The first day at college

It was first day at college for me today. Felt very important getting ready in the morning. The last 4 months of unemployment was over and, I was back to being a productive member of the society again ;-)

The inaugural address (for all students in various courses) by the Dean of the college, was in the Beveridge Hall in the Senate House of the University of London. The hall was full. Many students were sitting on the stairs. They said about 600 students were there ,with another 150 expected to arrive later during the week. After this we were led to another welcome to the Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases (my course along with 12 other courses, run under this department). Then, finally we were sent off to our course organiser.

That's where I finally met, and sort of got to know, who my classmates would be for the next one year. There are 42 students in my class, from 20 countries and, I am the only Indian from India( there are two of Indian origin) and, the only one from anything remotely related to psychiatry or mental health. Hmmm.....wonder what that will mean. Many of them are senior professionals - late 30s or mid 40s. Amazing zest for learning, isn't it? Now let me brag here a little- and thankyou in advance, for bearing with me. The course organiser informed us that they got 480 applications out of which we were the select few who were selected. I swear to God, I was not the only one grinning!!!!

Met one woman who had finished the same course last year - and guess where she was from? Just 15-20 minutes from where I stay in Bangalore!! Now what are the odds of that happening? We also knew some people in common. I was so surprised.

This whole week is going to be an orientation week. The first term course units look horrifying with satistics and epidemiology. They gave a mathematics questionnaire saying -' if you are unable to solve these, you may need to attend a mathematics refresher class'.
And......yes.......as expected,I have to go for those :-(

I thought I left maths 10 years back ( I can still remember that day quite vividly). Oh, how I detest it.