Orientation: Telling you things you already knew.

Oh the joys of orientation. Getting the information that you don't really need, or have already heard. Began orientation yesterday afternoon, met up at North Campus up on Holloway Road in Islington. It's not a bad area, a little bit dirty, but nice enough. Katie and I got up late after being awoken by the daycare outside our window, and the accommodation crew at ISH (thanks for pounding on the door guys!). Good news with that is, we get a new room on Saturday! Ours is really bad: mold on the walls, stained carpet, and it's always humid down in the dungeon (ground floor). So huzzah for that! Anyhow, after running through Kings Cross at 3:30pm to switch trains (bad idea) and getting lost in the Met's buildings, we got to orientation. We sat through a lovely two hour presentation welcoming us to London. Then, after being crushed with the false hope of a buffet, we (the international students) just ended up at the bar. Far too many people, it was a bit crazy and packed, and all the pool tables were taken, so we had our drinks (water and juice, how wild) and went back to ISH. Luckily there weren't many people on the Tube, there was an Arsenal game for Champions League, and the stadium's right next to our campus, so that's where everyone was getting off the trains (good). We ended up watching the Liverpool game in the bar, and calling it a night.


Today we had to get up early and head to another rousing day of orientation. For some reason, we had an hour of meetings at 11, then two hours for lunch, and another hour of meetings at 2? Good plan London Met. After an hour of IT seminars and education about the Tube (pretty obvious, really), we scattered for lunch. We just walked all the way down Holloway Road until we found something that looked appetizing. Then walked all the way back up Holloway and meandered around Islington and Emirates Stadium. Ended up just being lazy and sitting in the hallway for twenty minutes before the last lecture, which was all about religion and mental health - can you say fun? A British cop came in and talked to us, which was the most interesting part of the day. Apparently you don't need to carry any identification with you at any time, isn't that weird? And - you can drink in public, but only in certain areas of London (not where we live, Westminster). You can also drive in the UK with a valid US license (not advised). Things you didn't know, right?