I think my roommate got kicked out. I went into the apartment, and on the kitchen table there was this little pylon with a little loop of rope attached to it. Attached to the rope was a key card, like what we use to get in and out, and on that key card were the words "lock out" written in marker. I went down to front desk and asked if my roommate was kicked out. I described the pylon and they were all "Yeah, that's the Key of Shame." Then they asked me what room I was staying in. They looked it up, asked me my name. I told them, and they were all "Yeah, you were right. Your roommate got kicked out." They told me he still has a working keycard and that he's around somewhere.
I don't know what he could have done to get kicked out. Today I opened our room door and my name had been taken off the door. A chill ran down my spine, as I felt the implication of that was that I no longer lived there, but my roommate still did. Then I looked around and saw that almost everyone's names had been taken down, except my roommate. So it's more like he's the one with something unique happening to him.
He came back last night, and I haven't been able to catch sight of him since. I can hear him in his room, but if he's avoiding me, maybe I should give him space.
Turns out that textbook I didn't get is really pretty important. I asked someone in my class, and she said "It's for English, and kind of for everything else." English is the most important grade for my course. Stupid senior students, telling us to not to get our textbooks right off the bat, probably just so they could get to them first.
Last night was my first Friday night in Residence and I felt bad about not going out to enjoy the college scene, but I didn't know anyone and wouldn't know where to go, so I just stayed in. At first I was like "I'll stay in my room with the lights off, and everyone will think I'm out partying." Then there was some announcement that there was a Residence party in the basement. I was like "An officially recognized party, organized by staff can't be all that great. If it's anything like the activities, it'll be a bunch of people standing around and awkwardly making small talk." And then I was like "Ooh, look at mister big shot 'I have standards' when he's hiding in his room. Just check it out." Yeah, I didn't get as far as the basement before somebody pulled me into a private party. Turns out it's pretty easy to find someplace to go. Wasn't all that exciting, but now people in the building will run up and high five me or smile at me instead of flinching and looking scared like they used to. It's amazing the amount of difference standing around in a room will do.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Bought my Books
I bit the bullet and bought my books. It was weird to me, going into class unprepared, but at orientation, the senior students were saying that we shouldn't buy all our text books at once, because we wouldn't necessarily need all of them, and there might be cheaper alternatives even if we did. Even the teachers said that we wouldn't need them in the first week.
Well, it's true that we didn't need our textbooks in the first week, but each teacher made it out like their textbook was pretty freakin' necessary, and I wasn't finding any other cheaper alternatives. So I just bought them.
The lineup was insane. I've checked the lineup every day and it always stretches completely down the hall. And that's only for the opportunity to get in the store and look for your books.
Once inside it wasn't bad, though. There were signs with the names of each course and the titles of the books necessary posted throughout the store, and there was staff running around asking people if they needed help. When one girl asked me if I needed help and I told her the name of the book I was looking for, she looked at the list for my course, asked which ones I'd found, and then she went and got all three of the ones I hadn't yet found.
One of my textbooks was sold out, though. Don't really know what to do about that.
My family had one of those cell phones that you buy phone cards for, and just top up at your leisure. Last time we'd used it, I'd brought it along with me to CWY and used it to call back home a few times. We weren't using it for communication, so we didn't top it up for a long time. Well, I brought it with me to college, and I just bought a top-up card, and it doesn't work. A little research online tells me that your phone number gets deactivated if you don't top it up for 180 days. Kind of a bummer, since I thought the point of these things was that you didn't have to make any kind of payment plan. Now I feel like a cripple. Everyone has a cell phone. Even that homeless guy who was complaining about some guy stealing his weed and who threw a "testing punch" my way received a text message during the course of our interaction.
Well, I can still use this old phone as a timepiece, since I forgot my watch, and also as an alarm clock.
Yesterday, we had a meeting. It was a repeat of a meeting that happened during move-in day, but I'd missed it. I don't know how I would not have missed it, since I didn't see any effort made to notify anyone about it. My roommate missed it, too. A lot of people missed it. It was just going over the basic rules of Residence, and apparently we have a monthly meeting.
I've got a plastic wristband on that I have to wear for two weeks. During those two weeks, I cannot enter or leave residence without my wristband. If I lose it, it's a $20 fine, and if I had missed the meeting that second time, it would have been a $50 fine.
And with the motivator of that fine, it kind of troubles me how sloppy their attendance system was. I managed to get on the list, but I could imagine them easily having missed me.
Well, it's true that we didn't need our textbooks in the first week, but each teacher made it out like their textbook was pretty freakin' necessary, and I wasn't finding any other cheaper alternatives. So I just bought them.
The lineup was insane. I've checked the lineup every day and it always stretches completely down the hall. And that's only for the opportunity to get in the store and look for your books.
Once inside it wasn't bad, though. There were signs with the names of each course and the titles of the books necessary posted throughout the store, and there was staff running around asking people if they needed help. When one girl asked me if I needed help and I told her the name of the book I was looking for, she looked at the list for my course, asked which ones I'd found, and then she went and got all three of the ones I hadn't yet found.
One of my textbooks was sold out, though. Don't really know what to do about that.
My family had one of those cell phones that you buy phone cards for, and just top up at your leisure. Last time we'd used it, I'd brought it along with me to CWY and used it to call back home a few times. We weren't using it for communication, so we didn't top it up for a long time. Well, I brought it with me to college, and I just bought a top-up card, and it doesn't work. A little research online tells me that your phone number gets deactivated if you don't top it up for 180 days. Kind of a bummer, since I thought the point of these things was that you didn't have to make any kind of payment plan. Now I feel like a cripple. Everyone has a cell phone. Even that homeless guy who was complaining about some guy stealing his weed and who threw a "testing punch" my way received a text message during the course of our interaction.
Well, I can still use this old phone as a timepiece, since I forgot my watch, and also as an alarm clock.
Yesterday, we had a meeting. It was a repeat of a meeting that happened during move-in day, but I'd missed it. I don't know how I would not have missed it, since I didn't see any effort made to notify anyone about it. My roommate missed it, too. A lot of people missed it. It was just going over the basic rules of Residence, and apparently we have a monthly meeting.
I've got a plastic wristband on that I have to wear for two weeks. During those two weeks, I cannot enter or leave residence without my wristband. If I lose it, it's a $20 fine, and if I had missed the meeting that second time, it would have been a $50 fine.
And with the motivator of that fine, it kind of troubles me how sloppy their attendance system was. I managed to get on the list, but I could imagine them easily having missed me.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Raining
When I went to my first class the other day, it was raining. Guess what I hadn't prepared for? It was raining after class too, but I walked to the grocery store in the rain because I was sick of not having any groceries. Doesn't come out very exciting in writing, but it FELT important enough to write about.
I finished writing about my unpublishable Mali stories. It's an extra 13 pages. I finished them the day before my first day of classes. Kind of a nice time to put all that stuff behind me and move forward.
Three classes today, each of them two hours long. Still not as long as a day of work. My weekly class pattern goes like this: Monday, 3 classes. Tuesday, 1. Wednesday, 3. Thursday, 1. Friday, 3. Kind of scanty in comparison to high school's four classes per day. Each class is two hours long, so that's six hours of classes with a two hour break on my worst day. Better than eight hours of work with one ten minute break and one twenty minute break placed throughout.
I finished writing about my unpublishable Mali stories. It's an extra 13 pages. I finished them the day before my first day of classes. Kind of a nice time to put all that stuff behind me and move forward.
Three classes today, each of them two hours long. Still not as long as a day of work. My weekly class pattern goes like this: Monday, 3 classes. Tuesday, 1. Wednesday, 3. Thursday, 1. Friday, 3. Kind of scanty in comparison to high school's four classes per day. Each class is two hours long, so that's six hours of classes with a two hour break on my worst day. Better than eight hours of work with one ten minute break and one twenty minute break placed throughout.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
First Class
Had my first day of classes today, although it was only comprised of one class, right at the end of the day. Nice way of weaning me into this way of life, I guess. I went three hours early and found my class, and then found all my classes for the next day. Wasn't as hard as I'd thought it would be. The school's layout was kind of baffling at orientation,and I couldn't find any of my classes. This time around, I found them all inside an hour, ran into someone I met at orientation, and spent the rest of the day chatting until it was time for class.
My class was math. Apparently having a math class for this program is a new thing, and it's getting people nervous. Those in our field are not known for being good at math. What was presented to us today was clownishly easy, though. We also don't get any fieldwork, which used to be a part of this program. Since having a letter of recommendation from someone in the social services is a requirement for the SSW program, a lot of people were hoping to get that through fieldwork during the program I'm doing now. I guess this program used to be better than it is now, huh?
Did my first shopping trip. Found out that I get a 10% discount at the local Zehrs every Tuesday if I show my student card. I guess organizing the move so that your first available shopping trip would be on a Tuesday wasn't such a dumb move on behalf of the Residence after all.
I found out why it's so cold in my room. There's a vent blowing in cold air. Is it supposed to be air conditioning? For some reason, that angers me more than if it was just a natural occurence.
My class was math. Apparently having a math class for this program is a new thing, and it's getting people nervous. Those in our field are not known for being good at math. What was presented to us today was clownishly easy, though. We also don't get any fieldwork, which used to be a part of this program. Since having a letter of recommendation from someone in the social services is a requirement for the SSW program, a lot of people were hoping to get that through fieldwork during the program I'm doing now. I guess this program used to be better than it is now, huh?
Did my first shopping trip. Found out that I get a 10% discount at the local Zehrs every Tuesday if I show my student card. I guess organizing the move so that your first available shopping trip would be on a Tuesday wasn't such a dumb move on behalf of the Residence after all.
I found out why it's so cold in my room. There's a vent blowing in cold air. Is it supposed to be air conditioning? For some reason, that angers me more than if it was just a natural occurence.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Grocery Store
I found a grocery store today! But it's labour day, so it was closed. Kind of bad organization to have the move be on a Sunday, when everything closes early, followed by labour day, when everything is closed. Since I wasn't using a vehicle during my move, I only brought what I could carry on my back, which included enough food to survive for a bit, but my kitchen is still not very diverse. My roommate brought in a lot more stuff than I did, so I'm feeling a little humbled.
Now I need to find a Zellers or a Wal Mart or something. Dan said he'd bring the shower curtain, but this new guy didn't bring one. Well, maybe I'll do a Mali-style bucket shower tonight,
My roommate is older than I am! I was worried that I would be the oldest in residence (and I must still be up there) but they matched me with someone of a comparable age. He's actually only two weeks older than me.
They had that celebration today, which I thought was supposed to be yesterday. The bouncy castle was underwhelming, and the staff had difficulty drumming up enthusiasm. I scored some free food, though.
There are a lot of really nice nature trails in the area, and some scenery that will look amazing this coming Fall, when the colour changes really become prominent..
The building is pink. Did you know that sometimes prisons will be painted pink to calm down the inmates? Yeah, little nervous that this place might feel a similar need for such measures.
Also, turns out I lucked out with the room. Lots of people have the room they advertised... mini fridge and one room with two beds. This Residence building used to be a hotel, apparently, but they transformed it. I must have gotten one of the better rooms, at no extra cost. Maybe it's an age thing? My roommate got the same type of room last year, too. Nah, that wouldn't make any sense.
It's cold in my room, though. No idea why. Outside it's really hot, and the kitchen area isn't bad. But my room is frigid.
I'm catching phone signals in Mali now. Not good ones, but they're still there! Usually it stops ringing after two or three goes, but one time it reached nine rings. Nobody answered, but it's still a full signal.
Now I need to find a Zellers or a Wal Mart or something. Dan said he'd bring the shower curtain, but this new guy didn't bring one. Well, maybe I'll do a Mali-style bucket shower tonight,
My roommate is older than I am! I was worried that I would be the oldest in residence (and I must still be up there) but they matched me with someone of a comparable age. He's actually only two weeks older than me.
They had that celebration today, which I thought was supposed to be yesterday. The bouncy castle was underwhelming, and the staff had difficulty drumming up enthusiasm. I scored some free food, though.
There are a lot of really nice nature trails in the area, and some scenery that will look amazing this coming Fall, when the colour changes really become prominent..
The building is pink. Did you know that sometimes prisons will be painted pink to calm down the inmates? Yeah, little nervous that this place might feel a similar need for such measures.
Also, turns out I lucked out with the room. Lots of people have the room they advertised... mini fridge and one room with two beds. This Residence building used to be a hotel, apparently, but they transformed it. I must have gotten one of the better rooms, at no extra cost. Maybe it's an age thing? My roommate got the same type of room last year, too. Nah, that wouldn't make any sense.
It's cold in my room, though. No idea why. Outside it's really hot, and the kitchen area isn't bad. But my room is frigid.
I'm catching phone signals in Mali now. Not good ones, but they're still there! Usually it stops ringing after two or three goes, but one time it reached nine rings. Nobody answered, but it's still a full signal.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Residence
Well here I am, in Residence. The accommodations are actually pretty swell. I have a TV with like, fifty channels on it. I've got the Internet working. I've called home with my calling card, so the phone line works. We got a full-size refrigerator instead of the mini one I'd heard I was going to get. We have separate bedrooms, which I wasn't expecting.
There was no celebration, unless you count somebody putting a boombox outside and a sign that says "Welcome to residence" with balloons attached. I didn't see anything that I thought could even be interpreted as a bouncy castle. There were a couple of stations set up to help people get to their rooms, though.
My roommate isn't that Dan guy. The guy I got says he never even got a roommate notification.
I got an orientation pack. It includes:
-A water bottle
-A pack of Skittles
-A caffeinated chocolate bar
-Axe shower gel
-A map of Kitchener
-A visitor's guide to Kitchener
-A calendar magnet
-Instant coffee
-Shampoo and conditioner
-Dish soap
-Mac& cheese
-Sour cream & dill flavour potato chips
-Lip balm
-15 sticks of gum
-Face gel
-Aloe body lotion
-Regular body lotion
-Peach tea
-Frank's Red Hot Sauce
-Deodorizing body wash
From a quick walk around the general area, I don't see any grocery stores, but there's a number of inexpensive restaurants. There's a Tim Hortons, a McDonalds, a Thai/Vietnamese place, and a pizza place. Otherwise, there's just a couple of gas stations and a hardware store.
There was no celebration, unless you count somebody putting a boombox outside and a sign that says "Welcome to residence" with balloons attached. I didn't see anything that I thought could even be interpreted as a bouncy castle. There were a couple of stations set up to help people get to their rooms, though.
My roommate isn't that Dan guy. The guy I got says he never even got a roommate notification.
I got an orientation pack. It includes:
-A water bottle
-A pack of Skittles
-A caffeinated chocolate bar
-Axe shower gel
-A map of Kitchener
-A visitor's guide to Kitchener
-A calendar magnet
-Instant coffee
-Shampoo and conditioner
-Dish soap
-Mac& cheese
-Sour cream & dill flavour potato chips
-Lip balm
-15 sticks of gum
-Face gel
-Aloe body lotion
-Regular body lotion
-Peach tea
-Frank's Red Hot Sauce
-Deodorizing body wash
From a quick walk around the general area, I don't see any grocery stores, but there's a number of inexpensive restaurants. There's a Tim Hortons, a McDonalds, a Thai/Vietnamese place, and a pizza place. Otherwise, there's just a couple of gas stations and a hardware store.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Moving Tomorrow....
I'm moving into residence tomorrow. I wound up messaging them to find out which day was move-in day, not realizing that that information was in my acceptance package, or that I had received an acceptance package. When I'd learned that I was supposed to have received one, I assumed that I'd failed to get one because I was someone who had been waitlisted, and it wasn't in my roommate notification, as it was supposed to be. Turns out, my "Acceptance package" was inside that group of papers I had to fill out, which was included in the notification they sent when they asked if I wanted a spot to begin with.
I still don't know what my room number is. I asked, and they said that I will only learn on the day that I move in. They kind of said it like they were advertising it as part of the excitement. Yeah, I'm not perceiving that as a positive thing.
I contacted the driver that brought me to orientation. She's actually not sketchy at all. She's in an actual business, and I only thought she was sketchy because I'd... kind of found her through a sketchy method.
She said that she could pick me up at 9:00 AM or 5:30 PM. I thought that I'd do 5:30 because... Well, first day of residence is O-day, and there's going to be celebratory events. Honestly, I've had enough anxiety that I'll just want to settle in and avoid the obligation of partying all day. Oh, I am so old.
But I contacted them and they said that the moving in times take place between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM, so it looks like I'm going to have to get up bright and early, grit my teeth, go in and party. Apparently there's going to be a bouncy castle constructed for adult use...
I don't really know what their move-in format is going to be like, but I keep reminding myself that I know my survival skills are better than most people's my age, and a lot of these guys won't even have had time to hone their survival capacity. If they can do it, I can do it. It doesn't matter if there's someone better than me. If I can beat the lowest common denominator of people just graduated from high school, I'm solid.
I still don't know what my room number is. I asked, and they said that I will only learn on the day that I move in. They kind of said it like they were advertising it as part of the excitement. Yeah, I'm not perceiving that as a positive thing.
I contacted the driver that brought me to orientation. She's actually not sketchy at all. She's in an actual business, and I only thought she was sketchy because I'd... kind of found her through a sketchy method.
She said that she could pick me up at 9:00 AM or 5:30 PM. I thought that I'd do 5:30 because... Well, first day of residence is O-day, and there's going to be celebratory events. Honestly, I've had enough anxiety that I'll just want to settle in and avoid the obligation of partying all day. Oh, I am so old.
But I contacted them and they said that the moving in times take place between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM, so it looks like I'm going to have to get up bright and early, grit my teeth, go in and party. Apparently there's going to be a bouncy castle constructed for adult use...
I don't really know what their move-in format is going to be like, but I keep reminding myself that I know my survival skills are better than most people's my age, and a lot of these guys won't even have had time to hone their survival capacity. If they can do it, I can do it. It doesn't matter if there's someone better than me. If I can beat the lowest common denominator of people just graduated from high school, I'm solid.
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