I’ll get the easy one out the way: academically, I did okay. Though I obviously could’ve worked harder, I think I’ve put more effort into my studies than ever before this year. It hurts to have that only come out as ‘average’.

It’s a 3.21 GPA, which should count as a scraping 2:1, but I can’t wait to see the presence of a sophomore class get scrutinised by the Board of Examiners.

My next post will be better.

I thought I’d be in trouble having to wait this long to register, but it turned out okay. I’m not sure they’re the courses that I really want to take, but they’re probably the ones that’ll make my final year easiest, while avoiding as much maths and “hard stuff” as I can. Except doing another CS 598… heh.

The screenshot is from Classwhole. It doesn’t really work that well for me, but I guess if you actually had to pick discussion slots or juggle classes, it help visualise things. Still, I’m impressed with how smoothly it works — it’s a relatively smart system, although I never tried breaking it.

My next post will be better.

Siebs at 4am, hopefully a one-off.

My next post will be better.

I’ve been stuck on an icebreaker question asked at one of the orientation events earlier this week: “what are your goals here?”.

I feel that I should be going into this with a better plan than I am right now. I don’t think it’s possible to make this trip a waste, but I after walking around the Siebel Center for the first time, I really feel like I should be focusing completely on academics while I’m here, filling up my schedule with 500-levels and learning everything I can from these experts.

That’s not to say that I don’t want to travel around, meet new people or take cross faculty courses — I really do — but I’m just having trouble figuring out what ‘make the most of this year’ really means.

I guess it’s only with a time limit on my stay that I really start thinking about how I should optimize my life. Sadly, I know I’m not even going to get close this time, let alone in the long run.

My next post will be better.

I’ve had highs and lows over the past six months about whether I really want to go, and right now I’m at a plateau where I don’t really feel like flying tomorrow.

The overwhelming reason is inconvenience… it’s a hassle to start a new life over there: little things like setting up bank accounts and meeting new people to participating in a course that’ll be way out of my league in a system that requires actual effort. There’s books that I want to read but can’t bring, sculptures I want to finish, a summer that I wanted to spend in Cambridge, and a November I should be in England for.

My world feels like it’s getting back to normal right now – maybe for the first time in a few years, I’m settling down to a situation that works for me (as London burns to the ground). I’ve often seen this opportunity as a second chance of sorts, but now I’m feeling like the first one was never over.

Also, holy fuck – I’m 21.

My next post will be better.

My next post will be better.