Monday, October 01, 2007

Not a good start


I started back at uni today. Scary.

2 lectures, one 11:10-12.00, one 12:10-13:00. A lab class 14:00-17:00. And Small Groups rehearsal tonight.

To get into uni for 11 I had to get up at 9, catch a bus into town at 9:50, a bus into Sheffield at 10:10, then another bus at 10:45 to the psychology department.

After a night of what must have been back-to-uni-anxiety dreams, I did get up at 9. I did everythng I needed to do and was waiting for my first bus at 9:45.

Which didn't arrive.

In a slight panic, I waited in case it was late. Because the next one (they are every 10 mins) would have only jsut got me there on tme, and I'd have had to run and/or hope the Sheffield bus was late. A bus actually turned up at 10:15. Therefore I missed the Sheffield one.

I settled down to wait for the 10:40 Sheffield bus. I'd be half an hour late for my lecture, but at least I'd get there. I decided I'd take out some cash while I was near a machine, and that was when I realised I didn't have my card with me. Bollocks.

I couldn't remember whether I'd picked it up or not, so I had to go home to check, just in case it had been stolen on the bus or something. Besides, I only had a couple of pounds on me and I needed money for lunch and the bus.

So I got back on the Newbold bus and went home. The bus takes a circular route, so a journey into town for me takes 10 minutes, but the journey home takes 20 - I quickly worked out that in order to get to my 12:10 lecture I'd have to catch the same bus I was already on.

It was actually possible, because I did it. I got off at the village, which is a 10-minute walk from my house. I power-walked to my house in about 8 minutes, grabbed my card (which was on my bedside table after all), and ran back to the bus stop on my road. Caught the same bus, which slightly confused the driver.

And all my other connections went fine, and I was there for my second lecture at least.

At least I'd bought a £5 all day ticket thing so my extra journeys didn't cost me any more.

And I've discovered an advantage to repeating - I already know exactly how to do an analysis of variance (ANOVA)* from last year, in contrast to my fellow second-years who looked rather confused. Same thing in my lab class, I'm pretty competent at putting formulae into Excel, and everyone else... apparently isn't.

I just need to make some friends now I guess.

Right. I'm off to sit in the park for an hour to look at birds and eat houmous with veggies and pittas. And strawberries. Then choir!!! :)

*It's a statistics thing, in case you care. I'm sure you don't.

3 comments:

  1. it can only get better from here in mate!

    ReplyDelete
  2. And the politicians wonder why people don't use public transport. You deserve a medal for getting there! I think I'd have given up and gone home.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mo - I was pretty close! I hate public transport, but I don't drive (partly because I can't, partly because of the environmental issues, and partly because I hate the idea of not being able to park or have a drink if I feel like it or whatever).

    I suppose most of the problem is the chains involved - if I'm 30 seconds late for the town bus and miss it, I miss the Sheffield bus as well and have to wait 30 minutes for the next one.

    ReplyDelete