Today was the Courses and Careers day at Auckland University. Actually, it just seemed like a glorified open day to me, but it's all good. I woke up at the incredible hour of 6.45 on a Saturday (I mean honestly, who the hell gets up that early on a Saturday? Nobody. Proof of that was that I was able to roll around on the road while waiting for the bus) - waking up and getting ready for 7.15, only to go over to the bus stop with Rikky (designated bus buddies) to find that it was actually scheduled to arrive at 7.42 or some stupid number like that.

So, we waited. And quite a few people got on at this one stop...the trip there was uneventful, listening to my iPod (mmm iPod) and trying to hear what Philip was trying to say over the mobile phone because everybody on the bus was talking and being inconsiderate (even Rikky you bastard, sitting right next to me. Angry! Or something.)...yeah, he (Philip) called because he tried to arrange it so that I could get to Academy, but it didn't seem likely.

Yeah. Anyway, first thing there, some lecture thing in the Engineering School about Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. Extremely boring (well, the electrical one was a whole lot better than mechanical), but by not listening to the speaker I managed to admire the very brand spanking new-looking lecture theatre we were sitting in. I mean, it's so much better than a classroom. It's like, a theatre. It rocks. And the cool sound reflecting board things meant that the speaker didn't really have to shout his balls of either.

Next thing I went to I think was Optometry. That, was boring as hell. And to make matters worse, the lecture theatre that was held in was pretty poo. We went from state of the art to state of fart...crappy wooden strip, creaky pullout seats and no cool reflector sound things. The guy sounded really silly and all...and then I went to some Logic seminar (part of Philosophy I do believe) which was a very cool lecture. I got a handout at the end that basically sums up all that was in the lecture, some stuff to do with the laws of logic and all. I was even more impressed when about halfway through I realised that one of the speakers was blind and reading Braille. Tops, I tell you. Good on him.

It was at this point that I realised that following Rikky and Ju around wasn't going to help me any more, so in the words of Ju I became "a lone ranger". First, I went off to scout off the Computer Science laboratory, which looked all flash and new and stuff, there were some interesting looking games on display as well but I didn't dare touch them for fear of not being able to escape. There was also a long history walk-by read-thing thing, which I spent a good 15 minutes poring over.

While being lost trying to find the Computer Science lab, I found a cool Physics demonstration on how the distortion of a guitar works. The guy explaining it didn't do too flash a job but I used my own knowledge to fill in the gaps.

Oh yeah, just as I was about to leave the Computer Science building, this lady talked to me. She was very nice and enthusiastic. She passed me the "Computer Science undergraduate handbook" which is the best document that I recieved today (and it's a pity that the Music School didn't have one, an undergraduate handbook that is), and also another copy of the "university entrance criteria", free post-it notes and a free university pen.

I then moved away to look for the Clocktower after my discussion with Computer Science lady because she didn't seem to know the minimum entry requirement for having a BSc/BMus conjoint (even though I kinda did but just wanted to hear it from the horses mouth - not that she was a horse, but you know what I mean) - after finally locating the Clocktower, I entered the building and it looked really boring so I left. I couldn't be bothered, I guess I'll just have to get as high a mark as possible...which means effort, which means I get annoyed. Gah. Damn you exams, I think people should never be forced into exams. There should be people to observe you working and asking you questions, face to face instead of an exam paper that seems to mock you. When in real life are you not going to be able to use a graphical calculator? Consult a handbook with formulae, etc?

ANYWAY the Clocktower was a waste of my time. I then headed for lunch because it was 12.30ish and I was hungry. Found my way to the cafeteria (or what seems to be the cafeteria), where the Maidment Theatre was located and some AUSA Dj people had taken up shop. Nobody really seemed to take much notice of the AUSA people. I bought spicy wedges with salsa sauce, $3.80, I do believe. They were very nice. The woman at the cashier was friendly too.

I then headed off to the School of Music to catch the tour - met up with a few people from Macleans (I was walking around all lone-rangery before this), did the tour which really wasn't that interesting, and listened to some jazz music being created on the spot (including a jazz version of the National Anthem, very cool)...then I went lone ranger again because nobody seemed to want to visit the Electronic Music labs. Walked into one of them, it was full of dumbarse South Aucklanders, so I went into the other one with respectable people. Most people didn't seem too interested in the hardware and electronic music stuff in front of them so most of them left, and in the end it was just me and the student there. Talked a bit, gleamed a lot of useful information - I'm definitely going to try and do electronic music papers if I get the chance.

Then, I set out to try to get home - couldn't find the bus stop which I had arrived on, so I ended up taking one of the "free university buses" to Howick and stopping outside the movies at Highland Park and walking home from there.

All in all it was a good day. I had fun trying to navigate around myself...though I did feel like a tosser at times. I got a free pen (which is always helpful), information I needed and...yeah. For some reason I didn't mention the computer science lecture above, but I did go to it. It was alright, I suppose. There was an interesting RoboCup Rescue video thing at the end but they stopped it before it finished.

Yeah. I'm actually really looking forward to University now - I wasn't really, until today. The lecture halls look exciting. And who cares if I don't make friends. I can always talk to the pigeons in the cafe.