Thanks for coming to my site! Let me tell you about my start at UBC.

I've done a lot of moving around in my time teaching internationally, but every move is a stressful time. While I spent a great summer with my family back home in Newfoundland, it's really tough to get everything sorted to move to a new place when you're not in that place. Apartment hunting was especially difficult, but I was able to find a good apartment.

Before starting at UBC, I spent about a week and a half setting up my apartment, figuring out my routine, and exploring the city. I had a bit of a "Royale with Cheese" moment when I learned that London Drugs was basically Vancouver Walmart. I was also able to find some new friends through the events at Rain City Games, a great board game shop in downtown Vancouver. (Check them out if you're in the area!)

My courses started fast and furious. This term I'm taking 2 CS courses and 2 psychology courses (as part of my "bridging program", AKA self-designed minor). All of them have regular online work (quizzes, discussion questions, problem sets, etc.), and all of it has hard deadlines. It took some time to get used to all the systems being used, but I think I've managed it now. (To my former students who were in the same situation: I'm so sorry! I understand now!) So far we're just covering the basics (function design, logic gates, etc.) and my organization systems are working well so I'm feeling pretty good about things right now.

I'm going to make another update at the end of each month to document my progress. I'll also post if I attend any interesting CS events, like hackathons or competitions. See you then!