Back behind the keyboard

It's been a while since my last post. Vancouver was restful and quiet. Visited some friends, family and spent the labour day weekend camping, which was my first actual tent camping. But before you start mistaking me for some outdoor type girl, I have to add that there were proper tiled washrooms, with running water. We had the campfire, smores and everything of that sort, which in my opinion, is what constitutes camping.

But I am now quite far away from all that. I have arrived in Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK to start my postgrad in Conflict Resolution. I came from Vancouver to London to Bradford and it has been an adventurous week thus far. Or maybe just the first couple of days here. Katz came with me, which was my saving grace. She drove a rented station wagon or estate car as they say here, full of my belongings to Bradford. The journey started out with a flat tire and a three hour delay but we made it to Bradford safely.

Now, starting out in Bradford was a little trickier. We arrived at my supposed guaranteed accommodations and were told that my name was not on the list. Apparently I was withdrawn from my accommodations, but fear not, we could unload all the stuff into a temporary room as long as we were out by 9am the next morning.

No way I was going to empty the room with no way to go. So I head to the offices the following morning and to make a long story short, was told I did not have accommodations for the year because of a 'glitch' on their system despite having paid the deposit.

Great. Not only was I out of a place for the year but boy was she arrogant.

Katz, ever full of bright ideas, suggested to talk to the International Student's Office, who then suggested we try this private student hall - the only catch is that we pay the full price of the year on the spot.

Hmmm...that made it a little difficult for me to manage.

But of course, Katz assures me that it will all be taken care of. So I found a place in a building that is less than a year old and moved in within the next hour or two.

I was so relieved that I had a place that when the adventure ended with one of the rudest comments from probably one of the most obnoxious people in accommodations services that I have ever met (can you tell I did not like him) I felt as though I couldn't even enjoy this victory. So after ranting to Katz for a few minutes, we took a walk around the city centre. I have to admit that I was unimpressed, but hey, my hopes are still high.

It's been a fairly busy past couple of days, settling in, getting to know some of my classmates and getting to know Bradford and it looks to be an interesting year ahead. I am so thrilled about starting the programme but I just hope that the IMAX is not the most exciting thing about Bradford.