(no subject)

[bedlamsbard]

Today I had an ineptshieldmaid and a cursor_mundi all day! It was fabulous, and also I ate out more than I have the rest of the time I've been in England put together, although I did just barely keep myself from buying anything that wasn't food. We also went to the Polar Museum. I have this thing about the Franklin Expedition, due to this exhibit in the Wax Museum in Victoria, so that was cool.

Yesterday, Harry Potter! It was also fabulous. Helena Bonham Carter's Hermione-as-Bellatrix was absolutely fabulous. I also really love the Malfoy family, which surprised me; I loved their whole "fuck this shit, we're going home" bit after Harry's not-death. Also FUCK YEAH MINERVA MCGONAGALL so much love. There were most definitely tears. *sigh* I wish there was no epilogue, but you can't have everything.

I just came back from an entire day without returning to Newnham House, and I returned to find the rest of my program watching a movie in the empty room next to mine. So I put my head in, to say hello, and they said they were watching Gladiator. MY FEELINGS TOWARDS GLADIATOR ARE A LITTLE INTENSE, so I said the first thing which popped into my head, which was, "I hate Gladiator, I'm next door and I was wondering what the hell was going on," and then left. I...probably should have added something else. Um. Oh well. But I really do hate Gladiator.

In other news, I have finally had scones with jam and clotted cream. I enjoyed it! And now I have found a tea shop I like very much. (Which is cheaper than some of the other options.)

...and now I am trying to find flights to New Orleans so I can, you know, return to school, and they appear to not exist for the actual day on which I need to arrive (August 28). Wait. Why am I finding them on the United site but not the Continental site, even though they're Continental flights? No, wait, I'm finding them, they're just more expensive so they're in weird places on the page. Damn. Jesus, the idea of getting another plane is making me vaguely nauseous, especially since they're all through IAH and that's a four hour flight. I WANT TO GO THROUGH DENVER. WHY ARE THERE NO FLIGHTS THROUGH DENVER? (Or no convenient ones, anyway.) I really don't understand why airline websites don't allow you to search by arrival day.

Comments

[darklyndsea]

You can't search by arrival date/time because it's the airlines. They'll tell you when they've scheduled your cavity search for, but they're not willing to guarantee you'll arrive on a certain date, or possibly at all.

Though, personally, I've always had good experiences with the airlines, even when they mess up (direct flight that arrives earlier for the price of a non-direct flight? Heck, yes, I'll take it).

[bedlamsbard]

*sighs* Airlines, man. I really wish my uni was giving us a little more leeway on the arrival date, too, because it would be at least thirty dollars cheaper if I could fly in on the 27th instead of the 28th, but no: it has to be the 28th.

Alas, no direct flights from Seattle to New Orleans. I am really starting to hate flying.

[darklyndsea]

Yeah, why does everybody HAVE to move in the same week (weekend? It's been a while since I've lived in a dorm)? Couldn't they at least do something like "we suggest you move in on X week, but if you really want to the dorms are open a week before that", or even just by special arrangement?

*Sigh* Trains. I want more trains. They're so much more awesome than planes.

[bedlamsbard]

I would be so fucking happy if it was the same week. It's the same goddamn day. Freshmen move in the day before, everyone moves in the day after, classes start the next day. (It was different my freshman year, but for some unknown reason they changed it the next year and they've stuck with it since then.)

I could take a train from Seattle to New Orleans. Unfortunately it would cost three or four times as much and take three days. *sigh*

[darklyndsea]

One-day move-in? For everybody at once (because...freshmen don't count as people, apparently)?! D:

Trains in America...it's good that they exist, but they're so inconvenient that they might as well not exist. Except cargo trains, I guess, because I see those all the time.

[bedlamsbard]

The only people who are required to live on campus are freshmen and sophomores, and there's only one dorm that houses upperclassmen, so that's, mmm, 1500 people on the 27th, and, mmm, maybe 1750-2000 people on the 28th? Considering that there are a fair number of people that come in early for various reasons (RAs, some grad students who live on-campus, marching band people, cheerleaders, athletes, people helping with move-in, the optional one-week NOLA program for incoming freshmen and the OCs for that, the OCs for Orientation, probably other things I don't know about).

I've helped with freshman move-in before. It's hellish. It's why I won't do it again even for the chance to come in early. See, freshmen bring their parents. And they don't know where everything is, and they have too much stuff, and they don't know how to do it...

Clearly just thinking about it is giving me hives.

[darklyndsea]

When you say OC, I think original character. Which makes me wonder what canon your university is based on. :P But your university is obviously a lot smaller than mine; I don't want to think about what that move-in schedule would be like at mine.

I don't even want to think about helping freshmen move in. I have enough moving problems of my own as it is, and at that it's a lot easier now that I'm doing most of it on my own and with copious lists (Without lists, I would probably somehow end up without clothing, textbooks, or bedding). And, um, more than a month to pack, even though like half of it has to be packed on the very last day.

[bedlamsbard]

Heh. Orientation coordinator; they're the people that shepherd freshmen around during Orientation and organize things and...stuff.

It's mostly carrying stuff, but freshmen always bring too much stuff and they tend to live in buildings with multiple floors. And they don't let you use the elevators on move-in day except for really heavy stuff, so it's up and down twelve flights of reasonably narrow stairs packed with students and parents toting boxes.

[rooibos]

www.kayak.com, man. They rule my world, and saved me a lot of money the year I was in Trinidad.

[bedlamsbard]

The one thing is that I'm trying to keep all my miles in one place. *sighs* I like Continental. Except when they're fiendishly inconvenient.