Pedantry, Phones, and Flats

Today, I collected my student ID card (good for discounts on buses, free McFlurries, using university computers, and registering for classes), and completed the last of the paperwork for me to be fully accepted at Exeter. With all this paperwork, it amazes me that some Exeter student described German bureaucracy as "pedantic!" While waiting in the near-endless queue, I met a pair of recent Samford graduates, who are both at Exeter studying International Relations. It turns out that one of them went to high school with my cousin at Vestavia . . . small world! The other is from Knoxville, but is not a Tennessee fan (which was good news in my book).

We also got our cell phones this evening. We got the the Carphone Warehouse just before it closed, which was naturally at 6 pm, just like everything else in town, and had plenty of time to pick out what phones we wanted while we waited in the queue (there's that ever-present theme again). We both got Vodafone Nokia 6300s, which are nice little candy bar phones with a built-in radio (a nice touch for those long waits for buses and trains), with Bluetooth capability, which was a must, since we both have Bluetooth headsets to work with. For a total cost of just under 70 pounds, it wasn’t a bad deal. iPhones, for the record, were free with a new two-year contract (available exclusively at O2). In fact, there were some phones that came with a free laptop. Many of AT&T’s customers who come in and say “Where are your free phones?” would be pleased.

Tomorrow, I’m due to spend most of the day on orientation activities, and, hopefully, get moved into our new apartment on Blackboy Road (to think that someone objected to the name “Penny Lane” as racist!). Hopefully, there won’t be any more delays, as moving around every two days gets very old very fast!