Fresher's Week

This past week I have been a very busy bunny. Fresher's week has been quite busy this year...probably because last year I was the scared, little sheet wondering around the "fayres" not knowing what to do or where to go and being mauled by people handing fliers and information cards and what not. This year I was the person mauling scared, little sheep with fliers and information cards.

My week started Sunday when the rolplaying association committee got together and realised that we hadn't done anything for Fresher's Society Fayre except make vague plans. So, we got the rest of the day off after the meeting (because we had already set up some board game and movie time!) then promised that we would get some work done! Which we did. Marlene and I headed down to the hobby store to buy black crape paper and silver spray paint on Monday. Tuesday was a pretty busy day. First I helped Jamie on some poster ideas then went to campus to print out big letters and work more on poster ideas and then Marlene came over and we all made a big sign out of the black paper and silver spray paint. Not only did we make the sign that said "AURA ROLEPLAYING" we also made two silver shields with the dragon we've come to think of as our crest. Then we all stayed up late into the night printing fliers and posters. Wednesday was the fayre and started out with me having to go print more fliers early in the morning due to a misspelling. Then we all worked the fayre from 9am-3pm. Mostly I was either walking around handing out fliers and directing people to our booth or running back and forth from the print room. I did take a small break due to a stomach ache and dizziness (I think I didn't eat enough). That night was the society pub quiz for new people. Thursday was a little more of a break, but Marlene, Lisa, Amy and I all went to buy food for the give it a go sessions and I made cookies, entered emails into the list and sent out some reminder emails to people who were not lucky enough to happen by the booth when we still had fliers. Friday I ran down to campus early to print reminder posters and put them up all around campus. I had an hour's break before give it a go and board gaming which lasted from 2pm-10pm. This morning I volunteered with Guide Dogs taking donation in the city center and then did board gaming with new people from 5:30-8:30 (it went until 10 but I was too tired).

Did I mention that between all of this I had a Tier 4 Visa Check and my advisor meeting (which deserves its own post due to all the hassle)? And that I have been living on one meal a day and crisps and biscuits in the afternoon for the past week? And that the electricity here shorted out my facial brush? And that I found out I have a lecture right at the time of puppy class and will have to figure out how to get things settled with the person in charge? There are a few words that describe me right now; broken, dead, stressed, sleepy, annoyed, etc. You take your pick and that's probably me. But I think one word sums all of it up.

EXHAUSTED!

Good Night! My week isn't over until Tuesday when I can stop stressing but until then...*bites nails* see you later.

A Week Back

I've been back a week now and it's been...well, it's been interesting to say the least. I won't say that it's been my favourite week in the world. Aberdeen gave me a different welcome home than I was expecting, but at least I'm back home.

Last night I was watching "Frasier" in my new living room and one of the characters said something that really made sense seeing what's happened this past week. The quote was, "people suck." Now, I've always tried to believe that there is a little good in everyone, but I'm not so sure anymore. Maybe some people are just bad. Maybe they weren't born bad I don't really know, but something happened in their life that took the good out. *sigh* I won't go into details about what happened, but it wasn't a fun night and it hasn't led to fun days. Fun jokes maybe, but not so much fun times. Ah, well. The time has passed and everyone and everything is getting better. Including me.

I was helped along with this by a large box I received a few days ago. I wasn't expecting anything (besides my pictures and DVD of Rocco's graduation from GDB) so I was really surprised when a very large box arrived. I opened it a wouldn't you know it!? someone sent me flowers. Alright, before you start getting ideas in your head it was my father. So not as exciting as all that, but still, it's a really pretty house plant and definitely something that our flat needed. Now what it needs is pictures on the wall and possibly another sofa since we are taking turns of lounging on it at the moment.

Well, that's all for now. I'll let you know if anymore people start going bad.

Advisor and Registration and Degrees, Oh My!

So, after the excitement of last night and the warm welcome that Aberdeen provided me, I decided to settle down today and buy a few things that I needed for my room and look for emails regarding my degree change. I'm changing my degree from a double honours in English/Celtic Studies to English/Psychology and have been trying the better part of two months to get this switch complete. I have emailed two separate people twice about this and one person hasn't emailed me back and from the other I found out that I haven't been assigned an advisor of studies for this year nor has a registration appointment been made with that advisor because I have no advisor to have an appointment with.

The University here is a little different than the Universities in America. In America the Universities have you register for your classes in the spring before your next fall semester. Here we register with our advisers the week before classes start. We don't run into a lot of problems of getting into the courses that we want because there isn't usually a full class for first and second year courses since they are all held in very large lecture halls.

Now, how does this all connect together? Well, the astute of you out there will realise that if we register for classes with our advisor of studies at our meeting at the beginning of the year and I don't have an advisor or registration meeting then I can't register for classes. I wish that was the end of it because that's really an easy fix of going to the University on Monday and seeing different people in different offices about why I don't have an advisor and why a meeting hasn't been set up. But! It's never that easy. Here's the other thing this means. I'm trying to switch degrees to a degree subject that's very sequential. So, it's possible that because I only did Psychology second semester that I would have to take first semester level one and two Psychology this term. But I don't know that until someone emails me back and if I'm suppose to email my advisor of studies to find out what to do and what I need to take but I don't have an advisor then how am I suppose to find out how to switch degrees of even if my degree will switch? *sigh* I suppose it can't ever be an easy fix.

My solution is to go into the University on Monday, get them to give me an advisor and an appointment, and then email that advisor about switching degrees right away. Sounds like a good idea to me. Now, on to the rest of my quiet night in my flat. No more going out for late nights for a while for me.

Peace People,
Erin

Home Again

As you may have guessed from the title I am finally back in Aberdeen. The flights were pretty uneventful which is how I liked my flights. The car drive from my mom's place to LAX was more eventful that the flights (then again, it was LA traffic at 3:30 in the afternoon). Basically the flights went like this;

Get to the airport, argue with mom over which terminal I was suppose to be in, go to wrong terminal, walk outside and around to right terminal, argue with mom over whether I can go straight to the counters to check in bag, go straight to counter to check in back anyway, take 2 pounds of clothes out of bag, check in bag, hug mom goodbye, go through security, wait at gate for 2 hours, board flight, talk to man sitting next to me about divorces and psychology, sleep, get off first plane, take terminal bus to the next terminal, go through immigration, go through security, wait at gate for an hour, discover that flight has been delayed 20 minutes, take a survey while waiting, board plane, read, sleep, get off, claim bag, get taxi and go home.

There are a lot of steps involved in flying anywhere, but really it was an easy travel day. There were no problems with my seats or getting the vegetarian meal. They didn't charge me extra for my bag being slightly overweight. We didn't sit on the runway for hours before actually taking off and my bag was the first one out on the baggage claim. I didn't have to wait in a ridiculously long line for a taxi. There wasn't even any traffic from the airport to my flat. The whole travel thing went very smoothly. So smooth that it actually unnerves me a little.

But, now I'm home trying to get my new room in order. At least I have a few weeks to get everything sorted out before classes start. I need a mattress topper, an extension cord, a bedside table, a pencil holder, some pictures...

In the Sky Again...

Well, it's almost time for me to say good bye to California. I got into LA yesterday by bus and train and spent this time with my mother. We'll be leaving for LAX in about two hours to get me there by 5:00pm (LA traffic is not something I took into consideration when I booked my tickets). Summer is almost over, but at least I'll have a few weeks at home before school starts. The down side? I already miss my zoo back home.

Good Bye America. I'll be seeing you again soon...ish.

Packing Begins for Real

Today's adventure is the scariest one I've faced so far;

Packing for Real

I know, I know, I know. I said a few days ago that I was starting to pack, but what I meant really was that I was organizing myself to start packing. I really started packing today. My suitcase is half full and I'm really thinking I'm going to have to leave a few things here. Maybe a few books or some of my shorts that I probably won't be using in the land of the rain. I don't know really. I suppose I'll just have to see what happens when I get all my stuff shoved into my suitcase.

I leave here for LA on Tuesday. Do you know what that means? I only have one more day to pack! AH!

Vets and Catan

Yesterday I got super busy and didn't get a chance to post my adventures for the day. It was a pretty...hectic isn't the right word, but it definitely was busier than I would have liked it to be.

Vet Visit and Catan

So, my first adventure was a spontaneous vet visit courtesy of my Golden girl, Arwen. Now Arwen is the love of my life and I can't imagine what it would be like not to have her around. She's technically the "family dog" but everyone knows that Arwen is really mine. She loves everyone, but I've been the one taking care of her in everything but money since she was a year and a half. Arwen is now nine and a half years old. That's not terribly old, but she's still considered a senior dog. So yesterday morning when I woke up and Arwen wasn't putting any weight on her left leg and didn't want to eat standing up and didn't want to move at all I went into panic mode. We decided that since yesterday was not only Friday, but the Friday before a long weekend, that we should take her in. That duty left to me (not that I wouldn't have gone anyway) so I took her early afternoon.

Our vet loves Arwen, but it's really hard not to love Arwen. She felt all up and down her leg and had Arwen walk and felt her leg some more. She couldn't feel anything wrong with Arwen's leg (no swelling or broken things) so Arwen was prescribed pain meds for a week and I was instructed to tell my parents to bring her back in if she was still limping.

Arwen is fine this morning...I think she's faking so she can try and get me to stay. She knows what the "suitcase" means.

After the vet I had a few friends (Lilly and Fiona) over to play Catan. It was like a last board game before I left. This was their first time playing Catan so I did win, but they both gave a really good game. I know I'm going to miss those two when I get back as much as I missed them last year. But I certainly am ready to get back to Aberdeen.

4 days and counting...