Today was a bit of a nightmare. First up it’s a 10 minute walk to the bus stop, no big deal (reasonably steep hill the whole way though). Then I catch the 44 bus from Ballard to the University, outside of Schmitz Hall, which is where a lot of the student administrative services are (similar to the Registry at Canterbury), which takes about 15-20 minutes with seemingly-average pick-up/drop-off rates of people.

I get to the university and my first stop is the International Services Office on the fourth floor, which also hosts the International Exchange Programmes office as well. This is one of the most stupid things – I can register online for housing in early November, but they don’t actually offer housing (nor really look for any available) until you register for classes. But, I can’t register for classes until I’ve checked in with the ISO to let them know I exist and am here. Ergo, everything ends up being done… today. Sigh.

Anyway, back to the checking in. So, I go there and fill in the forms and check in, and then I, along with about eight other people, go and sit in a room and get the ‘Welcome to the US and the UW’ mini-orientation speech, along with some checklists and so on. At this little talk I meet up with Marisa, who is the other exchange student from Canterbury. Prior to leaving Christchurch, I had met up with Marisa and had coffee, chatted, etc. It was certainly good to see a familiar face, and we spent most of the rest of the day together trying to figure out what we needed to do. Marisa is a very cool chick, and since she was undergrad had a few less problems – she was already registered for classes, and was just moving into a dormitory on campus.

After the speech, when went across the road and over to the Student ID centre, which is under a library and next to the ‘By George’ café… cleverly punned on the statue of George Washington outside. We both took cheesy pictures for our IDs, and if I could find the picture to post somewhere, I would. I wore the scarf that Priscilla got me for Christmas. I think I have four scarves right now, so I can cycle around them for some variety. ^^

Next up we went into one of the libraries (don’t ask me which one, I was totally confused by the campus at the time) so I could find a computer and register for classes now that I’d seen the ISO and waited for them to input that I’d arrived into the computer (by going and getting my ID). This was a bit of a drama in itself, as I couldn’t get into some because of some pre-requisite issues (wouldn’t it have been nice to arrive in for the start of their academic year? *rolls eyes*) and another couple of courses I was going to do had been cancelled. Lovely. So, I sign up for what looks like a good bunch at courses and we head back to the IPE so Marisa can check in with them (again, yes they needed it twice for her).

After that it was down a floor to Housing and Food Services to try and sort out where I’m actually going to be living (and applied for 2 months ago). Well you’ve got two options, she says. You can move into a dorm right away, or you can wait until Monday and move into Stevens Court Addition, which is where I initially applied to so I wouldn’t be sharing a room with someone. I like my personal space. I opted to wait until Monday.

Back up to the ISO to change my permanent address (which was still on Mum’s old address, oops) and unfortunately my local address was listed as Dad’s house in New Zealand, so tomorrow when my tags for my ID (yes I’m registered, bus pass) are done, they’ll be mailed to New Zealand. Great.

After that Marisa and I wandered up to the University Book Store to see if they had the books we needed and if we could get them in fairly short order. Well, Marisa found her books ok, my book wasn’t in stock yet (of course), and the line looked like it would take about an hour or so just to reach the desk. We put her books back and left, as we needed to head back to the ISO for (another) small Orientation. This was just a brief meeting mostly going over the stuff from earlier that day, although a few new things were covered and I got some new handouts. Marisa and I both had to leave early, as we had class.

Actually on that note, one of the classes I had registered for had a class earlier that day, but I didn’t get a chance to register until after the class was already over (by about five minutes, naturally). So off I trundle to class, only to find that when I (find the place and) get there, class is not on this week. Figures. However, I was actually quite happy about this, because it gave me the opportunity to head over to the Husky Union Building for a large sandwich and some email over the wireless access in the building.

After that I went back to Schmitz for what was supposed to be the actual Orientation. This lasted for about 3 hours, had several speakers from different parts of the campus and its various services as well as snacks and drinks. There was some pizza as well, but I didn’t have any because the stuff that looked appetizing was gone when I arrived. All in all it was a good (if a little long) session which did help me get a handle on what kinds of services were available to me should I want or need them.

Then it was back on the bus (oh yeah, they only take exact change through a machine and sometimes you pay when you leave the bus rather than when you get on… very weird) to head back to Greg’s place. I managed to zone out through the relevant section of the bus route, and since I had no idea what streets I was listening to going past, I was just looking (before and after the fact) for the stretch of road that I recognised. Naturally I was on the bus until the end of the line. Well, they’re supposed to come every fifteen minutes or so, so I start walking back up the bus route, hoping that I’ll catch the next one going in the other direction back to the right stop. I walk for the next hour, during which I watch four buses go past travelling in the opposite direction, and one going the way I want it to… when I’m ten steps from the stop I want. But of course. Back down the hill, then stumbling in and explaining to Greg what happened (comedy of errors, etc. etc.) much to both our amusement, really.

Right, done, sleep time.