elanya

Well, here I am, on the internet, on mIRC even. Am I at Tar River? No. No, not so much. I'm actually at Eller House, which is the Maritime Studies departmental building. What time is it? About 8:00 PM, here. And is there anyone else in the building? No. *I* have a *key*. That's right, I have a key. I wasn't even planning to come here today, except that it was right beside the International Student House, where I had to go, so I figured I'd stop in and have a look around. The secretary gave me a key, and then introduced me to Tim Runyan, the program director.

Anyway, I should start at the beginning, shouldn't I?

I woke up this morning around what my clock told me was 9AM. Now, I have no way of knowing if it is set correctly, since I don't have a watch. I did some paperwork with the TRE folks, proving to them that I did, in fact, have enough $$ to afford to pay them my rents. Next, I packed up bunches of forms and things and set out with a list of things to do, the first of which was to find some food. I didn't get to buy anything last night, of course, since it was dark and I had no idea where there were any good food stores. I found a deli, I can't remember the name of it, but it seemed to be run by some Lebanese folks. They're everywhere...

Oh. I forgot to mention that Greenville is *not* a pedestrian friendly town. By which I mean that they don't even have sidewalks on most streets. I'm still boggled by that. They have cyclepaths, sort of... but no sidewalks. It's walking doen the side of the street for me, it seems! Also, I can hear the cicadas. Mostly in the morning, but also the rest of the day. They sound kind of pretty, mostly. Atonal musical humming? Is that an oxymoron? Anyway, it's not annoying, and that's what's important.

So, after the Deli, I wandered until I found International house, and found out that I diodn't actually have all the papers they wanted. but then I had no way of knowing that... So I went to Eller House, where I was introduced around, and pretty much waylayed for about an hour by Tim Runyan. Not a bad thing at all, just unexpected. He keeps pushing me towards doing a PHD, so I think I will try to talk to him about it again, and then talk to the Costal Management Resources guy tomorrow. I fact, when i came back here tonight, he was stil here, introduced me to another staff member, and then chattered about restaurants for a good long while. I think I will settle in to the department quite quickly, in any case. Oh, this afternoon, he also set me up with my ECU e-mail address (I'll keep using quiscalus as primary). Who would have thought that I even had one! But I do, and now I have a password and everything. They have a weird system here, where you have to change your password ever 90 days. Secure, I suppose, but how do people remember? Anyway...

After that, I went to the bank. I went with a Carolinian bank called BB&E or something like that. I actually forget. anyway, they have my money. They tell me there is a six day hold on my bank draft, which is less that I'd feared, and gave me a couple of accounts, and also are sending me a bank card (a check card, as they call them here). They say they can only give me a visa if it is an student Visa, with a max of 1000$ limit, which is *gay*. We'll see. Can you get a Visa right through the company? Is that better or worse than through a bank? Anyway. the bank lady told me where I could get *some* groceries, at least, so there I went.

I will note that so far, everyone one I have met here has been unbelieveably friendly and helpful. Southern hospitality is not a lie. The guy at the diner when I had dinner tonight (cheeseburger, onion rings and a deeeliciously thick vanilla shake) held the door open for me *twice*, even. I mostly think he was bored, though :) His co-worked was also exceedingly friendly and she was a girl, so I'm not putting it down purely to chivalry;) Anyway, everyone has been nice so far, so I thik I will be especially taken aback by the first mean person I meet.

I did go get some stuff, but it was gong to be a bit of carrying, so I didn't load myself up. I *did* get toilet paper, and a small waste paper basket. And two things of drink, and some bananas. That's about it, except for some plastic dished and cutlery, to tide me over until I can get some real ones.

After that, I went back home to sort stuff out. I had to back out again after though, and I did more stuff with TRE (Paid outstanding rent, for one), and set up a phone number. It shoudl be set up on Thursday. I went with Sprint, because that's all they seem to have in these parts. I have 120 hours free calling in the states, and then 7c to Canada and 9c to the UK (per minute). That's not too bad, I guess, and local sevice with all the bells and whistles. It's gonna be about 50$ a month all together, but I can see myself doing a lot of calling, so I'll suck up and deal, as Lars might advise.

I also took the rest of the paperwork up to the international folks, and had an appple. Then I wandered home through the sound garden (it chimes everytime someone goes though it :o), had a snack, went for a *swim*, and came out to get dinner and try these computers on for size. They seem to fit pretty nicely, and I can use IRC, which is the main thing. Also, if I come by in the morning around 9, I can go out for coffee with some of the staff and meet more of them, so I'll try to do that. Only I have no idea what time it is... boo!

So, now here is the deal. I don't really have anything to do in the evenings. But I don't know if I want to spend all my time online here.

I *can* check e-mail and LJ, and even update LJ from TRE. I just can't use mIRC. So I guess the answer is to try and schedule stuff there and go from there :) I should be able to post a schedule of things that I am doing soon, too...

Also, I know you folks all want my address, so here it is!

105 Oak St, #2
Greenville, NC, USA
27858

(252)-353-2062