Not Auspicious

After more years than I care to admit, I have returned to the college campus. The program is a Masters of Teaching--and looks to be a repeat of coursework from my last years at Cal Poly. Hoops. Bureaucracy. Whatever. I know things have changed since 1990, so I don't mind the new information or refreshing the stuff I learned back in the day. I would very much like to skip the student teaching part, though...but probably not.

So, tonight was the first class. I got to campus early. I successfully claimed a parking hang tag and a student id. I found this building for tonight's class and had enough time to meet my adviser in the English building. With confidence I strolled back to the hall for my first class.

And there the trouble began. I had the new family Chromebook (won by Brian in a radio station contest), so decided to log in and verify the class and room. I had scrawled out the class name and room number on my map, but neglected to write the course number. Big mistake.

The Chromebook couldn't access the school wifi. My phone also failed. And, of course, what I had scrawled on my map was WRONG. Wrong course name, wrong room number. And no way to right the wrong.

And I didn't even have a Barbie lunchbox as consolation.

I was saved by a professor on her way out of the building. Sensing my distress (and possibly the tears welling in my eyes), she offered to find my schedule on her computer and help me find my way. Within 5 minutes, I opened the door to the right classroom.

But the humiliation didn't end there. Of course, 20 minutes late, I was the LAST to arrive, and the professor (whom I actually liked a lot by the end of class) decided to announce my arrival. By name. What could I do but take a bow? And a seat. Toward the back. In the middle of a group project. At a table of three seasoned students, one of whom is returning to school after raising kids, She is three semesters ahead of me, though, so I was the sole newbie in the room.

Fast forward two-plus hours, and I still couldn't get the Chromebook to access the internet--and a couple of tech-savvy classmates couldn't either. I will take my laptop to the next class and arrive in the right place early enough to secure a wall seat near an electrical outlet. Hopefully that will solve THAT problem.

Of course, I got home planning to do some of the work assigned for next week, but I couldn't find the files. It's a good thing I have a child attending the same school. I was able to access most of it, send an email to the professor about the one I couldn't find, and actually turn in two items to the Dropbox.  I feel so accomplished.

And on that positive note, I am going to bed before anything else happens!!