So Many Things to Say and So Little Time

So I'm in Newfoundland, and finally starting to settle in.  It feels almost like home now, especially since I've more or less set up my room.  To be honest, for the first couple of weeks I felt really out of place.  I always felt invisible at home so when people started to notice and talk to me here I felt very uncomfortable.  However, I've met a few people that I really feel comfortable with and I've even gone to watch a movie with them.  Here's an even more amazing thing, I've begun to wear make-up.  Of course, have a room mate, and multiple female friends on my floor, it was bound to happen eventually.

As for dorm life, it's not as bad as everyone says it is.  First of all I'm on the quiet floor so even if there are a few drunks who are making noise, they are sent away.  Also, I like all of the people who live on my floor, well there is that annoying guy, but aside from him I like everyone.  It's come to the point that I just leave my door open (except for when I'm in the middle of studying or sleeping) and my dorm mates just walk in make themselves at home and eat my food.  In return I am welcome to walk into their rooms and eat their food.  It works out very well, and I'm really beginning to enjoy my life here.

I've found a few shops that I like.  I took the wrong bus by accident and ended up going all around the downtown shopping area.  Since it was safer for me to just ride the loop I decided to look out the window and take note of some of the shops.  The two that really interested me were the Newfoundland Weavery and the Bead Addict.  For those of you who don't know, I love to make braclets and necklaces out of beads, and I also enjoy weaving, though I've only done some inkle weaving.  So I do believe that I will head out there some time.  I heard that the weavery even gives classes and sells everything you need to weave, looms, threads, shuttles, everything!

I get to wear this beautiful thing every Tuesday, nothing like 

showing house spirit!!

I have also decided to volunteer for several things.  The first thing I signed up for I'm really excited about!  The organization is called Beagle Paws and it takes in abandoned beagles so they can have new homes.  I have been put on office shifts.  Basically for 3-6 hours a week (depending on my schedule and the need) I will be in the office playing with the dogs, feeding them, cleaning up after them and giving them baths.  I also get to spend an extra hour each week walking a group of dogs.  It's a great way to get some exercise have fun and see more of the city.  I have also joined MUNhopes, which fundraises to help victims of natural disasters.  They also send off a group of students every year to another country and that group helps to install water purifiers, build houses and teach kids English.  I'm also a part of Burke Cares which is a house run charity that fundraises for the food bank and sets up bottle drives to help the community and students living in Burke house.  I'm also going to check out an overseas program.  I can't remember what it's called at the moment, but I can earn credits while teaching English, setting up fresh water supplies, or working on elephant conservation.  So I'm going to be very busy, but it's going to be fun!!

That brings me to church.  The church I am attending is filled with very kind people.  The minute I walked in there I felt welcomed and the pastor teaches about things that I agree with.  Even better than that though is the bus they send to pick me up and bring me back after.  The bus driver is very nice and tries to let me know about the places that we drive past.  There is also another great thing that she is willing to do.  Apparently every Sunday she works at the mall right after she drops me off so she told me that f I ever wanted to be dropped off there instead she would be happy to do so.  I think that I might just plan my shopping trips around that.  Of course I'd have to take the Metrobus back to the university, but that's not so bad, and if worse comes to worse I can walk back, it just takes a while.

Well that's all I have to say for now.  I'm starting to feel at home, my classes are going well, and I have a nice room mate.  Since I have nothing important to say, I'm going to leave it at that.  Thanks for reading and checking up on me, type to you later! 

Dorm Life, Classes, Pudding, a Bleeding Finger and Church

So  have been in my dorm for over a week now and have discovered many things.  First of all there are many people here who like to drink especially on Friday nights.  I wouldn't mind if it wasn't for the fact that it stinks like beer in the halls and many people like to bang on doors to try and get more people to drink.  Of course there are also people who do not think that "I don't drink" and "I'm underage" are good enough reasons to stay away from the bar.  Thankfully the staff on my floor is very strict and extremely nice.  If I am really having problems she will kindly kick them to one of the other floors or have the escorted out of the building.

Of course dorm life is not the only thing I have in university.  I have already had to switch some classes, and so now I have class from 9am-5pm everyday.  Not fun.  Obviously not all of those hours are taken up by lectures, but there are always three hour labs, two hour tutorials, and at least three hours of studying.  I have already had a quiz, and it was in Latin....For those of you who know how I did on French tests, I'm sure that you can imagine the pain that I suffered while doing the quiz.  Actually, the real pain was in the studying, mostly because I fell asleep in class on Friday and forgot that there was a test on Tuesday.  Not the best way to start off university, but I blame jet-lag.

The food here.....that is a very dangerous topic.....In all honesty it isn't too bad, especially considering you don't have to make it yourself!  The best thing about the dining hall is that there are many options.  There is a breakfast area that is open all day, a sub place that is open at lunch, an Italian style lunch and dinner place, a grill that serves the typical greasy cafeteria food, a vegetarian spot, and a desserts table.  I have tired to eat at every place at least once and try almost everything that is served.  So far I have found out that I can never become vegetarian, fish doesn't like me, the burgers are disgusting, the fries are decent, the Italian food smells good (haven't been able to go there yet), and the pudding is okay.  Of course I have no right whatsoever to judge the consistency of the pudding, as a few of you may know, my parents most of all, but it just tasted a bit off.  Then again it was the first time I have eaten caramel pudding in at least three years, so it is possible that I just forgot what it is supposed to taste like.

Last of all, yes I have a bleeding finger, which is odd because I rarely bleed.  It started with a hang nail peeling back too far and then it just kept bleeding!!!!  I finally broke down and put a band-aid on it though that was only because blood kept getting on my work. 

Now that you have way too much information, let's go on to a nicer topic.  I went to church on Sunday.  I decided to check out Westend Baptist Church, and I'm really glad that I did.  The pastor was very straight forward and directly said that if you don't have a foundation in Christ you aren't a true Christian.  There are very few pastors who would dare to sat that, and yet this one did which made me very happy.  Also, I was exhausted from going to Subway at 11pm, and I didn't fall asleep during the sermon, so it was most definitely interesting.  Of course the best thing about nay Chruch is that they usually have a meal or some snacks after the service.  Being that Sunday was the first service after the start of university there was a giant welcome picnic!!!  This was very nice as I only get two meals on Saturday and Sunday.  My room mate has now graciously allowed me to use her fridge to store some milk so I can have breakfast, but last week I didn't have that so I was very glad that there was food.  I also made some friends with other university students, all of which were a good three years older than me,  but at least I have some people to talk to. 

Speaking of people to talk to, I have noticed that after the first initial shock of moving, I have become much more open to talking with people I don't know.  I've even gained enough confidence that I am going to volunteer for Let's Talk Science.  For those who don't know what LTS is, it's an organization that lets university students go to elementary and high schools and lead demonstrations, judge science fair projects, give a tour of a labratory, and other such activities that get kids excited about science.

So that's all that I have to say, and now I must go to Latin!!!! 

My First Day in St. John's and in Residence

So I made it!!!  I got no sleep whatsoever on the plane and so by the time six o'clock hit (and I'm speaking in Newfoundland time) I was about to pass out!!! 

To start at the beginning, I landed in St. John's an hour later than expected as there had been a thunderstorm in Calgary and so my plane had to wait for a gate to be available.  The flight itself was very long and boring, mostly because I couldn't sleep but was surrounded by people who could.  Thankfully it was eventually over and I made my way to baggage claim.  The only reason I even knew what direction to go was because there was no one else in the airport and so I followed the rest of the passengers.  After I got my bags, which were there and in near perfect condition, I made my way toward the pay phones.  After calling my parents (which made me cry) I went to the font door to see if there was any way for me to get a taxi.  After standing for what seemed like an eternity, I saw that there was a taxi waiting right outside!!  As soon as I walked outside the taxi driver asked me if I needed a ride and right after I said yes he took my bags and put them in the trunk for me.

He then drove me to the wrong side of the building I needed to go to because instead of reading the directions on the paper I gave him he insisted on looking at a map.  This ended up being a good thing because the dorm staff took pity on me and allowed me to put my stuff in my room, they even carried it there for me!  After that I got to stand in line for over an hour just so I could stand in another line and be done the actual process in under five minutes.  That was not fun, but I did get to meet some girls and we had a nice chat.  All of that was just so I could get my student ID and my food card. 

After that I attempted to have a nap but I was really tired and so I cried for a good ten minutes until I got bored of that and decided to unpack some stuff so I could have a nap with a blanket.  First of all, there was a lot of unpacking which took about a half hour (because I couldn't just leave the suitcase on the floor half empty I had to finish it) .  Second, the blanket was a bad idea because I am in a room which does not get a breeze.  Every other room that I have gone into gets a breeze, but mine doesn't. 

Oh, and just in case you are wondering, I do not have a room mate.  I'm not sure why, but I am alone in a doubles room.  This is both good and bad at the same time.  It's good because I don't have to worry about compromising with another person, but bad because I was all alone for the first half of the day.  In the first half of the day I tried several times to have a nap but always got too hot or nervous to sleep, so instead I went shopping.  Now the only reason that I felt confident enough to do this was because the girl that escorted me to my room told me that there was a shoppers drug mart just a few minutes away.  I actually found it with no problems!  Also, I discovered that here the cross walks don't just flash a walk sign, they show a walk sign and then a timer which starts from 45 seconds, and you do not have to push a button just swipe your hand in front of a sensor.

So I bought a few things like shampoo, conditioner, facial tissues, water, cereal, eye drops, some m&m's, face scrub, some more pads(they were on sale and that way I don't have to worry for a few months), toothpaste, and band aids.  This all brought me to a grand total of $55.21.  The cool thing is that about half the things were on sale!!!  God is good!!  I also got a medium mocha ice capp from Tim Hortons because I had some small change and it sounded good.

After my little shopping trip I tried once again to sleep.  That didn't work so I unpacked the rest of my stuff.  I tried to spread my stuff out so the room didn't look so empty.  Unfortunately I don't have much stuff so it didn't really work out as well as I had originally hoped.

One creepy lookin' bunny.

The best part of the day yesterday was definitely the first years night house meeting.  It was during this meeting that I met a few girls that I can see myself one day calling friends.  In fact I discovered that there is a girl in my dorm, on my floor that also does not have a room mate and is going for bio-chemistry.  I think I may have found a good study buddy!!!  Later in the meeting we learned the house cheer, and we were told that we had to have house spirit.  Maybe I should get some of my friends to call and tell them that I show my spirit in other ways, because I doubt that they would believe me.  Oh well.  Of course, I think that I am going to like this house because the people are nice and we are the "Burke Bunnies"!!!  Ya, this used to be an all girl dorm, but that was a few years ago now.  We even got a shirt!!

There was a whole lot more, including a raffle where one guy got next semesters residence for free!!!  (My number was not called)  I could go on and on about what happened but I need to get ready for orientation soon!!  Thankfully for today's orientation the whole house is going together so I wont get lost!!!  Bye for now, I'll write more later!!!

My Last Post in BC

Well, this is my last post in British Columbia, unless my flight is cancelled because of the hurricane.  Yes, hurricane Earl is scheduled to hit Newfoundland the day I get there.  Now I'm just hoping that I get a really nice taxi driver who will help me lug my baggage into the university.  Thankfully everyone I have spoken to says that the taxi drivers are great and will help me.  I really hope that it is true.

I'm not really sure what to say.  I wish that I could have seen more people this summer and said good bye, but everyone, including myself, was just so busy that I couldn't figure out a time that suited both of us.  I was doing really well with the thought of leaving tomorrow but then it hit me that this is my last night in my apartment and the last evening that I will be able to spend with my parents.  When I thought of things that way, lets just say that I can barely see the screen right now.  On the bright side, I have many evenings with mew friends to look forward to, and I also have a bag of m&m's sitting beside me giving me comfort in the way that only chocolate can.  I was hoping to finish so many things before I left, but before I knew it there was no time left. 

I have been able to make progress in my lego creation, but I only used half my lego.  I'm hoping to do a bit more tonight, take a picture tomorrow morning, and post it next time.  Or maybe the post after that, it depends how much of my mind university takes over.  I am almost finished a book that I wanted to leave before I left, another hundred pages and I'll be done!  That makes me feel better.

I will admit that I am scared, but the more I think about it the more excited I get!  I think that I will be fine after the first month.  I also feel sorry for my room mate as I will be a complete basket case for at least the first week, but probably the first couple of weeks.  Oh well, by the looks of things I am going to a really great university and all of this will be worth it....I hope..or else this would really suck...

On the topic of universities, I am very glad that I did not go to the local university.  Not there is anything wrong with it, but there are a few things that the university is lacking, most of which has to do with student support, especially first year support.  So, I went to the university today to claim a bursary that I had received.  Now most people who received similar bursaries were actually going to the local university.  However, there is a way to get the bursary even if you are attending another university.  The scary thing is that the head of the Financial Aid and Awards office was unaware of that.  She looked at the paper and then at me then down at the paper again.  Finally she said that I had provided all the necessary documentation and that the money "should be sent to you in the mail sometime".  Wow.  In short, I have no idea if they will actually give me any money.

Well, I believe that I have exhausted all that I have to say, so now I will say good bye.
Good bye crappy apartment.
Good bye parents.
Good bye home town.
Good bye friends.
Good bye all of my wonderful teachers.
Good bye all of the teachers I wish had been more wonderful.(kidding....mostly)
Good bye to the ever changing school.
Good bye bed room.
Good bye wonderful woodland that will probably burn down before I come back.
Good bye junky old computer.
Good bye all those distant relatives I never see.
Good bye all my ancient electronics.
 Hello rest of my life!!!!