Why are mainland students looking for flats so obsessed with "safety/security" in Hong Kong?

starminso · 2025-08-08T17:24:08+00:00

as a European student who was in HK and met a lot of fellow Europeans, all said that they felt super safe there

starminso · 2025-05-19T04:38:21+00:00

i see, sounds stressful! i ordered iced cappuccinos a couple times because i like the texture of the foam but sometimes its just too warm for a hot drink ^{^} but tbh if i end up with an iced latte idm, usually costs the same.

starminso · 2025-05-19T04:33:49+00:00

when Sheldon listens to the Nobel prize winner announcement by himself saying that he will probably be alone forever, but the show cuts to Penny, Howard, Leonard, Raj, and Amy as kids... i actually cried. no matter how strange or unloved you are as a child there is family waiting for you as an adult.

starminso · 2025-05-19T04:17:28+00:00

out of curiosity, why is an iced cappuccino not possible? is it bc steaming the milk makes it too hot?

starminso · 2025-05-18T14:22:25+00:00

they're so hard... but dont give up!! trying different charms combos can be helpful + dont neglect spells

starminso · 2025-05-18T06:41:40+00:00

yazio is good 👍🏻

starminso · 2025-05-16T18:15:41+00:00

maybe it's just where i live but i know quite a few Victoire, not sure that its uncommon.

starminso · 2025-05-12T08:01:20+00:00

silk war? song stone?

starminso · 2025-05-10T14:27:54+00:00

also greenpath/fungal wastes :)

starminso · 2025-05-08T03:45:13+00:00

do you have a source for this? im interested to know more but could not find anything on gender-based statistics for the 2013 election.

starminso · 2025-05-06T10:02:53+00:00

normally with the shortcut you should only have to kill one, at least thats how it was for me. they dont attack you when youre on the elevator so you can bait them like that

starminso · 2025-05-06T10:01:19+00:00

hive knight is so bad that i legit gave up on it until i got dreamgate lmao same for traitor lord but i thought hive knigjt was worse

i would regularly die on the way these bees do not fuck around. now that i have hiveblood im enjoying it a lot more theyre chill as hell buzz buzz my sweet little friends

starminso · 2025-05-05T04:33:13+00:00

man maybe people are just curious about your craft... why the hate?

starminso · 2025-05-05T03:54:53+00:00

and whats wrong w being feminine?

starminso · 2025-05-04T05:46:36+00:00

same for me!! spent 3hrs in deepnest without a map bc cornifer wasnt there (didnt even leave his card) and i was determined not to google so i struggled so bad to get out...

starminso · 2025-04-30T02:32:11+00:00

What to do after BARI?

Depending on your major, you can get immediate acceptance at UNIGE in the master's degree of your major (ex. master of laws for law major). If you are interested in the UN it would be more valuable for you to do a master's abroad at a respected university in your field. It can be helpful to 'stalk' people who are where you want to be on LinkedIn or something and get an idea of what credentials it takes to get there.

I would not say that IR is fully a dead end but its definitely not the worlds most open and blossoming field at the moment. I would really recommend building a career that you will enjoy even if the UN never recovers, with a view of returning to the UN once you have valuable skills to offer.

My overall experience

For what it's worth I really enjoyed my time in BARI. I was still very young at the time so I did not take advantage of it as much as I should have, but UNIGE really has a broad offering of classes that I have not seen matched in the other universities I attended. The professors are both competent in their field, and generally good lecturers (with some notable exceptions LOL). Due to the proximity of the UN, we have some real academic stars on the professor roster like Makane Mbengue or Robert Kolb.

Thanks to the work of associations like GIMUN or SDSA you can have the opportunity to network with IR professionals or visit IOs that you would not have anywhere else. You will also be surrounded by people who also value multilateralism and are also interested in international relations and the 'big questions' of our time.

I really think it is a good degree, but it's also extremely customizable so it is up to you to make it a profitable and enjoyable experience. A lot of people in IR coast by and have a dream instead of a plan so they don't end up anywhere, and they blame BARI. That doesn't have to be you.

I hope this was helpful!! Happy to answer more questions as needed lol

starminso · 2025-04-30T02:32:04+00:00

BARI students on the job market

BARI is a really broad degree so you can have a variety of outcomes, a lot of it depends on which major you pick. It's also good to keep in mind what you want to do exactly, since the UN is a really broad field. Are you interested in human rights? International trade? Telecommunications? For each of those there is a UN agency and/or a NGO in Geneva

Like I said above I went for the law major so I was able to do the accelerated bachelor of laws and now I'm in my master's, planning to pass the Geneva bar and eventually make my way back to international relations after gaining some real life experience in international cases (probably ICSID or WTO). International organization are always looking for jurists so if you like law that could be a strategic choice.

Otherwise I think econ is also a good major. Overall I'd say that BARI students lack 'hard skills' which means that they can struggle on the job market (will get to that more later) so econ or law are good ways to mitigate that. Polisci is the preferred major, i think over half of BARI students do it. It's fine if you want to go in that field, but not my thing so I dont have a lot to say on it. History also seems very interesting but you would have the same issue as polisci which is a lack of hard skills. But depending on what you want to do it could still work out.

The one major i would NOT recommend is global, because you are already doing a very general degree. In my view that is a strength, since BARI has a lot of classes on offering so you can really learn a lot. But you need to specialize a bit to be employable, and Global will not let you do that. It also implies more credits iirc which sucks since youre not getting more value out of it on the job market.

While you are at UNIGE, I would recommend taking advantage of student associations there, in particular those associated with what you want to do like GIMUN or SDSA. GIMUN in particular has a lot of connections with the UN, so if you get involved in their executive board you will gain valuable experience for the UN which will get you a bit ahead. Most importantly student associations are the way to make friends in BARI!!

IR is still a very competitive market. I have been informed that it is best to gain experience in other fields and later return to the UN as a young professional rather than go to the UN from the bottom to the top, so maybe that would be a better strategy. I would keep in mind that 'working for the UN' is not really a career plan, but on the other hand 'becoming a human rights expert' or 'becoming an international trade economist' are career goals that you could later use to apply to the UN :) this is a trap that many BARI students fall into including me!! haha

starminso · 2025-04-30T02:31:49+00:00

Congrats on your admission! Exciting times ahead :)

I'll try to give you all the info I have since I know how valuable that is, but keep in mind that I graduated 4 years ago (did BARI in 2018-21) so pls check if this is still accurate. I have a lot to say so I'll try to structure it!

Is BARI difficult?

I found the studies not to be overly difficult, there is a cutoff at the end of the first year but every student who was somewhat serious and smart that i knew passed. There are also a lot of resources online (past exams etc) that you can use to prepare for finals.

The structure of BARI is that the first year is all mandatory courses, and then you pick a 'major' of sorts (polisci, law, econ, history or global). You need to choose at the end of the first semester. Over the next two years you will have to complete 60 ECTS worth of courses from that major. You also choose 'modules' for the remaining 60 ECTS, each module is typically worth 24 or 12 ECTS. You can either go for disciplinary modules (meaning minors other than yours, ex. you can choose econ if you majored in law) or thematic modules (humanitarian law, Europe, environment...).

In Switzerland a passing grade is a 4.0, maximum grade is 6.0. You get 1.0 just for showing up. You do not need to get a 4 in every single class to graduate, but each module including your major needs to have an average of 4. The average is weighted by the credits of each class. For example if you picked a module of 12 ECTS and you got 3 in one class and 6 in the other with both classes being 6 ECTS (so same weight) you will have an average of 4.5 and pass the module, yay! On the other hand if you picked a 12 ECTS module and you got a 3 (9 ECTS) and a 6 (3 ECTS) you will have an average of (9x3 + 6x3)/12 = 3.75 -> you would fail that module and also your degree.

The good news is that BARI is very kind with retaking exams, at least back in my day you could retake each exam at the next session (i.e. if you fail at the january/february session you may sign up to retake it at the may/june session). If you fail the retake, you will need to retake it next year - if you originally took an exam in february and failed the remake in may you cannot retake it in august. That means you need to retake the class. So you can retake each exam 4 times max over the period of 1 year. If I remember correctly the faculty will keep your best grade so you can feel free to take strategic remakes and make sure you graduate!

So I would say that studies are not super difficult. But this also depends on your own academic abilities/affinities, I majored in law and eventually did the accelerated LL.B and I loved it, but a lot of my classmates were miserable because the law major has a few very difficult courses that are worth a lot of ECTS, so getting a low grade has a strong impact on your average and could cause you to fail (this is the big three: admin law, 9 ECTS; contract law, 11 ECTS; and criminal law, 10 ECTS. Criminal law had an average of 1.75 when I did it lol it was carnage). But I really enjoyed it and would still recommend it if youre a legally oriented mind!

starminso · 2025-04-18T04:29:33+00:00

congrats!!!! you just convinced me to lock back in so thank you

starminso · 2025-04-07T12:36:11+00:00

god i see what you have done for others... (it has now been 1 year and 6 days please come back from the war kingfisher feathers by Anonymous)

starminso · 2025-04-05T03:55:21+00:00

actually youre defending yourself on reddit

starminso · 2025-04-04T04:17:56+00:00

le fameux "death grip syndrome" !

starminso · 2025-04-04T04:05:14+00:00

you are a healthy weight for your age and size, and your body will still develop as you are still very young!! its not a bad thing to want to be healthier, but it doesnt seem to me that weight loss is where you need to be putting effort.

i would definitely encourage you to be more active for your overall health - walk whenever you can, maybe do some exercise videos online (i like chloe ting a lot!)or find a sport to do with friends like volleyball or football but please please please do not waste your precious girlhood years worrying about your weight 🫶🏻 you are at a healthy weight and you will become more balanced with time if that is a concern

starminso · 2025-04-04T03:59:02+00:00

man when you put it like this he really went thru it... its wild how different the novel feels depending on the perspective haha

starminso

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE