Today was class registration for English Seminars. Three out of my four classes will transfer back to UW-L for specific courses and satisfy my requirements. The fourth class will take care of 2 left over general education credits I have yet to fulfill. Essentially my fourth class doesn't have to be very specific in a certain area. It was nice to have a little wiggle room when picking out courses after all of the chaos during the selection of the first 3. Last night at The Crane I met Maeve, from Spain, who's studying at NUIG for a full year. She explained to me that English Seminars are very competitive and only 1/3 of the seats in the class are reserved for Visiting Students. Maeve went on to explain that people begin queuing (standing in line) at 5 or 6 in the morning for a class that will open at noon! Previously, I had been told about the 1/3 of the seats being reserved, however I did not know English Seminars were so competitive.
Deciding to take Maeve's advice I woke up early on my day off and headed off to campus to stand in the queue. Arriving at 9:50 I had a good 2 hours of waiting time, with plenty of students who had come before I had. The very first in line had come at 6:30am....oh I forgot to mention the queue was outside! All other registration queues have been inside, so I was surprised and saddened to see everyone lined up in the cold. Although the weather has been absolutely brilliant the last few days, it doesn't become comfortably warm out until about noon. Needless to say we were all quite cold waiting for the doors to open. After about an hour and fifteen minutes of waiting they moved us to the other side of the building due to the noise level because there were interviews conducted near our original location. We spent another 5-10 minutes in our new location before a man came out with numbered tickets saying we were to line up, take a ticket and return at noon when the doors would open. Thank goodness! I was able to secure my ticket and head off to the library to thaw.
Returning at noon I again waited in line for another 10-15 minutes before the doors finally opened! My time at had come, I entered the building walked to my registration sheet as the lady pulled it off the table in front of me and said "I'm sorry the girl in front of you took the last spot"...devastation. This didn't really happen right? It's all a bad dream?! I didn't truly wake up early on my day off to walk 30 minutes in the cold and sit outside for 2 hours just to be told the girl in front of me had filled the seat.
Unfortunately it was not a dream and yes it actually happened. I was given the option to sign up for other seminars, but I didn't truly want or need them. Taking a few minutes to contemplate whether or not I would chose an alternate seminar I decided against it. There were many people behind me in the queue that truly needed and wanted these seminars. My taking a seat just for the heck of it, could really throw off someones entire schedule. So now what? Do I laugh? Cry? I could curse and let negative comment rambunctiously fly out of my mouth like I had heard for the last 2 hours from those around me. This wasn't my best option. I decided to pray about it, God's plans are always bigger and better than my own. Isaiah 55:8-9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
God gave me a peace of mind and clear thought process. I wasn't stressed or angry I just needed to come up with a new plan. Opening my backpack I found a sheet of paper with the Gaeilge course registration times. Registration began at 1:00pm and it was only 12:30, why not walk over and see what's going on there. With a short queue and nice lady to answer questions I had concerning the course I decided to register for Gaeilge: The Irish Language for Beginners. She explained the department was large enough to accommodate the visiting students and no one would be turned away. Feeling a bit more optimistic I decided to wait in the Gaeilge building to register.
Everything was pretty low key until the doors opened. There was an absolute stampede of students, yelling, grabbing papers, cursing, each one wanting to get their course, many had just come from the English Seminar registration, making tensions high. The Gaeilge building had just turned to chaos. Having been assured a seat by the lady I had met a few minutes beforehand, I sat back and watched the chaos ensue. It was nuts, so I began to pray for people, especially those who had let stress get the better of them and looked as though may explode. The poor faculty aiding in the registration process were swamped with questions and pushy students. Knowing I would not appreciate students bombarding me from all sides I waited until all other students had cleared and then submitted my registration form. Since this decision to take Gaeilge was quite sudden I had yet to receive confirmation from my advisor back at UW-L concerning the transferability of the course. Not wanting to pay €30 for a class that would not transfer I explained my situation to the professor. He allowed me to either pay for the class and use my receipt as a possible refund slip or wait to hear from my advisor. As he continued to fill out the slip he explained that if I needed a refund and wasn't given one by the university he would personally refund my money from his own pocket. I feel as though it's going to be a good semester with him : )
Taking this photo near the end of registration the room looks almost empty compared to earlier in the hour
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| Gaeilge Registration Chaos |
Last night a group of us walked down to The Crane for student trad music. Sunday through Wednesday The Crane features trad music, with Tuesday being student musicians. While there I was able to meet Maeve from Spain, Anja from Germany, as well Pepette & Clemence both from France. Here is a little taste of student night at The Crane. I realize it's not great quality, but I'd thought I'd give you a quick clip so you have an idea of what my favorite pub is like
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