My Head Is Spinning

Posted by Sarah

I guess in order for you to fully understand the irony of this situation I have to start from the beginning.

When I was scheduling for my classes I had signed up for Math 112 (trig-based calc) and Chem 111 (calc-based chem). When I found out that pretty much the whole thing was based on trigonometry, I asked my advisor if I should take trig first and wait on the other ones until after I had taken that class. He talked to some people who had taken Math 112 recently and they said it didn't really matter and that the professors taught you all the trig you needed to know anyway.

In calculus the first day the professor starts talking about cosigns and tangents and I'm totally lost. I went to talk to him about it later because I'm concerned! If that's the way the whole class is going to be, I need to get out and learn trig first. He says, "I'll think you'll be fine. I took trig before my mission and when I got back to take calc I had forgotten most of it. I just memorized this table and I did well." I'm not trying to bash the teacher or anything, but I really should have just gotten out then. I tried to memorize the table but none of it made any sense.

I get to chemistry, and it's pretty much the same thing. I don't get the math. Everything is just spinning around in my head while I try to make sense of something that's pretty much hopeless.

By the time I figured out there was no hope of understanding, the drop deadline had passed. I figured that meant I was stuck in these classes until December, I'd try to teach myself the stuff I needed, I'd do horribly, and have to retake the classes. I just hoped they wouldn't kick me out for failing two classes my first semester.

Then today I'm in my student development class where my professor happens to be my advisor, and he mentions that today is the withdrawal deadline. I can still get out of those classes! Awesome, I found my way out.

I get to his office later and discover that it's not that easy. Since I'm on a scholarship, I have to have a minimum of 12 credit hours. If I drop those two classes, I'm down to seven. I can add second block classes that run from Oct. 22 to the normal end of semester date though. But do those even count towards the scholarship?

So I go down to the scholarship office and find out. After a long and very technical conversation, I find out that I'm good as far as scholarships go, but my Financial Aid will be affected. So, I have to pay back $1,500 from my Pell Grant. Still better that getting Fs.

Now that I'm short $1,500, I don't know if I can afford to stay living where I am. It's kinda expensive here. Then I went to the off-campus housing office because I have friends who live off campus and their rent is a lot less than mine. I figure that could be a better option. They gave me a list of openings and the contact info to try to get out of my on-campus housing contract. It was so far away that I just didn't really want to walk. I'm going to leave that to tomorrow. I have nothing to do on Tuesdays anyway. Plus, I still have to figure some more things out and I'm tired already. It's just barely 5 p.m. Dinner then nap sounds good right now.

Don't you just love giant chain reactions that never seem to end?