Independence

Tomorrow, classes actually start.

I feel like I’ve been saying that in every post. I don’t know what my books are yet or what exactly I’ll be doing all year, except for my group project. All I’ve been doing this week is learning Unix/Linux, a lot of which I know already. Sadly, that means this coming week will likely be boring introductory lectures. If I was a student in anything other than computer science, that boring first week would be over already.

My group project will be creating an instant messaging program, like a very simplified MSN or AIM or Skype. We’re deciding this week whether we want to create the entire thing ourselves, or use code that MSN or another instant messaging service has already created and make our own version of it (this is all very vague because I assume most of my readers wouldn’t know what I’m talking about if I got specific). It’s going to be challenging, but also hopefully fun, and it’s one of the available projects that is very extendable and is possible to write a lot about. We have to write a fairly long dissertation between me and my other three group members, which will actually count for most of the grade. That kind of writing is not my favorite.

I finally went on that shopping trip I kept talking about, but ended up going on my own because everyone else was busy. It was a fruitful trip. I bought this coat (the black one), which I’m very proud of finding, and two t-shirts, one white, one black, both with designs on the front. All of that for 30 pounds (about $45). I easily found the subway stops and everything on my own.

I find these first-time-on-my-own trips rather exhilarating. First the airplane ride here, then learning how to get around my local area, then going downtown on my own. I’m enjoying this new independence.

Photo: Near the City Centre (no, spell-checker, that’s how they spell “center”…) on a usual Sunday afternoon. Complete with the busker playing his drum in the street.