REFLECTIONS ON DAY 2 -- A RETROSPECTIVE: LOOKING BACK.
Wednesday morning [not today! the Wednesday of last week; check out the title], I wokeup around 5am to study my German. according to some paperwork found among the mountain thereof, rockin' rockin' dudes interested in taking foreign language courses are required to take a placement test to discover their location. as unappealing as it seemed to bang a fourie after the dramedy of sleep that was Monday night, German had been kind to me, and my thirst for proficiency is near-on unquenchable.
the next two hours were hilarious! I sat up in bed and kept falling asleep while refreshing my grammar. my bizarro mini-dreams and the nuances of Dative merged into a mudball of semi-conscious excitement, and then I said: "fuck you, everybody! I need a lot of coffee!" and set out to drill for brown oil.
if you know what I mean.
my search for coffee was terrible! nowhere on campus was open. I started walking towards downtown Middletown because for sure there would be a coffeehouse or a McDonalds or something. I needed that shit! I needed it bad.
fortunate fate!! I saw a dude, exiting a lot: a dude who looked like he had an awful lot of knowledge. he mulled my predicament over, noting that even the bookstore cafe was sure to be closed. "but if you come to North College, I will make you some coffee in my office." what a nice guy! he was Danny Teraguchi, the new Dean of Diversity and Academic Advancement. I talked to him for a while, and his magnificence was readily apparent. thank you, Dean Teraguchi! you gave me coffee when I needed it.
after replenishing my central nervous system with deadly liquid nourishment, I moseyed on down to Fisk Hall and scrounged around for the Language Resource Center. it seems as if I was the first person in the building that day; the fluorescent lights all sprang to their feet as I walked down each hall. after scanning four floors in tooth/comb fashion, I realized that the room I wanted to be in was right next to the stairwell. terrific! the man running the lab was hilarious, because he kept two sets of doors open but through only one might a student find passage. "other door! other door!" he would bark, flailing and exasperated. shine the fuck on, you angry-ass diamond!
the test was awful. it started right away with a very complicated conversation going down in my headphones, and I could not keep up. at my level of skill, which is a meager two semesters, it was impossible to decipher even the written passages without using a dictionary. sorry, Deutsch the Language! I just don't sprechen sie that well yet. I wrote a quick note on the back of my test at the end, and slumped my way back up Foss Hill.
silver lining!!! that day, in the gym, the school was hosting an 'academic forum'. representatives from all of the departments were chilling out in alphabetically-organized booths, offering aid and encouragement in the selection of courses. on my way to the German booth, a big and jolly old man from guess-what-department stopped me and said: "no! you don't want to take German! take the Italian!"
"I'm sorry!!" I said. "I have already taken some German!! I cannot go back."
"But the Italian! She-a so good!"
that man was wonderful.
anyway, I talked to the German department about the courses I took at my old school, and which class would be appropriate wherein to enroll. they were all really, really friendly, and were happy to plop me in GRST 211 - Intermediate German. this is year two of the language, which is exactly where I ought to be, given that which I've learned. it's a little amusing that state universities, at least in Connecticut, tend to shit on transfer students from community colleges-- meanwhile, at a private liberal arts school [EMPHASIS ON LIBERAL EHEHEHE], the administration is happy to accept near-on every damn thing that I've taken, without forcing me to repeat any work. living large, boy. living so large.
NEXT TIME: a compressed recap of days 3&4, possibly 5! I am on #8 now.
the next two hours were hilarious! I sat up in bed and kept falling asleep while refreshing my grammar. my bizarro mini-dreams and the nuances of Dative merged into a mudball of semi-conscious excitement, and then I said: "fuck you, everybody! I need a lot of coffee!" and set out to drill for brown oil.
if you know what I mean.
my search for coffee was terrible! nowhere on campus was open. I started walking towards downtown Middletown because for sure there would be a coffeehouse or a McDonalds or something. I needed that shit! I needed it bad.
fortunate fate!! I saw a dude, exiting a lot: a dude who looked like he had an awful lot of knowledge. he mulled my predicament over, noting that even the bookstore cafe was sure to be closed. "but if you come to North College, I will make you some coffee in my office." what a nice guy! he was Danny Teraguchi, the new Dean of Diversity and Academic Advancement. I talked to him for a while, and his magnificence was readily apparent. thank you, Dean Teraguchi! you gave me coffee when I needed it.
after replenishing my central nervous system with deadly liquid nourishment, I moseyed on down to Fisk Hall and scrounged around for the Language Resource Center. it seems as if I was the first person in the building that day; the fluorescent lights all sprang to their feet as I walked down each hall. after scanning four floors in tooth/comb fashion, I realized that the room I wanted to be in was right next to the stairwell. terrific! the man running the lab was hilarious, because he kept two sets of doors open but through only one might a student find passage. "other door! other door!" he would bark, flailing and exasperated. shine the fuck on, you angry-ass diamond!
the test was awful. it started right away with a very complicated conversation going down in my headphones, and I could not keep up. at my level of skill, which is a meager two semesters, it was impossible to decipher even the written passages without using a dictionary. sorry, Deutsch the Language! I just don't sprechen sie that well yet. I wrote a quick note on the back of my test at the end, and slumped my way back up Foss Hill.
silver lining!!! that day, in the gym, the school was hosting an 'academic forum'. representatives from all of the departments were chilling out in alphabetically-organized booths, offering aid and encouragement in the selection of courses. on my way to the German booth, a big and jolly old man from guess-what-department stopped me and said: "no! you don't want to take German! take the Italian!"
"I'm sorry!!" I said. "I have already taken some German!! I cannot go back."
"But the Italian! She-a so good!"
that man was wonderful.
anyway, I talked to the German department about the courses I took at my old school, and which class would be appropriate wherein to enroll. they were all really, really friendly, and were happy to plop me in GRST 211 - Intermediate German. this is year two of the language, which is exactly where I ought to be, given that which I've learned. it's a little amusing that state universities, at least in Connecticut, tend to shit on transfer students from community colleges-- meanwhile, at a private liberal arts school [EMPHASIS ON LIBERAL EHEHEHE], the administration is happy to accept near-on every damn thing that I've taken, without forcing me to repeat any work. living large, boy. living so large.
NEXT TIME: a compressed recap of days 3&4, possibly 5! I am on #8 now.