Picking classes was far more arcane than I had expected (or than it would have been at a smaller school).

选课让我着实摸不着头脑，这远远超过我的预想的情况 或超过了稍小点学校的情况\n。

youdao

Jim feels half at home there, for what does a boarding school resemble, with its cryptic slang, its awkward alliances, and its arcane regulations, if not the Circus?

NEWYORKER: I Spy