managed to find out that in order to get a 2-year degree at Högskolan Dalarna you need a 7.5 credit “project, or thesis writing” course. upon further inquiry, the 7.5 credit course “Academic Writing” (which some people took in 3rd semester, but not me - as far as i know it just has you write a couple short essays) counts as this course, despite it not saying so. it’s also run by a different teacher than the one i’m having problems with. the swedish spring semester is almost over so i’ll have to wait until autumn to take it, BUT it means my “graduation” (with a 2-year degree) is 100% assured now.

also all those years ago i never officially applied for my AA certificate (=2-year degree, no thesis writing required unless normal english class counts) from my american community college so i’ve emailed them now asking if it’s possible for me to get it despite me not knowing my old student number and everything. i have a feeling they’ll want me to call them so i wrote in advance that i live in japan and calling is difficult… the only problem would be if i missed a course or they’ve changed the requirements so i don’t fulfill them, i mean it’s been like 8 years after all.

EDIT: haha shit, i'm reading about the requirements for the "Associate in Integrated Studies" (they've since changed the names for all the degrees! and made the requirement pages more confusing!) and they've now added the requirement of a "College Strategies" course which I don't have as far as i know; but it also says "to be taken within the first 30 credits of your degree". so what?? sure hope i can still get the certificate...

anyway i have now thoroughly convinced myself that together with the AA certificate and a transcript of all my grades from my swedish school, it counts as the “4-year degree or equivalent” that the immigration guys want as an ideal, and even if the swedish transcript doesn’t count because it's not a "finished degree", the AA still counts as the “2-year degree” which is the legal minimum. so as soon as i get the AA certificate i'll be applying to jobs like mad.

i’ve also (I THINK) finally figured out what the teacher for the troublesome class actually wants me to write. my classmate said for a BA paper they’re basically thinking that students are too stupid to be able to do any kind of original research so you have to instead prove that what you’re doing is NOT original; as in i have to show how my thesis idea is “actually exactly the same line of research as what has already been done” and how it’s not a new idea at all. completely ridiculous, but at least i know what i should write now…

japanese friend said “man, can’t i just adopt you and you get a ‘living with family’ VISA??” but i’m pretty sure you can’t do that so easily, eh? i’m 90% sure he was joking but i’ll research it anyway…

i also mailed in my application for the JLPT today, i'll be taking N1. i'm consistently getting 80-100% on both the grammar and reading worksheets which are specifically aimed at N1 level, you only need around 40% to pass the real test and there's still two months left until the test. my troublesome swedish class ends next month so after that i'll be free to just spend ALL my time using japanese and studying for the test, instead of sitting around too worried to focus on anything. but honestly, now that i've found out all this stuff with the AA and everything, i'm really not worried about failing this current class anymore. it'll be "nice" if i pass it, but getting the AA certificate will be the fastest method.