Merry Christmas

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! 

IMAGINE: HOW COOL WOULD BE CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS IN USA?

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada as
a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year.
It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada.

Thanksgiving has its historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, and has long been celebrated in a secular manner as well.

Happy Halloween!

We had a Halloween Pumpkin competition and here are the awesome pictures people sent:

THANK YOU ALL FOR GREAT PICTURES AND HAVE FUN ON HALLOWEEN!

True gentleman

Well at least I think that he is a gentleman :)

President Barack Obama interrupts a speech on healthcare to catch a woman, standing directly behind him, who almost fainted. Footage shows Karmel Allison, who is pregnant, starting to lean backwards a couple of times during Monday's Rose Garden press conference before Obama reaches out to help her. 'I got you,' he tells the woman before she is helped away.

Take a picture of the pumpkin, which is the neatest for YOU and send it to us. The best pumpkin picture will receive a price! Jury will make the decision on 31th of October-on HALLOWEEN! All pictures are welcome! Send a picture to: educationusa@ut.ee

Sweet picture

Good to read the news, if there is something positive :)

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greet Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Mrs. Evelin Ilves during the United Nations General Assembly reception at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, N.Y., Sept. 23, 2013.

What do you think they got to talk about about during this short meeting?

Official White House Photo by Amanda Lucidon

On 30th of August all Baltic States presidents are meeting Barack Obama in the White House.

I personally do envy Toomas Henrik Ilves at this point :) 

Especially there is a new cute puppy in the White House. 

Meet Sunny the Portugese Water Dog! 

Keep an eye on the news and see how the meeting went in Washington.

Since it is almost Harvest time we should take time and bake some apple pie to get ready for school.

 It also time to start thinking about SAT, ACT, college and scholarships. Have a nice piece of pie and think where you want to be in the future-perhaps in USA? 

How to make this amazing pie?

Recipe is here!

Ingredients:

          DOUBLE CRUST

• 6 medium Granny Smith apples
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons  All Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 large egg white, lightly beaten                                                                                              DECORATIVE CRUST
• Single Crust 
• 1 large egg white, lightly beaten
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon sugar

1.PREPARE recipe for double crust pie. Roll out dough for bottom crust. Place in 9-inch pie plate. Press to fit without stretching dough. Trim even with pie plate. Do not bake.

2.HEAT oven to 400ºF.

3.PEEL, core and slice apples. Toss with sugar, flour and cinnamon. Pour into unbaked pie crust; dot with butter. Cover with top crust; seal and flute edge. Brush with egg white. Cut slits for steam to escape.

4.ROLL additional crust to 1/8-inch thickness. With small 1/2-inch star cookie cutter, cut 20 to 25 stars. Place 1 star on rim of top crust; brush with egg white. Repeat until rim is covered.

5.COMBINE cinnamon and sugar; sprinkle over crust. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, until pie is golden brown and apples are tender.

1. 
   
   
   

Video to help baking:

http://www.joyofbaking.com/ApplePie.html

See you all soon in Education USA center in Tartu: W.Struve 1-355. 

President Obama predicts the winner of the college basketball championships

The 2013 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament began yesterday, March 19th! 

68 U.S. college basketball teams compete in the single-elimination tournament for (one of) the most honorable college basketball prizes. The championship game will be held on the 8th of April in Atlanta.

Here's how president Obama predicts the brackets:

Valentine's greetings

Happy Valentine's Day to all our friends around the world! :)

Dedicating the following video to all of you, who have already found their soul mates, and also to those, who are still waiting for that subtle breeze to push you in the right direction for finding the One.

Lots of love!

ps: the Walt Disney Animation Studios' short movie has been nominated for the Best Animated Short Film at the 85th Academy Awards (the Oscars).

Indie pop topped the Grammys

Yesterday, (February 10th), the best songs, albums and artists of 2012 were announced and awarded with Grammys, the annual National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States' recognition to outstanding achievements in music industry. The Grammy Awards - Gramophone Awards, orginally, explaining the award design - ceremony took place for the 55th time, this year in L.A.

The following general field awards were given:

Album of the Year

"Babel" - Mumford & Sons

Mumford & Sons is a folk rock band from the UK. They released their first album "Sigh No More" in 2009, winning several high awards, including the Billboard Music Awards Top Rock Album and the BRIT Awards British Album of the Year.

In addition to the Album of the Year, Mumford & Sons won the Best Long Music Video Grammy for the single titled "Big Easy Express" from the same album.

Record of the Year

"Somebody That I Used to Know" - Gotye featuring Kimbra

"Somebody That I Used to Know" is an indie pop song performed by Gotye, a Belgian singer-songwriter who is also the author of the song, and Kimbra, a singer and guitarist from New Zealand. The song was released in 2011 in several countries in the world, including Australia, New Zealand and the UK, but it was eligible for this year's Grammy Awards due to its late release in the USA in 2012.

In addition to winning the Grammy, the song has topped the national charts of more than 30 countries.

Song of the Year

"We Are Young" - Fun

This year's Grammy Song of the Year award was given to the American band Fun, feat. the R&B and soul musician Janelle Monáe, for the song "We Are Young". It is the lead song of the Fun's album "Some Nights", released in 2012. "We Are Young" is a power ballad combining indie pop, alternative rock, and power pop.
Furthermore...:

Best New Artist

Fun

The winners of the Song of the Year Award, Fun, were also recognized as the best new artist of 2012. The American indie pop band Fun was formed in 2008; their big success came with their second studio album, "Some Nights", bringing four platinum certificates (Australia, Ireland, the UK, the USA) and two gold certificates (New Zealand, Sweden).

Groundhogs' predictions

It was the Groundhog Day in the USA yesterday! The tradition says that if a groundhog sees its shadow on the 2nd of February, it will run back to its burrow, because there will be six more weeks of winter. If it doesn't see its shadow, then spring is on its way.

It was quite sunny yesterday - all groundhogs in Estonia must have seen their shadows. I guess we are in for another six weeks of cold!

From college football to the NFL: Margus Hunt

While most Estonians have no clue about what is going on in the world of American football - when the season begins, who is playing, and what the game is about anyway - then one particular Estonian, Margus Hunt, is looking forward to the month of April to (hopefully) sign a contract with an NFL team (i.e. in the highest level of professional American football).

As unbelievable as it may seem, just a few years ago Margus Hunt didn't know much about American football either. In 2007 Hunt moved to Dallas to continue his rather successful discus-thrower career (two WJC gold medals in 2006) with a new trainer Dave Wollmann. 

Besides his trainings, Hunt went to college in the USA, majoring in sports management at the Southern Methodist University. In 2009 he joined the MSU football team and two years later he decided to replace the discus with the American football. 

At the end of 2012 Margus Hunt was elected the most valuable player of the Hawaii Bowl - only three years after he had started playing American football! What a great success story; we will surely be hearing about him.

Read the interview with Margus Hunt in EPL (in Estonian).

The best American dramatic and documentary films of the Sundance Film Festival 2013

More than 40,000 people gather in Utah every January to take part of one of the largest independent film festival, the Sundance Film Festival (SFF). The following American film category SFF Award winners were announced last Saturday:

U.S. Grand Jury Prizes

U. S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic - Fruitvale 

The true-story film follows Oscar Grant on his last day of life, before he was killed in the Oakland police shooting.

Director: Ryan Coogler

Also Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic.

U. S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - Blood Brother 

Rocky Braat moves to India to help children infected with HIV. He wanted to cure them all, but, in fact, could not save even one of them.

Director: Steve Hoover

Also Audience Award: U.S. Documentary.

Directing Awards

Directing Award: U. S. Dramatic - Afternoon Delight

A thirtysomething houswife tries to rescue a stripper by making her the nanny..

Director: Jill Solloway

Directing Award: U. S. Documentary - Cutie and the Boxer

The story of two Japanese artists, Ushio and Noriko Shinohara, who meet and marry in New York in the early 1970s.

Director: Zachary Heinzerling

Cinematography Awards

Cinematography Award: U. S. Dramatic - Ain’t Them Bodies Saints

A Texas outlaw, who breaks out of prison, crosses the Texas countryside to find his wife and daughter.

Director: David Lowery

Cinematography Award: U. S. Dramatic - Mother of George

A film about Nigerian immigrant family life in the USA, the couple's struggles to keep their marriage together and the (bad) decisions they make.

Director: Andrew Dosunmu

Cinematography Award: U. S. Documentary - Dirty Wars

Investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill traces the secret and elite fighting force, exposing covert operations carried out by men who do not exist on paper and will never appear before Congress.

Director: Richard Rowley

U.S. Documentary Special Jury Awards

U. S. Documentary Special Jury award for Achievement in Filmmaking - American Promise 

Cameras followed the school life of two African-American middle class boys for 12 years. They started off from the prestigeous Dalton school, one of them continued in a private school, while the other took the route of public education.

Directors: Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson

U. S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting Miles Teller & Shailene Woodley - The Spectacular Now

A sincere and emotional love story of two teenagers.

Director: James Ponsoldt

U. S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Sound Design Shane Carruth & Johnny Marshall - Upstream Color

Kris' life takes an unexpected turn, when she is drugged by a small-time thief. 

Upstream Color is an entirely original, mythic, romantic thriller that goes in search of truths that lie just beyond our reach.

SFF

Director: Shane Carruth 

See the full list of the Sundance Film Festival Award winners, including the short film and international awards at the Sundance Film Festival webpage.

College dropout crisis (and a solution?)

The American Dream 2.0 coalition published a report on U.S. college dropout crisis, revealing that 43% of all enrolled students do not graduate higher education institutions within six years. The numbers are even higher for some ethnic minority groups, such as, for example, the African American (63%) and Hispanic (58%) students. 

The authors of the report blame poor economic conditions - caused by the bad combination of growing tuition fees, declining state support and the more or less stable family income - for the high dropout rates. The American Dream 2.0 coalition is hoping to initiate a change in the U.S. educational system and, among other things, proposes the following actions that should be taken:

• Clearly explaining college costs, loan obligations and future career perspectives to students and their parents; 
• Increasing federal resources and focusing them on the neediest students, i.e. not only offering financial aid to low-income students, but also to those, who are underrepresented in higher education institutions (e.g. ethnic minorities);
• Linking financial aid to educational outcomes, and rewarding colleges and students that exceed expectations in that;
• Simplifying the process for applying for financial aid, especially the financial aid needs analysis;
• Making quality education affordable and flexible: e.g. colleges should provide the students with possibilities to complete courses by using different innovative solutions, which allow the "non-traditional" students graduate without attending classes (physically).

It is hard to predict the government's reaction to the financial aid proposals, but we could, at least, hope to see some discussions on the state contribution to higher education. The college dropout crisis is now on the table, let's see if anybody will be able, or brave enough, to tackle it. 

A brand new look on life with Google Glasses

Google co-founder Sergery Brin was spotted on the New York subway a couple of days ago (see the picture below). This immediately raised an interesting question - no, not why is Sergery Brin taking a subway instead of a private jet. Look closer. The question is: is he wearing Google Glasses? 

Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder, in a Twitter picture posted Jan 20, 2013. @Noazark/Twitter

And the answer is: yes. Sergery Brin admitted that there are about a hundred people testing the prototypes at the moment. 

Google Glasses seem to be the smartphones of the future - they respond to voice commands, enable searching for information, downloading data, connecting with people, and whatnot. Check out the Google Glasses Project video:

What do you think? Would you like to have a pair of these?

Four years later and for years ahead

Yesterday, on the 20th of January, Brarack Obama was officially sworn in to serve the second term as the President of the USA. Watch the live Inaugural Address today, the 21st of January, at 11.00 EST (Washington D.C., USA) / 18.00 EET (Estonia):

Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States in 2009. Four years have passed by now and in 2012 he was re-elected to serve the second term as the President of the U.S. It is now time to summarize what has happened in the USA during the past four years; and glimpse into the future and try to predict the challenges that lie ahead. 

As the first African-American president of the USA, Obama has clearly increased the number of minority voters, such as ethnic minorities (for example, the African-American, Asian and Latino). Moreover, nine states have passed laws allowing same-sex marriages, which clearly indicate that the opinions of the minority groups have started to tip the scales decisively in the USA.

People living in the USA seem to be happy. At least the OECD's Better Life Index (the so-called happiness index) indicates that the people in the USA were rather satisfied with their lives in 2012, positioning on the 12th place in the overall comparison with other countries.

The happiness index is largely based on economic indicators, such as people's jobs, income and housing. And, indeed, the unemployment rate has gone down to almost the pre-economic crisis period. 

Source: tradingeconomics.com

Nevertheless, the USA has been struggling with the public debt of more than $11,500 trillion. The USA was at the edge of fiscal cliff by 2012, and the Congress had to reach an agreement on how to come out of the crisis. Thus, they passed the fiscal cliff deal, which, among other things, increased the income tax from 35% to 39,6% to those who earn more than $400,000 a year.

As opposed to raising the incomes via taxes, some people would like to see the public expenses go down. For example, the war opposers claim that too much money is spent on war-activities outside the U.S. and that the expenses should drastically be cut.

And, more importantly, the number of war casualties keeps increasing every year. In 2012, the number of Afghan war casualties reached 2000. President Obama has promised to wind down the war in Afghanistan, as he did with the war in Iraq, which was officially ended in 2011.

Safety and security have been one of the most important issues in the USA during the past years. 26 school shootings have taken place during Obama's office. At the end of 2012, president Obama decided to take action against gun violence.

The following years will see if Obama's proposals to reduce gun violence will be passed in the Congress. The means to overcome the fiscal cliff, reduce the public debt and end war activities will most probably remain to be the key issues in the coming months and years.

Good luck with everything Barack Obama! 

Armstrong's ugly truth

Lance Armstrong, a former beloved American road racing cyclist, confessed having used performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career.

In 1999-2005, Armstrong won the annual Tour the France seven times in a row, after having just beaten a stage-three cancer in 1997. He was the rider with most Tour the France wins.

In 2012, the Court of Arbitration for Sport disqualified Armstrong from all of his competition results since 1998, due to the use of prohibited and illegal drugs. Armstrong denied all of the accusations.

... until today, when confessed that it were the enhancing drugs, indeed, behind his incredible success. He realizes that it is too late to apologize; and he seems to be right in this case. The American people do not seem to be willing to forgive.

Obama takes action against gun violence

“I feel terrible for the parents who lost their children…I love my country and [I] want everybody to be happy and safe.” Julia, 3rd grade

“I think there should be some changes. We should learn from what happened at Sandy Hook…I feel really bad.” Hinna

“I’m not scared for my safety, I’m scared for others. I have four brothers and sisters and I know I would not be able to bear the thought of losing any of them.” Grant

The tragical school shootings that have taken place in the USA in the past years have made the U.S. law enforcement community and the wider public to seek ways for keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people.

33 days have passed since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, where 20 children and 7 staff members lost their lives. It was the second deadliest school shooting in the USA since the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007.

Today, Barack Obama, the president of the USA, announced that action that shall be taken to reduce gun violence in the USA. Among other things, Obama brought out the following actions that should make the American people feel safer in their country again:

• Requiring a universal background check for anyone trying to buy a gun;
• Banning military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines;
• Making schools safer with more school resource officers and school counselors, safer climates, and better emergency response plans;
• Increasing access to mental health services;
• Giving law enforcement, schools, mental health professionals and the public health community additional tools to prevent gun crime.

Watch the Obama's speech and him signing the directive issuing 23 executive actions to reduce gun violence:

Read the White House fact sheet about the 23 actions signed by the president.

Now, the proposals have to pass Congress to come into effect. Let's hope for the best.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security warning

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security warns computer users about the security risks caused by the recent Java updates.

Disable Java on your web browser to protect yourself from the criminals who seek to steel your credit card numbers, banking credentials, passwords etc.

Read more in the Chicago Tribune.

Learn how to disable Java in:

• Internet Explorer
• Firefox
• Chrome
• Safari
• Opera

University courses for everyone

Wondering what college Math is about? Want to take a Chomsky's lecture on linguistics or politics? Interested in learning Chinese by listening to world news in slow Chinese? Need a crash course in computer programming? Or perhaps curious about finding murderers through text messages? 

You can do all that, online, for free; simultaneously, if you wish.

More and more U.S. universities are offering Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) - online courses that are, as the name says, open to everyone for free. You don't have to be enrolled in a university, pay for studying, or even leave your home to participate in the online courses offered by dozens (if not hundreds) of U.S. universities. 

The open education movement aims at removing access barriers to education by sharing academic work online - a major breakthrough in academic communication, which has not been used to the fullest, yet. On the one hand, thanks to the MOOCs, people have access to all kinds of different courses (and the topics are Versatile, indeed); on the other hand, universities get good publicity and help their future students better prepare for university. And both sides can, potentially, find good opportunities for networking.

Just like the regular university courses, most MOOCs last for a semester and require continuous participation, including homework. Most of the courses don't offer certificates; however, there are quite a number of exceptions, depending on the university and the specific course. All of them should leave you with an invaluable experience and lots of new knowledge, though.

Not yet enrolled? Check out these websites, maybe you will find something that interests you (and chances are that you will): 

• Open Culture - links to 650+ courses 
• Coursera - 210+ courses by 33 universities
• Saylor.org - 270+ courses by the Saylor Foundation
• edX - Harvard University & MIT initiated online course enterprise
• Udacity - outgrowth of the Stanford University free online computer science classes 
• CK-12 - primary and secondary education courses
• Khan Academy - 3800+ 10min long primary and secondary education videos
• Open Tapestry - browse, share, tag online courses and other educational resources

What online courses have you taken? Or would like to take? Share your experiences!

Welcome

This is the historical first post in the EducationUSA advising center in Tartu’s (EAC Tartu) blog. The EAC Tartu is a part of the global EducationUSA network:

EducationUSA is a network of hundreds of advising centers in 170 countries, where millions of international students each year find accurate, comprehensive, and current information about how to apply to accredited U.S. colleges and universities. The EducationUSA network is supported by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), which strives to foster mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. EducationUSA advisers and staff work with U.S. higher education professionals to promote international student enrollment.  

http://www.educationusa.info/about.php

The EAC blog aims at covering different topics related to, but not limited to, higher education in the USA, especially studying in the USA as an international student. 

The EAC Tartu shares physical space with the American Corner; thus, the two U.S. Department of State projects will try to cohabit in the virtual blog space, as well. In addition to education, you can also read about a variety of topics related to the USA and the American culture in general. 

You are more than welcome to contribute to the blog in any way you can – comment the topics, request topics that you would like to read about, post topics of your own, share links, etc. The EAC Tartu’s blog is open for all discussions on the topics related to the USA that follow the legal and social conventions related to the freedom of speech. 

The EAC Tartu is located in Estonia, a small and magical country located in the Baltic region of Northern-Europe (see more: http://estonia.eu/). The blog, however, will not be written in the country's official language, Estonian. English will be used (as much as possible, at least), so that people from all over the world could understand the discussions and participate in them.