[Quiet Man Cometh]

I've finished my degree and really don't know what to do with myself, besdies go to school adn possibly get another degree or associates degree since I'm pretty well set up in the social sciences. My degree is English Literature.

I started my first two years at Northern Lights College, one of several campuses spread over the northern interior of British Columbia which had maybe 250 students. Let me give you the tour. :)

Walk in the entry, turn left. That's one half of the left horseshoe that has teachers offices and some rooms. Turn right. That's the main office and admin offices. Walk a little bit forward- there's the bookstore. Walk in the bookstore. Turn left- one shelf and the till. Turn right, the other shelf. One more shelf in the middle. Leave bookstore and walk a little furhter. On the left is the atrium. On the right is the cafeteria. Walk a little further forward. On the left is the other half of the horseshoe holding more rooms. On the right are the rooms for trade and vocational training. All finished!

So yeah, moving from there to the University of British Columbia was a bit of a culture shock. You could fit the entire academic building of Norther Lights into one floor of one building in the liberal arts area.

I did enjoy it though. I lived on campus for 1 and a half years. Got along with my friends well and went to the free concerts and rehersals for the Uni orchestra. There are a number of amusing things. Would have to think a while to dig them up, though there was the time when I arrived to pick up some text books at the bookstore the week before the university opened and walked into an anime and cosplay convention. That was a little odd. Although, living on campus got a little irritating when the stupid fire alarm would go off at 2am. The record when I was there was three alarms in three buildings (there were four in the housing complex I was in) in the span of about 15 minutes. Students in that complex learned really fast to bring a textbook or laptop down with them to keep studying in the lobby while the fire guys did their sweep.

I was lucky when it came to food. I had a food budget from daddy :), and my uni cafeteria had a pub with a burger window that made great $2 burgers, the sushi joint was always fresh because it sold so fast (though the students weren't experts in rolling it all the time) and I lived very close to specialty shops like butchers and bakeries whch are usually cheaper than major drug stores. Of course though, like any good college student I went after food where I could get it. :). I didn't go to the "what to do with an english degree" seminar for the degree. I went for the free pizza. There was also $2 all you can eat Indian food for a fund-raiser for an Indian school. I filled up there and brought some treats back for my roomies. I also got all my ketchup, mustard, and relish for the year by taking little packs, only one or two at the time or they get angry, each time I bought a burger, whether I wanted it or not. It's also where I got most of my napkins and spare utentsils from. Soy Sauce came from the sushi joint.:).

On the non food end, there were a couple of occasions where we ran out of toilet paper so I would stuff wads of tp into my pocket whenever I went to the bathroom in case of emergency. One learns a surprising number of skills in college, such as how to remove hair from a vaccum that is stopping the spinner, how to change a vaccum back that probably hasn't been changed, ever, how to make dinner out of one potato and half a jar of salsa, and how to turn anything into a shelf or drying rack for laundry. Heh. Fun times, though I did miss not being able to have my doggy with me. That part sucked.

I think I'll stop here for now.