<p>My experience with Singlish, and the authorities' (both generational and governmental) backlash against is partially how I got into linguistics (half of a custom major I plan to submit). What pulled me in was the day I realised that the syntax of some French constructions ran parallel to Singlish and Chinese constructions; the same constructions would be ungrammatical in standard English. It's a pretty strong disillusionment, knowing what you've been told all your life, about a tongue you use so often, was a pretty uninformed fallacy.</p>
<p>There are many wonderful, almost-magical things about language acquisition, especially what happens to children raised in multilingual, multicultural environments, as well as what happens generationally (think of it as the linguistic version of F1/F2/F3 generations ;)) The biological processes are almost automatic. I've come to believe that the government's attempt to suppress Singlish, rather than encourage a code-switching between the two, is more harmful and destructive than constructive. In addition, its language policymakers don't seem to have any real linguists, or real social scientists for that matter, still holding the outdated belief that the mastery of one language is mutually-exclusive with the mastery of another (cf. Lee Kuan Yew's remarks).</p>
<p>Anyway, now that I'm in the IRC, I have some concerns:</p>
<p>Does the bookstore give the best prices for fans? Should I attempt to look for some in my hometown first? Does anyone shop for fans somewhere else? Are there places to get <em>really huge</em> fans in Charlottesville? I might want fans that are as big as myself. :D</p>
<p>I can't remember if I've already signed up for the regular Unlimited dining plan (the normal one), but I have nothing in my "shopping cart", but how do I proceed with dining now? </p>
<p>Also, I see they extended the deadlines for dining for first years to July 16. :) Did they originally expect us to file our dining applications before we got our housing results?</p>
<p>The RC options for dining don't mention my assigned housing by name explicitly -- I'm sort of confused.</p>
<p>I'm still confused about housing procedure once we're "in" (especially now that I'm in the IRC). Are we basically going to be filling out new housing applications in a few months again?</p>
<p>I'm also just curious about Echols scholars -- how does dining work for them?</p>
<p>no posts for McCormick?!!!!!!! well, here's one!!!!!! I'm in Metcalf (I think). My roomie lives 10 minutes from me in the same zipcode and I have never met her in my life. Being me, I obviously called her like a stalker and was like HEYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And then I googlemapped her address. Lol, when her Mom answered the phone, I was like "Hi, I'm db123 and i'm [db123's roomie]'s roommate at UVa." She screamed and was like OMG!!!!! LEMME GO GET HER!!!!!!. running and screaming ensued at this point.</p>
<p>Let me tell you, I'm so excited. We're going shopping tomorrow. :) :) :)</p>
<p>sorry lisieux and galoisien for interrupting. carry on.</p>
<p>Congrads db! You guys might work out to be best friends for a long time, living so close and all. Plus, breaks will be easy to carpool!<br>
Word of advice to all: college is full of new experiences, you know that. But, your living style/habits may change once you escape your parents (my floor continued to be my hamper, but my desk got nicer! And I stay up later, obviously). So, talking to your roommate now about stuff/rules/wants/whatever you want to call it, may be a bit difficult. And it's early. My roommate from last year and I talked about stuff early on, but didn't realize it would change. She wasn't very adapting and got mad when things changed slightly, even though we were all hyped and talking all the time and becoming great friends before school started. So, maybe talk with your roommate now and be like "these are some of my true likes/dislikes" of basic stuff, and maybe mention lifestyle stuff you're sure about (i.e., don't like smelly things, can't stand loud rap music, etc) and then agree to sit down and talk things through after the first week of school, then the first month. My roommate swore she'd be open about things so we never really discussed things and when I tried to be open, she got mad and said she never complained about all the stuff I did, and it was horrible. So, I know it's tough, but just try to start the conversation lightly now, then agree to touch on it when it's time, and continue to do so.
Good luck, you're in for a great ride ;0</p>
<p>PS- McCormick is the best, IMO. I would've lived there first year had I had the choice. Just be wary of the roof replacement =P Hopefully you're not on the fourth floor</p>
<p>Fans: I got a GREAT fan at Target in CVille this past year, better than the window box fans if you have room are the stand up fans (mine is adjustable in height, perfect for bed-height when I'm sleeping which is when I really can't sleep if I'm hot). As long as you can hide the extra big fans in your closet or disassemble them and hide them under whatever, the fire marshall can't fine you. Housing doesn't care as long as you don't put holes in the walls, etc. The bookstore will rob you, try and get out to Target or bring fans with you.</p>
<p>Dining: Any first years in residential colleges have to sign up for a first year residential college dining plan (you can choose the normal options among those). Echols don't have anything special from what I understand...? They all just live together in new dorms.</p>
<p>Housing next year: Yes, you have to apply for your housing for next year by November of this year, very early, but you don't have to submit a new res. college app if you already live(d) in that RC (ie. Brownies, once they have lived in Brown, never have to fill out the app again, even if they live off grounds for a year or more after living in Brown before wanting to live in Brown again).</p>
<p>Could I please trouble someone to send the link that I would use to find my housing asssignment? Looked on the housing site but didn't see anything.</p>
<p>dear shoebox, i would like to send some love to you for looking out for me. :) if you imagine one of those deep sea fish with a light on its head (think finding nemo) then you're the light on my head.</p>
<p>actually, tomorrow, we're gonna spend some time talking about all that stuff (especially since i'm going out of the country on tuesday.) I want to get all of that out now so we can reduce any possible tension/awkward moment.s I think she's chill enough where we'll get along enough to live with each other at the worst. When we were on the phone, she was like "i'm looking forward to all the parties." which was a slight red flag. I love parties like the next person, but not if she's puking all over the place post-party. So that is something we need to talk about. but other than that, it sounded good to me. we're into most of the same stuff and apparently she has an extra ** 49 inch LCD HD TV <a href="3">/b</a> which will make it into our room. :) I'll gladly pay for cable. (and look over a few flaws.)</p>
<p>But yeah, I'm gonna be pretty straight forward with her tomorrow and hopefully she will be the same with me. We're going to divide up the stuff tomorrow in terms of who buys what so we don't get too overcrowded.</p>
<p>Hahahah way to pick an ugly fish for us to be ;)
Anyways, it's a good idea to start thinking about possible conflicts now. But, be sure to just say a few now and a few positive things about you that she can look forward to (i.e., you're great at cooking random stuff in microwaves, or like her extra TV, which will bring you popularity quickly!). Keep it casual right now, because like I said, everything you decide now will fly right out the window come August ;) Maybe think of a system of how to communicate, instead. That way you have open channels come August and no one's saying "but you said...!". Keep a positive attitude, remind yourself that you're both human, and look forward to the roommate situation! Good luck, and once again, welcome to UVA!</p>
<p>Just a warning that there'll be no AC for you guys who don't live in Brown or Herefore, though I might very well be wrong. It's going to be really hot and humid in August and early September, so be prepared.</p>
<p>Anyway, I agree with Hazel. You should all totally go to Target to shop for stuff and they have a pretty good selection. Go to Sam's Club if you would like to purchase toiletries since they come in bulks.</p>
<p>Nothing from my roommate yet. Or maybe I should use actual email instead of facebook. I'll try that.</p>
<p>Okay, can I confirm something for Dining? When I look at RC dining options on the website, it only mentions Brown's houses, the Language Houses, Hereford's, various other residential college options but not the International RC. At least, it doesn't mention Gwathmey specifically. Do I just sign up for any of the three RC options anyway?</p>
<p>Oh wait, my roommate did respond on facebook. It's just that I didn't see the request in my long list of messages. </p>
<p>It's funny what having an internet outage for only 24 hours does to you. -_- </p>
<p>I've yet to go on any trip where I was away from internet access (i.e. civilisation) for more than 24-36 hours. Haha, I can't imagine what will happen when that trip (for linguistics fieldwork in a developing nation, perhaps) comes eventually.</p>
<p>Sorry for the triple post -- but is it true that I should go up and sign for the RC dining plan even though the IRC halls aren't specifically named in there?</p>
<p>galoisien, I've asked Dining, they said, "The IRC is not considered a Residential College. Just order a regular plan." Hmmmmm. I don't know why it's not considered residential college when IRC stands for International RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE, but at the moment you can proceed to ordering normal dining plan. :S</p>
<p>There are three dining halls where students can eat: Newcomb, O-hill and Runk (next to Hereford). If you're a student-athlete, you can dine at JPJ which has much, much better food.</p>
<p>By "regular plan", they are implying that you can eat at any of these three locations. If you live in Brown, however, there is a higher fee because Brown residents can go to the front of the line and swipe their ID on a separate card-reader - in other words, if you DON'T live in brown, you will have to stay in line and wait till the cashier swipes you in. Oh, and there's also a special dining section at Newcomb for Brown residents. Of course, everyone is welcome to eat there.</p>
<p>
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however, there is a higher fee because Brown residents can go to the front of the line and swipe their ID on a separate card-reader
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</p>
<p>Is this really the reason? ;) You must pardon me, I'm a bit incredulous -- I always thought it was because they also occasionally eat in the residential college itself.</p>
<p>That has nothing to do with it. Brown college bought that card swipe with fees from every resident - approx 300 residents, $800 card swipe = less than $3 a person.</p>
<p>The fee is, indeed, for our monthly banquets. They're not actually in Brown, they're still in Newcomb, but in the big hall on the 3rd floor.</p>