Thoughts from my first day at University (by a grumpy 'old' bastard)

[lacktheknack]

Snip

First of all:
Yes, i am not from england or amerika, so sorry for not being absulutely perfect with the english languague.
Second of all: It's a good thing that your university is concerned about health issues. Yes, someone riding a bicycle is a risk, too, but cigarettes are a health issue, regardless of the capabillities of the people using it.
And: If you brought Water, WHY are you complaining about the cost of water?
Yes, i did HAD to add my opinion to your thread, while not seeing the point of it, because the internet simply trained me to react to something i don't agree with.
So you didn't like university. That's fine. You have every right to hate university, you have every right to smoke all you want, but just don't complain when the world doesn't meet your standarts.

I'm going to go with "your tenuous grasp of English made you miss the dry humor involved in the OP".

 

[AeroZeppelinSevenfold]

What I've learned from College/University:

Don't walk through the middle of campus because everybody will try to sell you something/vote for something/smash something/write on something/donate money to something/free food. Wait wha-FREE FOOD?

Why do the teachers get better parking spots than the students? I'm paying to go to school, why don't I get the luxury treatment? Seriously. I am late to class sometimes because I have to drive to my class from another one, and I am only late because the parking spots are ridiculously far away.

You will need the textbook. *Buys $100 textbook* *Uses it once*

Teachers will use swear words. That is new and almost refreshing. Teachers in High School avoided them like their house would explode if they even thought about saying them.

 

[Fluffythepoo]

First day orientation at my uvi they gave us a goodie bag filled with school supplies and a different colored tshirt based on your major (green for science.. go science!)which also would get you into any sporting event for free. Then after an orientation assembly they had meet your teach where you went with people in your program to meet all your professors. At noon they turned everyone loose to explore, but there was a big outdoor barbecue and you could eat/drink as much as you wanted; along with a concert by a variety of local bands/musicians (most of whom were students). In the evening (when the sun went down basically) they replaced the stage with a giant inflatable screen and did a showing of batman begins and the dark knight, the dark knight rises was still in theatres at the time.

All in all was a pretty sweet way to start my university life

plus there was a coffee shop on campus that was just opening up that day, but they weren't ready to start serving and the guy running it gave me a coffee anyways, free of charge

 

[Amaror]

I'm going to go with "your tenuous grasp of English made you miss the dry humor involved in the OP".

Oh, God, YES, i know that not everything the OP said was completely serious, yet i didn't grasp the reason behing his thread. And since he answered completely seriously to my question about the reasone behind his thread, i choose to answer completely serious to his answer.
Let us just settle on this:
I know he was making fun of college!
I, however, disagree with his opinion on college (This could just be from living in different countries however)!
So i would like people to at least try to validate their opinions, instead of just claiming i didn't understand them.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

It's interesting to see things from the perspective of the grumpy, old, chip-on-his-shoulder, I'm-too-old-to-be-polite, this-isn't-how-we-did-things-in-my-day, my-input-is-more-valuable-than-the-lecturer's, desperate-for-validation mature students that I always complain about.

Hey now, I'm far too arrogant to need validation from other people.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

So you didn't like university. That's fine. You have every right to hate university, you have every right to smoke all you want, but just don't complain when the world doesn't meet your standarts.

Sorry, couldn't hear you over this real loud whine coming from the internet. OH WAIT

 

[Archangel768]

Okay, from what I remember

First attempt - Took the wrong bus home. Ended up calling dad to pick me up. About an hours drive away. Quit 5 weeks in.
Second attempt - quit after getting home the first day.
Third attempt - don't really remember but at least I kept at it and got through the semester. Decided to transfer into another degree for next semester.
Fourth attempt - Raining lots, annoying to drive in, lucky to find parking spot (oh yeah, the first time I can drive to uni and they introduce paid parking....), got shoes soaked on way back to car. So glad the rain has finally gone, well mostly. Classes are actually feeling a little fun this time.

 

[James Joseph Emerald]

Hey now, I'm far too arrogant to need validation from other people.

Then why do the "questions" you ask in class never amount to more than an attempt to receive a pat on the head?
They're never insightful or thought-provoking; they're always something along the lines of "in my personal experience, which I've amassed over 20 years working in this very industry -- which is probably even longer than the lecturer himself -- I agree with what was just said."
*awkward silence*
Lecturer: "Well, yes, thanks for your input. Okay, let's continue..."

Mature students man!

 

[Madgamer13]

My first day in university seen me tossed into a research department as a clerical officer, to look after all the students that were engaging in research of some sort. Since there was no administrative officer for my particular newly-created sub faculty department, I ended up having to keep the cogs turning on my own. My duties ranged from processing research applications for my particular faculty, to handling access to grant monies held by the university's faculty cost codes relating to research.

Oh my, the stories I could tell, grant money was sometimes not used for research and having to cover the backsides of researchers when they wanted to use their grant money in a certain way was both a pleasure, and a pain. A pleasure in that I was able to give many researchers of my faculty time to actually get some results, despite them messing around, and a pain because I was never given the chance to mess around like they could.

Working for an outsource call center handling constant inbound calls about technical support turned out to be a vital training for me to handle the crushing pressure assigned to my university job, looking after those lovable little scamps and their loadsa-dosh funded research trips to a foreign backside somewhere in the arse of nowhere, getting off their skulls with statistics.

It was working for a university that made me realise that there are differences between capability, however. Even if I could advise researchers, who were attempting to unlock a streamlined model engine powered by hydrogen fuel, on how to make it look like they were actually doing research and hopefully give them enough time to actually do research, I could never tell them how to actually make their little money spinner thesis and/or prototype.

It also made me realise that some people simply cannot handle University study. Me, for example, never had the chance to study as such a level and will no doubt never have that opportunity, but at least I was able to step into one under the premise of supporting those who would be able to handle it.

Handle it, is currently the biggest issue in my life right now. I didn't last very long under that incredible pressure and I have little more to show for it than the well wishes of my peers and boss, and the lamentations of the researchers that their paperwork couldn't be properly processed for a while after my sudden psychological collapse. Well, at least I've got benefits to fall back on, right? It seems all I was destined to become was a scrounger after all.

Isn't life cruel?

 

[DudeistBelieve]

- More Africans here than I expected. About as many East Asians and South Asians as I expected, though. Good, because if I ended up surrounded by noone but middle class white teenagers I'd probably open up a vein.

This was for me. Real culture shock being a white kid from the burbs who hardly ever left home.

- Why do people keep asking me to join their bible study? I swear, these people see me and make a bee line right in my direction. How can I spit in their faces without seeming too rude?

First week I was there, two different people asked me my religion, and there were Chick Track comics posted on the walls. I started wondering what neo-nazi cult of a college I joined.