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

My Egg Breakfast

I again decided to eat breakfast in the kitchen area. Not only that, but I cooked this morning so there was more of a chance of someone coming in so I could meet other people in my flat. No luck though. I really was hoping as I was making my eggs and bread (we don't have a toaster) and stirring my instant coffee (worst thing in the world, but I got some sugar yesterday and it's a little better) that someone would walk in in their PJ's and we would get to talking about things which would make me late for registering for my Art History and Philosophy classes. I really was. I don't want to knock on peoples' door and say, "Hi, I'm Erin in room B!" It would just be a little weird if they didn't share the same enthusiasm about meeting people in the flat. Soon though, soon.

Anyway, I am making an effort at least and now I must shower and get ready to find the Divinity Library. I'm really getting into the swing of things here though there are still a few things that I think I need. But everything will fall into place by the time classes start next week.

Proud

Today I registered for my classes and spoke with Ms. McGonigle. That was exciting! :)

So far I'm taking

Gaelic Language 1A* (it's pronounced Gah-Lick by the way.)
Introduction to Art History
Introduction Philosophy
English Reading/Writing*
Controversial Classics*
Celtic History*

Tomorrow I start getting my times set up and in order. I really can't wait to start learning Gaelic! The courses with the * next to them are courses that I need to take because they pertain to my degree. The other two are just fun courses to fill in credits. As soon as I know my complete schedule I'll let you know exactly what I'm taking.

Also, I met people today! I met these two guys who were also in line for the International Student Registration and ID cards. They're both American too! We talked for quite a bit. One of them is from Maine and the other from Michigan. I actually hope to see them around (stupid me forgot to get contact info again) because they were very nice and I think it would be nice to have some American friends while I'm here. Not that I'm going to try harder to meet other people. But I can talk baseball with them!

In an effort to meet people I went to the Freshers' Fair today. There I signed up to help on the student team for Fair Trade and I also signed up fro Ju Jitsu and Thai Chi. The last two cost a bit of money but! I also talked to a woman at the AUSA (Aberdeen University Student Association) about getting a job so I could have a little more spending money.

You know what else I did? I moved all of my kitchen stuff into the kitchen! Finally! And I ate breakfast in there this morning and actually cooked dinner in there tonight! I didn't talk to anyone, but there was still a chance that someone would walk in and I would talk to them. I also know that there are people in both rooms A and D. I am in B which leaves 2 rooms that I'm still not sure of.

How do I know that there are people in those two rooms. The boys next to me are being a little loud right now (I think they might be a little tipsy) and I heard music from room D this morning.

Besides all of that stuff I figured out the wash room and washed my sheets and towels. I realized that I'm going to need more coins to do more laundry. You'd think they would have a coin machine in there, but no. I also walked farther this afternoon than before. I was trying to find the mall to get a rain coat, but I must have made a wrong turn or something because I couldn't find it. But on my way back I stopped into Morrison's again to check again for an umbrella and guess what I found! An umbrella!!!! Finally! I also decided to get a Goose Feather Down Pillow because the two cheap ones I originally bought just aren't cutting it and were giving my back aches.

That is what I did today and I am rather proud of myself. :)

Almost Done

Woohoo! I'm almost done with everything but packing.

I booked my flight times. I'm leaving September 15 and going down to visit my first GDB puppy who is now a working Guide for day before I leave the country. I have a wonderful gift for her and her new partner for her Second birthday (which is on October 11) and I'm so glad I get to give it to them in person. It'll be a month early, but at least I won't have to leave it in a package here with orders to ship it to them on the first week of October. Now I know that it'll get to them. :) Anyway, then I leave from there on the 17th and arrive in Aberdeen on the 18th.

And since I've made my travel plans I was able to book my seat on the free shuttle from the airport to the school on welcome weekend. They wanted flight numbers and arrival times and all that, so I was finally able to do that.

I've also almost finished registration. The UA has this interesting eRegistration page with the school crest in the middle. You click on the four separate corners of the crest to go on to a different part of eRegistration. My personal details are complete. YAY! I've registered on the University online community which means I have access to all computers on campus now and have my University email address. YAY! And I've paid for the semester. Funny store there. I tried to pay GBP 9,500.00 and it wouldn't let me transfer the money from my college fund to the school and I couldn't figure out why. It was driving me crazy! I was afraid that there was no money in my account anymore (ID theft! AH!) but there was. Then I was afraid the bank card wasn't working so I went to Barnes & Nobles and bought a drink with it, so it wasn't that. Then I realized that it was GBP 9,500.00 a year not a semester and it wasn't letting my pay for the whole year. So I paid my GBP 4,750.00 with no problem! YAY! Now the only thing I have to do is register for classes. For some reason when I click on that last fourth of the crest it doesn't take me to another page. I can't figure it out so I've emailed my overseas advisor (yes, she got back to me this morning after two weeks and after I had figured out where to go and what to do) and asked her if I actually couldn't register for classes until Freshers week. I also asked her how much I still owed for my accommodations. I paid the deposit, but I can't find out how much I still owe and that's a problem.

Now all I have to do is pack. I don't know if I'm emotionally ready to do that just yet. But my step-mom gave me a good idea. She said I should pack two things a day until the week before. That way the bulk is out of the way and I start slowly. I like the idea and will probably start today.

It's hard to imagine that in less than a month I'll leave my childhood town and move on to my "adult" life. Hey! I still sleep with a teddy bear. I can't be that grown up just yet. ;)

Packing and Registering and Flight Times Oh My!

So, I'm still deep in the packing process. I'm not getting rid of a lot of books so I asked if I could set up my bookcases and books in the spare bedroom and got the ok. So they won't be in boxes for the next few years. My luggage should come in any day now and as soon as it does I'm going to start packing up my warmest clothes and figure out what articles are ready to go on to the next person. I think I'll keep most of my shorts here and only take one or two pairs. What else? Hmm...Well, I'm going to soon buy sheets for my dorm room and a few pots and pans because they don't provide those over there for me.

I tried to register online for classes yesterday and that didn't work. So I emailed my overseas advisor and she hasn't gotten back to me. That probably means I won't hear from her until Monday, or I guess Sunday late. That's ok with me as long as get my classes all taken care of before I leave in a month.

My plane tickets are proving a bit of a hassle. My mom said that she could come with me to help me move in which is great, but she will have already started school and we're trying to find times that will work for both of us. Her boss is only letting her miss two days, three if there's a delay. I of course would love to leave from here so that I can go to my friends open house on Thursday. She's getting married and I'm bummed I can't attend the ceremony so I would really love it if I could go to the open house. But that means that my mom would have to take a train up here. I wouldn't mind leaving early, but she can't and says that she wouldn't mind leaving Thursday evening from LAX, but I would be thinking the whole time "I could be at K's open house to wish her well." And I really want to arrive on the 18th for welcome weekend so that there is someone there to get me to the school. Maybe I will leave that Thursday so I can take the shuttle to school without my mom. I stand a better chance at talking to classmates if she isn't there with me. I don't know...but I'm freaking out man!