Welcome To My World

It would be pretty dull to begin each entry with an apology for being late, so let's just acknowledge a universal fact: when you're in the process of having an adventure, it's really really hard to squeeze in the time to document said adventure. So if in the future I'm a little behind, bear with me.

That said... ONWARD!

So, part of the reason I've been so scarce on the blog is that this past week I've been at something called Folklore Field School. I'll go more into what that's about soon enough, but suffice it to say they've had us in a sort of "folklore boot camp." We're away from the normal school campus, staying in a community, and for the past six days straight (including Saturday!) we had class from 8:30am to 6pm. Pretty intense.

But actually, I would like to take a magical journey into the past for a moment to get you caught up on where I'll be normally, when I'm staying on campus and not off doing crazy folklore things in the Newfoundland countryside.

First up, a tour.

Below is my building, Gilbert Court. It's one of several "courts" that make up something called Burton's Pond Apartments. These are on campus apartment-style residences. So I get the perks of being on campus but the freedom of having my own room and kitchen.

If you were wondering, they're called Burton's Pond Apartments because they're right across from Burton's Pond...

Each residence on campus has a mascot. They use these for spirit activities. Ra-ra pep rallies, team pride, etc etc. Since Burton's Pond has more than one building, we get a mascot for each building. All are water-related: the Ducks, and Pirates, and - mine - the Gilbert Court Gators. Here's a picture of the mascots.

(As a brief side note, the first night we moved in they had a huge pep rally/"Minute to Win-It" style game for the chance to win prizes. I didn't win anything, but it was fun to watch...)

Mascots from all the residences

Since we are Burton's Pond, one of our pep rally cheers was "Pond Squad!" which explains the window art:

So I arrived on campus, signed in and got my keys, and dragged my luggage up three flights of stairs to my new home with the help of a lovely fellow international student whose name I immediately forgot. But he and my Residence Life staff member helper each grabbed a bag, which made the going so much easier. (Especially with my sprained ankle!)

Inside the stair wells, the walls are mostly cinder block so many people have left artwork or messages in chalk, including this lovely ode to the ducks that congregate at Burton's Pond:

Our door name tags are green (because we're Gators) and shaped like Pokeballs (because we're just that awesome.)

There's actually a third one now, for my other roommate Tresha

I met my roommates. Tresha is from Jamaica, so she and I immediately bonded over getting used to the new culture (and especially the weather). She is a grad student like me, studying education. We didn't meet our roommate Julia until the next day because she's a native Newfoundlander and stayed with her parents (who live just an hour away) until right before classes started. She's an undergrad and has been here for a few years now, but is coming back after having taken some time off. Anyway, I totally forgot to take pictures of either of them, so you can't see their beautiful smiling faces here yet, but I assure you they'll pop up somewhere in this blog over the next few months.

But we're not done with the tour yet! I keep getting sidetracked. Let's give you the lay of the land.

Here's the kitchen and living area. Our bedroom doors all connect to this space. Mine's just to the left of that table.

Here's a peek inside the room. It's small but efficient, and doesn't feel claustrophobic... (yet. I've been warned this may change when we're snowed in during winter.)

Learning from snack food: the French for "Despicable Me" is "Detestable Moi." Who knew?

Books and knick-knacks... now it feels a bit "homier"

And after a few days, I realized that the view out my window is of more than just a traffic intersection. If you look above and beyond, you can see Signal Hill! I was lucky enough to glimpse it during sunrise one morning...

And of course no place is truly home until you've scoped out the local libraries. I didn't get a chance to explore the public library yet, but did find my way to "QEII" (Queen Elizabeth II, the on-campus library.) Floors and floors of books...

While exploring I stumbled into one of the study rooms, and noticed that someone had drawn a little arrow on the desk pointing toward a drawer I'd assumed would be empty. I tugged it out, and found a treasure trove inside...

The drawer was filled with notes of encouragement, positive quotes, funny doodles, and offers of help for anyone struggling with stress or depression. Sifting through the messages was beautiful and surreal. So much love in one little drawer! I ended up leaving a note of my own before I departed. The next time I was in the library I went straight to that room but it was already occupied. I hope the guy thought to try opening the drawer...

So there you have it! A little glimpse into the tiny pocket of campus I've been able to witness so far, before being whisked away to Folklore Field School in Cupids, Newfoundland. We're about an hour away from the city out here. We arrived on September 11th and will finish up on September 30th. It's been a lot of info in a short amount of time, but also quite fun.

Stay tuned for next time, wherein we shall discuss the first week of field school and the various adventures contained within!

P.S. I have a mailing address now! It's probably not the best idea to post it publicly on the interwebs, but if you want it and don't have it let me know and we'll work something out.