Welcome to UCL! (Said no one)

Today was kind of like my first day of pre-k.  Lloyd and I walked to school, knapsack on my back, cookies (sorry, biscuits) and an apple in my bag and a terrified look on my face.  He dropped me off at the Chadwick Building (otherwise known as the student center) stuck a few 20 pound bills in my pocket and told me to be a big girl.  But to be honest, my first day of pre-k went a little more smoothly. The only thing I was supposed to learn on my first day at SSA was how to make a cone out of a piece of paper, which was then filled with popcorn.  Unfortunately Jan made me share it with Rachel Sam and Mikey, which back then was quite a plight, but in retrospect I can think of way worse character building lessons than sharing some popcorn with my beloved siblings, for example, the entirety of today.

So today started out by figuring out the biatch at customs at heathrow gave me the wrong stamp on my passport.  A word to those travelling to UK this january (lo and becks mostly) make sure they give you the right stamp! It should indicate that you're a student not just a tourist.  This problem was easily solved by filling out a form that indicates to the school that I am a student on a visa... without a visa. Or something like that.  Anyways on we go.  Next was off to get my student ID card. The people at student enrolment clearly are unaware that many 20 year old jewish girls from westmount have A) 0 idea how to read a map and B) have a below average sense of direction.  So lets just say finding this mythical ID office was a bit of a struggle.  I never thought I'd say this but it made me miss Mcgill Service Point... all your university queries answered in one annoying inefficient office...
Below is a picture of the final student ID, kind of reminiscent of the 'roid days but it definitely beats out my passport picture in which I look like a russian prostitute.    

  Then it was off to register.  Now Mcgillians if I ever hear anyone complaining about Minerva I will literally smite you.  "Portico" or "shitico" as I will now refer to it makes no sense whatsoever.  It lets you register for classes on some bizarre page that they don't even explain how to get to, and it lets you register for any class you want. Sounds too good to be true? Correct.  After you submit the course codes you desire you have to travel around the maze which is this university and ask the department head if there is room in the class... that you have already registered for.  I was turned down for my first three art history courses but managed to get into two pretty cool ones.  One is a utopian themed course through photography and the other is a seminar that studies residential housing styles in london, both royal and bourgeois.  Not too shab but abstraction after Warhol and Gender in 17th c. France would have been cooler.  (These last few lines were mostly for Lo and Shmede... I apologize to whoever was bored).

So ya, then it was time to set up the internet.  Not my finest moment as I typed in the WPA as eurodam possibly 20 times instead of eduroam... seriously idiodic.  All I was thinking was I NEED RENALLLDDDDDD (The sheiner's computer guy).  But then once I fixed it I realized I'm perfectly happy w/o him. 

At 2 pm the contemporary photography class started with 22% battery life remaining on my computer which was literally a anthropological experience. People actually participated in the class and didn't say things like "This painting is from some place like ... really russian" (<-- mcgill bitch referring to moscow)  The prof had ombre hair and was super cool (Lauren would auto want to be her gf) and got right into the lecture without reading any stupid course outline!!  Courses are 2 hours of lectures a week (so one class), one 2500 word paper and one 2 hour final.  C'est tout! Only 10 classes in all!! However a fail is a 40, average is 65 and it is "extremely rare to receive a mark above 80%" honestly mazel tov that this semester abroad is pass/fail or my GPA would literally plummet to below the tube and probs not mind the gap.

After class I moseyed through another 6 buildings to the history department to get approved for a sick class about life in london through galleries (praying to get Art Hist credits for this one) only to be welcomed by this lovely little sign.

Seriously I know this school is old but you would think they could insulate their walls with un-hazardous materials... 

Home sweet home, back to Ifor Evans Hall after a lovely chube ride with a gazillion pounds on my back (and not the currency kind) sore as hell.  All of a sudden wishing I had more practice getting myself to and from school alone, thanks Jan and Lloyd for sheltering me so much <3.  So I open my door and guess what?! Lights out, lightbulb on the floor.  I had to ask a guy on my floor how "european lightbulbs work" and have him install a new one for me... classic fruitcup girl.  But seriously these lightbulbs are bizarre, fair warning to my soon to be british bffs.  

So now these kids on my floor think I'm a ditz for not being able to screw in my own lightbulb... only to be followed by me "so how do I set up the wifi?!" HAHA no wifi here.. just another misadventure with ethernet wires (yes they still exist) coming my way... 

After shoving the wrong wire into the cable socket and then making it worse by pulling the tubing off the wires, I decided to unscrew the whole compartment with my eyebrow tweezers.  I swear it felt like one of those classic "WHICH WIRE DO I CUT, THE RED OR THE BLUE??"situations.  

But I fixed it!! Proudest moment of my life.  Finally learning what it feels like to technologically survive without my personal technician big shmoolz just a staircase away.  

Dinner. I really don't want to elaborate but I promised my mother deets about everything so here we go... I'm pretty sure the special was shrivelled up brown meat in brown sauce with brown potatoes.  I opted for an airplane food stylez dollop of mushy penne and some equally mushy steamed broccoli.  Does Kashima deliver to UCL???  On the bright side, I guess I don't need to worry about the freshman 15... 

Dinner was also very reminiscent of mean girls. You know the scene were LiLo is standing at the front of the dining hall with her lil' tray and hastily scouting out which table to sit at without looking like a total loser.  Ya, that = me.  So I swallowed my pride, opted not to sit on a dirty toilet seat and eat alone and instead sat down with some pretty friendly british students who were all a little taken aback by my charisma, but when in Rome right?  Obvs these students were all med students (with the exception of one law student).  Classic moment of feeling like an inadequate arts student.  Story of my life.  

So I figure if today was essentially all bad, how can tomorrow be any worse? Staying positive over here in the UK and sending hugs back home to my friends and family.  

Much love from me and my ethernet cable,

Emily