Topic: First day at the uni...

Posted under Off Topic

Xch3l

Admin

...and I get late to my first class on my first day ._.

I know this isn't exactly the place for this but I wanted to share my, rather funny, first day experience. :)

Wall o' text about my day

I woke up at 5:00Am (because, as you knew, traffic and stuff), left the house at around 5:35Am and arrived to school at 6:00Am (as I blipped on blip #22260), one hour before the introductory course started (there wasn't a lot of traffic). Anyway, since we were about 6 people going for the same thing, I thought "man, we're the only few that have arrived. I'll stick with them. Surely, we have the same schedules" and so I did. I stuck with them, walked around a bit and then met up in front of the auditorium (the campus has 3 auditoriums, btw), we got the introductory greeting (it was around 7:00Am) and when it ended and we were all outside, one of the guys I was with said "So, now our parents come for the message the principal had for them, what's next?" and I said to him "No, according to my schedule, they should come at 2:00Pm. Well, at least my brother" (time was 9:30Am at that moment), and while we discussed whether they should come at 9:30Am or 2:00Pm I said to him "ok, let me see your schedule, so I can confirm they come at 2:00Pm".

Turns out he had a DIFFERENT schedule than mine! I quickly thought "Shit! I missed math class!", math was from 7:00Am to 10:00Am. "Shiiiit!! It's really late to just get in unnoticed! But, where the hell was my classroom?". I asked some teachers that, luckily, were just around and they pointed me in the right direction. One of them accompanied me to get there, I got in at around 9:40Am, acted like I was solving what the teacher had (I had no freaking idea about what was in the whiteboard, but I still did as if I was writing *awesomeface* ).

After the class ended, another teacher that was supposed to give us a walk around the school, decided to describe it and when he finished, he said something that, to my understanding, went something like this: "Now, go get lost a while around while you check the campus". And so I did. Since I was thirsty after the welcoming, I decided to go to the cafeteria first, then my brother called me asking when the parents would talk to the principal (my parents can't come and go that easily, they're in [Hometown], so I asked my brother some days before if he could come), told him this entire story, and went to check stuff about scholarships, which in turn, my group was just arriving to the same place.

I reintegrated with them but the teacher said that "it was the last stop". Suddenly, my group walked upstairs and I though "what should I do? Follow them? or wait for them? Fuck it! I'll follow 'em!". There was a lot of people up there! Turns out that upstairs was what they call CELEX (Centro de Lenguas Extranjeras / Foreign Languages Center), which as you might have deduced, the applications to learn a second or third language were done there (that's why there was a lot of people). I decided to carry on and walk downstairs. Since I didn't saw anybody of my group, I went outside to check if I could see anyone familiar (the only hints I had were a hipster-looking dude, a chubby girl, another thin girl, a tall dude and the teacher). I looked left and right and saw no one... I almost felt like a lost puppy. I decided to go back and look for them, in case they got stuck in the crowd, and saw the teacher, and the rest of the group, coming downstairs. I said to the teacher "heh heh... I think I anticipated the walk a bit!", he looked at me and, after we all were in the same place, near the cafeteria, he left.

After that, we headed back to the auditorium and followed the program...

Sooo... yeah, in case you were wondering, I had the greeting messages, national anthem, school and campus' anthems, introductions and everything, twice.

So, now that we're at it, if you remember, how were your first school days? Be it on the uni, college, high school, etc.

I'll get here prolly tomorrow after school, though! If I can, I'll get here just a few minutes before leaving!

Now, I must say good night! Good night, guys!

wish me luck I don't get lost and/or miss the first class again ._.

Updated by Moon Moon

Halite

Member

US colleges are purely a waste of time, and particularly money in today's world.
You're much better off going online and actually learning something.

Updated by anonymous

TheHuskyK9

Former Staff

Halite said:
US colleges are purely a waste of time, and particularly money in today's world.
You're much better off going online and actually learning something.

Complete opposite for me. I got my money's worth at college. Made some new friends, had good times with them, and got an education.

Updated by anonymous

Peekaboo

Privileged

"national anthem"
You actually sing that every day?

Updated by anonymous

Xch3l

Admin

Halite said:
US colleges are purely a waste of time, and particularly money in today's world.
You're much better off going online and actually learning something.

Erm... in case you didn't know, I'm not in the US. I could still learn something on youtube, though...

Updated by anonymous

Halite

Member

Xch3l said:
Erm... in case you didn't know, I'm not in the US. I could still learn something on youtube, though...

I figured, since you called it uni, and sounded positive about it.
You can certainly learn stuff online if you like, but your college should actually be useful to you.

Updated by anonymous

Zest

Member

unless you're in community college, be prepared for depression (both in your outlook in life and in your grades). don't go to school so early if you don't need to and go home as soon as practical because time will be a precious commodity (you may need to sleep between classes to stay alert). you'll begin to take the term "student career" seriously.

well, that was my experience anyway, lol. I'm sure things will be different for you, though, hahahahha~~

Updated by anonymous

Xch3l

Admin

Halite said:
I figured, since you called it uni, and sounded positive about it.
You can certainly learn stuff online if you like, but your college should actually be useful to you.

I hope it is. It'll take time to get used to waking up really early, though. Also, is college that bad in the US?

I mean, I don't follow programs and/or protocols entirely, but certainly what works best and what can be improved. I'm being positive here because I don't want to screw up again, not taking the fact that I got lost yesterday (but had a better chance to know the campus than following a teacher whom would just show us a quick glance)

Zest said:
unless you're in community college, be prepared for depression (both in your outlook in life and in your grades). don't go to school so early if you don't need to and go home as soon as practical because time will be a precious commodity (you may need to sleep between classes to stay alert). you'll begin to take the term "student career" seriously.

well, that was my experience anyway, lol. I'm sure things will be different for you, though, hahahahha~~

I'm kinda used to barely sleep (used to work a 12 hour nightshift and I think too much about everything when in bed). But yeah, I have a good view of the future, as long as my grades don't fall below 85%, everything should be fine.

Well, I must leave again. See ya in a while!

Updated by anonymous

abadbird

Janitor

Just a general piece of advice that I learned myself: try not to go with the flow if you can avoid it. Honestly, and surprisingly more often than most would admit, it's the blind leading the blind, especially with new students. If you don't know what's going on, stop and ask someone who does. Any faculty member will do, and in my experience most were more than willing to help me out.

Not only does that go for something procedural like explaining your schedule, but also for exercises, assignments, and projects. For god's sake, don't rely on someone who probably knows just as much as you, if not less; instead, take any questions directly to your professor until no uncertainty remains. Not every professor will be lenient when 90% of their class apparently misunderstood what was wanted because they asked each other and formed an assumptive consensus. Rather, the professor may just view "this particular group of students as none too bright who should try again next year." (And before anyone even thinks of clambering onto garbage excuses like "the bell curve will even us out" or "the [work] was clearly unfair and deserves a redo", stop for a moment to consider how dangerous and counter-intuitive such a cavalier attitude is toward work that will shape and define your success later. And it's always better to be one who knows than an ass who pretends to know.)

What's more, take any basic, decent business course, and you will find an emphasis on the importance of communication and clarity/removal of uncertainty thereof. Anyway, a rule to live by IMO.

School Experiences

First time I enrolled... lonely and dreary, but I didn't realize it at the time. Loneliness from the large classes, changing faces between classes, and the impersonal way I was just another bit of produce being ground through the system. Dreariness from the nondescript 70's architecture, near total lack of engagement in my courses, mediocre food, and part-time routine. Still, the poetry part of English always had challenging discussions (that I just had the slightest edge in) and my academic writing course was very useful. It didn't help that I was 17 when I enrolled with no plan nor interest in the programs offered at that university. No small wonder that I eventually stopped attending classes, never mind the deteriorating conditions at home. Overall, pretty bad and I was in no way prepared. That was at a university proper.

Second time was at a vocational college. It was touch-and-go until I got to the optional CCNA course. If I had to, I could credit that one experience with getting me interested in the technical side of IT. Great instructor and well-defined course material--the kind of structure and atmosphere that I needed. I still didn't talk to the other students, who were all older and in different stages of their lives than me. I wound up partnered with a rough-looking jock-type whose presence intimidated me a bit, but we never had any issues.

Now... there was also a project management class. Not only was everyone just "older and in different stages of their lives than me", but most were around 15 years older than me and, from my perspective, bona fide professionals with real careers. I was paired up with an Iranian datacenter engineer and an almost mid-level employee at a medium-sized company to plan a project of our choosing (a datacenter), and I had to be an equal contributor in our presentation to the entire class. Since I was a completely inexperienced presenter, the anxiety of failure and being waved off as "just a kid" (and a disappointment) was tremendous. Thankfully, my voice only cracked a bit in the very beginning, and I was fine otherwise.

For my third program, and the only one that mattered, the first days were pretty neutral. I wanted to start off strong and confident, unlike the other two times, so that I wouldn't fall behind and miss out. I did that for the most part, staying very open, receptive, and focused. It wasn't until a month or two after the program started did I realize that I had some chip on my shoulder that poisoned my attitude and perceptions ever so slightly, in spite of my original intentions. I remember now... I wasn't totally humble and honest with myself about my abilities and the work needed to properly succeed. With that realization, everything that was off slipped into place and I saw matters clearly. It took me that long to become a student in earnest.

Interestingly, with personal humbleness comes clarity and the aftershock of not-so-humble disillusionment. Sparing the details, it became increasingly obvious, not just to me, that our instructor for close to half of our courses was decidedly unfit to fulfill his pedagogical obligations, to put it politely. Further lingering doubts impressed upon me a general bullshit facade of positivity from my classmates--but it's just the mask we wear to life in the pursuit of polite company--raw potential subverted by ego and flippancy from the local students, and an array of misconceived dreams and expectations impeded by language and culture barriers from the international students.

I remained neutral to the clique of purely local students that gradually formed, since I don't approve of that segregation at all, for as long as I could bear. However, that kind of noble neutrality was bereft of understanding and reciprocity from the international students, and my tolerance for all the little, legitimate nuisances brought upon me by my company was becoming frayed. So I finally gave in to the comforts of relatable familiarity found in the clique of locals, and my mood improved markedly. Really, mental stress should be avoided if at all possible.

I know that's rambling, preachy, intangible, and took place over months rather than days, but such things are what mattered to me in my beginnings.

Updated by anonymous

Halite

Member

Xch3l said:
... Also, is college that bad in the US?
...

It's not that US colleges are bad, it's that the cost of college is too high.
See, the cost of an average 4 year degree has gotten so high, thanks to people treating it as a business, that it doesn't cover the increase in wages you can make with the degree.
If you took the money that you would have spent on college, and instead invest it intelligently, you would end up with more money by retirement than if you had gone to college.
And it wouldn't cost you 4 years of hard work and stress either.

Updated by anonymous

Xch3l

Admin

Halite said:
It's not that US colleges are bad, it's that the cost of college is too high.
See, the cost of an average 4 year degree has gotten so high, thanks to people treating it as a business, that it doesn't cover the increase in wages you can make with the degree.
If you took the money that you would have spent on college, and instead invest it intelligently, you would end up with more money by retirement than if you had gone to college.
And it wouldn't cost you 4 years of hard work and stress either.

Oh, so that's the thing! Well, as of late, everything is now a business. As Develon said in forum #135239, corporations just want money and will make a business out of anything just to get some greens

. . .

Sorry, didn't saw these earlier...

Peekaboo said:
"national anthem"
You actually sing that every day?

Nope! Mondays only, but just the short version, because I don't even know the longer one :s

ZigguratVertigo said:
http://i.imgur.com/LRlknxa.gif

Anyway, hope it goes good Xch.

Me too, because out of all the 25,000 people that got in, the crazy one had to stick with me :I Well, not actually crazy. According to him, he has OCD with Absence Seizures and, sometimes, I can't stop thinking about what happens through his mind when he does this "measuring" (touches everything with the back of his hand and feet - walls, doors, floor, staircases, etc) because he takes a while on that... I mean, I don't want to sound disrespectful (never my intention) but it sometimes is a bit annoying... But still, my respects to the dude, since he knows his condition and he has studied it trying to find the reason why.

Updated by anonymous

NoctemWerewolf

Member

I remember those days, but that is a Monday National Anthem school? I thought college was more dedicated to study, but I suppose it's important depending of what college, must be founded by the gov.

Updated by anonymous

Xch3l

Admin

NoctemWerewolf said:
I remember those days, but that is a Monday National Anthem school? I thought college was more dedicated to study, but I suppose it's important depending of what college, must be founded by the gov.

Yep. It is... but it also relies on donations made by the students who are currently studying or the ones who just graduated (up to three years after graduating) to help with scholarships for those who are in risk of leaving school because they can't afford it, maintenance, equipment, etc.

Updated by anonymous

NoctemWerewolf

Member

Xch3l said:
Yep. It is... but it also relies on donations made by the students who are currently studying or the ones who just graduated (up to three years after graduating) to help with scholarships for those who are in risk of leaving school because they can't afford it, maintenance, equipment, etc.

Yeah, I know, where I live some colleges work like that (at least the ones getting money from the goverment).

Updated by anonymous

Lekkiyo

Member

I was just greeted at my first class on Tuesdays/Thursdays by a locked door. Who the hell locks their door on the first day of class?

I can tell I'm gonna love this professor...

This is my second day of college, by the way.

Updated by anonymous

Xch3l

Admin

Kämpfer said:
I was just greeted at my first class on Tuesdays/Thursdays by a locked door. Who the hell locks their door on the first day of class?

I can tell I'm gonna love this professor...

This is my second day of college, by the way.

Did you arrive late? Anyway, it isn't that bad, the teacher that should be teaching physics didn't show up until yesterday...

Updated by anonymous

Moon Moon

Member

First day of college starts on Monday for me, I'm the first person in my family to go to college, and I'm pretty stoked.
I like my roommates, my living space is nice enough and pretty close to the school, I've made quite a few friends in the dorms, the internet is speedy, not seeing someone currently, but perhaps soon I will be. I've already been invited to 2 parties and took a summer course that should help with some of the classes.
I have no idea what classes are going to be like but I'm pretty sure my intended major (Petroleum Engineering) will pay off in the long run.

Updated by anonymous

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