Rutgers life

[deralte]

Well, I've somehow managed to do everything I was supposed to do in the past couple of days at Rutgers. Therefore, my fees are paid, my financial aid is arranged, my ID card is official, I'm registered for classes, I have all my books etc etc. I showed up at the first J. class on Tuesday (9:50am) but the section I'd chosen was seriously overloaded with 30 people vs 10 in the other class happening at the same time, so I and a few others switched sections to the smaller class (something which I prefer). Our teacher seems nice, though I'm dismayed by how basic the textbook is. Also, I didn't realize this but my Japanese lessons in Japan used photocopies from the same textbook so I actually have a lot of the conversations in it already memorized. I guess I should expect an easy term... After that class, I tried to switch my Japanese sections in person, but was told I couldn't even though I had a permission slip (and was treated like a stupid freshman to boot) by a cruel course registery person (god, if I were actually 17 and just starting college for the first time, I'd have been devastated by how sneering and condescending that lady was). I shrugged this off, bought my books, and went home and emailed my Dean who changed everything for me in a couple of minutes thus belying what the registry person had told me. I then got a hold of my financial aid person, and then the student accounting office in quick succession to pay off my fees.

Everyone seems really confused by my age. The most common phrase I've been hearing these past few days is, "Wait. How old are you?" cause everyone assumes I'm a freshmen until I start talking about all my travelling or my Masters degrees. It's pretty funny.

Today was my first day of Spanish which is a later class than my Japanese one (11:30am). You can tell I'm *not* a freshman because my reaction to not having to get up early for two days a week was not to sleep in, but to go in early so I could get things done. When did I ever get so responsible? I managed to do some quick shopping at the supermarket, deposit a check, get my temporary ID card replaced with an official one, and submit an application for a lifeguarding position at Rutgers. I then spent an hour or so reading The Master and Margarita outside (where the weather was gorgeous) then went to Spanish 101. It's being taught immersion style so there was no English after the first explanation of the syllabus. This suited me quite well, but only because I already speak French and Spanish is a sister language. Hence, I already knew the grammar style and knew what to listen for, and recognized various words enough to generally know what he was talking about. I feel sorry for some of my classmates though cause their comprehension wasn't very good. I think the problem for me will be figuring out pronunciation and spelling (just like English *L*).

Comments

[havenward.livejournal.com]

\o/

(I wish I could have a better comment. Brain has been dysfunctional today..)

[c0d3-w4rri0r.livejournal.com]

frankly If I was being mistaken for 17 by people in my uni. I think I'd just keep quiet about it and try to pass. Think of all the fun you could have. Reliving the tail end of your teens sounds like a great opportunity to me. ... but then I'm weird.

[deralte.livejournal.com]

It's a bit hard to pass cause the first questions they ask are what you're studying, who you live with, what year you're in, etc. If I'm answering truthfully, they usually figure it out in about five minutes, average.

I don't really enjoy lying for fun, so I do tend to answer truthfully. Besides, I get mistaken for a teenager so often that it doesn't really thrill me. (Amuse me, yes, but not enough to pretend.)

[c0d3-w4rri0r.livejournal.com]

for me I guess the 'where do you live' question would be exactly the same as in uni. It makes sense to live with your parents if you're studying in your home town (not that I haven't considered moving out, I just don't want to end up house sharing with people I don't like). But the rest, I can see that being a problem. Although if people try to work out my age from my course so far it should be 22 or 23, younger than I am at least.

Any way it'd be different for me. For me getting the chance to act like a 17 year old would be a novelty since I didn't get it the 1st time around.