Moving story!

So you remember how I was at home for the last week of August? At some stage during that week, a notice went up telling everyone who was leaving that they had to move out on Sept 3rd. I didn't return until the evening of the 4th, and didn't see the notice until the 6th (Sunday night, someone had the door propped open and the notice was behind it; Monday night, I was with Ruth at her house).

Anyway, I had a contract to move into a new place, Guthrie House, so I made arrangements to move in there "early" - the technical move-in date was the 10th. I had to come home last Wednesday (7th) for a hospital appointment the next day so I wasn't able to shift my stuff until the Thursday evening. I landed in Belfast with my mum, one (rather grumpy) brother and my two sisters at about half past 6. We didn't leave until a quarter to nine. It's the most disorganised move I've ever had. It was a good job Mum and my sisters came; originally, it was just gonna be my brother and myself, and we would never have got everything shifted in the one evening. As it was, I had to come back up to Belfast on Friday to hand in the keys to Mount Charles.

Mount Charles was a terrace of once-residential houses converted for student accommodation, but Guthrie House is a proper university hall of residence, with long corridors and room doors set at an angle to each other. I somehow managed to fluke a room which was used as a double room until they changed the regulations or something. It's only a little smaller than the room I had in Mount Charles and is a bit of an odd shape; one wall bends in the middle at a reflex angle (is that the right term for an angle more than 180 degrees and less than 360?) and the door "cuts off" one corner of the room. It came with a desk, two chairs, set of drawers, two overhead lockers, combined sink unit with cupboards/wardrobe with fitted set of drawers, and a majassive table!! Oh, and a bed, obviously.

The one thing it doesn't have is overhead lighting. I've got three halogen bar lights on the walls and another over the mirror, but no ceiling lamp o.O'

But the room's not the important thing; the important thing is the kitchen. More specifically, the fridge. Or, even more specific, fridges. Remember me complaining about how crap the fridge was in Mount Charles? My kitchen in Guthrie has two fridges. Two! One of them is as tall as I am! *weeps with joy* I can actually keep food now! Plus three cookers, three sinks, two kettles, separate upright freezer, microwave, toaster, tables, chairs and more cupboards than I cared to count. *cries again*

The other important thing is the common room. Mount Charles didn't have one; Guthrie House does. It's just a lot of chairs looking at a TV, but it's somewhere for socialising with other residents, which was something sorely lacking in Mount Charles. And the in-house laundry is huge! With washing machines that will actually take a load of laundry and aren't rusting away!

I've met two of my flatmates: Maggie, a Chinese girl who's finishing up her thesis on electrical engineering, and Mary, a local who's starting a Master's in environmental planning. Both seem friendly. Mary said they try to organise stuff within the flat for going out. Hopefully when the rest of my flatmates arrive, we'll get on well too *crosses fingers*

And now ( a meme! )

And more memes

Now I'm fed and watered and in a room which isn't booked for any classes, I have time to catch up on all those memes I've been wanting to do :)

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