john_kidder
Senior Member
Not only that, but the inherent internationalism in modern European means that, for instance, Julia will do a semester in the fall at Berkeley, and hopefully another next fall in Mumbai (Bombay). She picks up her living expenses, the rest is part of the Norwegian approach that education makes citizens, and so all student citizens should have access at no cost to the best there is. Education is an investment, not an expense.Darryl Hattenhauer said:University of Bergen. Those are the luckiest kids in the world.
Anyone who can't tell that that's a joke must be astonishingly dumb. But if it was from 1968, then my wife is wrong about the Swedes feeling badly done by because of Norwegian oil - Norway is the third largest oil exporter in the world, but it didn't start really pumping until the '70s.Darryl Hattenhauer said:The song is a satirical parody of those few Swedes who really did think Norwegians were inferior. There were a few Swedes who liked it because they missed the humor and thought it was serious. And when the singer performed it in Norway (in 1968), a few Norwegians got steamed because they, too, couldn't tell it was a joke.
I agree, but old jokes die harder.Darryl Hattenhauer said:Maybe my experience is atypical, but the last time I was in Europe, the old 1960s stereotypes of the various nations were all but gone.
Europe is tremendously exciting right now - far and away the most promsing political movement in the world, towards a real inter-nationalism with real respect for the many cultural and political traditions that make it up. I'm envious of my kids, and not only for their youth.