Fresher Mouse...

I'm lying here with a small sherry, contemplating my week so far.  So, after a few months of rest and relaxation it's nice to have a routine again, to get up and shower, brush out my fur and whiskers and know that I will see more people than just the post man today.

Of course, there was also something else - call it excitement, call it anticipation... or just call it plain old nerves.  Yes, my whiskers were trembling somewhat as I dragged a comb through my freshly washed fur.  

Checking my joining instructions on Sunday night I pored over the Welcome Meeting schedule - well, there was no schedule as such, just a time and a place.  'Be in the Auditorium by 9.45'.  Okay no problem, I know where the campus is, I know where the Auditorium is, I know where to park the Mouse mobile (say mobeeeeel when you read that, as in super duper souped up car, not mobILE as in 'phone - okay?).  However, I consulted with Mr. Mouse, who actually works at the campus.

'I think you'd better check that, Mouse, it doesn't actually say 'on campus'.  I check.  He's right. I have to go to an auditorium in a theatre in the centre of town. Oh.  I don't know this town particularly well, despite living only 20 miles away for much of my mouse life, but I do know it's a kind of... mess.  I think it's sort of evolved, rather than been designed, with a huge modern shopping centre near to a 60s concrete monstrosity, and a stone's throw away from some proper good old architecturally pleasing buildings.  I check parking.  There is no actual itinerary so I don't know how long I would need to park for - worse case all day - £11.  ELEVEN POUNDS!  A lot to me, now that I am a poor student mouse.  I check the bus - where is the bus station - ah - there.  And the theatre? Ok. No idea then.

In the end I decide to get a ride into the campus with Mr. Mouse, and cross my paws that I can get a bus from there into the town. A friendly squirrel girl with red hair and enormous brown eyes tells me where I can get the bus, but also that I can walk into town and it will take ten minutes.  This being my preferred mode of transport, and the way I navigated Sweden, I set off on my sturdy paws for the walk.

I find the theatre - it is full to the brim of all manner of young creatures, colourful ones, shy ones who hide behind their fringes, the bendy kind that can sit on the floor in all manner of poses, some lone, some in packs, some huddled together, unsmiling and silent.  There are some older ones, older than me, looking confident, wise and enlightened. I am somewhere in the middle.  A song is playing in my head 'My heart is a-jumpin', my teeth are chatter, scarecrow, scarecrow... 'cos I'm scared alarming...'  Ten points to anyone who can name the band - it's an obscure one I'm sure.  I feel utterly out of place.  We are handed out some 'important information'.  Thinking it is an itinerary at last, I grab one.  It's a pamphlet showing what plays are on offer over the next few months.

We file into the Auditorium. I sit in the middle, between two very young creatures.  They introduce themselves - they are studying cool subjects such as creating computer games and they are comparing notes on halls and their room mates.  I can add little to this and so stare at the stage.  

We are given a welcome by the Dean of the University (the boss - his name is not Dean), and then the lecturers come out, one by one, and we are told to go and wait in the foyer in our study groups and follow our lecturers.  Again, no itinerary and no time to ask if we can go for a wee first.  Once located, the lecturers lead us on a walk - they don't tell us where we are going but point out useful reference points along the way 'That bar is open until 2am and do shots for 75p'.

It turns out we are walking back to the University.  So, I walked al l the way into town to be welcomed and taken on a walk back?  Good job I didn't book that all day parking. Once back we are told that we are not needed again until 2pm.  It has just gone 11am.

After a coffee, and a read, and a good old explore of the building I am herded along with the rest of my group into another Auditorium (I can see this is going to get confusing) and we are given a timetable - some useful information at last.

The second day is the actual enrolment.  This is fairly uneventful. I log onto the computer as directed, nothing happens.  I am sent to sit with a technician who will sort out the technical problems and guide me through it, the system crashes.  That sort of uneventful.  Eventually the task is complete, a photograph is taken (thankfully quite blurry and my whiskers look okay) and I am sent off, this time, for an induction of the library. This is where they tell me how to get books out of a library. My small boss, Edie, has told me this many times so it's not particularly interesting or surprising to me.  Then it's time to go home with nothing else happening until Thursday.  It strikes me that they could have, with a little planning, put all of the scheduled items into a one morning induction, but I mustn't go all process management on them - remember, I don't do that anymore.

So I think I have it sussed so far.  And as for the youngsters in their cool fur, well they all look normal and shy, but they do have rather large holes in their ears which I just can't fathom, really. And they say 'Awesome' a lot.  So for the rest of this week, this will be my goal, to get the word 'awesome' into every sentence, at least three times.

It will be awesome.

High Five,
Mouse xx