First week of classes is over

What a week! Tuesday was my first lecture for Fundamentals of Algorithms. Actually enjoyed it which startled me. I think the class will be fine.

Wednesday was administrative stuff; both for the dept. and my TA work. TA stuff involved learning about what was coming up in class and making sure I am prepared for it. Administrative stuff was meeting with Eric to discuss my breadth proposal. Found out that I get to use undergrad courses to count towards specific cluster requirements (the clusters are the various categories in CS that I need to have two courses in). This meant I got to use my undergrad graphics course in the AI/graphics cluster which meant I got to drop Machine Learning I. That's a good thing after looking at the first homework assignment. Spent the rest of the week running around to professors, gettting them to sign off on my previous courses saying they were equivalent or to the proper level of a course at UBC.

Thursday was more Fundamentals. Still enjoyed it although some of the stuff that was covered I contemplated during the previous lecture so it was not entertaining the whole way through. Also went to lecture for the course I am TAing. I now know how JavaBeans and the JavaFactory work; former is lame thanks to Java being Java, the latter is kind of interesting but not a big deal if you had a better language choice; in other words Python makes the world better. =)

Friday was working on Fundamentals homework. Also did some TA work by figuring out what was needed for the students to get the stuff working on their machines. And to celebrate turning in my breadth proposal I went and participated in the weekly tradition of going to Koerner's Pub (grad pub which is open to the public) at the end of the day on Friday. Had a pint and hung out for a little while. Then went home and got some reading done. Finished off the night watching 'Sin City' on someone's TV with a bunch of people. Interesting seeing a girl's reaction to the film.

In terms of socializing, the highlight was Wednesday when one of the RAs in the building led a group out for ice skating at a nearby rink. That was surprisingly fun. Have not done that since I went with people back in Pasadena and Bryan severely sprained his wrist. Got to skate with hockey skates for the first time as well. Thinking of maybe getting into skating or rollerblading it was so much fun.