I've now been in town for a solid 50 hours, and finally gotten a plug adapter so that I can use my computer (huzzah!) without fear of it dying on me in the middle of something important.
Successfully purchased sheets and towels, so I feel much more settled than before. Have been to my first lecture, and enjoyed it. It was my Welsh Language course, which was fun. Anyone who has studied any Celtic language knows this, but there is a particular thing that happens in them: mutations on words. In Irish, this takes form as séimhiú and urú; lenition and eclipsis respectively. Without getting too specific, you add a letter to certain words if they meet certain conditions (usually what words are preceding it). Welsh has these too; all 6 extant Celtic languages do (though I am unsure, I'm willing to bet the extinct Gaulish language does too). So after class, when I booked it to the Welsh bookstore (pun intended!!) to pick up a copy of the textbook - which, I got the only one; while I was paying 10 of my classmates filed in and had to order theirs. I suppose that is the benefit to not having really met anyone yet...? I mean, I've met a couple people, but some connections already seem to have been formed, and I'm not there yet. Soon. The point of this was to say I bought a mutations chart, thinking how helpful that would have been a year and a half ago with Irish. Perhaps I'll make one. I don't yet have enough Welsh to understand the chart, but presumably that will change rather quickly.
I am registered for classes, so hurrah for that. Finding my way around town is getting easier; though my feet and legs are NOT used to this much walking. I had to hike up the big hill (and that's what everyone calls it, not just me) to the main campus today. My housing is down on the seafront - in fact, I can hear the waves crashing all day. Peaceful. the tide appears to be coming in now, even. One of my flatmates informed me that he is jealous of my room having an ocean view, if for no other reason than he says it is hysterical to watch joggers on the promenade in front of the beach get hit by waves. He says this happens particularly during storms, when the unsuspecting (usually freshmen) jogger is going along when the tide is high and waves are lashing the shore. He says he's seen - more than once - people get hit by waves coming crashing in over the sea wall. In winter, apparently, sometimes people have to move their cars instead of parking there, as rocks and such may come up. I believe it - there was seaweed out there today, after a not-particularly roiling evening last night - we got sprayed a bit coming back from the store last night.
As you can see, the sea wall is fairly high. This picture was taken mid-afternoon yesterday, during a brief moment of sunshine. Ishbel gallantly posed for the camera for me. There was a surfer out there today in the bay when the tide was about the same as pictured here. It's quite intense. The last ocean I spent much time on was the Pacific, back when we lived in BC's lower mainland. I imagined it would be peaceful and a dramatic high-low tide comparison like it is in White Rock, but it's not the same. Much bigger waves here - I'm not sure how well you could surf off the Peace Arch area, but you sure could here!!
Here's a bit of a view of the rest of town, from the promenade in front of my house. The large, imposing structure just left of centre is the Old College. The main campus is up a BIG hill, somewhat removed from town. The Old College, however, is the home of the Department of Welsh, so that's where my lectures will be. Not so hard to get to.
This is my building. While it may LOOK like each of us should be so lucky as to have one of those entire windows to ourselves, they're actually split, and I got the short end of the stick on that. I have a small - even a bit small by British standards, according to the lady at reception - room, with a "pod" ensuite. I am told that when they renovated the building -as it is old - they put these pod systems in that have shower/toilet/sink all built in, and didn't care much if the room was really big enough. I mean, it fits, but it's sure cozy!! The showers are not conducive to large people - I had to turn sideways and bend down a bit to wash my hair. This will be a humbling year, and I am already looking forward to a proper bath when I get back to wonderful, expansive North America after this adventure.
In other news... I must have stressed enough over the last month to lose enough weight that none of my pants fit. I ought to find a belt, as it's killing me to have to stop constantly and pull them up. Embarrassing... but, not altogether bad, I suppose?
Cheers!
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