international

Erik is a university graduate from Slovakia who is currently living in London. In the second part of a mini-series, (part one is here) he reacts to an article about the differences between Slovakian and 'Western' life:

Family Lunch in Slovakia

Quote: "In Slovakia a nicer meal is often eaten for Sunday lunch than what would be eaten during the rest of the week. The family might even all sit together at one time at the table."

Slovakia is a predominantly Christian country, and keeping the family together is still entrenched in the subconscious of the society. Although the old-school church goers are slowly dying out, or are being institutionalised in the retirement homes, it is not too bad to join our loved ones for a couple of hours, enjoy a meal and discuss the things we can't get down to during the busy week. As the five star chef Gordon Ramsay says in one of his books I recently came across; the gathering at a joint meal can actually take place on any day. Just make sure that you spend some with your family and that no one leaves until everyone has finished their meat.

Erik is a university graduate from Slovakia who is currently living in London. Here he reacts to an article about the differences between Slovakian and 'Western' life:

"A few months ago, I came across an article entitled ‘Is Slovakia Stuck in the 1950´s?'. It was written by Allan Stevo- an American who has been living in Slovakia for several years and has a good understanding about the everyday life. His article was a collection of interesting, though anecdotal, facts about Slovak customs and common practices that have become part and parcel of our daily routines. The article contains a healthy dose of criticism, much of which Slovaks were asking for. Yet in general, it seems that he likes Slovakia the way it is.

The article attempts to draw parallels with the American or Western way of life, and often comes out with something that may be interesting to the foreign reader, but rather commonplace for the majority of the Slovak population.

Erik Redli is a university graduate from Slovakia who is currently living in London. In the first of a two-part article, he describes five things he initially found unusual and different about London:

London is a city where man can have everything if he is able to take the time and spend the money. It may be paradise for the tourists, but after a few years, some of the permanent residents can start to have second thoughts about the expense and constant waiting, and decide to relocate to the outskirts, or to the countryside.

I have spent 6 months of my life there and could give you a long and boring lecture on the history, customs and politics of this conglomerate of cultures. Instead, I pinned together ten observations- things that I happened to find interesting since I first entered the ‘big world' four years ago. Some of them are peculiar only to London, but most of them can refer to much of the ‘Western World'. In this first part I look at everything from sport to work.

Valeria Puig is a young filmmaker from Uruguay who studied in the UK and is currently working in London. In her third video blog of the series,  she describes a film she shot in 2008:

The latest world university league tables have been announced, with a British university topping the rankings for the second year running.                                                                                                                                                       __________________________________

Cambridge University has beaten off Harvard for the second year in succession to claim the coveted top spot in one of the major international university league tables. There were also three other UK universities in the top ten, with US institutions making up the other six spots.

The annual rankings are released by international Higher Education research company QS and are based on a number of different factors. Institutions are ranked on academic reputation, graduate employability, research, staff-student ratio and how international the faculty and student body is.