Back Where I Belong
A jet-lag-induced early morning seems like an appropriate time to update ze LJ, no? Been up since 5 am today, thanks to an early night crash last night after another airplane overdose. I arrived at Stanford yesterday at 11:30 am, having left the hostel in Salta approximately 25 hours before, and spent a solid 16-17 of those hours physically on an airplane. Thank goodness it's going to be a while before I have to repeat that experience.
Myself, I am safe and sound, but the same can unfortunately not be said for all of my belongings, notably my $85 Leatherman pocket knife. Like a good traveller, I put it in my checked luggage, wedged into one of the side pockets on my big camping backpack between my sandals. When I picked up my backpack at SFO this morning, I noticed the pocket was half-open, but as I had packed it fairly tightly, I thought nothing of it. Upon emptying the pack, however, no Leatherman. Three re-checks of all my unpacked stuff later, still no Leatherman. The irony of losing a pocket knife from my checked luggage does little to make the result more bearable.
Lauren came to meet me at the Caltrain station, and help me haul my luggage back to her room in Kimball - the same dorm where I'm going to be living come Sunday 1 pm. I don't yet know which room I'm going to be in, and consequently have no idea whether it's a single, one- or two-room double, or quad. Fingers crossed for an arrangement where I can have my own enclosed space...
I shipped two items to Lauren from Germany before I left: one cardboard box, ca. 16 kg, and one 20 kg suitcase. The box arrived on Wednesday, and we picked it up from the housing office today. It had been completely mangled in transit, and DHL re-wrapped it several times in packing tape, it would seem. Most of the stuff inside was more or less intact, though. However, the suitcase hasn't arrived yet. It contained most of the more important stuff, including lots of books and sheet music, my sleeping bag, and a fair amount of clothes, and so I'm feeling a bit jittery not knowing its whereabouts. Hopefully it will arrive within the week, otherwise I'll have to call DHL in Germany and try to make them sweat. I have all of the waybills, but the packages were uninsured - couldn't afford insurance - so I'm just going to have to hope they didn't screw this up.
Today is going to be the calm before the storm - tomorrow is moving-in day, on Monday I want to go meet with my advisors, and classes start at the crack of dawn (i.e. 8:30 am) on Tuesday. I wish today would just be over already - I really can't be bothered sitting around waiting for permission to do everything that needs to be done. I'm probably going to go down and play the piano later, but I can't very well do that at 7 am - the few residents who are here would probably serve me up as a human sacrifice to the gods of silence if I did. It is getting lighter though, so I suppose I could pull out a book and read until Lauren wakes up.
Myself, I am safe and sound, but the same can unfortunately not be said for all of my belongings, notably my $85 Leatherman pocket knife. Like a good traveller, I put it in my checked luggage, wedged into one of the side pockets on my big camping backpack between my sandals. When I picked up my backpack at SFO this morning, I noticed the pocket was half-open, but as I had packed it fairly tightly, I thought nothing of it. Upon emptying the pack, however, no Leatherman. Three re-checks of all my unpacked stuff later, still no Leatherman. The irony of losing a pocket knife from my checked luggage does little to make the result more bearable.
Lauren came to meet me at the Caltrain station, and help me haul my luggage back to her room in Kimball - the same dorm where I'm going to be living come Sunday 1 pm. I don't yet know which room I'm going to be in, and consequently have no idea whether it's a single, one- or two-room double, or quad. Fingers crossed for an arrangement where I can have my own enclosed space...
I shipped two items to Lauren from Germany before I left: one cardboard box, ca. 16 kg, and one 20 kg suitcase. The box arrived on Wednesday, and we picked it up from the housing office today. It had been completely mangled in transit, and DHL re-wrapped it several times in packing tape, it would seem. Most of the stuff inside was more or less intact, though. However, the suitcase hasn't arrived yet. It contained most of the more important stuff, including lots of books and sheet music, my sleeping bag, and a fair amount of clothes, and so I'm feeling a bit jittery not knowing its whereabouts. Hopefully it will arrive within the week, otherwise I'll have to call DHL in Germany and try to make them sweat. I have all of the waybills, but the packages were uninsured - couldn't afford insurance - so I'm just going to have to hope they didn't screw this up.
Today is going to be the calm before the storm - tomorrow is moving-in day, on Monday I want to go meet with my advisors, and classes start at the crack of dawn (i.e. 8:30 am) on Tuesday. I wish today would just be over already - I really can't be bothered sitting around waiting for permission to do everything that needs to be done. I'm probably going to go down and play the piano later, but I can't very well do that at 7 am - the few residents who are here would probably serve me up as a human sacrifice to the gods of silence if I did. It is getting lighter though, so I suppose I could pull out a book and read until Lauren wakes up.