this week is finally over

This week was a particularly stressful one.

I have been out of school for basically a year and it has been pretty hard getting back into the swing of things. Managing my time for all the classes. Figuring out good study habits again. Keeping materials from all my classes organized. Its been a real challenge. This week I had my first tests of the semester. For Delval, apparently there is a rule that you should never take Botany and Human Physiology at the same time. Both of the professors basically tell you that this class will take up ALL of your free time. Well no one told me lol. So now I'm stuck with it. Thursday, I had a human phys test first thing in the morning and a botany lab practical at 1:40. Between the two classes I have Botany lecture and English with only the 10 minutes they give you between classes. I was caught in the dilemma of which test I should study for more. I have work right after school on Tuesdays so the only time I really had to study was Wednesday after class around 4. Finally I made up my mind to just study Human phys until I got tired of it. Then I would take a break and then study botany a little bit. Then when I would get bored of botany, I would take another break and switch back to human phys. That system worked out pretty well. By the time I had to go to school to take my human phys test, I felt pretty confident. My only hope was to finish the test early enough to look over my botany notes before botany lecture started. So what I did was look at the notes real quick before and after the two classes I had until the lab practical. It was getting closer and closer to the practical and I was getting nervous that I would sit down to take the practical and my mind would go blank and I wouldn't remember anything. Once I saw the first question, I finally was relieved. It was a really easy question. I figured it would get harder as it went on but overall it was really easy. The professor made it sound like it was going to be the hardest test we had ever taken.

For those of you who have had a science lab of some sort, isn't the last thing you want to do after a lab practical, a lab experiment? As soon as the test was over, he was already giving instructions on what we would be doing that day in lab. I was burnt out at this point and all I really wanted to do was go home and relax for a while. But if I left, he would have taken points off. So I just wondered around the lab, looking at some slides, pretending to do work until the lab was over. They keep the stuff out for a week so I am going to just go back to the lab another day to look at everything again. But at least this week is over.

are you serious?

So for one of my classes, the professor paired everyone up. Since I'm new to the school I got paired with this kid who also didn't have a partner. At first I was OK with it. But when I tried to get together with the kid, he didn't answer my call or respond to my message. We had agreed to do it over the phone since we both live off campus. Well again I call him when we had scheduled a time to call each other. Again, no answer so I left a message. The rest of the day and night goes by and I never hear back from him. At that point, the assignment was due the next day. I then did the only thing left for me to do. I emailed my professor explaining the whole situation. By this time its like 12:30 at night so I know he wont get the email until morning. I go to actually send it and then the internet cuts out and I lose the email. So now I'm even more pissed off. I write the email all over again and the same thing happened. I went to see if anything was in my sent box and there was nothing. I try this about 4 times in total before I get so angry I slammed my computer shut and walked away for a minute. That's when I got the great idea that I would just use my personal email address instead of the shitty delval email. This time it worked. The next morning before class I got an email from the professor telling me that it will be OK and my grade will not be affected because it was not my fault. I guess its a good thing I'm on his good side. Something that finally made me laugh was his little p.s. at the end. It said "P.S. thanks for the 5 emails LOL".
So anyway, back on track. The professor lets us out a little early so we can have a little time to talk to our partners about the topic. Unfortunately it wasn't enough time to get everything I needed so he said he would call me after his plans that night around 7. I wait and I wait. Now its 8 and I still haven't heard from him... AGAIN. So I text him and what does he do? He tries to postpone the phone call again. I basically tell him no, we are doing it tonight so he finally calls me back after another hour of waiting and I get everything I need.
The moral of the story is that I don't agree with the whole "professors put you into groups" thing. I believe you should be able to pick your partners because if you are a hard working, diligent student and you get stuck with someone who just doesn't care your grade will suffer. Its just not fair. If I was able to just pick someone to by my partner from the beginning, none of this nonsense would have occurred.

What is wrong with Pennsylvania roads

Can someone please tell me who designed the roads here in PA? Every other street corner there is a four-way stop or another traffic light. Did they want to make as least gas efficient as possible to drive around? The constant accelerating and decelerating just the accelerate again is really really annoying. I guess people like wasting gas around here especially since its at least 20 cents more per gallon that it is in New Jersey. I back this statement up by the fact that people slow down as they approach a green light, just in case it will turn red.

Also whats with the turning lane in the middle of the road??? Do people not know how to make a simple turn in PA without their own lane? No. They need to come to a complete stop before turning. Maybe they are afraid the car will flip if they turn while still moving forward. FYI. It won't!

Sorry about my rambling but where I come from, land of the jug handle exit ramps, the roads make a little more sense.

Got to love the people in PA

Recently I have realized that people in New Jersey generally fit the stereotype of not being very friendly. Since I grew up in New Jersey, I always thought that the stereotype was an exaggeration. Now that I live in PA, I notice how much nicer people are to you compared to NJ. In the grocery stores people smile and say hi as you pass; where as in NJ, they would keep their eyes to their business and ignore you. In parking lots, the cars will stop at the cross walks and actually let you pass. Some people might be saying that I'm weird for thinking this but in NJ, the pedestrian doesn't have the right of way. You must always keep your head up and watch where you are going in parking lots otherwise you might get hit by a careless driver.

There has only been one time that I can think of that we ran into someone not so nice. My brother, my friend, and I went to Wegmans and on our way back to the car, my brother saw a cart rolling towards another car. Instead of just watching it hit, he ran, jumped over a median and got to the cart right as it touched the bumper of the car. I could see the people in the car cursing as they unbuckled their seat belt and got out. The woman started yelling at my brother as the guy inspected the car. They thought he was riding the cart and was just playing around. He tried to explain that he was trying to stop the cart but they kept on yelling at him and telling him stuff like "you need to calm down buddy" and other things like that. It wasn't until my brother ignored her and got in the car that she got quiet enough for us to explain to her what actually happened and that he was only trying to help. As we drove away, we yelled out the window that next time she should get all the facts before she starts jumping to conclusions. She looked kind of embarrassed but never apologized for blaming my brother. Driving home, we couldn't help but feel insulted by what she said.