Okay, first thing’s first:
Yesterday was not a good day, all in all. It was actually a pretty bad day. To start off, it was a Monday, which usually starts out poorly, but after Math I usually take a 2-3 hour nap before Psychology so I am a functioning human being for that day. I was slow in getting up so I had Dunkin Donuts for breakfast (Oh Sunny, how you suffered.)(Stop being fresh, the breakfast was good. it just gave me a stomachache later.) Math was…I could say dull, but that would be a bit of an understatement. Then I took my beloved nap, (which was cut an hour short for reasons coming up…) and had lunch. Lunch was actually a high point of my day. I didn’t feel like eating much so I had a mediocre bowl of cereal and some watermelon, as well as a glass of iced sweet tea with just the right amount (for anyone else, too much) lemon. I played this game that they were having in the dining hall to promote being informed about sustainability. I won a bag, coming in second place. (No this isn’t the bad part. Wait for it, impatient!) Psych was more about the brain and what parts of it did what, but Psychology is always a class I enjoy. (Okay NOW the bad day part starts. Happy? You are? You’re happy that I had a bad day? Dude, go away. Scram. You’re a jerk.)
So I then participated in a Psychological experiment. (Grad students need subjects and you have to participate in some experiments to get class credit.) In short, I sat in a dark room and clicked on a computer. I’m not supposed to talk about it…but it was a long boring hour that left me with a nice headache. I went back to the dorm, intending to do homework, but my head was aching and I had a strange iced tea craving. So I did some reading and listened to music. At about 5:05 I realized that the Study Abroad meeting I was planning on attending had started five minutes before. So I hopped on my bike and headed over to the meeting. I was late.
It wasn’t all that bad, everyone was hyping up and promoting how great it was to study abroad. Around the end of the meeting, (which was a tad confusing, I confess) I was hit with a bombshell no one had thought to mention at the promotional booth or the meeting. (I later found out it was on the flyer, not in a prominent place.) Freshman can’t study abroad. Yeah. I did serious thinking about the trip, thought about asking friends from other colleges to come (it’s a multiple-college program) and had pretty much decided I was going only to have the dreams crushed. Thanks so much people. And to whoever it is that keeps telling Freshman to go to the Study Abroad meetings…I also feel free to give you an accusing glare. Please enjoy the burn of said glare. *Burn*
Okay after the SA (Study Abroad) letdown, I called/texted a couple people because I was feeling down and looking for someone to eat dinner with me. My friend CJ made my evening my calling me back after she had finished ‘killing a giant polar bear.’ Gamers. You have to love them. So we had dinner and discussed music, video games, and conspiracies about what was going to take over the world. By the end of it, I had convinced myself to go to the library and study. This is something I had not previously done; I usually studied in my room, but it was distracting and I didn’t get much done. So I collected all the Art History homework and stuff for the next day and headed to the library. To give myself incentive, I was trying to figure out a reward system to get me to go to the library more often. This time, I was going to check my mail. And I worked out a reward for when I was done studying–check out a DVD. So I sat down with all the Art History homework and really put the pedal to the metal. I took all the online quizzes, I skimmed the chapters, I wrote all the vocabulary. (I had an 24-hour window in which the first section Exam was posted online and I really needed ot get this done.) During a study break, I checked my email and was presented with this little gem. (I’ve copied it from my email except for names.)
Sincerely,
XXXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXX”
Once I was finished with that AND the math homework due then, I gave myself a big pat on tht back and was considering taking the exam. So I opened up the class page and clicked on the exam link. I had all the material fresh in my mind. I could at least see how many questions it had and what the time allotted for everything was. So I opened it…and about had a heart attack. The exam wasn’t available. It had expired at 8PM that night. I couldn’t take it. I was 2 1/2 hours too late. So I checked the email the professor had sent out.
Unlike what I was 100% sure he’d said in class about the 24-hour time window in which we could take the 1hr 15 minute test, the email proclaimed that the test was available from 8AM to 8 PM. I was so in trouble. And as I was in panic-mode, one of those things that happens all the time in movies happened to me.
I heard (in my head, not out loud) I heard what may have been the most useful advice my mom ever gave me (other than ‘pray’). “What matters isn’t whether or not you make mistakes. What matters is how you handle it.”
How was I going to handle this? I was going to look up some information. TO THE SYLLABUS!!!!
I read through the syllabus. No exam re-takes except in very extreme circumstances. And I was betting that not reading the reminder email through because I had gotten the information in class was NOT an extreme circumstance. It was a blindingly obvious mistake, but there was nothing ‘extreme’ about it. And then I got to the real kicker.
“Nota bene: All Exams and Quizzes must be taken in order to receive a passing grade for this class. Makeup exams and quizzes will generally not be allowed.”
However nicely it was worded this all meant one thing to me: YOU MISSED THE EXAM AND HAVE AUTOMATICALLY FAILED THE CLASS.
Which was about when I started freaking out. (Internally. I was sitting in the library, so no jumping about in panic or punching walls in much anger at my own stupid mistake.) And then came the next auditory hallucination.
“Professors are people too.” Don’t remeber who told me that one, but I went with it. I was going to appeal my case to the professor. In a polite email (which I spell and grammar checked as well as read it over and edited it several times) I explained my mistake, asked whether this meant I had failed/dropped, explained I didn’t expect him to make exceptions for me, but asked if I could be allowed to remain in class and attempt to pass anyway with a low grade, rather than dropping because I would rather pass with a D than drop because of my own mistake. I asked for a second chance. And as my finger hovered over the ‘send’ key, came the final piece of advice, again something my mom had told me again and again.
“The worst they can say is no.”
So I sent it.
I cleaned up my workspace, put away all my books, and went over to get the DVD I promised myself. I went to the comedy section. After a crappy day, I needed something if not to laugh at then to watch amusing things. When you’re upset , a weepy movie is only going to depress you. So I picked out Sister Act, a movie I knew and liked, checked it out, and went back to my dorm. I was pretty sure one of my friends from high school would still be up so I sent him a text message.
“Screwed up big-time (school-wise) and I need someone to talk to. If you’re up, text me back, if not, call in the morning. And I’m not in the hospital or pregnant, so don’t freak out.”
“How was the library?” J asked.
“Bad. I found out I missed an exam I was supposed to take today.” I headed towards my room, then paused. “Oh yeah, and I didn’t make the a cappella group.”
After setting all my stuff down, I went down the hall to talk to some of my friends. One was still up and I explained the situation. She sympathised and agreed to watch Sister Act with me. I brought a blanket to wrap myself in, the last of my mom’s chocolate chip cookie bars, a bottle of water, and the DVD. Settling into the chair, I watched and munched on my cookie, then had a cherry tootsie pop. It didn’t exactly cheer me up, but it got my mind off how my parents were going to possibly murder me in cold blood. And my own guilt.
Afterwards, I went back to my room, finished the homework I needed to do for the next day, and went to bed.
After class the next morning, heart in my throat, I checked my email. There was one from my art history professor. Oh dear. I closed my eyes and opened it. After waiting a bit, I peeked.
In short, he said that it was the first exam and he understood mistakes. He had opened the exam for me.
Quoting Ralphie from ‘A Christmas Story’: “I slowly began to realize that I was not about to be destroyed.”
So I grabbed my notes and my book (kiddies, an online test is an open-book test unless you are told otherwise. As my teacher said sarcastically to the class, “Yes, I am going to check in on all of you to make sure that no one uses their notes.” It’s kind of like plausible deniability, but more obvious. The teacher knows we’re going to to use our notes and as long as he doesn’t reference the honor code and is actually serious about not using notes, it’s a free pass to an open-book exam.) and I took the exam. Most of the information was fresh in my mind from the studying the evening prior and I checked the book or my notes for things I wasn’t sure about. And so, yours truly got to stay in class and not be killed by her caring and affectionate parents.
So there you go. Lesson learned: read emails, plan ahead, and listen to the voices in your head. It works for me!
Sunny
PS: Haven’t had much time to work on the novel with all the drama and work, but soon my pretties…soon…
The (Mis) Adventures of Life as We Know It 