Queues, Queues, and more Queues

---

All right so I have had a very frustrating day today (26/9/07) and I just feel compelled to get it off my chest. Never again will I complain about the registration method at Luther. It is glorious, really. I started today at 6:30 am (about 12:30 am for those folks in the states) and caught the Medlink (a free bus from the city hospital to the Queen’s Medical Center (QMC) near University Park, where campus is.) It takes roughly about 45 minutes to an hour to get actually on campus from our flat so I was doing well I made it there and to the central area under an hour. Now by this time, it is 8:45 and I register for Greek at 9. I’m already queued (in line) and I’m two people in. Two minutes to 9 a woman comes out and makes an announcement that any students wishing to take either Latin or Greek must proceed upstairs to be ‘placed.’ Confused and a little annoyed, I tramp upstairs to be interrogated by a man who seems convinced that I haven’t had any languages. He asked me what languages I’ve had, Spanish and Latin. He then hands me four proficiency tests; Spanish, Latin, French and German. Spanish went all right, I at least passed. Then Latin was more difficult, he gave me a Medieval Latin test, I’ve only done ancient Latin and the endings are switched around but I don’t know that well enough to pass. After locating the correct test, he makes me also take a French and German test. Now I’m more than a little put out by this point; the only French I had was in middle school and the same goes for German and I certainly do not know it to pass this kind of test (I can’t even ask where the toilet is!). Once I’ve finished, this nameless man that I’ve come to dislike looks at me with surprise and says “well, you certainly are more proficient that I’d thought.” He signs my paper and sends me back down to the original queue which by now has grown is wrapping around on itself just to let the ladies at the Classics Window that he’s approved me. After waiting for 10 minutes, I’m out of the Classics building and rushing down the hill to Trent where my next three class registrations are all at 9:30. I made the decision to try for English first, Theology second, then American & Canadian Studies.

I get to Trent at 9:30 exactly, and the queue for classes was long, through two corridors. Without much hassle, I get in and I’m dashing off to the next. On one of the thick packets handed to us at orientation, I was directed to go to a man’s office and register with him there. I waited for a solid 20 minutes with Erin, two exchange students from Georgia and Louisiana. Then once we were in his office he asked us which module (class) we were thinking, asked our previous academic experiences in Religion, then directs us 4 floors down to a room where we’d actually get to register. Now the queue was better than English but still long, so we waited about 45 minutes in line until getting to the doorway only to realize that I could have pushed in (jumped up) to the table for strictly 2nd semester modules which is the one I wanted again. I registered, and so more than mildly annoyed now I raced to the other side of Trent for the American & Canadian Studies.

Up until this point, I had thought the queues were long. This was out of control. The queues wrapped around themselves 4 or more times, I forget. Anyways, I started in queue at 11:30. I didn’t reach the doorway of the room until 12:45. Then didn’t actually meet with an advisor until 2:30pm. I’m sitting at this table with a woman who is too perky for my taste and she looks at the module I want then she looks at me with the module sheet in her hand. “You can’t take that module.” I think I stared blankly at her for a minute, and then looked at her and said “Seriously?” Looking back, I can’t believe that was the first thing out of my mouth but I just couldn’t believe that I had spent a better part of nearly 4 hours in a flipping queue just to be told that I couldn’t take my class. “Yes, you aren’t a Joint Honors Student.” I have no clue what that is, but I guess I wasn’t one of them and I started to panic. This was my last class that I needed signed off on, and one of the most essential ones. “But I’m International. They said…” My hands were shaking I was so angry at this point. The whole system is stupid and archaic and they need to get it online. After some quick, breathless explanation of my situation, she relented after I showed her Kate’s name on the list. Kate is a fellow flat mate and English major. After she signed the paper, I then had to go to another table to be entered into a computer. I probably could have done it faster myself.

After all that, I walk the 15 minutes to the bus stop only to find that the bus I need in leaving. I run like a fool after it, because I was not about to wait for the next one. I got back to the flat without further incident and was frustrated by the entire system. It boggles my mind how anything get accomplished there, everything is unorganized to the point where it might as well be running purely on chaos. It would probably make more sense, and be an easier system to follow.

Whew…I think I’m better now. So bottom-line, it was hell but I got all my classes. Now I promise the next blog will be about the remainder of our first house trip. Until then Cheers!

---

Comments

[Shannon]

wow that sucks
i cannot beleive that their systems is that messed up.....i mean come on!!! im sorry that your went bad......but you got all yuor classes and i bet that things will get better from here on out. And i bet that once you start classes you will meet a hot english guy.......i know it. ok love i gotta go!!! Cheers back at ya!!!!

[lafreier]

Wow, and I thought registering for Concordia was hard! Hope you've had a relaxing day since then?