Finally I got my laptop connected to the college's internet grid. Happy as a 5 year old with candy I rebooted the laptop to see if it'd stay connected. YES! Finally after 2 days of resetting, reinstalling and the uncontrollable urge to smash the damned thing to bits the emails from home started pouring in.
Six months had passed since I first started this entire adventure. Half a year ago I found out that my college ran an exchange program. Only accessible for those that had a 8+ average (out of 10) and where at least 21 years old. Never heard about it before I went to my years counselor and talked over the entire deal. Apparently they had a deal with a few colleges abroad to exchange students amongst each other. If I qualified? Yup I did, and since nothing was holding me back I decided to enroll and see where faith would take me.
Four months passed without hearing anything and as I was ready to give up any hope, I received a letter from the selection board. In short, I got accepted! Couldn't believe it at first but they selected me to go overseas... Half assed as my own college is I had to get things organized FAST. I needed a student visa, get in contact with the student administration, say all my goodbyes and fly out there with enough stuff to last me a year of Canadian college. I got a scholarship on account of my grades and my room would be in a dormitory, free of any charge, my Dutch college would pay for that. So basically I needed all my savings as a back up and get myself a part time job once there.
Excited as I was I wanted to leave as soon as possible, making sure I'd be in time for all the introductory madness and to assure enrollment in the classes I wanted to follow. Just my luck that the authorities where slacking on approving my student visa... I arrived in Canada one week after the first semester started.
So no social gatherings, introductory tours or meeting other students for me, I arrived well after all of those where finished and done with.
I got set up in a left over dorm with a left over room, some German girl didn't get her things in order which left her stuck in Germany and me with a spacious room fitting 2 people easily all to myself. Well until someone would need the other half of the room, it would be mine and I claimed it as that.
Somehow my class enrollments got mixed up as well and my first day of Canadian college existed purely out of damage control. I had to sign up again for the course I wanted and have a talk with the exchange students counselor. She talked me through a sped up version of the welcome speech everyone got a week before me and asked if I where finding my way around campus and all. I lied, told her I did and went off to enroll in a course for the second time. Creative Writing make place for me.
That afternoon I had my first class. History of literature or something. Fine by me, long as I could actually find classroom 221 I'd be happy! I wondered around the building the info board directed me to and started counting down all the class numbers, from class 220 it went straight to 222, which annoyed the hell out of me. I asked some other students passing by if they knew where it was and they directed me to a room at the end of the hall. Apparently something went wrong with numbering the classes.
Either that or Canadians have a mixed up sense for numbers.
I joined the stream of students already filling the room inside and found myself a seat nearly in the back, I don't need to stand out and sit up front, I was embarrassed enough that I had missed a full week of classes. I settled myself into the seat and waited for what to come. It took the massive classroom about 3 minutes to settle down. The professor standing in front of the group urged everyone to sit down so that he could start with the class.
By then I should have noticed that there was writing on the blackboard. If I had I'd have seen that the text on there had little to nothing to do with literature or creative writing at all. No, of course it wasn't until after the professor started talking that I noticed the huge white chalk letters on the board "micro economics". I groaned, kicked myself and panicked all at the same time, I was in the wrong class. And not only was I in the wrong one, I was in one that would probably take me into a comatose sleep within 5 minutes. I looked around for any possible escapes and saw that the room was packed with people. Even sitting way back I'd draw attention leaving in the middle of a class. And that was the last thing I wanted.
After 10 minutes of self hatred, emotional punishment and feeling like the dumbest chick alive I decided to make the best out of the next two hours. I got my mp3 player from my bag, set it to random and just listened to the songs drifting by. It was humid in the classroom, wasn't sure if that was caused by bad ventilation or the amount of nerds packed together in one room. I unbuttoned my blouse a bit, trying to get rid of the icky feeling it caused. I went back to listening to my music, slouching a bit in my chair and glancing around the class. All around me I saw people making notes, flipping through textbooks and scribble on their planners. Sitting up a bit straighter I reached for my bag, I knew I had a book in there somewhere that could keep me company for the remaining hour.