Christopher's University Visit

The results of my A-level further math and A-level Physics exams were laying on the counter. Mother encouraged me to open them. I slowly lifted the flap of the envelope, trying to avoid tearing it. I read through the scoring rubric. A score of five hundred and seventy-two constituted an A-level performance. I excitedly rushed to the end of the letter where I would find my total score. There it was, in bright red ink, seven hundred and ninety-eight in Math and seven hundred and sixty-five in physics! This was going to be a good day. I would be able to attend the University of my choice. I only had one in mind though, the University of Mcbrien in Mcbrien. It was only a one hour and sixteen minute drive from London, and had the best engineering program available in the area. I was also happy to find out that they had big, red pillars at the main entrance gate. The university and class sizes were small so I could avoid large crowds.

The day had finally come. The University of Mcbrien offered an orientation for incoming freshman to visit the campus, schedule classes, and familiarize themselves with dorm life. This was the only downside to Mcbrien. I would have to live in a dorm for my freshman year at least. This meant that Sandy could not come with me, and that made me sad. I would miss her. I got into the car with Mother and settled in for the one hour and sixteen minute journey. On the way, I saw five red cars in a row. This was going to be a super good day. Mother said that she was proud of me and that Father was too. By this time, old wounds had healed. I had forgiven Father for lying to me and murdering Wellington. He promised never to lie to me again.

After checking in, I began to move things into my room for the night. The mattress was yellow on one side. I was going to panic until mother flipped it over to reveal a non-yellow other side. As I began to cover the bed in my bright red sheets, my roommate for the evening walked through the door. He introduced himself as Roland Sneltweed. Mrs. Sneltweed did not accompany Roland to orientation. He was a nice boy who shared some of my interests. He also wanted to become an engineer and had an aptitude for mathematics. Upon further inspection, I was very pleased with these living quarters. The room was sanitary, and I would only have to share a toilet with one other person. Roland had a microwave and he said that I was welcome to use it any time. Despite Sandy's and Mother's absence, perhaps dorm life would not be so bad after all.

Next, Mother and I were pointed in the direction of the cafeteria. I was very hopeful that I would like the food because I would be eating it often for the next eight semesters. As Mother and I sat down, I saw that they were serving Gobi Aloo Sag for the orientation luncheon. I was horrified until I realized that Mother had red food coloring in her purse just in case this very scenario were to play itself out. Mother is so considerate and thoughtful. The food was delicious too. The man that spoke to the incoming students said that his name was Maxfield Wendunk. He seemed welcoming. He talked about the different buildings on campus and what offices were housed in each one. For instance, Kefell building was a computer lab, the Brogken building was used for math classes, and the Britown building was used for Science classes. I was especially interested in these three because I knew I would be spending a lot of my time there.

Finally, I had a chance to meet with my academic advisor to schedule my classes for the fall. The start of school was only forty-eight days away. His name was Dr. Kotbane. Dr. Kotbane laid out an eight semester degree plan. All of my classes that I would take in my time at university were laid out before me. Of course, I had every attention of adding a few classes to the bare minimum, and I explained this to Dr. Kotbane. He approved and we began to enter record numbers for the fall into the computer. Of the seven classes that I registered for, five of them had record numbers that were prime. The room numbers of the other two classes were prime. This was going to be a great semester. I felt at home already.

I had a wonderful time that night visiting with Roland. We discussed our love of math and our career choices. He made an A-level score on all of his exams too. He told me about his family in Nebelk. His mother had left his family seven and one quarter years ago. Roland lived with his father who was unable to attend orientation. He had also dealt with losing a member of the family, and he had a dog named Spot. We had a lot in common. I trusted him enough to tell him the story about my mother's disappearance, reappearance, and the Wellington saga. We became such good friends that we signed up to room together in the fall.