So today is 1st September. Beginning of the school year and over a decade later I once again gained official student status. Going back to school still feels weird and kind of unreal. Just saw the first session timetable and there is no easing into it school. The first day is 10 hours and ends with business law lectures – 4 in a row. Am I really up to it?
So – a full-time job, part-time job, home with ~1 hour commute, family, and now school. I think I am crazy. You can read the first part of this crazy idea from my “Back to school with full-time job?” post
The first session – survived!
So now with a little fast forward – the first session survived. Three days, from 8 AM to 7 PM. Scary. Full of a lot of people. I’m not really a people person – despite my current profession (a mix of PR, marketing manager, logistics manager, and some more). So discovering myself in a room of 50 people with whom I am supposed to mingle = stress.
I have to admit, a lot has changed in schools over a decade. I think my biggest surprise was computer class, where each table had 2 monitors. And not the cheap and small ones, but good ones 22” inch. But the theme of the class appeared to be for people who haven’t seen Excel ever in their life. Since data analysis with Excel (sadly) lasted 8 years it is an understatement to say I was bored to death. I hope it goes better over time… more complex…. with new information to me. Or am I too optimistic? If not – at least this exam will ease.
Overall it wasn’t that scary – but something tells me, the scary part is yet to come. apparently, the school system has changed a bit and for some reason, all homework is as group projects. And to make it more interesting we have to start now – nobody knows anybody. most of us haven’t a clue what to do. and here we are. For now, I am a part of 4 different groups, each with different people and different assignments, and to be honest – I am confusing them all the time. I wonder – just me or everybody else also?
Group projects remotely
So we have about 50 people in this course. And there are 4 different assignments where we have been divided into groups. Almost all of us are working half or full-time and we live all over the city. What do you think about how group projects gonna be done?
The almighty Facebook! We have a group chat where are EVERYBODY … yes, all 50 people. asking questions, being clueless, and sharing how they understood this first session. and besides this, all 4 group projects have their own chat. and of course – all files have to be in the cloud. The first thing I did was disable ALL notifications, except when someone mentioned me. just trying to stay sane.
And it’s kind of weird to work on the file and come back to it later – it has all kinds of updates because someone else had their 10 minutes besides work and filled in their part.
Time is precious
So apparently trying to have 2 jobs, school, personal life, and a hunting dream house – is a bit much at the same time. At least this first month has been hard. Therefore this post has taken me about 3 weeks to write – a bit before, a bit during, a bit after, and now way later and in reach of the second session – I am trying to finish it. So yes, it is harder than I thought and I think I really have to up my game in time management and forgetting about watching shows on Netflix. But how?
