Strap yourselves in,
this is a long one!
I thought perhaps I should endeavor to explain how my
registration went. Let me first point out that the learning curve is quite
steep here. I had to learn how and where to take the bus, where all the
buildings were on campus (and it’s a huge campus) and most importantly of all,
how to begin to train my ear to understand all the different accents coming out
of people’s mouths (I’ve found that for me, the thick Irish accent is one of
the most difficult). On Monday, January 30th, I got on the bus and
headed towards King’s College (there are numerous different college/university
campuses that this particular bus stops at). I went to the University Office,
which didn’t have anyone working at the front yet and I dialed a number to try
to get someone. I got a hold of a woman who came down to get me (only staff
members can get upstairs, and students have to be buzzed in or be accompanied
by a staff member) and she went to find my paperwork. Now, the difficulty I was
finding myself in was that nobody told me anything about how/when/where to
register for classes, so I was flying completely blind. The woman gave me my
advisor’s name and other pertinent information and told me that I had to get in
contact with him before I could register and that he’d have all the paperwork
necessary to help me. So, I wandered around the campus trying to find Crombie
Annexe, which I vaguely remembered to be the location of the Department of
History from my previous study of the university buildings before I left the
U.S. Walking around aimlessly, looking at a campus map, a nice English student
informed me where I could find the building and I thanked him and continued on
my way. Eventually I found it and went inside. Again with the tiny aisles! The
doorways and corridors are incredibly small…apparently British people are
dwarfs or something! I spoke to the receptionist and she said that my advisor
wasn’t in yet and could I give her my information so that he could contact me.
I informed her that I had no phone and I couldn’t get onto a computer to check
my email until I had registered for classes (an evil catch-22 that would plague
me for the next several days). Finally, she called my advisor (Dr. Abrams) on what
I presume was his cell and asked when he’d be in. She told be to come back in ½
hour. I went to the Queen Mother Library to kill time until then, but another
ridiculous catch-22 was to find me. I couldn’t get into the library because you
had to have an ID card to scan to get through the turnstiles, and I couldn’t
get my ID until I had registered. Argh. I instead hung out at a table in the
coffee shop out front until 10am when I could meet Dr. Abrams. Finally the time
came and I went up to his office. He then informed me that he couldn’t do
anything, as he didn’t have any papers for me. He told me to go back to where I
had come from earlier and get papers and then to come back and see him.
Reluctantly I went back to the Registry Office (which by this time had people
manning the front) and asked for my papers. The woman looked at me like I was
mad, but then eventually printed off some papers and gave them to me. I trudged
back to Crombie Annexe to see my advisor again. Dr. Abrams then began to fill
in the paperwork and asked what classes I wanted to take. Most classes are 20
credits (a far cry from the 3-5 credits I was used to at SCSU) and I could take
up to 90 credits this semester. I chose all three first-year history classes
that were available and then he said to pick out another one and handed me this
incredibly thick volume in excess of 300 pages. Uh, yeah…easy as that. I
figured I liked English as well, so I turned to that and picked out a class. I
had 10 more credits to take if I wanted, and he said most Psychology classes
were that many, but as I don’t really like those types of classes, I said I’d
just take those I’d already picked. The four classes I ended up with are as
follows:
History 1512: Europe and the Wider World: Crusades to the
Indian Mutiny
History 1513: Britain & Ireland in the 20th
Century
History 1514: Scotland 1850-2000: From Empire to Devolution
English 1508: Writing Scotland Now
When I was done he told me to go back to the Registry Office
and hand them my papers. I was getting bloody tired of that office already, and
I had only been there three times! I turned in my papers and asked for my ID.
They said that I had to wait a day until they could give it to me. So much for
registering for a computer ID. I went home. The next day I returned and picked
up my ID and went to the library to get a username and password so that I could
finally check my email. I was informed that it took 24 hours to process before
I could login. Crikey. There was some massive conspiracy afoot to prevent me
checking my email! Nonetheless, I decided to get over my annoyance and go to
class. Unfortunately, I had no idea where they were. I don’t mean to say that I
just didn’t know where the buildings were located (well okay, I didn’t), but
what I mean is that nowhere during registration was I ever told where the
classes I signed up for were to be taught. I went to the secretary of the
History Department and she informed me that I had to check the timetables up on
the board for first years. I wrote down all the places and felt a little
better. However, after I left and went in search of my first class, I realized
that I had no idea what the location abbreviations meant. I sighed and tracked
down the first person I could find to tell me. Once I had that all sorted out,
I finally found my first class. It was a fairly typical lecture, nothing much
different from my previous experience at college. I then had to go to my
English class. Um, yeah. “Where was that located?” I asked myself. I had no
idea. To make matters worse, I didn’t even know where the English Department
was located, so I couldn’t go there to look at the teaching timetable to find
the room numbers. This school was beginning to get on my nerves in a hurry.
Everyone kept informing me that I could find all the timetables online, but
hello? I couldn’t get on a computer (remember I mentioned that catch-22 coming
back to haunt me?). So, I skipped my English class on Tuesday and went home.
FINALLY, on Wednesday I could log onto a computer and check everything: my
email, the timetables, how much money I’d spent so far, etc. I felt much
relief. So now I’ve just finished my first week of classes and I feel a little
more at ease here. Like I mentioned, the learning curve is steep over here.
Another new thing I have yet to experience is the tutorials. Each class
consists of three 1-hour lectures and one 1-hour tutorial per week. You have to
put down all your available times on a sign-up sheet during the first week and
then secretary places you in a timeslot of her choosing with the first
tutorials beginning next week. I checked the first-year board in the History
Department on Friday and was surprised, and none too happy, to find that all of
my history tutorials are on Friday! I signed up for a Tuesday afternoon
tutorial for my English class. So, my week is pretty full. Luckily there are no
daily assignments here at university, usually just an essay outline and
bibliography, the full essay and the final exam (in addition to the tutorials)
that are graded. Unfortunately, there is also no ‘one book’ for the class, but
rather a list of 20-40 books that one is supposed to consult to find out more
information in addition to the lectures. So, we’ll see just how I cope in this
new world in the coming weeks. Oh, and as a final thought, for those of you who
are wondering what the weather is like here, I can pretty much sum it up and
one word: dreary. There has truly only been one day that the sun has shone all
morning and afternoon with only a few isolated clouds in the sky; every other
day as been mostly cloudy and moist. I say moist because while it is dry as I’m
walking around outside, every time I come out after class the ground is wet and
has the appearance of a recent rain, yet I never see anything out the windows.
It’s most peculiar. I think what it is, is that it mists out quite a bit (not
quite rain, not quite drizzle). Also, it’s surprisingly cold. There is usually
frost on the grass for most of the morning and early afternoon. I quite like
the cold, but I was a bit surprised, as I thought being so close to the North
Sea, the temperature would be a bit more moderate. C’est la vie! Live and
learn.