2008-09-06 - 5:06 p.m.
Well, I'm all oriented, both physically, and for school. This campus (possibly this city) is the most straightforward in terms of directions that I've found since I left Rocky. Back home, west is the mountains, north is toward Edmonton, south is toward Calgary, and everything left has to be east. Pretty easy to get your bearing, even if you have no sense of direction. In Victoria, of course, not only are you surrounded by water, but I'm convinced that the city rotates every now and then so that you can never really know where north is. Here at UBC though, the water is north. Just like that. The VST building faces north, my room faces east - easy! It's very convenient.
Directions aside, orientation week went well. It was really three days, not a week, and started on Wednesday. That was a pretty low key day- they gave the new students a tour of the building, showed us the VST library and the UBC library, took us over to the bookstore, that sort of thing. I got my UBC student card, although due to line length I didn't get my bus pass till this morning. I also managed to pick up most of the books I need over at the Regent bookstore (Regent College is another theological college on campus). No lines, and the Cathedral had very kindly given me a gift certificate for there.
The next day was a day for all the students, not just the new ones. It was pretty busy - we had some sessions for new students, met the faculty that sort of thing. There was worship (VST has corporate worship once a week), in the Anglican style. The school is sponsored mainly by three denominations- Anglican, United and Presbyterian. Every week the service takes a different form. There was a (very good) lunch after the service, with more talking. After lunch we broke into our denominational groups. The Anglicans here seem pretty cool - the professor who was in charge of the Anglicans left to be a parish priest in North Vancouver, so Dr. Leggett is taking over in the meantime. Worship is a bit changed from last year, but we will have morning prayer three days a week, evening prayer three days a week, and two Eucharists, in the evenings. All in all, including the corporate worship on Thursdays, this only leaves one morning without some form of worship scheduled, which I think is pretty cool. The morning one are at 8:30, instead of 7:30, as they were, so that's kind of nice too.
Yesterday was a day for just the new students, a lot of getting to know each other, and getting to know the school.
All the days were good, but fairly tiring! Lots of thinking, and lots of new stuff. I have managed to venture off campus twice now, once to visit my friend Ashley (who I know from UVic) and then today to get some groceries. The bus system seems to be pretty straightforward, and of course I have an unlimited pass through the University.
