No Internet Yet

Reading, England

I am currently sitting in an internet cafe called Blue Mango about a 10 minute walk from my dorm. The ergonomic here are unheard of so I won’t be long, but suffice it to say that I don’t have the Internet in my room yet because the entire campus network is down. My first inclination was that maybe they didn’t activate the res room connections until today, but word is that the whole campus is affected. A kind soul at reception directed me to this street after I enquired about the Internet situation. Talk about feeling disconnected.

I have met some people here already though. My next door neighbour is from Calgary and there are a couple of German students that I have eaten some meals with. It is funny – there are about 6 German students that I ate lunch with and they only met today (and yesterday perhaps) but the national groupings are already becoming apparent, especially since the international students where here first. And thank god for that, because today is a zoo with all the new undergrads moving in.

My room is weathered, but a decent size and I will get some photos of it online as soon as the Internet thing is resolved. I have unpacked and I do think that I will have enough clothes. :) Val and Terry and I went on a shopping spree yesterday after I arrived to get the things that I didn’t have and some snacks. I even have a plant that if all goes well might still be alive when I am ready to leave. There was a bit of a confusion yesterday when we queued for a registration which wasn’t for me – even thought it said Erasmus. But everything was sorted out and I think that I have done everything that I need to so far. I even found the computer science building this morning on a self-guided tour of the campus. I find that to be more useful than a guided tour, because there is nothing like getting lost and then finding yourself again to help you remember which ways you should and should not go.

If the internet outage lasts long, I may have to come down here again, but hopefully the next time I post it will be from the comfort of my own room.

Written by Colin Bate