Everybody's got something to say except for me and my monkey
Today we began orientation with SLAIS. It was good to start learning about why I'm here. It was also comforting to talk about Library related things, because I've kind of forgotten this week, with everything else being new, that I'm actually going to be in Library School. This is stuff I know. It's familiar, and that feels nice.
Nothing incredible happened. There was a basic meeting in the lecture hall introducing us to all the faculty and staff members in the department. I learned who my personal tutor will be, who's role is basically non-academic, even though they're faculty members. He's essentially a guidance counselor. I'm not clear if we'll be getting an academic tutor later to help us with our coursework and dissertation topics. It seems that will be a separate person. Anyhow, my personal tutor is the head of the whole school, which is a bit daunting, though he's friendly.
The library school building is quite hidden away. The entire campus is a bit odd in its layout. There is a main quad, but instead of being central to the buildings, it's on the side. And so your only real way to cross between buildings is using these alleys and tiny walkways. It feels like you shouldn't be walking where you're walking, but it's the only way to get to where you need to go. You're walking to class dodging dumpsters and delivery trucks (or as they say here, skips and lories!). It's really weird. But the library school is even more tucked away. You go down this tiny path, and you wouldn't know it's there at all if you weren't looking for it. I was shown where it is by Chad. But he and everyone else I've heard who had to find it for themselves said they walked in circles forever before finding it. But when you get back there, it's absolutely lovely. I took a few pictures of the courtyard around it.
This is the view right in front of the building.
And this is the view behind it, with a lovely church blocking the entrance from the street, with a little bit of the school building on the right there.
It feels like monks should reside back there. Or hobbits.
Anyhow, I feel a lot better getting into the swing of things. It will make this year go fast. Plus, I learned that we get placed in a library right after Christmas to work for two weeks. Something different than what we've done before. Some of the libraries rattled off today included the House of Commons (though you have to be a British citizen to get security clearance), and the Imperial War Museum. It sounds marvelously exciting. I was really gunning for the British Library, but then Chad said he talked to John Bowman who's the head of the Library Studies part of SLAIS and his personal tutor, and he said that sometimes students get sent to catalog libraries in manor houses that have been sitting there for hundreds of years. I said sign me up! Holy crap! Spending two weeks in some gigantic home on the English countryside, organizing their library?? I better blow them away in my Cataloging classes so I can get me that gig!
Other than that, the weekend was pretty uneventful. I met Monica at the British Library on Saturday. Boy, was it good to see a Newberrian. Plus, the BL is enormous! Absolutely gigantic, and not nearly as ugly as I've read people claiming. We didn't do much but sit in the cafe and eat a sandwich while I looked in awe at everything around me. I'll definitely need to go back. Then we went across the street to a pub and had a pint in the middle of the afternoon. She was full of good tips and commiserations. Sunday I laid low, and saw a movie. I also learned that shops here close at 5pm on Sundays. After living in a 24 hour, ultra-convenience land, it's hard to regress. But I suppose I'll get used to it.
Both of these days were a nice break after the craziness of Thursday and Friday, which were essentially the same as Wednesday, except longer and more frustrating. Thursday was enrollment day for International Students. They tried to stagger people by having different letters of the alphabet come at different times, but of course, that didn't work one bit. People were gunshy after Wednesday's fiasco and came early. So lines were clogged up with people still in line from earlier, people who were currently supposed to be in line, and people who were early. Nobody was regulating anything, except one fellow who kept walking up and down the line to make sure is was perfectly straight. To get your papers, you needed to be in the "blue zone." After the blue zone, you were directed to either the "red zone" or the "green zone" depending on whether or not your fees were paid. I was directed to the scary red zone, with paperwork saying I'd paid nothing, and without my scholarship deducted. So I showed the man my scholarship paperwork and my loan paperwork, and I was sent off to get "provisionally enrolled," which basically meant I got to enroll twice. I was sent off to get my ID, register for the library and internet usage, and to talk to the Student Fees office to find out about my loans. Each place I went to would only register me halfway, and I only got half my ID because my fees weren't paid. So, Chad (who was fortunately with me the entire time so I had company, and also dealing with the same problems) and I went to the Student Fees office to find out that it was closed for lunch. Bloody chaos outside with lost and confused and needy students queuing up everywhere, and they close! Couldn't stagger lunch or anything? Not for one day? Please.
At this point, we'd been in various lines for hours and were much in need of nourishment. So we took a break for lunch. It was disgusting. By the time we come back, it's still 15 minutes before the office reopens, and there's already a queue formed with at least 10 people ahead of us. This is what happens in England. You turn your back for one second, and BAM! Queue! Luckily, my loan checks had arrived, and I only needed to endorse them over to the school and get a receipt saying I was paid. Then I got to go back to every place I'd been before and reenroll as a fully paid student. Really, absolutely not efficient.
Friday I had to come back to finish up some things I missed out on while I was enrolling twice. It was raining, and the only rainy day I've had while in London. One of the things I needed to do was apply for a Student Transport card which would give me a 30% discount on public transportation. Instead of just using our student ID to buy tickets, or something equally less involved, I got to fill out some application and send away for a new card that will have my photo on it. I didn't know this, so the guy behind the counter was really aggravated at me, because apparently no one else understood either. Maybe because we had no clue because no one tells us anything! They're just like, "Go here for your transport card!" Actually, no one even said that. I just heard about it and asked someone working there and they told me to go to the Union. Anyways, it cost £5.00, and you could only use a UK based credit card, check, or postal order to pay. Guess who gets to walk 10 blocks in the rain to go find a post office now? Yeah! Me! Luckily the guy at the PO was very very nice, and knew exactly what I was doing. He helped me fill out the postal order, and even sold me an envelope with a stamp so I didn't have to go trudging elsewhere.
So now I have to wait a week or so for this stupid card, even though I have to commute to school every day right now. I bought a bus pass for the week because I'm sick of getting lost and overpaying because I took the wrong bus. That's definitely helped me feel better about getting around and get used to the different routes. I've ridden a few times on the upstairs part of the buses, and that's really fun! It's the best view of the city! Some rainy weekend day, I think I'm just going to grab a bus and ride around to see different parts of the city.
Anyhow, now I'm all caught up. Since this week is orientation, nothing really exciting is going to happen. I just hope it's a lot calmer. Then classes begin! Yikes! I'm not ready for schoolwork. I don't miss that mindset at all. Way too much thinking. Blech.
Nothing incredible happened. There was a basic meeting in the lecture hall introducing us to all the faculty and staff members in the department. I learned who my personal tutor will be, who's role is basically non-academic, even though they're faculty members. He's essentially a guidance counselor. I'm not clear if we'll be getting an academic tutor later to help us with our coursework and dissertation topics. It seems that will be a separate person. Anyhow, my personal tutor is the head of the whole school, which is a bit daunting, though he's friendly.
The library school building is quite hidden away. The entire campus is a bit odd in its layout. There is a main quad, but instead of being central to the buildings, it's on the side. And so your only real way to cross between buildings is using these alleys and tiny walkways. It feels like you shouldn't be walking where you're walking, but it's the only way to get to where you need to go. You're walking to class dodging dumpsters and delivery trucks (or as they say here, skips and lories!). It's really weird. But the library school is even more tucked away. You go down this tiny path, and you wouldn't know it's there at all if you weren't looking for it. I was shown where it is by Chad. But he and everyone else I've heard who had to find it for themselves said they walked in circles forever before finding it. But when you get back there, it's absolutely lovely. I took a few pictures of the courtyard around it.
This is the view right in front of the building.
And this is the view behind it, with a lovely church blocking the entrance from the street, with a little bit of the school building on the right there.
It feels like monks should reside back there. Or hobbits.
Anyhow, I feel a lot better getting into the swing of things. It will make this year go fast. Plus, I learned that we get placed in a library right after Christmas to work for two weeks. Something different than what we've done before. Some of the libraries rattled off today included the House of Commons (though you have to be a British citizen to get security clearance), and the Imperial War Museum. It sounds marvelously exciting. I was really gunning for the British Library, but then Chad said he talked to John Bowman who's the head of the Library Studies part of SLAIS and his personal tutor, and he said that sometimes students get sent to catalog libraries in manor houses that have been sitting there for hundreds of years. I said sign me up! Holy crap! Spending two weeks in some gigantic home on the English countryside, organizing their library?? I better blow them away in my Cataloging classes so I can get me that gig!
Other than that, the weekend was pretty uneventful. I met Monica at the British Library on Saturday. Boy, was it good to see a Newberrian. Plus, the BL is enormous! Absolutely gigantic, and not nearly as ugly as I've read people claiming. We didn't do much but sit in the cafe and eat a sandwich while I looked in awe at everything around me. I'll definitely need to go back. Then we went across the street to a pub and had a pint in the middle of the afternoon. She was full of good tips and commiserations. Sunday I laid low, and saw a movie. I also learned that shops here close at 5pm on Sundays. After living in a 24 hour, ultra-convenience land, it's hard to regress. But I suppose I'll get used to it.
Both of these days were a nice break after the craziness of Thursday and Friday, which were essentially the same as Wednesday, except longer and more frustrating. Thursday was enrollment day for International Students. They tried to stagger people by having different letters of the alphabet come at different times, but of course, that didn't work one bit. People were gunshy after Wednesday's fiasco and came early. So lines were clogged up with people still in line from earlier, people who were currently supposed to be in line, and people who were early. Nobody was regulating anything, except one fellow who kept walking up and down the line to make sure is was perfectly straight. To get your papers, you needed to be in the "blue zone." After the blue zone, you were directed to either the "red zone" or the "green zone" depending on whether or not your fees were paid. I was directed to the scary red zone, with paperwork saying I'd paid nothing, and without my scholarship deducted. So I showed the man my scholarship paperwork and my loan paperwork, and I was sent off to get "provisionally enrolled," which basically meant I got to enroll twice. I was sent off to get my ID, register for the library and internet usage, and to talk to the Student Fees office to find out about my loans. Each place I went to would only register me halfway, and I only got half my ID because my fees weren't paid. So, Chad (who was fortunately with me the entire time so I had company, and also dealing with the same problems) and I went to the Student Fees office to find out that it was closed for lunch. Bloody chaos outside with lost and confused and needy students queuing up everywhere, and they close! Couldn't stagger lunch or anything? Not for one day? Please.
At this point, we'd been in various lines for hours and were much in need of nourishment. So we took a break for lunch. It was disgusting. By the time we come back, it's still 15 minutes before the office reopens, and there's already a queue formed with at least 10 people ahead of us. This is what happens in England. You turn your back for one second, and BAM! Queue! Luckily, my loan checks had arrived, and I only needed to endorse them over to the school and get a receipt saying I was paid. Then I got to go back to every place I'd been before and reenroll as a fully paid student. Really, absolutely not efficient.
Friday I had to come back to finish up some things I missed out on while I was enrolling twice. It was raining, and the only rainy day I've had while in London. One of the things I needed to do was apply for a Student Transport card which would give me a 30% discount on public transportation. Instead of just using our student ID to buy tickets, or something equally less involved, I got to fill out some application and send away for a new card that will have my photo on it. I didn't know this, so the guy behind the counter was really aggravated at me, because apparently no one else understood either. Maybe because we had no clue because no one tells us anything! They're just like, "Go here for your transport card!" Actually, no one even said that. I just heard about it and asked someone working there and they told me to go to the Union. Anyways, it cost £5.00, and you could only use a UK based credit card, check, or postal order to pay. Guess who gets to walk 10 blocks in the rain to go find a post office now? Yeah! Me! Luckily the guy at the PO was very very nice, and knew exactly what I was doing. He helped me fill out the postal order, and even sold me an envelope with a stamp so I didn't have to go trudging elsewhere.
So now I have to wait a week or so for this stupid card, even though I have to commute to school every day right now. I bought a bus pass for the week because I'm sick of getting lost and overpaying because I took the wrong bus. That's definitely helped me feel better about getting around and get used to the different routes. I've ridden a few times on the upstairs part of the buses, and that's really fun! It's the best view of the city! Some rainy weekend day, I think I'm just going to grab a bus and ride around to see different parts of the city.
Anyhow, now I'm all caught up. Since this week is orientation, nothing really exciting is going to happen. I just hope it's a lot calmer. Then classes begin! Yikes! I'm not ready for schoolwork. I don't miss that mindset at all. Way too much thinking. Blech.
posted by Lauren Matson | 7:32 PM
1 Comments:
A week has passed and not a word. I'm worried you may have been swallowed by a queue. Post again, please, when you get your head above water.
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