Wednesday, September 14, 2011

My day at OSU

I start classes at OSU a week from today, so I have 7 days left of freedom (ish?) and 7 days to worry about everything.  I am feeling a little better after today, though.  I tackled several things off of my to-do list.  (Ordering books was on the list, so I regretfully shelled out the bucks to get them sent to me.  Thanks for Chegg I will be renting a few of my books, and half.com scored me some savings, too.)
I left Blain Highway at 11 and made a pit stop at Office Max to make some copies, and I was on my way to Columbus.  I called the testing center on my way, because during orientation (which was horrible, there is a whole blog post about it) I didn't have time to take my Spanish placement test.  The woman who answered the phones said I had to be at Hagerty Hall by 2:15 to be able to take the test.  I was pushing it.  I did finally make it and when after I parked in the garage, found the building on the map, walked to the building, then found the room inside of the building it was 2:13.  Holy close call, Batman.
The placement test was not as bad as I had anticipated, but I really hate the language.  I don't know why I have this disdain for it, but I do.  To me it just sounds so dirty.  Weird, huh?  After the placement test I had to take my General Appeal form to the SSC building.  It's on the opposite side of campus.
I walked and walked, and I called my Mom along the way.  I don't remember what we talked about, but it was nice to have company during the walk.  When I finally arrived at the SSC building, I could automatically tell something was up.  People had this panic stricken crazy look in their eyes.  An OSU employee at the door told me that the building had lost power and that it would be shut down soon.  Employees were already leaving the building, the computer systems weren't functioning, it was a mess.  I suppose I should point out that this is the busiest day for the SSC because they handle all the finances for the university, and that includes tuition and fees.  Today was their big day.  I did sneak into the building, and once I found the stairs I went to the 4th floor.  Turning in the appeal was not much of an event, and I did not get to meet with Goldean Gibbs.  I hope I can speak with her in the near future.
When I finally left the building there was a crowd of people outside and 1 solitary OSU employeee trying to tame the crowd.  All of these students and their parents had come to campus to make a tuition payment, and they couldn't.  Insane.  This woman was talking to all the people, and taking their tution checks.  Making sure they had the students name and OSU ID on them, then she would hand the person who she took the check from her card.  It was actually a good idea. 
I just sat down to watch the people, and after a few minutes, she slipped inside the building and the door locked behind her.  That was it.  It couldn't have been more than 2 minutes later when this woman and her daughter came racing up to the building.  They looked SO panicked.  I stopped them before they got to the door and explained to them what had happened.  They had driven an hour to pay the girls tuition bill, and were frustrated that they would have to make another trip the next day.  Before they walked away, the woman thanked me for stopping them and telling them what I knew.  She said "A lot of people wouldn't have done that.  It takes a special person to stop a stranger from having a panic attack."  I suppose I can add that to my resume, right?  (:

Next on my to-do list was to do a 'dry run' of my classes.  I wanted to walk to each building, go inside, find the classroom, and then walk to the next building, go inside, find the classroom, etc.  I've done this before and it worked out well.  There is always a lot of emotions the first day of classes, so if a person can get their bearings about where they are going that takes one more thing off their shoulders.  So, I did just that.  I felt a little silly, but it was a good thing for me to do.  I like to know where I am going.  Getting lost on my own when I have tons of time to find out where I am is okay, but getting lost amidst 40,000 other students when I am on a schedule is simply not an option.  I took a picture of each classroom when I got to it, and they're posted below. 
The bright side to all of this is that my last class is in a building that is located right next the the RPAC and the parking garage.  I can work out and then jump in the car and drive home.  Perfect.
I went to half priced books next, for no real reason.  I just love the store.  I bought an audio book to listen to during the trips to and from Columbus, and a few other books.  I could have spent hours in the store shopping around, but I set a spending limit for myself before I walked in and when I reach that limit I forced myself to leave.  That's called self control, Logan.

 Arps Hall 384: History 152
 Thematic literature- Cannibalism: Denney Hall 238
 Math (ugh): Central Classroom Building 326
I'm proud to be a buckeye and all, but do the port-a-potties need to be scarlet and grey?  Really now?  I didn't take a picture of it, but during my blundering I came across a construction area and all of the workers had buckets that they were using, and all of them were scarlet and grey with the OSU logo on them.  Wow.

That's all for now.  Sending blog love to you and yours,
Logan