Prequel Polished

One of the BCP mornings, we did a seminar about goals, so taking into consideration their advice, I am revising mine.

NEW GOALS

1. Visit at least 5 new countries.
2. Visit out-of-the-way destinations in the U.K., including Charleston Farmhouse, Sean's castle in Wales, AP television headquarters, the Durham cathedral, etc.
3. Don't say mean things about people.
4. Understand the London bus system.
5. Send at least one postcard a week.
6. Keep rented room and bathroom tidy.
7. Don't forget to apply to summer internships (at least 8).
8. Don't use any of my parents' money.
9. Make more friends.
10. Do one thing per day of which I'm afraid.


I think those are pretty solid. The hardest one may be the London bus system... but it will also help take care of number ten!

Today was International Welcome Day and sort of orientation? I never thought I would have much good to say about TU's orientation, but I certainly appreciate it compared to this. I don't know if it is just a U.K. thing, but communication across the board was pretty bad. The staff wasn't all on the same page, and some important things were only mentioned a couple of times. One of these things was to bring your passport to enrollment, so that Kingston could identify you properly. Well, this was mentioned to us yesterday maybe once or twice. And, I realize, I am a forgetful person, but a lot of other people forgot too, such as Lea, my suite-mate. We had to go back to our house and get them, and since we decided to try walking instead of spending bus fare, it ended up taking us over two hours.

Also, it was really disheartening to have been thrown into such a huge group. There were no small group sessions, except a quick tour, which was also chaotic, and certainly nothing like the orientation groups of TU. I think I really would have benefitted from something like that, as today I wasn't very successful with the meeting new people thing.

However, I think that might change a little later. We got some brochures with a bunch of student societies listed, and there are several that look promising, the Catholics being the main one, and also a radio society, which apparently does podcasts and things. I hope I can get involved with that. There is also a cake society, a cooking society, a skateboarding society, a creative writing society and a wine society, all of which are somewhat intriguing.

Also, I finally got my schedule today, and it looks like the Video and Photo Journalism class I'm taking is more like a lab-type thing, so hopefully I'll be able to make friends there. I have to change my schedule up a bit though, if I can, since right now the day I have with no classes is Wednesday, which really puts a damper on weekend travel plans.

Anyhoo. I think I'm going to go brave the kitchen downstairs, since I just bought groceries.
...Or I might just eat another banana.

Peace.

C