For the last week, I have been performing administrative tasks (CAQ, student visa, etc.) as well as learning C++ from Bruce Eckel's book. It was a bit slow going at first, as I couldn't figure out where he was coming from, but once he begins using code examples, everything makes sense, and I've been progressing much more rapidly...

Yesterday I rented a car from discount and drove to the border, finally getting my student visa. Once there, the process was surprisingly easy.