Oh! Gravity.

12:00 am Edinburgh
6:00 pm St. Louis
5:00 pm Spearfish

Well, apparently according to the laws of physics or something dumb like that, what goes up must come down.  So you know how I had a really awesome day a couple of days ago?  Yeah.  Today was its negative counterpart.  Its equal and opposite reaction, if you will.


I could go through and give you the blow-by-blow, but really I have no desire to relive it all, and you probably don't want to read it anyway.  So I'll summarize by saying this: the amount of general disorganization here is unreal.  Seriously.  I really think they just throw the students out there to fend for themselves and I have no idea how anyone does it, because half the university people I spoke with didn't seem to entirely know what was going on either.  I spent the entire day in a state of massive confusion, not knowing where I was supposed to be or where I was supposed to have been already or what I needed to do or have done already...I ran back and forth between three different offices several different times.  And the conclusion of the day?  I'm currently signed up for two classes, one of them is the wrong one, and the list of classes I can take here to count toward my major at home is short and getting shorter.  (Neither of the classes I'm in right now falls into that category.)  The classes I have signed up for have been cancelled more times than I can count, and it's highly possible that they are STILL changing the schedule of which courses are going to be offered this semester.  That whole pre-registration thing we were supposed to do at home was way more important than anyone let on, because even though it was tough to figure out what classes I should be in from thousands of miles away, it's even worse here because half the classes are full and my "advisor" really doesn't even pretend to know what I should or shouldn't take.  Oh - and Philosophy courses aren't ones that he can directly sign me up for, meaning I have to go over to yet another office to sign up for those, while in the meantime trying to figure out which ones are worth taking by emailing my abroad advisor from home who, of course, has a six-hour time difference from me, making speedy contact difficult at best.  Oh- and classes start on Monday.

I am soooooo frustrated.  I'm sure within twenty-four hours this will all be fine and I'll be in worthwhile classes.  In the meantime though, I've spent my free time banging my head against stone walls and baking/consuming shortbread.  Delightful pursuits both, but perhaps not healthful in the long run.  I really need this to be worked out.

Upside of the day was I found a small group for the semester.  Yay.

Other upside of the day: I got totally addicted to this.  Um, so much better than the original.

PS - sorry for the scatteredness/vagueness of that story.  It was complicated and I am tired.