hi!
www.singular mag.com v.01 // ju n e // 5 â‚Ź
living by yourself
hello, stranger!
2
singularjune2012
singularjune2012
3
staff
DIRECTORS Nacho Alegre Omar SosaEditor Marco Velardi
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Robbie Whitehaet
PROOFREADER
ART / CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Susan Whitehead
DIRECTORS Nacho Alegre Omar Silva Marco Velardi
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Robbie Whitehaet
PROOFREADER Susan Whitehead
TRANSLATIONS
ART / CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Jessica Doria
Pilar Benitez Vibart
Jessica Doria
Pilar Benitez Vibart
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
David Reeson
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
David Reeson
Michael Bullock Juan Ignacio Moralejo Enrique Giner los Rios Miguel Figueroa Vanessa Hudson
COVER PROOFREADER Susan Whitehead David Reeson Tatiana Mora Anna Schmidt
Michael Bullock Juan Ignacio Moralejo Enrique Giner los Rios Miguel Figueroa Vanessa Hudson
TRANSLATIONS COVER PROOFREADER Susan Whitehead David Reeson Tatiana Mora Anna Schmidt
CHRISTINA PFEIFER EDITOR DIRECTOR,
MARCOS LEE EDITOR CREATIVE
Graphic Designer and film maker based in London, she has a Masters Degree Royal College of Art in graphic design.
Director, graphic designer and film maker based in London, he has a Masters Degree.
MIRIAM BUSH PHOTOGRAPHER
FRANCE VANNIER ART DIRECTOR
JESSICA DORIA GRAPHIC DESIGNER
PAUL SCHUMMAN EDITOR and film maker
Film maker based in London, she has a Masters Degree Royal College
Illustrator and film maker based in London, he has a Masters Degree Royal.
and film maker based in London, she has a Masters Degree at Bau.
based in London, she has a Masters Degree Royal College of Art.
If you would like to know more about distributing Singular in your store or can´t find it in your country, please write to: info@singularmag.com For subscription inquiries please contact: Bruil&van de Staajj, Meppel T +44 522 234 423 info@bruil.info / www.bruil.com All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
4
singularjune2012
editorial
SINGULAR is a magazine aimed to young people who are not living with their parents anymore, have moved to another city and are enjoying new places and experiences. You can participate in our website with your opinion, ideas, and sharing your experiences with us. Enjoy it! www.singularmag.com
We’re living in a time when people are single in unprecedent-
COVER ART / CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jessica Doria
PHOTO Steve Schofield
ed numbers. The growing divorce rate, the rising status of women in the workplace, and the encouragement of individualism have all contributed to the growing number of single people. Klinenberg argues that up until recent decades, the emphasis was always on family and community. While those things are still undoubtedly important, people’s lifestyles have markedly changed. Even though people hardly ever bat an eye at a single person anymore, society has yet to catch up with the times in ways that can be–and have been–detrimental to vulnerable populations of singletons, particularly the sick and the aging. More than six million young people in the EU leave education and training with lower secondary level qualifications at best. They face severe difficulties in finding work, are more often unemployed and more often dependent on welfare benefits then we began to commission articles for this issue we were interested less in what might be called old nature writing – by which I mean the lyrical pastoral tradition of the romantic wanderer than in writers who approached their subject in heterodox and experimental ways. We also wanted the contributions to be voice-driven, narratives told in the first person, for the writer to be present in the story, if sometimes only bashfully. The best new nature writing is also an experiment in forms: the field report, the essay, the memoir, the travelogue. If travel writing can often seem like a debased and exhausted genre, nature writing is its opposite: something urgent, vital and alert to the defining particulars of our times. Paul Denver - Editor Chief
singularjune2012
5
contents
p09
HELLO,
STRANGER!
1
st
EXPERIENCES JOB MARKET ABOUT MOVING OUT
When you arrive to some different place you feel lost, righ? so that why we decide it to open the magazine with this content. Welcome Stranger!
p25
PLAYING
HOUSE Have you ever cooked before? Do you know how to clean a bathroom?We will help you to be a good homemade , not easy but you will be successful with our tips.
MADE TIME MONEY HONEY HOW TO...? COOKING 4ONE
p41
WHAT´S
UP?
3
rd
6
singularjune2012
2
nd
NEWS ONLINE COOL SHARE
We are living in a online world, everything that it´s going on around the world you know in time of second. We are going to update you with the best social network, news about this singular world.
p55
p09
FREE
RIDE
4
th
GO THROUGH LOW COST BACKPACK TO
p71
SINGLE
You are living in a new style, so here we are going to share with you all you have to know about this lifestyle. Health, Sports, Behavior...you will like for sure.
LIFESTYLE STYLE GOOD 4YOU TO KNOW NEW LIFE
p87
STUDYING
TIME
6
Everyone love this feeling of free ride, right? So here we are going to show you a lot nice places that you can visit and of course low cost. Hostels, cheap trips, couchsurfing, have fun!
ERASMUS FUTURE POST IT
th
5
th
Here we are going to uptade about all the erasmus programs around Europe, different kind of courses, masters, summer school and so one.
singularjune2012
7
hello, stranger!
8
singularjune2012
HELLO, STRANGER! ABOUT: VALENCIA More about this lovely city where is one of the best destiny to do erasmus.
p10
p12
p22
EXPERIENCES
JOB MARKET
MOVING OUT
Different people telling about their experiences of living in Spain.
Perspectives for foreigners in spain many Spanish people find looking for work a frustrating and difficult task.
Moving to a foreign country is one of the biggest life transitions one can ever make.
View from Valencia photo by John Adams
singularjune2012
9
hello, stranger!
EXPERIENCES
LIVE IN
text: Marco Velardi illustration: Robert Adams
WHEN I M OVED TO VALENC as light a IA I decid s possible ed to trav . Most of up of wo el my bagg rk items – a g e was ma my perso backpack de nal items s. Howev fitted into er, the ca full of co tw r (an esta o mputer e te) was p quipmen acked a graphic t and file /web des s for my igner. work; I’m David Re eson, Vale ncia
, ry one mpora e t ix a s s r ve wa ever, o LONA ARCE ar, how g – from my B e y O e T n in VE or o lp mov MY MO to be here f in his had he I celona d . r e e a r n B e n h o t l il to help e t I pla s a rive m celon er I’m d r t a o la t B s r d o et age yea offere ho cam panish langu r who S iend, w r travel: f brothe e o a iv t from ways intens d s n n u a a io o r r, ca tor-rail to d e va the mo g at th ve and o in e k k m a o t e m we ce, fter lo ander, h Fran . So, a o Sant throug t course y y a r r w e ef ll the get th drive a nce or a r F h throug ter. the lat chose elona ., Barc C a n n A
10
singularjune2012
alADRI has t day at M rs fi ays y lid m o h f o s: the , the idea ssociation a e v ssti Up to now la a c g n e n nknow ed rather by many u d e s ways evok d e n m u ti o e som ou are surr result, you are over; y and, as a rs e h c a te mates and me. bit loneso feel a little adri Jana E., M
For me it was a ple asant surprise wh en I discovered that I could JOIN THE SALSA LESS ONS IN SEVILLA, because I have alw ays been interestin g in this exotic dance. I had the ple asure to participat e in all the parties that almost all Wednesday night s took place in Tucรกn club. In this club everybody los t all sense of shame and even the most monkey one went to the dance floor to en joy these Latin rh ythms, Thorsten S., Sevil la
IN N 3 WEEKS I HAVE BEE , g m with n ra ri g sp ro p is During th language h is an p ish S a doing n, this Span VALENCIA was in Spai I ile h pate ci W ti a. alenci y to par Costa de V opportunit e th e s, n m io en rs as giv t excu academy h joy differen en to lanr d u an o e tivities practic in many ac and I could ts ut en o d u ab st s g ther ing thin where the o any interest m n ar le d an guage skills culture. the Spanish d an a ci Valen alamanca Sandra F., S
singularjune2012
11
hello, stranger!
JOB MARKET
12
singularjune2012
JOB
PERSPECTIVES FOR FOREIGNERS IN SPAIN text: Marco Velardi illustration: Roberta Williams
With unemployment at 19-20% in Spain, there is high competition for jobs. Many Spanish people find looking for work a frustrating and difficult task. A typical job search could easily last up to 6 months. Share on: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn in addition, many hires are made through connections (enchufe) and it us common to hear comments like, “s/he only got the job because her/his dad knows someone on the board. Salary distributions in companies are more unequal that in the most European countries or the US, with the bosses pay being relatively high, while the average worker gets less. Being a foreigner is potentially a disadvantage in some industries and with some employers. There are also restrictive regulations regarding employing foreigners. If you do not have a working knowledge of Spanish, your employment possibilities are limited. If you are looking for work in retail, restaurants/bars or teaching foreign languages (particularly English), things are a bit easier. A structurally high unemployment rate and currently difficult economic conditions mean that it is not easy for a foreigner to get a job in Spain. We don’t wish to discourage anybody from looking for work in Spain, but just don’t assume it is going to be easy. Share on: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn in addition, many hires are made through connections (enchufe) and it us common to hear comments like, “s/he only got the job because her/his dad knows someone on the board. Salary distributions in companies are more unequal that in the most European countries or the US, with the bosses pay being relatively high, while the average worker gets less. Salary distributions in companies are more unequal that in the work distributions in companies are more unequal distributions in o board more unequal that move. the average worker gets less. singularjune2012
13
hello, stranger!
salary distributions in companies are more unequal that in the work distributions in companies are more unequal distributions in o board more unequal that move. the average worker gets less. Salary distributions in companies are more unequal that in the work distributions in companies are more unequal distributions in o board more unequal that move. A structurally high unemployment rate and currently difficult economic conditions mean that it is not easy for a foreigner to get a job in Spain. We don’t wish to discourage anybody from looking for work in Spain, but just don’t assume it is going to be easy in companies are more unequal that in the work distributions in companies are more unequal distributions in o board more unequal that move. the average worker gets less. Sdistributions in companies are more unequal distributions in o board more unequal that move. Salary distributions in companies are more unequal that in the work distributions in companies are more unequal distributions in o board more unequal that move. the average worker gets less. Salary distributions in companies are more unequal.
14
singularjune2012
hello, stranger!
ABOUT
16
singularjune2012
WELCOME TO THIS BEAUTIFUL CITY text: Julie Reedson photo: John Adams
( City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia)
singularjune2012
17
hello, stranger!
The ancient cathedral, which stood on the site of the present one, was used by the Moors as a mosque, and after their final expulsion was either entirely remodelled or rebuilt.. The city of Valencia testifies to different civilizations, which have left their cultural legacy. Founded by the Romans in the second century BC, it was overrun by the Visigoths and later by the Arabs. These turned the city into an essential economic and cultural centre. The Arab heritage is still obvious in agriculture and traditional craftsmanship, particularly in the irrigation systems and the growing of rice and oranges. First freed by Rodrigo Díaz “El Cid”, Valencia could not be reconquered until 1.238 by the Aragonese monarch Jaime I, who conferred its own legislation on it. It was a period of changes in the style of town planning; new Christian churches appeared and gothic architecture was introduced. The centuries XV and XVI were representing an economic, political and cultural revival. Valencia became one of the most powerful cities of the Mediterranean Sea. The most important monuments of the city correspond to these centuries, such as the Serrano Towers, la Lonja (the old market) or the Miguelete (the cathedral’s belfry). After the Succession War, and after the victory of the Bourbon dynasty in the battle of Almansa, the old city laws were abolished. The XVII was a politically tense century and also the great ceremonial baroque century. Throughout the XVIII century, Valencia took part in the cultural and economic renaissance of the country. In the XIX century the middle class was the most favoured social class, offering their backing to the monarchy and taking advantage This centre for leisure and cul-
18
singularjune2012
(View from the mountains)
ture, with its avant-garde architecture, is set firmly within the 21st century. At the Hemisfèric one can see the very latest Imax films; of the increase of exports to other countries. At the beginning of the XX century, metallurgy, fabric factories and electric power plants quickly developed. During the Civil War, for some time Valencia was the capital of the republican government and later, there were great losses in the floods of 1957. With the re-establishment of the Monarchy, the Comunidad Valenciana obtains the Autonomy Statute. Today, Valencia is a city in a growing process of transformations with great buildings and tourist perspectives. Open to the sea, it is a city that takes care of a rich historical heritage, but never forgetting to look at the future. And so it is currently the ideal place for impor-
This is a beautiful view from the mountains. It was built between 1839 and 1856 in order to unite the numerous little markets of this quarter. in Valencia opened with the purpose to explore and settle unknown species of plants. Of course, the restaurants profited by these explorations of plants like potatoes, peanuts or soybeans. It is the oldest garden in town and was laid out by the naturalist Cavanillas. In the tropical garden, surrounded by iron and glass, you will find 3,000 different species of plants and more than 7,000 species of shrubs, trees and palms from all over the world. It is really a paradise for biologists and all who like plants.
tant congresses, exhibitions and trade fairs. It’s a city of manageable size, with a population of 800.000, and a historic town centre ranking as one of the largest in Europe, in which each stone seems to pay testimony to a cultural, artistic and architectural lineage that reaches back over 2000 years of history.
“A stroll round the Cathedral complex provides an initial taste of history, with the Cathedral, the Miguelete belfry” Palau de la Generalitat. All of which line the attractive Plaza de la Virgen named after the city’s patron saint, Our Lady of Forsaken. In a combination of attractive architecture, pleasing aromas and good-natured cordiality, the Mercado Central has a spe-
cial atmosphere in a unique modernist building displaying food of all kinds in an incomparably colourful array. The Market is flanked by the church of the Santos This centre for leisure and culture, with its avant-garde architecture, is set firmly within the 21st century. At the Hemisfèric one can see the very latest Imax films; Juanes, listed as a National Historic-Artistic Monument, opposite which. The current appearance of the palace is the result of a Rococo conversion carried out in XVIII century on the house belonging to the Rabassa de Perellós, title-holders of the marquisate of Dos Aguas. The main door is on one side of the house and is crowned by a statue of the Virgin Mary, from which two streams of plentiful water flow, symbolizing the Júcar and the Túria rivers. In the 19th century were lost the Rovira Frescos and French-style. singularjune2012
19
hello, stranger!
Valencia is a city which has a lot to offer to their Erasmus students: It is the third largest city in Spain with a population of 800,000 people, it is located directly on the Mediterranean and it enjoys almost a perfect climate with an average of 320 days of sunshine a year. With a coastline of more than 485 km the area of Valencia has some of Europe’s finest beaches which are a perfect place to relax and to go swimming. Additionally, numerous parks and countless palm trees help make Valencia a very green Spanish city. In the dry riverbed of the Turia, which was re-routed some years ago, sport and recreation facilities are intermingled among even more green areas. . Here in Valencia will find both tradition and modernism. The people are cordially and full of the joys of life. Therefore it is not surprising that Valencia is a very popular city with Erasmus students who want to study and to life here. For this reason Valencia developed to one of the most favourit Erasmus cities in Europe. Referring to the number of participated Erasmus students, the universities of Valencia actually belong to one of the most popular Erasmus universities. The universities “Universidad de Valencia” and “Universidad Politécnica” de Valencia occupied the second and third place in Europe regarding the number of incoming Erasmus students. The Erasmus program was created by the European Union in 1887 and supports the cooperation of universities within the EU and other European countries (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Turkey and parts of Switzerland). Furthermore, it enables a huge number of students and lectures to study at a university in another european country.
20 singularjune2012
IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE MOVING TO VALENCIA
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE FIRST WEEK(S) For the first weeks we recommend you to attend an intensive course and to book an accommodation in one of the school flats. From the beginning of September there is no need to book an accommodation for more than one or two weeks. During this time of the year it is quite easy to find a room in a shared flat with Spanish students. In case you don’t find a flat you can extend your reservation.
FLAT/ ROOM HUNTING
RENT BICYCLES
PHONE ACCOUNT
BANK ACCOUNT
For those who want to find a flat in Valencia in advance it is also quite useful to have a look at the “Erasmus in Valencia groups” on the network StudiVZ. For those who want to search for something suitable locally (advantage: you know you flat mates personally), just have a look at the notifications at the black boards of each faculty, at notifications at phone boxes and crossroads or read the announcements in the newspaper. Therefore we can recommend the valencian “Trajin”. @ loquo.com
To by/to sell Valencia is quite even and is therefore ideal for bicycling. More important than a good bike is a safe bike lock, as bicycle thefts are unfortunately very common. Valencia is no exception. Therefore it is easy to find cheap bikes at the flea market, however, their origin are mostly doubtful – so be careful! Especially during the summertime you will find a lot of offers from Erasmus students at the “Erasmus in Valencia”. @@@ orangebikes.net doyoubike.com cyclotourbike.com
Within the countries of the EU, terms and fees of a bank account are equal to those in your home country. So if you want to withdraw money from a cash machine you will be charged as much money in Spain as in your country. Therefore it not necessary to open a bank account in Spain. However, it is advisable to have a bank account at a bank in your country that has also a subsidiary in Spain and Valencia (Santander Bank, Barclays Bank, Deutsche Bank). @@ brightmobile.es/en moviestar.es
To be well prepared for university, it is worth it to attend a language course in Valencia before you start your studies abroad. Please ask the international students’ office or an Erasmus-coordinator whether a Spanish course could be part of the Erasmus scholarship or not. The universities of Valencia offer Spanish courses for Erasmus students, but they are mostly crowded and relatively expensive. @ www.postbank.de/
singularjune2012
21
hello, stranger!
MOVING OUT
HOW TO
MOVE TO A FOREIGN COUNTRY? text: Marco Velardi photo: Roberta Williams
Moving to a foreign country is one of the biggest life transitions one can ever make. But it can be an immensely rewarding and enriching experience, whether the move is for business purposes or just for personal reason. Whatever the case may be, this article offers steps on how to properly move to a foreign country. The two countries, which both have sizeable British populations, were among those made vulnerable by the “sustained deterioration” in funding. Spain was warned by credit rating agency Fitch that it was facing a debt downgrade along with Italy, while Ireland, Belgium, Slovenia and Cyprus were also given the warning. Meanwhile, around one million Britons live in Spain with around 50,000 in Portugal. The Foreign Office said it was concerned they could be cut off from their accounts if the countries’ banks called in loans. A source told the Sunday Times (£) the Government was considering chartering planes, ships and coaches to bring expats back to the UK. “The nuclear scenario would be having thousands of Brits stranded at the airports
22 singularjune2012
in Spain and Portugal with no way to get money from the cash dispenser and no way to get home. Who would be blamed for this? The Foreign Office,” an official said. “We are looking at how we can help evacuate them if the banks in Spain and Portugal collapse, getting people cash, things like that, sending planes. We did similar things in Lebanon in 2006. We are coordinating with the Treasury.” Financial aid could also be sent to expats, many of whom are retired and living on small incomes. A Treasury spokesman said: “Of course we plan for a range of contingencies. We are not going into the specifics of what we are planning for.” Last month, it was reported that the Foreign Office had asked embassies and consulates for contingency plans for rioting and social unrest in countries most affected by the eurozone crisis. Diplomats were told to prepare for an evacuation of tens for/of thousands of British citizens as a banking collapse could mean they would be unable to withdraw cash. An FCO spokesperson said: “Officials continue to contingency plan for a range of possible scenarios”. Diplomats were told to prepare for an evacuation of tens for/of thousands of British citizens as a banking
collapse could mean they would be unable to withdraw cash.a banking collapse could mean they would be unable to withdraw cash a banking collapse could mean they would be An FCO spokesperson said:
“Officials continue to contingency plan for a range of possible scenarios” In addition, many hires are made through connections (enchufe) and it us common to hear comments like, “s/he only got the job because her/his dad knows someone
on the board. Salary distributions in companies are more unequal that in the most places to hear comments like, “s/he only got the job because her/his dad knows someone on the board. Salary distributions in companies are more unequal that in the most places. To hear comments like, “s/he only got the job because her/his dad knows someone on the board. Salary distributions in companies are more unequal thatmost places. Diplomats were told to prepare for an evacuation of tens for/of thousands of British citizens as a banking collapse.alary distributions in companies are that most places. singularjune2012
23
hello, stranger!
24 singularjune2012
PLAYING HOUSE COOKING 4ONE
More than cereals, check it out other recipes that are really easy to make!
p26
p30
p38
MADE TIME
MONEY HONEY
HOW TO...?
Different people telling about their experiences of living in Spain.
Perspectives for foreigners in spain many Spanish people find looking for work a frustrating and difficult task.
Moving to a foreign country is one of the biggest life transitions one can ever make.
Recipe from The Draw & cook illustration: Janaina Pons
singularjune2012
25
playing house
MADE TIME
26 singularjune2012
YOUR
STUDENT ACCOMMODATION QUESTIONS ANSWERED text: Julie Reedson / illustration: France Veiner
Considering all the various options whilst trying to avoid the potential pitfalls of bad accommodation can be tricky, so it’s important to arm yourself with as much information as possible to help you make the right choice. To help you get ahead of the game and find your perfect place, Shane Spiers, Managing Director, Property Management. The UK’s leading provider of student accommodation, answzers some of the most commonly asked questions. 1. I’ve never looked for somewhere to live before, what’s the first thing I should do? A good place to start your search for student accommodation is at your university’s Accommodation Office which will have details of most of the options that are available. There are also a number of online sites which specialise in student accommodation. There is a wide range of options, from university halls and traditional student housing to purpose built, managed accommodation provided by companies such as UNITE which offer a choice of locations, room types and prices. Take time to think about what you want out of your living experience. If it’s the opportunity to meet lots of new people then you could consider halls, or privately managed accommodation, where you will be living in a building with other students. Some accommodation providers have stu-
dio flats which enable you to have your own space, but with the option to make use of communal areas. 2. Will I have to sign a contract? Yes, all reputable landlords will want you to sign a tenancy agreement. This ensures that both you and your landlord agree on important terms such as rent and length of tenancy. Make sure that you read the agreement thoroughly and understand the terms. If you have any concerns, you could ask your parents or university Accommodation Office to check through before you sign on the dotted line. 3. Will I have to pay rent during the holiday periods? Most tenancy agreements are for a fixed number of weeks so, depending on the length of the tenancy, holiday periods may be included. Tenancy lengths and start dates can vary, so before signing a tenancy agreement you should get clarification from your accommodation provider on what the start date is for the tenancy and how many weeks it’s for. Many of UNITE’s properties offer a 43 week tenancies which take you up until after your exams with the option of extending your stay over the summer at a reduced rate accommodation provider on what date. 4. How do I ensure that I get my deposit back? Ask to see the property before you move in. Make sure that the landlord is aware of any existing damage. You should also be given an inventory, check this thorsingularjune2012
27
playing house
oughly. Deposits paid for rental properties are protected under a Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme. The scheme is designed to stop landlords from wrongly withholding all or part of your deposit and help resolve any disputes. 5. What should I budget for when I move into student accommodation? Make sure you include the cost of all bills when working out how much you can afford to pay in rent. You will need to consider energy bills, water rates, internet connection, contents insurance and a TV license. Some accommodation providers include the cost of bills in your rent. For example, room prices at UNITE are inclusive of utility bills, internet access and contents insurance. Check exactly what you need to pay for upfront so there are no surprises later down the line. 6. Will I have to pay council tax? The vast majority of students are entitled to exemption on council tax, but it depends on your individual circumstances. For example, if you live in university halls or managed accommodation where everyone is classed as a full-time student for council tax purposes, you won’t have to pay council tax. If you live in a house with two or more non-students, the household will have to pay council tax. If there are fewer than two non-students, the household can get a discount.
28 singularjune2012
For more information you can contact the Citizens Advice Bureau or visit their website, where they provide detailed information. Your university should also be able to provide you with advice on this. You will need to register with your local authority and if you are entitled to a discount they may ask you to provide proof of your student status. Again, your university should be able to help by providing the necessary documentation. 7. How do I find people to live with? Living in shared accommodation can be a great experience and an opportunity to make friends for life. Some accommodation providers such as UNITE offer a list of preferences when students make a booking and they will do their best to match them – this might be living in an all male or all female flat or living with vegetarians. If you are planning to live with friends, think carefully about the qualities that you value in a housemate. It helps to pick people with similar interests, or someone from your course, that way you always have some common ground might. Some accommodation providers such as UNITE offer a list of preferences when students make a booking and they will do their best to match them. @
www.lalaolfola.com
singularjune2012
29
playing house
MONEY HONEY
MANAGING ON A STUDENT BUDGET text: Marco Velardi illustration: Roberta Williams
Being hard up for money is no fun. So think about it. If you take a packed lunch. But as a student, there are things you can do to ease the situation. This article offers some tips and advice on managing on a student budget. Below is a guide to helping you save you money. Make a packed lunch every morning. A simple, tasty packed lunch will cost you around 50p. If you go to the pub or refectory for lunch, it could cost you over £5. So think about it. If you take a packed lunch on three days, it will cost you £1.50 as opposed to £15. You can then use the money you have saved for an extra treat at the weekend or save it for the lean time at the end of term when your money is well and truly running out. Simple, but effective. Limit the number of ready meals and take always that you eat take away food is expensive and full of things that are bad for you such as saturated fat, sugar and calories. An average take away will cost you £10 so if you have one a week - that’s £100 gone each term on take away food. So not only are take always bad for your health, they are bad for your financial well-being too. Of course, there’s no harm in having one now and again as a treat, but really should limit yourself to say one or two a month was better than now. Ready meals are also bad for you as they are full of preservatives, fat, salt and sugar. They also cost a lot relative to how much you would pay if you cooked it yourself (see our article on take always and ready meals) Cook for yourself where possible cooking for yourself using fresh ingredients is by far the best option. It can be prepared at a fraction of the cost of what you would pay at a pub or cafe and it is generally much better for you. Drink before you go out. Drinks sold at pubs, bars and clubs are extortionate in comparison to how much you pay if you buy your own in an off-licence or supermarket. So the best way to prime yourself for an evening out is to invite.
30 singularjune2012
STUDENT DEBT WAYS OF ORGANISE YOUR MONEY BUDGET PLAN You need to be aware of how much money you have coming in, and how much you are spending. It’s a good idea to write down all your expenditure and analyse it. You will be surprised how much you can save by simple cost cutting exercises. If you are thinking of taking out a loan, credit card, or credit agreement, draw up a budget plan and be realistic about how much to can afford in monthly repayments. If in doubt, don’t take it out. Monitoring your money and budget plan Always monitor you expenditure against your budget plan. In particular, regularly check your credit expenditure. If possible, pay off your full balance at the end of each month. that way you will avoid interest charges. Never ignore letters from credit card companies or banks. If you tell them about your problems, they are usually keen to help. Many universities and student unions have their own ‘Student advice centres’ with qualified debt counsellors who will help you deal with creditors if your debt has got out of control and analyse it. You will be surprised how much you can save by simple cost cutting exercises. If you are thinking of taking out a loan, credit card, or credit agreement, draw up a budget plan and be realistic about how much to can afford in monthly repayments. If in doubt, don’t take it out.
singularjune2012
31
playing house
COOKING 4ONE
More than cereal
COOKING FOR ONE CAN BE MORE THAN CEREAL!
( photo by John Adams )
32 singularjune2012
singularjune2012
33
playing house
Low in fat, high in protein, and astronomically high in fiber, beans work beautifully as the main components of recipes, but also as fabulous alternatives to meat. This is for a few reasons: A) they create a complete protein when paired with nuts, seeds, or grains, B) their chemical composition makes you feel sated longer than a lot of other foods, and C) they have a bulky and substantial mouthfeel, so you never feel deprived. Studies have found them to be solid tools in weight loss and maintenance, and integral to the prevention of all kinds of diseases. If that ain’t enough for you, this WebMD blurb is pretty convincing: “In a recent study, bean eaters weighed, on average, 7 pounds less and had slimmer waists than their bean-avoiding counterparts -yet they consumed 199 calories more per day if they were adults and an incredible
335 calories more if they were teenagers.” Sweet. P.S. True to the well-known rhyme, beans make you both smartier and fartier. They contain both certain vitamins that improve brain function AND undigestable sugars, which lead to exciting intestinal activity, which leads to gas. So there you go. Grown globally from Ethiopia to Australia, beans are some of the most plentiful - and subsequently cheapest - edibles anywhere. A pound of dried beans in Brooklyn will generally run about $1, and will produce four to six cups of food after rehydration. Compare that to meat. In my neighborhood, a pound of chicken breast (one of the healthier animal options) runs $1.69 on sale. It shrinks slightly when cooked, ultimately producing around two cups of poultry. Let’s do some math, then. One cup of cheap chicken is $1.69 divided by two, or
The world’s largest hamburger commercially available tips the scales at 185.8 pounds and is on the menu at Mallie’s Sports Grill & Bar in Southgate, Michigan. It is called the “Absolutely Ridiculous Burger”, which takes about 12 hours to prepare. It was cooked and adjudicated on 30 May 2009 New York chef Daniel Boulud created an intricate dish composed of layers of ground sirloin, foie gras, and wine-braised short ribs, assembled to look exactly like a fast-food burger. It is available with truffles in season.[33][62][63] The best benefit has to be how many varieties you can get when you go un-canned - the beans above,.
34 singularjune2012
$0.85. One cup of beans is $1.00 divided by five, or $0.20. Using these (incredibly) rough numbers, chicken breast is 425% the price of dried beans. Of course, the numbers will vary by area, sales, and math skills, but you get the idea. It’s a controversy as old as storage itself: dried or canned beans? On one hand, dried beans are universally cheaper, and widely considered to possess a creamier consistency and better overall flavor. On the other hand, canned beans aren’t terribly expensive themselves, and the taste difference is pretty negligible when you’re talking about everyday kitchen use. The tiebreaker, then, is time. If you have the wherewithal, forethought, and 90 to 480 minutes to rehydrate a bag of dried chickpeas, you’ll be rewarded in kind. If you‘re throwing dinner together and an hour-long prep time is crazy talk, canned beans are the way to go.
It like Mark Bittman have been giving props to metal dwellers recently. Meaning: don’t fear the Goya. If you’ve ever tried chili, hummus, minestrone, Texas caviar, Mexican food, Indian food, Italian food, or, er, refried beans, you’ve already experienced the wonder of the bean. They’re omnipresent in cuisines all over the world, and come in a range of flavors and sizes that can be adapted to thousands of dishes. Here are six of the most common found in the U.S., along with a few recipe suggestions for each.
A quick note before we get to the beans themselves: there are a zillion types of legume, and some “like the soybean” are rocketing in popularity stateside. But to keep things manageable, we’re sticking we get to the beans themselves: there are a zillion types of legume, onion, garlic.
singularjune2012
35
playing house
Here’s how Kathy Beach manages to cook for herself: She grills a piece of salmon only partially, eats the thinner, fully cooked end for dinner, then finishes cooking the thicker side with a few seconds in the office microwave the next day. Other times, she invites friends over for dinner, then sends them home with the extras, reserving enough for just a meal or two of leftovers for herself. This year, she’s splitting a single community-supported agriculture share with a couple, taking one-third of the produce. Perhaps most important, after getting home from work by about 4 p.m. and greeting her border collie-husky mix, Charley, she makes cooking a priority. She has positioned the television in her Silver Spring townhouse so she can see it from her kitchen. And she doesn’t usually start her prep without pouring herself a glass of wine or perhaps making a margarita. For Beach, making dinner is about unwinding, not stressing out.Some single cooks have things pretty much figured out. Nonetheless, the plastic surgery nurse at Walter Reed Army Medical Center thinks she has more to learn, which is why she asked me to show her some cooking-for-one strategies. Frankly, I wasn’t sure I had all that much to teach someone like Beach, especially after she made me her version of fajitas: perfectly seasoned and grilled flank steak with peppers and onions, served with stewed black beans on homemade corn tortillas. (Confession: I did help her with tortillamaking skills.) I’ve gotten serious mileage out of joking about celery. At events promoting my new cookbook, I’ve been saying that in a dozen years of writing about food, I’ve looked at thousands of recipes and have never seen one that uses anywhere close to the minimum amount of celery.
36 singularjune2012
FUN For Beach, making dinner is aout unwinding, not stressing out.Some single cooks have things pretty much figured out. Nonetheless, the plastic surgery nurse at Walter Reed Army Medical Center thinks she has more to learn, which is why she asked me to show her some cooking-for-one strategies. Frankly, I wasn’t sure I had all that much to teach someone like Beach, especially after she made me her version of fajitas: perfectly seasoned and grilled flank steak with peppers and onions, served with stewed black beans on homemade corn tortillas. (Confession: I did help her with tortilla-making skills.) I’ve gotten serious mileage out of joking about celery. At events promoting my new cookbook, I’ve been saying that in a dozen years of writing about food, I’ve looked at thousands of recipes and have never seen one that uses anywhere close to the m how much you want. Army Medical Center thinks she has more to learn, which is why she asked me to show her some cooking-for-one strategies can bem very funny.
singularjune2012
37
playing house
HOW TO...?
38 singularjune2012
CLEAN YOUR BATHROOM text: David Reeson photo: Nicole Guarino
BATHROOM COUNTERTOPS AND BASINS
Cultured marble resembles real marble, but it is a lot more versatile and much easier to care for. Avoid using abrasive cleaners and steel wool pads, because they will scratch the surface, making it difficult to keep clean.
SHOWER STALLS AND BATHTUBS
You’ve been working in the yard all day, and you’re dirty and sweaty. The problem is, your shower stall or bathtub is grimier than you are. It’s imperative that you keep this part of your bath.
The average person can tolerate a growing collection of dust balls under the bed or a drawer full of tarnished flatware in the sideboard. But a grimy bathroom is another story. The bathroom should be cleaned once a week, and even more frequently if it gets heavy use from a large family.
BATHROOM MIRRORS
Is there anything more annoying than gazing into a bathroom mirror and encountering a streaky vision of yourself? Consider the problem solved. To clean mirrors, use a clean, dry cloth and one of the following solutions.
SHOWER CURTAINS AND BATH MATS
Keep a new shower curtain looking fresh by using the old shower curtain as a liner. Hang the new curtain on the same hooks in front of the old curtain. The old curtain will take the beating from water.
singularjune2012
39
hello, stranger!
40 singularjune2012
WHAT´S UP? SHARE
Pinterest design spreading like a virus, because it works
p42
p46
p52
NEWS
ONLINE
COOL
Like it? Here is why Facebook bought Instagram
Laying Out Your Online Experience
Why People Share Things Online: Dopamine.
Photo by Carolina Sábio
singularjune2012
41
what´s up?
NEWS
LIKE IT
HERE IS WHY FACEBOOK BOUGHT INSTAGRAM text: Stephen Lewis illustration: J. Roberts
You might have heard by now that Facebook has acquired Instagram for nearly a billion dollars in cash and stock. Incredible, isn’t it? I have received text messages of awe and shock from many people in the Valley, for no one saw this coming. A few days ago it was rumored to be valued at $500 million. A few months ago it was $300 million. Its last round — just a year ago – valued the company at $100 million. The rising valuation of the company was reflective of the growing audience it has been garnering, despite being just on the iPhone. It had reached nearly 30 million registered users before it launched an Android app, a turbo-charging event for the company. So the question is: Why did Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s levelheaded but mercenary founder, buy Instagram at twice the valuation that professional venture investors were putting on it? The answer is found in Zuckerberg’s own blog post: This is an important milestone for Facebook because it’s the first time we’ve ever acquired a product and company with so many users. We don’t plan on doing many more of these, if any at all. But providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together. My translation: Facebook was scared shitless and knew that for first time in its life it arguably had a competitor that could not only eat its lunch, but also destroy its future prospects. Why? Because Facebook is essentially about photos, and Instagram had found and attacked Facebook’s achilles heel — mobile photo sharing. Here is what I wrote when Instagram launched the Android app. It is pretty clear that thanks to the turbocharge effect of Android, Instagram’s user base is going to blast past the 50 million mark in a couple of weeks. Just before the company launched its app in October, I had pointed out that there was going to be a mobile-only, photo-oriented social platform that will challenge the established social giants. It will be a summer to remember for this tiny company in other countries. Here is another little bit from one of my
42 singularjune2012
More importantly, it cracked the code where Facebook itself failed: viral growth on mobile. From that perspective I wonder if Kevin sold too soon, though I know it is easy for me to say. But then the road from product and a platform to a business is long, twisted and full of potholes. Perhaps that explains why the Instagram team decided to cash in their chips.
singularjune2012
43
what´s up?
Om Says newletters:
The company had announced an API in February, and since then a raft of new apps have come up to capitalize on it. While filters might have jumpstarted Instagram, the company, which already has over 4 million subscribers, has to focus on its core value proposition – community and the social interactions around unique visual experiences. I hope Instagram allows more apps to export directly to its network. By opening itself up to other apps and services, it has the potential to slowly become the hub of our mobile photo experiences. And in the end, that’s what would make Instagram so much more valuable and in the process become the Flickr of mobile photos. In other words, if there was any competitor that could give Zuckerberg heartburn, it was Systrom’s posse. They are growing like mad on mobile, and Facebook’s mobile platform (including its app) is mediocre at best. Why? Facebook is not a mobilefirst company and they don’t think from the mobile-first p e r s p e c t i ve . Facebook’s internal ideology is that of a desktop-centric Internet company. Instagram is the exact opposite. It has created a platform built on emotion. It created not a social network, but instead built a beautiful social platform of shared experiences. Facebook and Instagram are two distint companies with two different personalities. Intagram have what Facebook craves – passionate community. People like Facebook. People use Facebook. People love Instagram. It is my single most-used app. I spend an hour a day on Instagram. I have made friends based on photos they share. I know how they feel, and how they see the world. Facebook lacks soul. Instagram is all soul and emotion. It is one of the reasons I connected with the app even before it launched. It went deeper than just a photo app. Over the years, Kevin shared his grand ambition about Instagram and building a much larger platform, so from that perspective I guess I am a little surprised – though I thought Kevin and his team would go a lot further, for as Erica pointed out last week, the best is yet to come for mobile photos.
44 singularjune2012
singularjune2012
45
what´s up?
ONLINE
LAYING OUT YOUR ONLINE EXPERIENCE text: Mônica Caetano illustration: Ivana Amarante
What do you think most people want when they turn to these social technologies? If we throw away the terms for a moment, here’s what I think they want: We need a way for people to find us. Having a blog and/or other web presence touchpoints (or outposts) is a good start. It’s an easy way for people to find you. We can’t do business with you if we can’t find you, right? Signs are basic. Want the bonus round early? If I know what you’re selling
46 singularjune2012
(even if “selling” is the sale of an idea or belief). If your online presence is friendly, like a really clean and well-designed site, or if it has a place for you to relax and get acquainted, won’t that help the process of getting to know you? Take a look around your website: is it a place people would want to visit and then stick around? Are you inviting? Do you actually greet your guests on your site or on places like Twitter? Building an online presence also gives you the chance to connect with people.
Your site and your other outposts on the web should faciliate connection. In my case, I promote connecting with me via LinkedIn, on Facebook and Twitter, but I also give you an email address to reach me on ( blog at chrisbrogan dot com), and of course, you can comment on blog posts. Connecting is part of the whole social experience. Make it easy for people to reach you. It will make it easier for potential business to flow. This is optional, but if one goal of your blog and your online presence is to sell something (even if that’s just YOU), make that clear. If you go to my about page, you know what I do. Be clear about your ask. If you want to do business, put it out there. I find this one to be lacking in most people’s interpretation of their online presence of all places. If you’re not building relationships, connecting with people, getting to know oth-
ers on the web, and sharing, I’d say you’re doing it wrong, except I rarely believe that. MY take is that the way to get the most out of these online tools, and when you’re visiting these networks like Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn, and wherever else you choose to visit, if you’re not trying to connect like a human, if you’re not sharing often, then maybe you could revisit your perspective on using the tools. Good happy people (like Jim and Adrienne in the picture above) should really be the ultimate goal of your online experience. The tools change all the time. Ways to capture attention and share interesting information come and go daily. Your thoughts are welcome. Find out more about the framework features: @ www.studiopress.com/features @@ www.studiopress.com/showcases
singularjune2012
47
what´s up?
SHARE
48 singularjune2012
Pinterest DESIGN SPREADING LIKE A VIRUS, BECAUSE IT WORKS text: Stephen Lewis photo: J. Roberts
singularjune2012
49
what´s up?
There are good reasons why more sites every day look like Pinterest. Some are intentionally built to mimic the site. Others ended up with the same design for different reasons... they say. “It’s the Pinterest of...” Just stop right there. It’s not a unique pitch. Quite the contrary. We are hearing about, and seeing, more Pinterestification of the Internet every day. Why? I asked a few entrepreneurs why they’re adopting the grid look on the Web sites. The most informative: J.R. Johnson, the CEO of Trippy, the Pinterest of travel advice. Originally, Johnson says, Trippy was a narrow, linear utility. It funneled users through the single experience of getting advice if they knew where they were going. The new, Pinteresty Trippy “moves us up the funnel to an inspirational browsing experience,” Johnson says. He makes no apologies about looking to Pinterest as inspiration, which, come to think of it, is what the design of Pinterest is all about. “Pinterest stood out as being an inspiration-discovery mechanism. It has a focus on images, browsing, and serendipity.” And after the design change? “It’s working pretty well. It’s a great way for people to consume content if they don’t know what they’re doing.” He says that in the early stages of planning a trip, many users don’t even know where they’ll be going, so it’s a good match. Johnson sees the Pinterest design language as a major shift on the Web, as we move from search to discovery. “We were so heavy on search for so long, and everything looked like Google. But we don’t always know what we want to search for. This is a great new way to consume .Not all startup guys like being called out as copycats, though. Eric Tong, CEO of
50 singularjune2012
the family social site Hunuku says, “I am proud to say that we came up with our family quilt design independent of Pinterest.” But there’s no mistaking the design similarity, origin of the idea notwithstanding. He does say that, “we sometimes reference Hunuku as the Pinterest for familes.” But Tong says Hunuku was inspired by family quilts and that “we wanted to get Hunuku out of the way of users’ assets.” The grid design seems to do that. A new person-to-person commerce site, HipSwap, also uses a grid layout (though without varying the vertical size of items) for things to buy. CEO Rob Kramer writes, “HipSwap is NOT one of [the Pinterest copycats]. But we’ll take the question as a compliment.” He adds, “Coincidentally, we now share an early stage investor with Pinterest.” Here’s one more: Pixable, a photo sharing site. Despite the Web site’s strong visual similarity to Pinterest, it’s based on a very different concept, CEO Inaki Berenguer wrote to me. “Pinterest is for photos of products/topics you find on the Internet and you want to bookmark. Pixable is for photos of friends and family (i.e., personal moments). Therefore, completely different.” (Berenguer also reminds me that Pixable is primarily built for mobile users, and that the mobile app has a unique design.)
“This generation has grown up with the remix and mashup and seems to share the Chinese view of copying as a complement, not intellectual piracy.” I asked a design expert, Gregor Berkowitz, about the accelerating Pinterestification of new sites. He said the new approach is to “Copy, copy, copy--to learn from the successful. It’s always easier to copy than come up with something about what they are looking forward.
singularjune2012
51
what´s up?
COOL
WHY
PEOPLE SHARE THINGS ONLINE: DOPAMINE text: Raquel Scartezini illustration: Ivana Amarante
Despite the frequency with which humans disclose the contents of their own thoughts, little has been known about the proximate mechanisms that motivate this behavior. In addition, findings also suggested that the act of finding opportunities to disclose their own thoughts were especially.
52 singularjune2012
Self-disclosure was strongly associated with increased activation in brain regions that form the mesolimbic dopamine system, widely believed to be the “reward” system. In addition, findings also suggested that the act of finding opportunities to disclose their own thoughts were especially rewarding.
Humans willingly self-disclose because doing so represents an event with intrinsic value, in the same way as with primary rewards such as food and sex. In addition, findings also suggested that the act of finding opportunities to disclose their own thoughts were especially rewarding. other people.
Therefore, for social networks to succeed in getting their members to share more, they must ensure that not only is the act of sharing offered seamlessly in the experience (something which many social networks have done a good job of doing), but that they encourage introspection about the self as well. Practically, what does “encouraging introspection about the self” mean? It means providing a means to self-disclose more fully, rather than focusing on the seamlessness of the experience itself. This could include additional ways to provide background information for a photo for example, in addition to providing a comment, including, “why did you take this picture?”, “what did this picture make you think of: ”, “who did you think about while taking this picture?”. singularjune2012
53
hello, stranger!
54
singularjune2012
FREE RIDE BACKPACK TO
SOUTH AMERICA. Know more about it, you will discover how beautiful it is.
p56 GO THROUGH Living and working abroad. Rio de Janeiro it´s a good choice.
p66 Cruise Ship. All you need to know about how to work and be hired.
Photo by Carolina Sábio
LOW COST Solo Travel: Choosing Where to Go. Find the Places that Make Your Heart Beat Faster
singularjune2012
55
free ride
GO THROUGH
LIVING AND WORKING IN A HOSTEL ABROAD text: Beatriz Pons photo: JanaĂna SĂĄ
Rio de Janeiro almost for free. As an enthusiastic admirer of Brazil, I always look for ways to stay as long as possible in this wonderful country. Usually money is the determining factor in the length of time I can spend overseas. However, on my most recent trip to Brazil, I was able to stay three months longer than planned due to my luck in finding rewarding employment. Typically, Rio de Janeiro is among the most expensive places in South America. In particular, Ipanema tends to be the priciest neighborhood in the city. Due to some luck in finding a job at a local hostel, I was able to stay just one block from Ipanema Beach while spending nearly nothing. The hostel, which enthusiastically hires backpackers to work in reception and its small bar, provides travelers the opportunity to eat and sleep for free in exchange for seven shifts of work per week. This works out to roughly 30 hours of work each week and requires at least a two month commitment. The only requirements for the job are a strong work ethic, basic knowledge of Microsoft Excel, and the ability to speak English. The hostel prefers two backpackers to work alongside the local staff. Besides free lodging and meals, hostel jobs typically provide workers with several other benefits. At the hostel at which I lived and worked, backpackers receive a commission each month based on the number
56
singularjune2012
of tours they sell to guests. For me, this worked out to roughly R$200 per month (US$80 as of 12/3/08). In addition, the position at my hostel allows for VIP entrance to a few area nightclubs and parties, as well as the benefit of participating in tours through the hostel for free or at a considerable discount. These tours include soccer matches, hang-gliding, city tours, and an energetic funk party which lasts all night. These benefits provided plenty of entertainment while costing almost nothing. In addition to the aforementioned benefits, working in a hostel provides workers with the opportunity to meet and interact with some interesting people. The majority of my co-workers were Brazilians, allowing me to continue to hone my Portuguese language skills. Hanging out with them also gave me additional insight into the culture that so deeply fascinates me. Besides co-workers, I met numerous guests from a variety of countries and cultures. These friendships further enhanced rich experiences while abroad. Although working at a hostel provides the opportunity to spend time abroad while significantly reducing costs, there are a few drawbacks to the hostel lifestyle. For starters, you are pretty much tied down to one location for the duration of your employment with the hostel. Although you can get a few days off to travel to nearby places, plan to spend the majority of your time in the city where you work. In addition, hostels generally provide for limited privacy.
singularjune2012
57
free ride
GO THROUGH
CRUISE
SHIP JOBS: THE RIGHT WAY TO GET HIRED text: Beatriz Pons illustration: Janaína Sá
If you are looking to change careers or just for a change of lifestyle, now is a good time to get a job on a cruise ship. According to Ocean Cruising & Cruise Ships 2004 (written by Douglas Ward and published by Berlitz) by the end of 2006, there will be over 250 ocean-going cruise ships in service. The same publication reports that 8.65 million Americans took cruise vacations in 2002. Getting hired by a cruise line requires making sure that the right person sees your carefully put together employment package for all of them. Crew agencies are a waste of money. Even if the agency tells you it will guarantee you a job or your money back, it will require rejection letters from the cruise companies to prove that you haven’t been hired. But cruise companies don’t send rejection letters behind the boss. To get hired, you first need to know what positions or jobs are available that fit your qualifications. Then, you need to know the right places to send your resume. Americans and Canadians are generally hired for jobs that require passenger contact such as jobs at the front desk, boutiques, casinos, salons or spas, and work in entertainment, photography, or as youth counselors. Positions in the galley, restaurants, bars, and technical departments are usually filled through agencies outside of North America.
58
singularjune2012
Carnival Corporation is the largest cruise vacation company in the world, operating 13 different companies or “brands.” Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd operates two different brands: Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises. Go to its employment website, www.hcareers.com/RCCL/, for further information. Windstar Cruises and Holland America Line restricted who they hire for because of labor agreements in their unions. Go to their websites for employment addresses for photographers, gift shop clerics, hair dressers, and entertainers: www.windstarcruises.com, www.hollandamerica.com. Carnival Corporation hires all casino positions for all of its cruise ship brands. Go to www.oceancasinojobs.com for a listing of job descriptions and contact information. You should send your employment package directly to the cruise line, using the addresses and contact names that you find on their employment web sites. Do not send your resume via email; instead, put together a professional package that will guarantee their attention. It should include a resume, a cover letter, two letters of reference, any diplomas or awards, and a picture of yourself. Send your folder either priority mail or courier. Tailor your resume to highlight experience of interest to the cruising industry. For example, if you are applying for a junior purser position, you should highlight hotel (front desk), banking, receptionist, or customer service experience. If you are applying for a
youth counselor position, you should highlight your childcare, teaching, coaching, or nursing experiences. The cover letter needs to be individuallytargeted. Do your homework. Refer to current company information such as a new itinerary or the debut of a new ship. Also in the cover letter, say that you have a valid passport and when it will expire. Ships cruise 12 months a year, so there is no set time to apply for a job. The turnover in the industry is quite high since many people only want to work for a short period of time. Finally, a good source of information for getting hired on cruise ships is Mark Landon’s Cruise Ship Crews (revised and updated in June 2004), www.shipjobs.com.
Carnival Corporation is the largest cruise vacation company in the world, operating 13 different companies or “brands.” Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd operates two different brands: Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises. The following websites have excellent information about their shipboard positions: @@@ www.princess.com www.carnival.com www.ncl.com
singularjune2012
59
free ride
BACKPACK TO
( Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia )
60 singularjune2012
South SAFETY TIPS FOR TRAVEL IN SOUTH AMERICA text: Stephen Lewis / photo: Carol Sรกbio
singularjune2012
61
free ride
Although most foreigners travel safely in South America, travelers should be aware of the safety risks they might face during their trip. South American countries are developing nations with widespread social disparities that encourage petty crime. Foreigners, regardless whether they are wealthy tourists or backpackers, are widely considered wealthy compared to the locals, which puts them at a higher risk of being targets of petty crime and rip-off schemes. But if you inform yourself before you go and keep a watchful eye on your surroundings as you travel, you will most likely have a safe and enjoyable trip in South America. The following travel tips are based on my own experiences for my extensive travels across South America, and I hope they will encourage you to explore this fascinating continent while taking a few basic safety precautions like always.
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO The best way to prepare yourself is to be well-informed about the current political and economic situation, which often indicates the overall safety and stability of a country. Search the web for reports on strikes, protests and civil unrest in the South American country of your interest, and also look for news about transportation safety. Airplane and bus accidents occur more frequently in South America than in North America or Europe, mainly to bad road conditions and a badly maintained fleet of buses and airplanes. A midair collision in the Brazilian Amazon in 2006 and a plane crash at Brazil’s busiest airport in São Paulo in 2007 are only the latest examples of a transportation infrastructure that often does not meet international standards. Gov-
62 singularjune2012
ernment travel warnings should also be taken into consideration, and you should check the website of the State Department or Department of Foreign Affairs of your home country for any recent events that might affect travelers. Before going off into remote areas you should register with your embassy or consulate and inquire about safety risks. Keep their phone number and address handy in case of an emergency. I have also found it helpful to read the local newspapers or a locally published English-language publication to stay abreast of the latest news and events that might affect your safety. Fortunately there is little activity by guerilla groups in South America today, with the exception of Colombia, and travelers have little to fear in that regard. As a general precaution travelers should avoid slums and shantytowns, where curious foreigners are never welcome. There are many safe places to visit where travelers can have contact with the locals and learn about their daily lives, and shantytowns and slums are not among them.
TRAVEL WITH A WATCHFUL EYE AND AN OPEN MIND Among the most common annoyances for travelers in South America is being overcharged by taxi drivers and shopkeepers, and being targeted by skillful pickpockets. These annoyances pose no direct safety threat, but they point at the vulnerability of foreign travelers in an unfamiliar environment. It is essential for travelers to be alert and observe the world around with watchful eyes. A friend of mine was charged US $50 from the airport to the center of Buenos Aires, whereas I only paid a fraction of that. Ask around to get an idea of current taxi rates, and compare prices at shops and markets to make sure you are not being ripped off. Travelers should also take spe-
cial precautions when walking around in unfamiliar cities or towns and should keep in mind that the crime rate in many South American cities is quite high. Dark streets with little traffic invite muggings. Unless you know the area well, you should avoid walking or waiting for a bus on deserted streets after dark. Late at night, taxis are a safe alternative to buses. City centers, beaches, and tourist attractions are often frequented by pick-
pockets, and you should always keep an eye on your belongings. Be especially careful in crowded places and on buses, trains, and boats. Some travelers go as far as chaining their backpacks to luggage racks or railings while waiting in a public place or traveling, which can be especially helpful when alone. Carry as few valuables as possible and keep important documents in a money belt under your clothing. Instead of origi-
singularjune2012 63
free ride
64 singularjune2012
( 1st line - right to the left) BOLIVIA 1. Ethnic distribution is estimated to be 30% Quechuaspeaking and 25% Aymara-speaking. / 2. The second largest natural gas reserves in South America. / 3. The variable altitudes, ranging from 90 to 6,542 meters above sea level, allow for a vast biologic diversity. / 4. Climate of Bolivia varies drastically from one ecoregion to the other, from the tropics in the eastern llanos to polar climates in the western Andes. ( 2nd line - right to the left) CHILE 1. Sara Cesari in the middle of nowhere. / 2. Delicious food, exotic. / 3. Havaianas everywhere. / 4. Geographical isolation also has restricted the immigration of faunal life.
TIPS Read as much as you can about the places you’ll go to. Read guidebooks, histories, maps, travelogues, reviews and comments from other travelers. Listen to music. Become familiar with the musical artists, folk songs, instruments and musicians popular at your destination. Learn the language(s). Attend an immersion language program, where you’ll also learn the culture, see some of the country, and appreciate the literature and musical heritage of the country. Use your travel as a way to broaden your experiences, learn and appreciate new cultures and peoples. @@@ http://gosouthamerica.about.com/ http://tripadvisor.com http://www.worldtraveltips.net/
nal documents, carry authenticated copies. If you plan on staying in one place for more than just a few days, it may be worth depositing your valuables and travel documents in the hotel safe, since hotel rooms are never entirely secure against theft. This is especially true for cheap hotels around bus terminals, railway stations and the ports which often attract suspicious clientele. Carrying your wallet in your back pocket only invites pickpockets. It is best to carry as little money as possible, and only keep a few bills in your front pocket. Purses worn over the shoulder are also easy targets for pickpockets. If you are ever mugged, don’t resist, even if the assailants are just kids. Remain calm and don’t attract attention as it will only startle the assailants and put you in danger. Keep in mind that they are armed and may not hesitate to hurt you. Carry as few valuables as possible and keep important documents in a money
belt under your clothing. Instead of original documents, carry authenticated copies. If you plan on staying in one place for more than just a few days, it may be worth depositing your valuables and travel documents in the hotel safe, since hotel rooms are never entirely secure against theft. This is especially true for cheap hotels around bus terminals, railway stations and the ports which often attract suspicious clientele. Carrying your wallet in your back pocket only invites pickpockets. It is best to carry as little money as possible, and only keep a few bills in your front pocket. Purses worn over the shoulder are also easy targets for pickpockets. If you are ever mugged, don’t resist, even if the assailants are just kids. Remain calm and don’t attract attention as it will only startle the assailants and put you in danger. curity officer if you are in doubt your front pocket. Purses worn over the shoulder are also easy targets. singularjune2012
65
free ride
LOW COST
66 singularjune2012
ADVENTURES
IN LOW-COST TRAVEL text: Roberta Jackson photo: Luiz Dutra
Unrested and unshowered, I arrived at Luton Airport, in suburban London, around 5 a.m., and did not expect my situation to improve. I’d been up all night, wandering around London with friends, and now I was about to fly to Morocco on an airline whose reputation for rock-bottom prices was surpassed only by its reputation for rock-bottom service. Bleary-eyed, I slapped my passport on the check-in counter, picked up the boarding pass (no assigned seating, of course), and began the long, long march to my gate. Normally, I would have shrugged off the looming discomfort as I did the attendant’s warning about my overweight baggage. But I was halfway through a weeklong jaunt around Europe, traveling solely via low-cost carriers, the budget airlines that have multiplied across the Continent like unnecessary E.U. regulations, and the perpetual motion was getting to me. Where had I just been? Where was I going? I wasn’t really sure anymore — all I knew was that getting there wouldn’t cost much more than my sanity will be nice. Every country or region has at least one budget airline: easyJet and RyanAir,
the pioneers in this industry, operate out of the Britain and Ireland, while Air Berlin and HLX ferry the shallow-pocketed in and out of Germany. Spain has Vueling, Scandinavia has Sterling, and Italy has a host of tiny carriers that focus on random, disparate cities — Evolavia, for example, flies between Ancona, Paris and Moscow, Russia. What unites these small airlines is a devotion to cheap fares. Flights routinely are less than 20 euros (about $27 at $1.36 to the euro), and can even drop to the low, low price of ... zero. How can the airlines afford that? By cutting out frills and tacking on fees. Fuel surcharges, airport taxes, excessbaggage fees and the ever-popular miscellaneous charges help make up for the seemingly unprofitable ticket prices. Despite this sneakiness, these airlines remain the best way to bounce around the increasingly borderless superstate known as Europe — faster than railroads, more comfortable than a bus (if you’re lucky), and far cheape.
This winter, I set out to test the network. The plan: seven flights in seven days, mixing established and off-the-beaten-path destinations, staying in modest hotels and never taking the same airline twice. even try to enjoy myself. singularjune2012
67
free ride
Wherever at first, mapping out a route late last November drove me crazy. Not all budget airlines fly every route every day, and plugging schedules into Web sites took hours. Then I discovered Flylc. com, a booking engine that streamlines the process. Its page shows three columns: the first contains a list of every airport in Europe; click one and the second column displays every destination you can reach from there, while the third shows which airlines fly that route. One more click brings up a timetable showing every flight from, say, Dublin to Bratislava on SkyEurope. Neat! Soon I had a drawn a viable route around Europe. From Geneva — a central location served by many budget airlines — I’d fly to Prague, then to Copenhagen, London, Fez (Morocco is around Europe, right?), Paris and Budapest, and back to Geneva. At each stop, I’d have a day, more or less, to get oriented before rushing off to the
68 singularjune2012
next far-flung city. Lather, rinse, repeat. And so, early one January Monday in Geneva, I checked into Flybaboo Flight 75. Founded in 2003, the improbably named airline generally ferries passengers to warmer climes — the French Riviera, Ibiza, Sardinia — but for a mere 10 Swiss francs (about $8 at $1.24 Swiss francs to the U.S. dollar, but the equivalent of $59 with taxes), it also goes to Prague. As I walked to the farthest reaches of the airport, where Flybaboo’s gates lay, I wondered what I was getting into. Then I arrived at the Flybaboo lounge — the slickest non-business-class waiting area I’d ever seen. Men in good suits sat on the red-leather banquettes, checking e-mail on complimentary iMacs. I picked up a copy of Baboo Time, a smart, stylish magazine, and read an interview with Dita Von Teese. I was in no hurry to board, because I worried that things could only get worse.
singularjune2012 69
hello, stranger!
70 singularjune2012
SINGLE LIFESTYLE NEW LIFE
Do-It-Yourself Deportation. Antonio Alarcón it´s al student who will tell you more about his new life.
p72
p74
p84
STYLE
GOOD 4YOU
TO KNOW
Living Alone: 8 Things You Didn’t Know. It´s not so bad, be my guest.
One Is the Quirkiest Number The Freedom, and Perils, of Living Alone.
Will Living Alone Make You Depressed?
Photo at the Berlin metro station by Ivan Almeida
singularjune2012
71
single lifestyle
STYLE
72
singularjune2012
LIVING
ALONE
8 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW text: Julie Reedson / illustration: J. Roberts
Think you know what it means to live alone? Even if you are have your own personal experiences living solo, and know lots of other people who do, too, chances are that you have been misled by the media and other myth-makers about what solo life is really like. The most significant, intensive, and far-reaching study of solo living is described in Eric Klinenberg’s book, Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone. Due out tomorrow (February 2, 2012), it is a thoughtful and engaging book, and I highly recommend that you read every word. Here, I’ve plucked out just a dozen of the many revelations about solo living that you can find in the book. Enjoy!
1 In the United States, there are fewer households comprised of mom, dad, and the kids than of single people living on their own. About 31 million Americans live alone.
5 Living alone is not the same as feeling alone or isolated. In fact, “cities with high numbers of singletons enjoy a thriving public.
Have you heard the one about how single people need to “settle down”? Well, singles living solo are already settled.
Does all of the media hype have you believing that young adults are moving back to their parents’ homes in droves? That’s not quite true either..
3 Do you think that living solo is mostly for the very young adults and the very old (typically women who have outlived their husbands)? Wrong on both counts. .
The percentage of single-person households in the U.S. is high. But the 28% figure is far outpaced by the 40 to 45% of singleperson households in Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark.
7 Although people who live alone often value solitude, the rise of solo living did not actually grow out of transcendental or monastic traditions.
Most old people who live alone do not do so because they have no grown children or anyone else who cares about them. singularjune2012
73
single lifestyle
GOOD 4YOU
FREEDOM
AND PERILS, OF LIVING BY YOURSELF text: Julie Reedson / illustration: J. Roberts
IF there is any doubt that we’re living in the age of the individual, a look at the housing data confirms it. For millenniums, people have huddled together, in caves, in mud huts, in split-levels and Cape Cods. But these days, 1 in every 4 American households is occupied by someone living alone; in Manhattan, mythic land of the singleton, the number is nearly 1 in 2. Lately, along with the compelling statistics, a stealth P.R. campaign seems to be taking place, as though living alone were a political candidate trying to burnish its image. Two notable examples: Eric Klinenberg, a sociology professor at New York University, recently published “Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone,” a mash note to domestic solipsism, which he calls “an incredible social experiment” that reveals “the human species is developing new ways to live.” And last fall, an Atlantic magazine cover story examined the rise of the single woman, a piece in which the author Kate Bolick fondly invoked the Barbizon Hotel and visited an Amsterdam apartment complex for women committed to living solo.
“I glamorized people who lived alone — I really wanted it for myself,” said Ms. Bolick William Roberts. 74
singularjune2012
True, the benefits of living alone are many: freedom to come and go as you please; the space and solitude to recharge in a plugged-in world; kingly or queenly domain over the bed. Still, as TV has taught us, the single-occupant home can be a breeding ground for eccentricities. Think of Claire Danes’s C.I.A. employee in “Homeland,” who turns her Georgetown one-bedroom into a control bunker for an ad hoc spying operation. Or Kramer on “Seinfeld,” washing vegetables in the shower or deciding, on a whim, to ditch his furniture in favor of “levels.” In a sense, living alone represents the self let loose. In the absence of what Mr. Klinenberg calls “surveilling eyes,” the solo dweller is free to indulge his or her odder habits — what is sometimes referred to as Secret Single Behavior. Feel like standing naked in your kitchen at 2 a.m., eating peanut butter from the jar? Who’s to know? Amy Kennedy, 28, a schoolteacher who has a two-bedroom apartment in High Point, N.C., all to herself, calls it living without “social checks and balances.” The effects are noticeable, she said: “I’ve been living alone for six years, and I’ve gotten quirkier and quirkier.” Among her domestic oddities: running in place during TV commercials; speaking conversational French to herself while making breakfast (she listens to a language CD); singing Journey songs in the shower; and removing only the clothes she needs from
EUROPE and return to their home countries, like my parents did. But I don’t think this is something that our presidential candidates should encourage or be proud of. Immigrants have made this country great. We are not looking for a free ride, but instead we are willing to work as hard as we can to show that we deserve to be here and to be treated like first-class citizens. Deportation, and “self-deportation,” will result only in dividing families and driving them into the shadows. In America, teenagers shouldn’t have to go through what I’m going through. @@@ www.livingalone.com www.singlelifestyle.com www.good4you.com
“The entire apartment is your room,” Ms. Kennedy said, by way of explanation. “If I leave a bra on the kitchen table, I don’t think much about it.”- said her brother In the experience of Ms. Bolick, who has also lived with roommates and boyfriends, living alone breeds “a very indulgent work style over million of years. I can work 24/7 for days on end, and I can let my whole apartment fall apart on me and not wash the dishes,” she continued. “And nobody cares. Ms. Bolick even has a home-alone outfit. “I have this pair of white flax bloomers that go down to my knee. They’re like pantaloons. They’re so weird,” she said. “If someone comes over, I change out of them. Even boyfriends have never seen her in “That would be the height of intimacy if there was a lot of perton around them will be better.
Someone saw those.”What emerges over time, for those who live alone, is an at-home self that is markedly different — in ways big and small — from the self they present to the world. We all have private selves, of course, but people who live alone spend a good deal more time exploring them. Rod Sherwood’s living-alone indulgences center on his sleep cycle. A music manager and record producer who works from his railroad apartment in Brooklyn, Mr. Sherwood, 40, said he’ll go to bed at 2 a.m. one night, and then retire later and later by increments, “until I go to bed when the sun comes up.” He mused: “I wondered how many times in a year I repeat that cycle? I’d be interested to chart it.” Ronni Bennett, who is 70 and writes a blog on aging, timegoesby.net, has lived alone for all but 10 or so years of her adult life. She said she has adopted a classic livingsingularjune2012
75
single lifestyle
alone habit: “I never, ever close the bathroom door.” Leaving it open “is one of those little habits that makes no difference most of the time,” she said. But when guests visit her two-bedroom apartment outside Portland, Ore., she added: “I have to make huge mental efforts to remind myself to close the door. Sometimes I think, Just put a Postit note by the bathroom door. Well, wait, I don’t want them to see that.” Like many, Ms. Bennett also talks to herself — or, rather, to her cat. “I’ll try things out on him when I’m writing,” she said.
“He’ll look at me like he’s actually listening. I wouldn’t discuss what I’m writing with my cat if someone were. Other people say their greatest eccentricities emerge in the kitchen. Eating can be a personal, even self-conscious act, and in the absence of a roommate or partner, unconventional approaches to food emerge. Drinking from the carton is only the start. “I very rarely have what you would call ‘meals,’ ” said Steve Zimmer, a computer programmer in his 40s who lives by himself in a Manhattan loft. Instead of adhering to regular meals or meal times, he said, he makes “six or seven” trips an hour to the refrigerator and subsists largely on cereal.
76
singularjune2012
Ms. Bolick, the magazine writer, grazes on nuts and seeds, something that was pointed out to her recently when she shared a house with a married couple in Los Angeles. The husband told Ms. Bolick she would be fine in an earthquake because “I ate the equivalent of emergency rations.” Sasha Cagen, the founder of the Web site quirkyalone.net, is a kind of unofficial spokeswoman and lobbyist for singletons. Ms. Cagen, who has had roommates in the move to another city was much better.
singularjune2012
77
single lifestyle
NEW LIFE
78
singularjune2012
(Photo at Berlin metro station)
Do-it-yourself
Deportation SOUND LIKE A INNOCUOUS SOUNDING PHRASE text: Gabriela Nicolau / photo: Carolina Sรกbio
singularjune2012
79
single lifestyle
ONE of my happiest childhood memories is of my parents at my First Communion. But that’s because most of my memories from that time are of their being absent they had to leave was personal. I have a brother, 16, a year younger than me, still living in Mexico from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m., for $70 a day. From the time I was just a baby in Mexico, I lived with my grandparents while my parents traveled to other Mexican states to find work. I was 6 in 2000 when they left for the United States. And it took five years before they had steady jobs and were able to send for me. WWe’ve been together in this country ever since, working to build a life. Now I am 17 and a senior in high school in New York City. But my parents have left again, this time to return to Mexico. Last week, when asked in a debate what America should do about the 11 million undocumented immigrants living here, Mitt Romney said he favored “self-deportation.” He presented the strategy as a kinder alternative to just arresting people. Instead, he said, immigrants will “decide they can do better by going home because they can’t find work here.” But really this goes along with a larger movement in states like Arizona and Alabama to pass very tough laws against immigrants in an attempt to make their lives so unbearable that they have no choice but to leave. People have called for denying work, education and even medical treatment to immigrants without documentation; many immigrants have grown afraid of even going to the store or to church. The United States is supposed to be a great country that welcomes all kinds of people. Does Mr. Romney really think that
80 singularjune2012
this should be America’s solution for immigration reform? You could say that my parents have selfdeported, and that it was partly a result of their working conditions. It’s not that they couldn’t find work, but that they couldn’t find decent work. My dad collected scrap metal from all over the city, gathering copper and steel from construction sites, garbage dumps and old houses. He earned $90 a day, but there was only enough work for him to do it once or twice a week. My mom worked at a laundromat six days a week, from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m., for $70 a day. But the main reason they had to leave was personal. I have a brother, 16, a year younger than me, still living in Mexico. He was too little to cross the border with me when I came to the United States, and as the government has cracked down on immigration in the years since, the crossing has become more expensive and much more dangerous. And there was no hope of his getting a green card, as none of us have one either. So he stayed with my grandparents, but last year my grandmother died and two weeks ago my grandfather also died. My parents were confronted with a dilemma: Leave one child alone in New York City, or leave the other alone in Mexico. They decided they had to go back to Mexico. Now once again I am missing my parents. I know it was very difficult for them to leave me here, worrying about how I will survive because I’m studying instead of earning money working. I’m living with my uncles, but it is hard for my mother to know that I’m coming home to a table with no dinner on it, where there had been dinner before. And it’s hard for me not having my parents to talk to, not being able to ask for advice that as a teenager you need. Now that they are in Mexico, I wonder who will be at my
singularjune2012
81
single lifestyle
graduation, my volleyball games or my birthday? With whom will I share my joy or my sad moments? I know a girl named Guadalupe, whose parents have also decided to return to Mexico, because they can’t find work here and rent in New York City is very
If, instead, the political climate gets more and more anti-immigrant, eventually some immigrants will give up hope for America and return to their home countries, like my parents did. But I don’t think this is something that our presidential candidates should encourage or be proud of. Immigrants have made this country great. We are not looking for a free ride, but instead we are willing to work as hard as we can to show that we deserve to be here and to be treated like first-class citizens. Deportation, and “selfdeportation,” will result only in dividing families and driving them into the shadows. In America, teenagers shouldn’t have to go through what I’m going through. Antonio Alarcón is a high school student and a member of Make the Road New York, an immigrant advocacy group. This essay was translated by Natalia AristizabalBetancur from the Spanish. @@ WWW.europe2012.com www.erasmus.org
82 singularjune2012
expensive. She is very smart and wants to be the first in her family to attend college, and she wants to study psychology. But even though she has lived here for years and finished high school with a 90 percent average, she, like me, does not have immigration papers, and so does
not qualify for financial aid and can’t get a scholarship for all of them. People like Guadalupe and me are staying in this country because we have faith that America will live up to its promise as a fair and just country. We hope that there will be comprehensive immigration
reform, with a path to citizenship for people who have spent years living and working here. When reform happens, our families may be able to come back, and if not, at least we will be able to visit them without the risk of never being able to return to our lives here.
singularjune2012 83
single lifestyle
TO KNOW
84 singularjune2012
ONE TO ONE
WILL LIVING ALONE MAKE YOU DEPRESSED? text: Julia Ghisi illustration: Ivana Amarante
People who live alone are about 80 percent more likely to be depressed than people who share their living space with others, according to research from Finland. The seven-year study of nearly 3,500 men and women ages 30 to 65 found that people who lived alone were more likely to take antidepressants. During the course of the study, which was conducted by the Institute of Behavioral Sciences at the University of Helsinki and published in the journal BMC Public Health, one quarter of people living on their own filled a prescription for antidepressant drugs, compared to 16 percent of those who lived with other people. This isn’t the first time living alone has gotten a bad rap. We’ve all seen the reports that say married people, especially men, are happier than those who live alone. Add to that a 2006 study at the University College, London, published in the journal Environment, Development and Sustainability, which concluded that people who live solo are the biggest consumers per capita of energy, land and household goods—from toothbrushes to kitchen appliances to consumer electronics. Judging by the London research, you’d think that every person on the planet without a roommate is a walking environmental disaster. According to that study, people who live alone consume 38
percent more products, 42 percent more packaging, 55 percent more electricity and 61 percent more gas per capita than those in four-person households. They also produce 60 percent more waste every year and generate more greenhouse gas emissions. Getting back to the Helsinki study, the link between depression and living alone is actually pretty tenuous. Although the findings show an association between depression and living solo, they don’t establish a cause-and-effect relationship, so researchers don’t really know whether people are depressed because they live alone, or live alone because they are depressed. And people get depressed for a lot of reasons that have nothing to do with their living arrangements. “Being depressed certainly can cause you to not only feel, but [also] become, more isolated,” said John Newcomer, M.D., a professor of psychiatry at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, who commented on the study. During the course of the study, which was conduct
“You feel hopeless that you’re ever going to be able to have relationships, but even at another level, you...just don’t feel like getting up and going out. You’re undermotivated to do the various steps that are necessary to achieve social engagement.” singularjune2012
85
studying time
86 singularjune2012
STUDYING TIME FUTURE Europe 2020: Commission calls Member States to reform .
p88
p94
ERASMUS
POST-IT
New Opportunities for Education in Europe Erasmus for All.
BEST 14 Summer Courses All over Europe.
Infopraphic by Lale Pinheiro
singularjune2012
87
studying time
ERASMUS
88 singularjune2012
NEW
OPPORTUNITIES FOR EDUCATION IN EUROPE - ERASMUS FOR ALL text: Julie Ghisi / illustration: Ivana Amarante
The European Ministers for Education, led by the Danish EU Presidency, arrived on Friday 11 May 2012 at their first agreement on the contents of EU’s new education and youth programme, established to improve the educational opportunities in Europe. Citizens and institutions can look forward to even better opportunities for taking part in an education programme, a teacher’s exchange or an internship abroad. This is the objective of EU’s new education and youth programme, Erasmus for All. On Friday 11 May 2012, the Danish EU Presidency led by Minister for Children and Education, Christine Antorini, managed to reach a first agreement on the programme among EU’s Ministers for Education. Erasmus for All was at the top of the agenda at today’s Council Meeting on Education and Youth. The ministers supported the Danish Presidency’s proposed compromise on the programme, which is meant to strengthen mobility, cooperation and policy development between institutions and organisations within the field of education and youth – in and outside Europe. Minister for Children and Education, Christine Antorini, is very pleased with the result of the meeting: ”It is a great advantage to all EU citizens that we – during the Danish EU Presidency - have reached an agreement among the Member States on the contents of Erasmus for All. We have now formed
the basis for giving many more citizens – from primary school to adult education – the opportunity to participate in education and exchange programmes and internships abroad. – And, we have gone one step further by simplifying the programme in order to ease the administration. At the same time, we have brought the youth field into focus of people”. Erasmus for All covers, among other programmes, the Lifelong Learning and Youth in Action programmes. It will also cover new activities within the field of sport. The new programme focuses on strengthening internationalisation and European cooperation within institutions and organisations. A decision on the budget will be taken later, as the programme is part of EU’s multiannual financial framework. The final version is to be negotiated with the European Parliament. The new programme is scheduled to come into force in 2014.
Read more at: @@ http://europa.eu/ yo u re u ro p e /c i t ize n s /e d u c at i o n / index_en.htm http://ec.europa. eu/education/erasmus-for-all/ singularjune2012
89
studying time
FUTURE
EUROPE 2020 COMMISSION CALLS MEMBER STATES INVEST ON EDUCATION text: Julia Ghisi illustration: Alex Correa
In the European Semester 2012, the Commission proposed recommendations to Member States in the area of education and training focussing on the following priorities ng hard to move decisively beyond: 1. countries’ performance with regard to the education headline targets, i.e. early school leaving and tertiary or equivalent attainment, including early school leaving strategies and quality of higher education; 2. VET reforms, including apprenticeships, in the follow-up of the Youth Opportunities Initiative/Youth Action teams; 3. addressing challenges related to specific disadvantaged groups. The Commission Communication accompanying the proposed recommendations stresses the need for preserving investment in education and training in the context of growth-friendly fiscal consolidation. Further action is required to achieve the education headline target and increase the labour market relevance of education and training. The proposed recommendations will now be discussed by the Council. Policy co-operation in education and training will support this follow-up. The European Union is working hard to move decisively beyond the crisis and create the conditions for a more competitive economy with higher employment. The Europe 2020 strategy is about delivering growth that is: smart, through more effective investments in education, research and innovation; sustainable, thanks to a decisive move towards a low-carbon economy; and inclusive, with a strong emphasis on job creation and poverty reduction. The strategy is focused on five ambitious goals in the areas of employment, innovation, education, poverty reduction and climate/energy. To ensure that the Europe 2020 strategy delivers, a strong and effective system of economic governance has been set up to coordinate policy.
90 singularjune2012
singularjune2012
91
studying time
The majority of Europeans spend at least nine or ten years at school. It is where they gain the basic knowledge, skills and competences that they need throughout their lives, and the place where fundamental attitudes and values develop. Schools should set their pupils on the path to a lifetime of learning, if they are to prepare them for the modern world. A sound school education system also helps ensure open and democratic societies by training people in citizenship, solidarity and participative democracy. While each EU Member State is responsible for the organisation and content of its education and training systems, there are advantages in working together on common issues. The European Commission supports national efforts in two main ways: - Through the Comenius programme, it invests millions of euros each year in projects that promote school exchanges, school development, the education of school staff, school assistantships and more. - The Commission works closely with national policy-makers to help them develop their school education policies and systems. It gathers and shares information and analysis and encourages the exchange of good policy practices all over the world. @ http://ec.europa.eu/education
92 singularjune2012
singularjune2012
93
studying time
POST IT
14
EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES LAUNCH PROGRAMME text: Julie Reedson / illustration: J. Roberts
94 singularjune2012
1. IMRD - Erasmus Mundus Interna-
9. International Master in Quaternary
tional Master of Science in Rural Development BE – Universiteit Gent (beneficiary) DE - Humboldt University of Berlin
IT - University of Ferrara (beneficiary) FR – Museum d’Histoire Naturelle
2. tropEd – European Master of Science Programme in International Health DE – Charite University Medical DK - Univeristy of Copenhagen FR - University of Bordeaux
3.
European Masters Program in Computational Logic DE – Dresden University IT - Free University of Bozen-Bolzano
4.
Master der Europäischen Rechtspraxis DE – University of Hanover PT - Universidade Catolica
5. CoMundus – European Master of Arts in Media, Communication DE – University of Kassel (beneficiary) DK - Roskilde University DK - University of Aarhus
6. NOHA MUNDUS – European Masters Degree in International ES – University of Deusto BE - Catholic University of Louvain
7. MSc EF Master of Science in European FI – University of Joensuu
8. EURO-AQUAE – Euro Hydro-Informatics & Water Management FR – Université de Nice DE - Bradenburg Technical University
10. EuMI - European Master in Informatics IT – University of Trento (beneficiary) DE - RWTH University Aachen UK - University of Edinburgh
11. European Master in Law and Economics Business School NL – Erasmus University Rotterdam BE - Ghent University DE - University of Hamburg FR - University Paul Cézanne
12. European Masters Degree NO – University of Oslo (beneficiary) PT - University of Aveiro
13. European Joint Master in Water and Coastal Management PT – University of Algarve NO - University of Bergen
14. EMMS - Joint European Masters Programme in Materials Science PT – Universidade de Aveiro DE - Technische Universität Hamburg DK - Roskilde University DE – University of Hanover
MORE INFO: @@ freestudiesabroad.blogspot.com.es/ webgate.ec.europa.eu/ http://eu2012.dk/
singularjune2012
95