Nick O'Connell and the Secret Base

Chapter Three - The University and a Friend

                Nick looked up at the white, timeless, pillars in front of the entrance to the university. He was amazed at the sheer size of them. He had seen pictures on the school website but he didn’t expect the life-size version to be so huge. He looked around and noticed a campus directory on his way to the door. He headed to it and looked at it; let’s see what this place has to offer, he thought. He saw an Olympic size swimming pool; I wonder if students are allowed to go there, just to swim a few ends, he thought. Then there were several tennis courts and a soccer field, just his sport, and a few outdoors basketball courts. Nick had been the soccer team captain for most of his high school time, at different schools obviously. Basketball was another sport that he enjoyed, as a hobby though. Then he found the dorms, the library, an auditorium, an American football field, a baseball field, and of course his own location and the main building with classrooms and offices. That’s where he was going now.

Nick climbed the stairs, walked in the open main door and headed for the main office which was in sight at the end of the hall. He entered the office, placed his luggage on the ground and took a seat, waiting to be called for.

“Nick O’Connell?” he heard the lady behind the desk say.

“Right here,” Nick answered and took a seat behind the desk.

“Hey. Welcome to the University of California, or UniCal as the hipsters call it. I am Lucy Joelle Siltain, the school administrator and Dr. Tarnoc’s assistant,” Mrs. Siltain said.

“Nice to meet you,” Nick replied.

“Okay so we got your tuition all sorted, that’s one less thing to worry about,” she had a huge stack of papers in a folder in front of her and Nick could see his name on the folder, “Then there’s the dorm room that needs to be figured out,” she shuffled through the papers, “Right here we go, your new roommate is going to be a kid from New York named James Miller, I hope you two will become good friends but if there is any trouble, there shouldn’t be by the way, but if there is just let me know and I can move you.”

“I’m sure that we’ll be fine,” Nick said with a smile.

“Good, good. In that case here’s a key to your room, 49. Each room has a private bathroom including a shower and toilet and free WiFi. Alright? Okay, here’s your introduction packed including your schedule, a map of the campus, a little background booklet about the school and its rules, I suggest you read them, a town map with locations of interest, you know shops and so on, and lastly an introduction page to your teachers. Do you drive by the way; do you need a passing permit?”

“Well I do drive but I don’t have a car yet, I wasn’t sure whether to buy one or rent one.”

“Oh I’d suggest buying one because you will be here for what, around 4 years if not longer, and having your own car will be a lot better, and cheaper than renting one. Here’s an address to a car lot where my brother works at, I’m sure he could set you up with a decent ride, something cheap and not too much used. Here, let me write you the permit, you just write the car licence plate on here once you get it, in waterproof marker. So I guess that’s everything now. Enjoy the last week of your holiday, I take it you did come early to meet the surroundings and so on as suggested on the website?”

“Yeah I figured a week should be enough to get settled and see what life was like on the other side of the earth,” Nick answered with a smile.

“Alright, move on now I’m sure you want to unpack and rest from the trip. I wish you all the best for the next few years and I will see you around on the campus,” Mrs. Siltain said.

“Thank you very much,” Nick said, got up, picked up his luggage and started moving towards his dorm room at the resident section of the campus.