anticlockwise: August 2007

There is a clinical center in the universit with the name "Curry"..that was the name of some doctor who has made a lot for the university health services over 40 years..anyway, we went there to take mandatory shots and also to take the Tuberculin test or the TB test for short. I had the same test before leaving Egypt but they donot approve resluts of this test if the test was taken outside the states except for only some European countries. I stood in the line..when my turn came i stepped forward to one of the windows of the public serivce office..a nice lady checked my ID - the griz card ;)- and it took her some tome to decide which shots to be given..there is a note written write beside the window that i was standinf before it. The note says as -much as I remember -: "If you don't want to spell you compliant to the employee who's standing behind this window, you can write down what you need to say"..I liked that a lot cause they -by allowing you to do so- care for your privacy and feelings in case that your compliant was abou some illness that you may not say its name loudly cause you don't want others to know you have it.
The nice lady told me to have a seat until a nurse comes and takes me to where i take my shots. the place is so simple..i waited for a while..a woman came and called out my name of course wrongly :).. she escorted me to some room where i took the shots..she was pleased when she knew that I'm Egyptian..
let's continue later coz i have to go

For those who don't know, I'm now taking a scholarship for a study of one semester in the Uniersity of Montana which is in Missoula, Montana, USA. I here on Aug, 19th.
Let me tell you about things which happened to me since i got here and also about how i find the place here..
-Actually the trip was long..Mirrette - a girl from Egypt who has just finished her fourth year at faculty of political science in cairo universirty - was having the same scholarship and we had the same flights .. the trip lasted for more than 20 hours..so by the time i got here i was extremely tired..but u know the exitement i had when I arrived made that tiredness tastes good ..some guy from the university picked us up from the airport there was also a girl from Japan who's name was "Mayoma"...she never stops smiling..even when she's talking seriously..I told her some Japanese words i knwo from watching "detective conan" and she was very pleased for hearing them from me..we arrived at some place called the internatoinal house..David, the guy who picked us up, was the manager of that house..we stopped by to grap something and also to call our homes..i cal my home using skype..the call lasted only for two minutes..cause Davud was paying for that call from his own money..we moved to place inwhich we are managed to stay..which is Jesse Hall..it's an eleven-floor building which belongs to the University..every door has an Residnet Assistant (R.A.) who's responsible for helping peole staying at his/her floor. Also there is tha main (R.A.) desk at the first floor. We checked in..and I got the key of my room..301..that's where I'm staying..I have a room mate whose name is Travis but he didn't arrive.he's from montana and he's probablyfamiliar with the life of campus so he doesn't have to get here early..anyway i went to my room ..it has 2 beds..i choose the one on the right..so i took the right side of the room..the room was extremely clean wehn i got here..now i turned it into a terrible mess :D ...I expect Travis to be here by saturday which is tomorrow. I was kinda dizzy when i entered the room for the first time..u know that feeling of "oh, look how many things u have to know about?!!..man, u r in a terrible situation.what have u done to urself!!"..gradually that feeling went away by spending more time here..
the good thing about my first night here is i knew that people here are friendly and they really wanna help if they can. that's not a complement for Americans..I mean i would say the same if i arrived in another country and its people did treat me in the same way people here do.
I slept and the night passed peacefully, elhamdolelah .

My orientation to the university life and academics started on monday. we went to the university centre (UC)..there is a market in the first floor..i bought a bagel "2orsa" and a glass of coffee..american coffee actually..that was my first time using american currency .

i chekced in for the orientation..every student had a badge that has his/her name and the name of his home country..actually there were about 120 foreign students in the orientation..they came here for a punch of different intentions ..some of them doing masters and others have a scholarship for a year or a semester..and others were going to have a bachelor degree.

Elhamdolelah, there was no problem listening to what peole were saying in the first day of the orientation..we have been told many things and we had many sessions..all were adding some important part to the knowledge base we have to gain in order to do well with our study and stay here.

One interesting thing in that first day of the orientation was the "GRIZ CARD" ..that card is like air and water for any one belonging to the university..u use it as an ID, u can use it to buy food at the "FOOD ZOO" which is kinda like the central dining place in the university, u use it for ur health insurance, for shuttles in town, for opening a bank account in any bank in the town, for having discounts at some stores and events in town..so I went and got my Griz card issued..that took about 10 minutes..i got a magnetic card with my photo and student number printed on. I can't descirbe how valuable this card is but it really does a lot :).

I think this is enough for one post so let's continue later..inshallah :)

anticlockwise

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Curry health Center

Friday, August 24, 2007

people I met since I arrived in Montana

Missoula, Montana