I just arrived, I'm at the door of the place I started out from I haven't exactly dived (dove?) into things here. It's baby steps in many aspects of the move. I missed a couple classes, I dropped one, I picked up several more (some for the winter semester). I slept on the floor for a long time but finally purchased a heavenly futon mattress. I bought a nice chair.

Moving without furniture at this point of my life has been rather challenging. I'm hesitant to spend much on new acquisitions, but when you move to a new city, knowing where to seek out used stuff presents a challenge. We've tried to take note of our closest grocery store, closest gas station, closest shopping mall, closest beer store (!). I like that there are Tim Horton's coffee shops everywhere. There are TWO on campus at Carleton.

I'm learning the bus routes. I'm learning the neighbourhoods near my home and school. I'm making plans to play tourist and visit some nice Ottawa spots. I'm making plans to rent movies and get caught up on quality sleep. I'm debating finding part-time work. Class scheduling is different here, with many of my classes taking place only once a week, so it turns out that I don't have class on Thursdays at this point. Some office temp work might be manageable.

I already have assignments for several term papers. My classes are quite large. And I seem to keep sitting near the smelly boys again. Why can't these kids get cleaned up before they come to class?!

I think I like Ottawa. It reminds me of home in some ways (home being Moncton). I love the unpredictability that you get with this level of urban density. And there's so much green and lushness. So much racial diversity. Fluent bilinguilism. Unique buildings and neighbourhoods. A sense of history. Nothing overly sleek for the most part, but it feels like it's got character.  | ¶ 2:09 p.m.