USA 2001
January the 15th, 2001
I arrived at FAU about 2 weeks ago, the 3rd of January. The weather is rather
different from what I’m used to in Denmark in this time of the year, that
is: about 0 °C, cloudy and sometimes even misty. In Florida it’s about 20 -
25 °C, sunny, sometimes with a few clouds, and in the last couple of evenings
it’s been warm enough to wear only a t-shirt (and some pants). That’s only
possible a few weeks in the summer in Denmark. It’s therefore a little
difficult for me to understand the girl I met from Suriname, who told me
that she found it a bit chilly. I wonder how she would find the weather in
Denmark.
The Dorms
I’m living in the dormitories on campus. The buildings sucks, but the
people are really nice, so it’s not too bad. The only problem is, that
you’re not supposed to use the kitchens for primary cooking. I don’t know
why they have made this silly rule, but the result is that they’re very
rarely used, so I’ve decided that it’s ok if I use them for some decent
cooking. I’ve never really figured what I’m supposed to eat otherwise.
The cafeteria really sucks, and it’s quite expensive too, and the fastfood
restaurants are getting boring after a couple of days. I still don’t
understand the survey that stated that 7% of the american population went
to a McDonald - every day! It’s not that they are better than the ones in
Europe.
Campus
It didn’t take long to learn the ways of the campus. I had to visit about
10 different people in 15 different buildings in the first two days, or was
it the other way around?
Courses
I’ve chosen to study the following courses: Computer Security, Intro. to
Databasestructures, Embedded System Design 1, and Operating Systems. It
turned out, that most of the courses I had planned to study were not offered
in this term, so I had to find something else. By the way: All my classes
are from 11 to 15, including a 1,5 hour break. It’s great! In this way it’s
possible to get a nice and long sleep in the night, I don’t even have to set
the alarm clock.
Tricks
As you’ve probably heard, the Floridans had a few problems arranging the last
US president election. It therefore shouldn’t be a surprise that some jerk had
decided to enter an incorrect day of birth of mine. The result was, that I
couldn’t create my computeraccount until it was corrected. After this incident
it surprised me somewhat that they managed to apply my tuition wafer without
any problems.
Apart from that Florida is a very interesting place. Ok, there are a lot of
senior citizens, especially around FAU - that’s why everybody in the US know
Boca Raton. All these senior citizens are driving around in their cars - of
course - even though they’re looking terrified, and are wearing glasses that
look like magnifying glasses. Apart from that the population is a rather
unique mixture of all kind of ethnic groups. You’ll see people from South
Africa, South America, quite a few from Cuba, a few Europeans, Asians, and
of course a bunch of people from North America.
Party and Drinking
I’m really amused about the alcohol policy they’re using over here. I’m 24,
but in spite of that I’ve got to show my id when I bother to buy a beer, which
happens now and then. So far I’ve used my Danish passport, but it looks like
they haven’t seen that kind of thing before, at the very least they look
extremely distrustful. On the other hand, when my 19 years old friends are
buying beer with their fake id, they don’t even hesitate for a second.
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