lappen han leverte til læreren sto det...» Gutten virket som om han holdt på å eksplodere. «...Sto det; Navn: Aleks M. Tidspunkt: 8:17 Begrunnelse: Sterke Menstruasjonssmerter.»

Begge guttene begynte å gapskratte noe så til de grader at jeg flyttet meg et stykke unna dem mens jeg grublet over denne historien. Den virket ikke veldig overbevisende, og selv om jeg har hatt useriøse medelever på min egen skole, har jeg aldri hørt om noen som har gitt så totalt F i karakterene sine.

I mellomtiden hadde samtaleemnet gått fra historier om forsentkomming til en diskusjon om de forskjellige funksjonene til det kvinnelige kjønnsorgan, og om sjansene for at denne Aleks M. kanskje ikke var like mannlig som han utga seg for å være. Jeg prøvde å få med meg mer av samtalen, men den var nå blitt redusert til tilfeldige spøker med et tema som ikke gjør seg på trykk. Jeg bestemte meg for å forlate dem, en avgjørelse som passet bra, siden jeg nå hadde nådd resiens mål.

Ica. Alle Berg-elevers hellige Mekka. Her finnes uuttømmelige kilder til all verdens rikdommer og goder, alt en sulten skoleelev kan drømme om. Her finnes det hylle på hylle med boblende leskedrikker, hauger med ferskt og mykt skolebrød, elver av sjokolademelk. Har man et par tikroner, kan man skaffe seg en smultring med rosa strøssel og flytende sjokoladefyll, eller kanskje en hel pakke med søtt gummigodteri i hundre forskjellige farger og smaker.

Jeg kjente etter i lomma før jeg gikk inn igjennom glassdørene, som åpnet seg med et lavt og tilfredsstillende «svisj». Jeg hadde hatt min dose med pinlige øyeblikk der jeg kom frem til kassa, og var nødt til å grave dypt i lommene etter en krone til å betale med. Etter litt romstering lukker jeg hånden om et lite, kaldt stykke metall. Tjue kroner burde holde til å begrave sulten. Jeg vurderer et øyeblikk å kjøpe noe sunt, men etter et kjapt blikk mot prisene ved fruktdisken forkaster jeg ideen. Trettitre kroner for en boks med druer? Tror ikke det, gitt.

Etter å ha grublet en kort stund, tar jeg et skolebrød fra en av hyllene og pakker det inn i en pose. Hvis man står og grubler for lenge på Ica ender det til slutt med at køen vokser seg lengre enn håret til Olav den Hellige, og man rekker ikke tilbake før det ringer inn. Denne gangen virket det først som om jeg var heldig, for køen bestod bare av en håndfull mennesker. Men hjertet sank sakte i brystet mitt når det viser seg at den gamle damen foran meg tydeligvis aldri har hørt om noen valuta høyere enn femkroner, og har bestemt seg for å gjøre ukas innkjøp av brød og melk. Etter en lengre diskusjon der den eldre hardnakket påstår at femtiøringer fremdeles kan brukes i butikker, bestemmer den snarrådige mannen i kassa seg for å gi henne et «avslag», og heller den imponerende samlingen med småpenger ned i en plastpose. Han himlet med øynene i det hun vagger ut av døra, og virket fornøyd med at han endelig var ferdig med strevet. Jeg for min del var ikke like lettet, for nå var jeg sent ute.

Jeg tok en titt på klokka i det jeg går ut av døra. Jeg fikk sjokk da jeg ser at jeg bare har syv minutter på meg til pausen er over. Jeg tok meg ikke tid til å nøle, men stormer av gårde mens jeg stappet skolebrødet ned i jakkelomma. Delikat. Dette var ikke akkurat hva jeg så for meg som en avslappende lunsjpause. Jeg nærmet meg skolen, og hørte ringeklokka som signaliserer at lunsjpausen var over. Jeg stormet inn ytterdøra, og deretter inn i klasserommet mitt. Jeg ble møtt med mange spørrende blikk, men ingen skuffet lærer.

Jeg slo meg til ro med at denne lunsjpausen hadde gjort meg mange historier og én knust skolebolle rikere i det jeg forberedte meg på neste økt med urkjedelig undervisning.

Poem: For each step I take

By: Beth Forseth, 2IB

For each step I take

My mind travels back

      Silently, reminding me

      Of what used to be

I know it has ended

I know it has passed

  I know there’s a tomorrow

  That will not bring me back

What needs to be done

Is for me to think

  Now