Back To School

Oh. My. Word.  I don't even know where to start this post.  At some point in 2015 I started pondering the idea of going back to school.  Now I need to stop right now and tell you that when I was a senior in high school my own mom did just that.  And I thought she was certifiable crazy!!  And I didn't just think that because I was in high school.  She continued taking classes well into my 20s and I still thought she was crazy!  What kind of adult would CHOOSE to go back to school???

Although it's possible I may be off my rocker, I understand this whole going back to school business better now.  I think when you are 18 years old and head off for college (17 in my case), you are not equipped to know what you want to do for the rest of your life.  I wish Americans would embrace the idea of a gap year like the Europeans do.  This makes me nervous for my own kids as well.  You may be able to start off as undecided, but pretty quickly you are pressured into declaring a major.  I didn't even know what I didn't know, so I just picked the class that I liked the best and majored in it, not really giving my future much thought.

On a general, theoretical level, going back to school sounds logical and pretty easy.  But, wow, is it overwhelming! You can't just go to your local community college and enroll in any class you want.  You have to provide your high school transcript, your college transcript and if you don't want to take the math placement test you need ACT scores.  All of this sounds easy in theory, but I admit it totally overwhelmed me.  The best part of all of this was finding out that your ACT scores are for life!  Whew!!!  Oh, and let me tell you how fun it is going back to get your high school diploma and them looking shocked when you tell them what year you graduated and then they tell you they have to pull it from the archives.  That's good for your self esteem.

I wish I could tell you what a breeze the whole enrollment process was, but remember that I went to college BEFORE computers and internet.  (I had a Brother Word Processor and I was living pretty large with that!) After about half an hour I managed to enroll in the one class I wanted and then I had to navigate the same path to order the book.

That brings me to last night, my first day of school.  I would love to insert a cute first day of school pic, but ha!  I'm not going to.  I arrive at school 30 minutes early so I can be sure I know where I am going and not feel rushed.  As I turn into the parking lot I notice the sign that says "parking permit required".  Awesome.  No one told me I needed a parking permit.  Oh crap.  I suddenly realize I didn't bother to print off my class details so I have no idea what room my class is in or what section number it is.  Fun times!  I stand in line at the Advisement desk to tell them what a loser I am and have no idea where I am going and she says, "no problem, I can look it up for you.  What's your student ID number?" My what?  Seriously?  I have absolutely no idea, but I manage to find an old email and get it.

As I am walking into my classroom, a friend texts me a question about my daughter's basketball team. I respond back with, "I will have to get back to you later tonight about this.  I'm going back to school."  She responds, "oh yikes, hope everything is ok." Which cracks me up because she thinks I am going back to my kids' school because someone must be in trouble.  That's how far fetched this whole going back to school thing is.

The teacher walks in and she looks very sweet.  And YOUNG!  Oh my gosh I am seriously way older than the teacher.

Side note:  Daniel asked me if I was going to take my laptop to class and encourages me to do so because all the other kids will have theirs.  Thank goodness I didn't listen because no one has their computers.  Because there are computers in the class!!  And they aren't DOS!!!

Everyone is situated with their syllabus printed in front of them.  Except for me.  I ask the girl next to me where she got it and she tells me she printed it from "my blackboard".  Your what??? Seriously, why is everything like a foreign language?? Miss Youngthing moves us to the computers because she wants to make sure we can log on.  All of the assignments, quizzes and tests will be done online.  Guess who the only one who couldn't log on to the computer was? Yep!  After some special help from the teacher I manage to get online.

After we got through with all of the housekeeping of the class and got into the meat of the class I realized I definitely made the right decision.  I thoroughly enjoyed it way more than I remember ever enjoying a class at 18 years old.  I have no idea where this journey will take me.  I am not even positive what my goals are.  That's not true.  My goal is to make it through this first class unscathed. And now I am off to do my homework!!