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

[Nemesis729]

My first day in an Australian Uni was pretty alright... until I got on the train home and was insulted by a bunch of racist high schoolers.

Why are you Aussies so racist?! D=

Because the ones that insulted you are retards.
Seriously you'd think living in a multi-cultural society would stamp out racism but the idiots persist... Still it's better than other countries, man I really wouldn't want to be an Arabic individual living in America.

Somebody in this thread has never been to America , No but it's not nearly as bad as you think, sure there are some places where racism runs rampant, but the other 97% of the country is pretty enlightened. Actually where I grew up you would probably get beat up for being racist/homophobic, I don't know if it would acutally happen since I never met a racist during my high school years, and the homophobes keep it to themselves.... ANYWAY

OT: First day of community college:

- "Am I the only one here who wasn't in the military at some point?"

- "Am I the only one here who is under 30?"

Yes, yes I was.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

You wouldn't happen to be at Adelaide uni at all? Sounds a lot like it haha

Yep. The University of Adelaide, home of the... of the... *blank look of concentration* home of the biodegradable plastic landmine (I shit you not).

I'm doing a Bachelor of Psychological Science part time.

Anyway, always bring your own water, it's always easier. I usually take a 1.25L bottle and it easily lasts the day.

I started the day with a 1.25l bottle of water... that went in short time. After seeing what they wanted for pissy 500ml bottles I fucked off to one of the many nearby convenience stores and grabbed a 1.5l bottle. When that was done, I risked the tasty, tasty bore water refill.

Lastly, this is really nit picky but it's Autumn now

Tell that to the fucking weather.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

im 23 and thinking of going back to college (Britain) in September...and i thought 5-6 years was a huge age gap making me an old git of the class but wow!

Mature Age students aren't uncommon in Australia, a fact that pisses off some young'uns (usually ones that only got into their 4th or 5th choice degree... hahaha suck it, kids, I got my 1st choice). Get quite a few who put off their academic aspirations to raise/support a family and the like. You also get a number of immigrants looking to requalify in their professions if they got their education from somewhere the Australia government doesn't consider equal to the Australian system.

Loved your thread OP...I would rant about similar things too.....bleedin kids and there iphones and blackberries! back in mah day i had a Nokia 3310

I would have done phones but my old nokia got to the point where it couldn't be turned off without pulling the battery so I had to buy a new phone and ended up getting myself a nice wee Galaxy Mini 2.

One thing I did notice is that there seems to be an age divide on who talks on their phone vs who texts on theirs.

Side note - PROTO MULLET should be in the dictionary...i got Pepsi all over my screen after reading that bit, it made my day.

I should kidnap an Anthro postgrad and make them research the complete history of the mullet, add lots of pics then publish it as a coffee table book.

 

[zumbledum]

A few years ago while unemployed i availed myself of the option to pick up my food hygiene and safety certificate (after 7 years working int he food industry) so my adviser sets me up on the course and away i go , just a couple of days down the local college i thought...

Well first day i rack up and am sat down to do maths and literacy tests, they claim they need to test the basics to its how they get the grant money to run my course. ok whatever i think and do the two simple hour tests, and wow this was basic math and literacy , making change and reading bus numbers type of stuff, having A=levels already i managed to pass quite easily.
Now over lunch the lady running the course informs me as i dont need either maths or literacy courses i cant get my health and safety either. its to do with how the funding works, marveling at the beauracracy and sheer retardation of the situation i find myself in. i say so if i take a test again and fail it then i can do that course and get my certificate?
so i spend the next hour deliberately failing a basic math test so i can do 5 days of "learning maths" in order to pass a test i dont need to get a redundant math diploma.

Fortunately the woman was reasonable and after being informed i would come sign in and out but there wasnt a snowballs chance in hell of me actually attending the course we agreed i would spend the time between down the pub

quite a pleasant week after all but gg government.

oh and after all this it took me just under 1 hour to do my course i actually wanted.

 

[Fishcactus]

We got free Subway and Red Bull
Going to a smaller school has it's perks, haha

That said, I sometimes wish i'd gone to uni to get the whole experience, but I don't think i'd have enjoyed it as much as i'm enjoying where i'm at now. But yeah, I had a great first day.

I agree with you on the weather though, NZ summers suck. Not as much as Aussie one's do I imagine.
Also, I second bringing your own water bottle.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Now over lunch the lady running the course informs me as i dont need either maths or literacy courses i cant get my health and safety either. its to do with how the funding works, marveling at the beauracracy and sheer retardation of the situation i find myself in. i say so if i take a test again and fail it then i can do that course and get my certificate?

So 'bureaucracy' wasn't one of the words in your literacy test, then?

As for the fucked up way governments can put programs into action, oh the stories I've heard. Both my mother and one of my sisters work for a RTO (Registered Training Organisation) and, yeah, when it comes to government created programs the lists of qualifying criteria for students can look like they were written by several different people, none of whom were reading what the other people were writing. The RTO has even declined tendering for some programs because the qualification criteria were so batshit virtually no one would be able to take part, resulting in the program costing more than it brought in (on costing, if they can't guarantee at least 10 students for a course they'll lose money running it).

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

-Mandatory community service for a grade? Fuck off, I work and have vidya games to play.

I went to High Point University in North Carolina, and they tried to institute a program like this during my Freshman year. They forced everyone to do community service, write weekly papers about it, and gather into groups of 20 or so students at the end of the week to discuss it. This was expected to be done in addition to everyone's normal classes, not in place of one. Additionally, it was required that the community service be off-campus, even if you didn't have access to transportation (and the University didn't provide any).

Every time we gathered to discuss the program, I made it quite clear that I felt like I was doing the right thing (volunteering) for all the wrong reasons. Rather than doing my best to help people, I was doing the bare minimum to get the job done so I could get back to my actual studies so that the program wouldn't negatively impact my grades. I made it clear that I thought the program was unfair to students who lacked transportation, asking whether or not the university planned to reimburse me for the hundreds of dollars I had to spend on taxi fares (which a few weeks meant I couldn't afford to eat). I did all that was required of me to achieve the highest grade possible, but I made my resentment of the program well-known.

Apparently the following year they still required it for Freshmen, but they at least provided transportation and opened up on-campus options.

Still, I don't regret going to HPU. Other than that one speed bump during my Freshman year I otherwise loved pretty much everything else about the place.

 

[wulf3n]

My first day in an Australian Uni was pretty alright... until I got on the train home and was insulted by a bunch of racist high schoolers.

Why are you Aussies so racist?! D=

Australian Trains/Stations - "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious." - Obi Wan Kenobi

 

[SSJBlastoise]

Yep. The University of Adelaide, home of the... of the... *blank look of concentration* home of the biodegradable plastic landmine (I shit you not).

I'm doing a Bachelor of Psychological Science part time.

I started the day with a 1.25l bottle of water... that went in short time. After seeing what they wanted for pissy 500ml bottles I fucked off to one of the many nearby convenience stores and grabbed a 1.5l bottle. When that was done, I risked the tasty, tasty bore water refill.

Tell that to the fucking weather.

Haha yeah, Monday was pretty shitty. First lecture for the day and it took 40 mins for the lecturer to think to put the aircon on.

 

[TakeyB0y2]

Welp, here's my thoughts on my first day of my first attempt at college:

- Hrm, only 4 girls in this class and a whoooole lot of guys. Yaaay... I make friends with girls easier than guys, but whatever.

- OH MY GOD THAT GUY WITH THE SKATEBOARD IS SO HOT ERMAHGERDERMAHGERDERMAHGERD! I HOPE HE SITS AT THE SAME TABLE AS ME! SIT NEXT TO ME! SITNEXTTOMESITNEXTTOMESITNEXTTOMEAHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHH HE'S GOING TO SIT NEXT TO ME!!!... Wait no he's walking past my table... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! COME BAAAAAAAAAACK WHYYYYYYYYYYY!?

- Oh a couple nerdy guys are sitting next to me... Well, at least they're nice I guess... Oh, they sound lazy and unmotivated and like they don't even want to be in this program. Well whatever, I guess I'll hang out with them. I'm sure there's no way this will backfire.

- Oh, they're splitting everyone here into two different class groups, and only two of the four girls will be in my class. Le sigh...

- Oh, the microwaves aren't working yet and the cafeterias are all closed and I don't have time to leave the campus to get something... Would've been nice to know before bringing only a frozen meal for lunch.

- This tiny college has a sports team that competes nationally against universities? WTF?!

- Oh hey they have a swimming pool here! Too bad I'm too self conscious to go alone and have no friends here...

- Yay, the train station by the college is going out of service for 8 months for renovations and I have to take a 30-minute bus ride to the closest station (which is a station further away from where I live).

I ended up dropping out because even though I was getting good marks, I took a look at my work and realized no self-respecting employer would ever pay for my work. I was someone who couldn't draw at all and had no real sense of visual artistic design taking a course in New Media. Also the nerdy guys I made "friends" with were super lazy and unmotivated and our group projects were all terrible. Kinda made me realize that... Yeah, this was going nowhere fast so I dropped out before dropping another $8000 on a program I knew wasn't going to go anywhere.

 

[Amaror]

At First:
Isn't Aussie a common term for people from Austria not Australia?
A lot of your complains are: Why are people so young here?
And i am asking: Why Not? You should be celebrating that the people who go to university are younger than you'r used to.
The other complaints your stating are:
1. I am smoking and others are not!
2. I did not remember to bring some stuff to the university (Sunscreen, Water).
3.Everyones younger than ...
oh we had that allready.
Sorry but i don't really understand the point of your thread.
I love university (in Germany)

 

[The Goat Tsar]

- 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?

Oh god, I'm having flashbacks to my early days at uni. These Bible study people always came after me! I guess I must be very approachable, as I've been asked for directions to places around campus so many times as well. No one else I've talked to has this experience. I'm just too damn nice apparently.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

At First:
Isn't Aussie a common term for people from Austria not Australia?

Not in the English-speaking world.

A lot of your complains are: Why are people so young here?

That might be your interpretation but if so you really suck at it.

The other complaints your stating are:
1. I am smoking and others are not!
2. I did not remember to bring some stuff to the university (Sunscreen, Water).

What the fuck are you on about? I mention that if the Uni is so concerned about public health that they have a campus-wide ban on smoking why do they appear no rules regarding cyclists zooming around the campus at full tilt and I mention that I needed to find a better place to have a cigerette than the spot I was using out front.

Also, why are people constantly assuming I didn't bring water? I took a 1.25l bottle. I also went off campus and got a 1.5l bottle of water. After all that was gone I decided to chance the free refill water... and it tastes slightly worse than tap water in Adelaide usually does (which is pretty bad).

Sorry but i don't really understand the point of your thread.

Yet you just had to add your interjections anyway. Good job.

 

[Chemical Alia]

I don't remember much about my first day of college, since I was just commuting to the community college for some gen ed classes before transferring to a real university and changing my major a dozen times. I was only 20, yet I still felt awkward and old around everyone else.

My first day of the army, now that was freaking weird. Felt like I was iin jail.

 

[Woodsey]

I'd been in halls for a week before my first day so knew a few people, plus I only have two hours a day; so the first day didn't exactly register. Think I was still in a bit of a drunken haze from Freshers to be honest.

 

[lacktheknack]

- 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?

Oh god, I'm having flashbacks to my early days at uni. These Bible study people always came after me! I guess I must be very approachable, as I've been asked for directions to places around campus so many times as well. No one else I've talked to has this experience. I'm just too damn nice apparently.

Hilariously, when I was going to our local university, I was passively looking for a Bible study... people on either side of me were asked if they wanted to go, but no one asked me.

Looking like a neo-nazi had its downsides.

OT: The only complaint I had about my university experience is that I had to climb about a hundred and twenty stairs to get to my first class.

The only complaint I have about my current tech school is that it takes an hour and a quarter to get there every day, and an hour and a half to get home.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

My first day of the army, now that was freaking weird. Felt like I was iin jail.

Yet you never people say jail/prison feels like being in the army.


Complete tangent: OMG! SQUOOSHIEFACE DOGUE DE BORDEUX!

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Looking like a neo-nazi had its downsides.

Having been a SHARP my entire adult life, I often get idiots mistaking me for a neo-nazi... the worst is when neo-nazis mistake me for a neo-nazi and try to make friends... trying to find a place to hide a body on short notice is a pain.

 

[Amaror]

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.

 

[James Joseph Emerald]

So, yesterday was my first day at University and with 4 hrs of breaks I had a lot of time to think about shit going on around me.

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.

Interesting, but about what I expected...

(Naw, I'm just breaking your balls =P)