Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Skewbrow]

Ok. The semester is in full swing. With the mandatory fuck ups with the system of lecture hall bookings.

The good part is: September has been unusually warm => a lot of eye-candy on campus. If I were a pervy calculus lecturer as opposed to just a calculus lecturer, I would need to constantly remind myself that it is not for my benefit.

The bad part is: 'Tis the season for flu particles from all over the country to come to one place and start spreading.

[Loki]

Ok. The semester is in full swing. With the mandatory fuck ups with the system of lecture hall bookings.

Your system does that too?

[Carl-E]

pervy calculus lecturer

Redundant. 

[94ssd]

Arabic class is going to be the death of me. I don't even begin to comprehend it. And to make matters worse the university's tutoring center can't help me.

[LTK]

Has Wondermark got the shirt for you.

[Method of Madness]

So much homework that's really not that hard, I just really don't want to do it. Sundays are the fucking worst.

[Barmymoo]

I start my midwifery degree TOMORROW  OK technically I start Freshers' Week tomorrow, but we have introductory talks and we'll meet our lecturers and so forth. Lectures and classes don't actually get going until next week.

[94ssd]

Has Wondermark got the shirt for you.

That's funny because my grandfather was fully capable of teaching me and/or my mother at least some Arabic and never did.

[LTK]

After a few days of shameless procrastinating (that Humble Indie Bundle will do that to a person) I finally turned in the final, final version of my research report. Let's hope that it's good enough this time.

[ChaoSera]

oh, hey, forgot to post this, but i actually managed to add my school to google street view

https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!q=Miramar+College%2C+Black+Mountain+Road%2C+San+Diego%2C+CA&data=!1m8!1m3!1d3!2d-117.120704!3d32.910439!2m2!1f282!2f90!4f75!2m5!1e1!2m3!1sNBZ_LCSrJYcAAAQIt_EgNg!2e0!7e11!4m10!1m9!4m8!1m3!1d132270!2d-117.1984406!3d33.5774599!3m2!1i1920!2i955!4f13.1&fid=5

(check out the image credit!)

Holy crap, I wish my university's campus looked that awesome. 

[Loki]

(check out the image credit!)

Hah. Nice.

We don't have a campus per se. The university is spread throughout the city like a vicious parasite in an animal, without which it cannot survive anymore. An ancient menace from which the city learnt to profit, and without which it would surely land in the gutter. Such is the way of nature, I guess.

(My apologies. I watched Sin City yesterday.)

[pwhodges]

You could describe Oxford and Cambridge that way, too.

[ChaoSera]

The worst thing about my campus is that were the only bigger area of green used to be, they are now building another new complex. Now it's even more ugly than it used to be...

[94ssd]

The worst thing about my campus is that were the only bigger area of green used to be, they are now building another new complex. Now it's even more ugly than it used to be...

They've actually be expanding the big greenspace ("the mall," NOT the quad) over the past few years. My freshman year they were just finishing tearing down the old dining hall, which pretty much doubled its size, and this summer tore down the little building that used to be the home of the nursery school. I actually got to watch some of it because I was here for summer session.

They've recently decided to demolish and replace an old dorm because the renovations would be too expensive. It's a tall building, so I hope there's an implosion.

[cesium133]

They're slowly in the process of removing all the trees from the campus here...

[bainidhe_dub]

That's sad. The trees along the mall were one of the main reasons I picked my campus over the others I was considering. Of course once I got there I had exactly two classes on the mall, and definitely never got to hang out there and enjoy the trees... but they were there!

[jwhouk]

My greatest regret in life is that I never got to attend classes in the original Old Main building of my alma mater.

Some domestic terrorists burned it to the ground in February of 1970.

[94ssd]

They're slowly in the process of removing all the trees from the campus here...

My university did a "hazardous tree inventory" to look for diseased/damaged trees to cut down. Unfortunately there were a lot (none of the ones on the mall, though). The only one that really saddened me was the row of trees in front of the building where I have most of my classes. Now instead of a shady grove the view out of the window in those classrooms is just the parking lot. Better to get rid of them before they could hit someone's car or a person, though.

[cesium133]

A lot of the trees here were damaged by an ice storm we got a few years ago, which is why they're removing them. I remember being on campus during that storm... I saw a girl almost get hit in the head when a branch fell off a tree in front of the building I work in. She was okay, though.

[Barmymoo]

First day! First day! It was a bit like being back at school. I sat at a table with a girl I met at the pre-course day and two girls who knew each other from the same day, and a few other people. The four of us who'd met already hung out for the day, I think I'm going to be friends with at least the girl I'd already met. We're all older (I'm the youngest, the others are 24-34) and not living in halls. I got my first choice of hospital and we go there on Friday! BABIES.

[ankhtahr]

It's becoming more and more difficult for me. I still need to find a place to live. I'll go to Karlsruhe on Thursday evening, and will leave when I have one. I'll call every single advertisement in the weekend newspapers.

[Loki]

Where are you staying, if you don't mind me asking?

Also, if Karlsruhe is anything like my place, you'll likely have to scour the appropriate online portals (wg-gesucht.de, kalaydo, ...) and call immediately when something appropriate pops up (*cough*autorefresher addon*cough*)

[Method of Madness]

("the mall," NOT the quad)

If they'd insisted we call it the mall, college me would've specifically called it a quad out of spite.

[bainidhe_dub]

My Spanish class started tonight. The section I originally signed up for, at the community college campus 5 minutes away, was canceled due to low enrollment so I have to go to a high school about 20 minutes away for that section instead. We spend 15 minutes introducing ourselves and an hour and a half learning the alphabet.

[94ssd]

My Spanish class started tonight. The section I originally signed up for, at the community college campus 5 minutes away, was canceled due to low enrollment so I have to go to a high school about 20 minutes away for that section instead. We spend 15 minutes introducing ourselves and an hour and a half learning the alphabet.

"¡Hola! me llamo es..."

"Ah, beh, ceh, deh, eh, effe..."

Yeah, that part of my first Spanish class is still burned in my memory even after about 5 years.

But now I'm in Arabic, so we had a whole day of "Ahlan wa sahlan, ismi..." and "alif, beh, teh, theh..." Our classes started a couple weeks ago, and we're not actually through mastering the alphabet yet. Arabic is complicated. It actually makes me miss Spanish.

[Method of Madness]

It's burned in your memory after 5 years? Mine was two decades ago and I didn't forget the "che" between "ceh" and "deh" ^_^

[94ssd]

It's burned in your memory after 5 years? Mine was two decades ago and I didn't forget the "che" between "ceh" and "deh" ^_^

I thought that was one of the ones that was gotten rid of.

[Method of Madness]

They got rid of the extra letters? I haven't taken Spanish since...June 2001.

Weird, apparently they got rid of all 3 double letters (ch, ll, rr), but kept ñ. Articles I see mention ch and ll being removed three years ago, but no mention of rr.

[bainidhe_dub]

No, my book has ch, ll, ñ, and rr. It was weird going through it after doing a bunch of ConLang this summer - what good is a 29 letter alphabet that only has like 23 sounds?

[94ssd]

They got rid of the extra letters? I haven't taken Spanish since...June 2001.

Weird, apparently they got rid of all 3 double letters (ch, ll, rr), but kept ñ. Articles I see mention ch and ll being removed three years ago, but no mention of rr.

My class still had rr in 2009, but no ch or ll.

[K1dmor]

 They stop saying the ch and ll are part of the alphabet like 6 years ago, but they got rid of them officially in 2010 with the publication of "Orthography of the spanish language" (they're not considered a letter, but two sticked together).

 The rr was never considered a letter, especially because there're no words that start with that.

[Barmymoo]

Oh flipping heck. In order to download the course materials for my courses, I need to log into the Moodle for each one. To do that, I need the enrolement keys. The enrolement keys are listed in a file on the general Moodle. To log into the general Moodle, I need... an enrolement key. Typical!

I do have one set of materials which I have to print off and take with me on Monday for my 1pm class. I don't have a decent printer, so I would print them in the university library, except that to do that, I need my student ID card. Which I will get once I've enrolled... at 4.15pm on Monday.

I am adjusting to the fact that this university is not quite as sensibly organised as my old college (mostly because it has about 100 times as many students).

[94ssd]

Health and safety inspections this week 

Mostly for me that meant hiding my electric kettle and taking down a couple posters because there's a dumb rule about not being allowed to cover more than 20% of a wall. I'm not dumb enough to leave alcohol or drugs in my room.

This is the first time I've ever lived in a "suite" (4 individual rooms with sharing a common space and bathroom). So I wonder who gets in trouble if they find anything in the common space. I was the only one with the foresight to get rid of the empty beer cans.

[lepetitfromage]

Ugh, those things are annoying. We had a "surprise" one when I was living in one of the off campus dorms- my roommate and I were both of legal drinking age but we got written up for having a bottle of wine in the fridge because FIT was/is a Dry Campus. Which was a total joke, btw- at least a third of the student body was wasted every evening.

[Pilchard123]

Drugs I can understand, possibly alcohol, but an electric kettle?

[Carl-E]

Safety.  Those things are a fire hazard, you know...   

[Barmymoo]

I was allowed a kettle in my uni room but not a toast and certainly not a slow cooker (I didn't have one of those, oh noooo, of course I did not (nor did I have a pet mouse hidden in the wardrobe)...). At other colleges they weren't even allowed kettles. You see, students are inherently more likely to set fire to themselves than other 18 year olds living in rented flats. Obvs.

[Papersatan]

I think the reason the are so strict with fire codes is that they are packing more people in per square foot.  At least here, dorms are several stories high, and are densely populated.  The rooms are smaller than in an apartment and there are less non-bedroom spaces, which means more tenants/ sq foot.  If a fire breaks out and every wall is covered with posters and tapestries it has the potential to spread quickly and put a lot of people in danger.

[Barmymoo]

But how is a kettle more likely to start a fire than, say, a laptop?

[Metope]

Just wrapped up my first week back at school, which has been weird. First of all I had to miss two days to go home for sad reasons, and then I've kind of just spent the rest of the time moving stuff in to my studio space (I study painting, I've got a lot of things). It kind of just feels like the real start is next week, but I need to get my ass in gear and actually do something, since this term will be extremely hectic. On top of doing studio work I have an extended essay to write, and while it's only 5000 words long it requires a ton of research, and the essay is the main focus of the term which means it has to be really, really good. Getting nervous already, but I think the year will be good, and after this term I won't have to write anything academic ever again. Unless I apply for a MA somewhere, but that's not likely to happen anytime in the near future.

[pwhodges]

But how is a kettle more likely to start a fire than, say, a laptop?

Much higher current, so greater risk of overheating or sparking if a cable is faulty or poorly connected.

[Barmymoo]

Fair enough - the university, or at least my college, tested every electrical device every year but I suppose they have to draw a line somewhere (I chose to cross it, secretly).

[Carl-E]

I think the reason the are so strict with fire codes is that they are packing more people in per square foot.  At least here, dorms are several stories high, and are densely populated.  The rooms are smaller than in an apartment and there are less non-bedroom spaces, which means more tenants/ sq foot.  If a fire breaks out and every wall is covered with posters and tapestries it has the potential to spread quickly and put a lot of people in danger.

Also, most older dorms don't conform to current firecodes.  In the US, most places require at least two egresses from an apartment in case of a fire.  In a dorm (even a suite), you have one - the door (especially if you're up high, the window's not an option).  The university gets special exemptions by enforcing more strict rules to prevent fires. 

[94ssd]

I think the reason the are so strict with fire codes is that they are packing more people in per square foot.  At least here, dorms are several stories high, and are densely populated.  The rooms are smaller than in an apartment and there are less non-bedroom spaces, which means more tenants/ sq foot.  If a fire breaks out and every wall is covered with posters and tapestries it has the potential to spread quickly and put a lot of people in danger.

Also, most older dorms don't conform to current firecodes.  In the US, most places require at least two egresses from an apartment in case of a fire.  In a dorm (even a suite), you have one - the door (especially if you're up high, the window's not an option).  The university gets special exemptions by enforcing more strict rules to prevent fires.

Oddly enough, my dorm is almost brand new and doesn't conform to the requirement of having two exit points, but one of the oldest dorms on campus does have fire escape stairs.

Anyway, I passed my inspection. My electric kettle (which I never leave plugged in) and excessive posters are back in my room. Honestly I don't think they care that much about the posters, no one is going to be measuring the area of your posters against the area of each wall. But anything on the ceiling is an immediate no-go.

[Barmymoo]

We weren't allowed to use blutak at all because it would damage the paintwork. My first bedroom looked like it had chicken pox, there was so much paint and plaster missing from the walls. I didn't use a single bit of blutak all year. I got fined £35 for damaging the paintwork and only managed to get rid of the fine when I threatened to sue them. In second year I put up a few things without damaging the freshly-painted walls at all. In third year, there were large chunks of plaster missing - looked like someone had hit the wall with something hard several times. Again, nary a mark was left by my judicious use of blutak. No fines.

[Jace]

Isn't the entire point of blutack that it doesn't damage the paintwork?

[Barmymoo]

Well yeah. Rational thought and logic seemed to have very little to do with most of the college rules.

[94ssd]

Command strips were banned starting this year. I use this stuff called poster puddy.

The housing office here keeps judicious records of all pre-existing damages and lists them in the housing contract you sign so that you don't get fined unfairly. My roommate last year took out a chunk of plaster on "my side" of the room when moving something. Fortunately he was willing to own up to it.

[Barmymoo]

One of my arguments when I was fighting the fine for paintwork damage was that they would have fined the previous occupant for the same paintwork damage, so could they not check their records and see that it was the same damage? I was also angry that they charged this ridiculous amount of money to cover the cost of repairing the room, and then didn't repair the room. The room inventory I signed when I moved in said that the paintwork was "chipped and damaged". Didn't make a difference, they were still fining me for pre-existing damage I hadn't caused. Grrrr. Thinking about it, it wasn't actually the housekeeping department who finally revoked the fine, it was the finance office who were very sympathetic when I explained.

[Redball]

Does anyone take photos when moving in?