Semester Blues

It's the beginning of a new semester again. I am now sitting in a quiet library at college, attempting to be studious and productive just like everyone else seated around me. I've always loved school but just like the first two semesters I had at this 'prestigious' institution, the first two weeks were always the most stressful. Don't get me wrong, the professors are great and the coursework bearable but the administration sucks big time. Every new semester for me never fails to start with a big bang - bad news, trips to the office, frustrated email exchanges, sleepless nights and increased heart rates from anxiety.  Like a bad omen.

I was supposed to start student teaching this Fall. I registered for the said course online, grudgingly paid tens of thousands for the tuition fees and went on to get TB tested, fingerprinted and all the paperwork completed. First day of school they told me I was not in the 'list'. What the hell? How could that be when I had already registered for the course? After some investigation, it turned out that the administrators had sent out a confirmation email a few weeks ago, of which I did not receive. And this one email was enough to turn my entire semester upside down, despite being registered for the course. Dude, how could this be when I got emails regarding the other not-as-important paperwork! Botched class registrations can create a loop effect in class schedules and cause delayed graduations, which is a very expensive mistake (think extra student fees + 4 months rent + living costs). There are other problems and I do not want to weigh you down with them. Bottom line is that I am an extremely unhappy paying customer of this 'prestigious' institution, so much that I can't help but fantasize about quitting grad school altogether. Sigh, it's already not easy working so hard to earn money for such an expensive education, but it's really heart-breaking when everything is so unorganized. :(

Here's a funny story that's quite related to the above issue. I was babysitting the other day for this very nice family (love the kid!). I related this unfortunate story to the dad and voiced my frustrations about how one lone email message had turned the rest of my grad school class schedule upside down as I had to reshuffle classes around. He had listened to my problems with understanding and suddenly exclaimed "Yeah, I wrote a book on that!"

Huh?

Well, apparently this dad owns his own internet technology company and is well-known in the computer science world. And he did actually write a book on emails and the pros and cons technology brings. (!!!) I went home that day with a new technology guide book given to me and autographed by the author. "Remember to read the first 50 pages!" he had called out good-naturedly as I bid goodbye at the door. New York City is filled with unassuming and talented individuals and sometimes you just never know who you might meet.

Or work for.