It's annoying when people take credit for your ideas! It's happened to me in the past.

^ Did you have much trouble in finding the room in the end Harold?

^ What exactly were you doing in the experiment? (some kind of chemistry I assume)

Quote:^ Did you have much trouble in finding the room in the end Harold?

I was lucky to stumble upon a teacher from my school in the corridor while I was walking around looking for some sign of a lab room. If I hadn't met her I don't think I would have found it.
It felt so odd being in a high school too. You don't realise how old you've become until you enter a place like that. They all look so ...tiny!

Quote:^ What exactly were you doing in the experiment? (some kind of chemistry I assume)

Well I'm taking a biology course, so the experiments aren't too complex. This particular experiment was about fermentation. The other one we had time to finish yesterday was about an enzyme in the digestive tract. We were supposed to test in what pH-levels the enzyme was most effective. Nothing too interesting.

God damn school...

Last year when I first signed up for this school I didn't get any information as far as course books are concerned. I sent an email asking what books we were goign to use, but didn't get a reply. Once I started the course the teacher fiiinally told us which books we were going to use, which meant that I had to order it and wait an additional week to start with the course.

Okay, goodie. So this time I check their webpage (you need a password to check it, so I couldn't do it the last time) and see which books I need to buy for the new courses I'm going to take. I order the books ...aaand now they send me a welcome letter with a list of course books. And of course, it's not the same books as they state on the webpage. So I need to return the books I ordered and order new ones. Come on! Update yoru darn webpage. What's wrong with them? Zero organisation.
This also explains why my teacher gave me the wrong exams all the time. She was using another book... they give us a list of course books, but they don't tell us if they change anything on it. That's just lovely.

I sent them a very angry email which I'm sure isn't going to help at all.

Is this the first time you've complained Harold?

If not, how were your other complaints dealt with?

It really does sound as if the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing!

I should be put in charge!

Okay, to be quite honest I didn't send an email. I filled in an anonymous survey on their webpage. So uh ...yeah. I'm just THAT brave!
I'm sure my anonymous complaints will make all the difference in the world too! Of course they will.

I haven't emailed them before either, no. I know that I should, but I can't. I don't know if I should blame it on SA or not, but I probably should. I don't like to complain. Do you get that too Globe? Or do you feel okay complaining if you have good reasons to do so? Would you have sent an email if you were in my situation?

(04-04-2012 03:04 AM)Harold-L Wrote:  I don't like to complain. Do you get that too Globe? Or do you feel okay complaining if you have good reasons to do so? Would you have sent an email if you were in my situation?

It takes a lot, an awful lot to get me complaining.

I think all SA sufferers should be given awards for our 'patience' when it comes to bad customer service situations!

Reading your post has reminded me of the time when I seriously considered doing a master's degree (which was going to be in European Studies). The university in question was holding an open day, and you know what I ended up doing because of my SA? Inside of attending any of the day's events, I just ended up briefly walking through the university's grounds (less than 10 minutes), and then taking the next train home.

I never got round to doing that master's degree in the end - I guess I lost my 'nerve' (about asking my then employer whether I could go part time/ about getting references - don't even get me started about references! ).

Yeah, I've been in similar situations to your little university "tour" numerous times. You feel so incredibly pathetic in those situations, don't you? Sorry to hear you ended up losing your nerve though. Do you still want to go through with it and get a master's degree? Or have you lost interest since then?

^ I still wouldn't mind doing a masters degree one day.

One university in the UK offers one which is practically made for me - it's a MA in Political Parties & Elections.

As it's been quite a while since I did my first degree though, I think I may need to brush up on my academic skills first.

When writing essays Harold, do you often get writer's block? It was something I often remember getting when writing copious amounts of essays during my first degree.

Reading a newspaper article today about education systems across the world, it specified something quite surprising about the Swedish one - that all students who go to university have to be able to swim 200m (50m on their back).

Is this true Harold?

Hey Globe, i think Sweden has some funny rules. I heard you can be fined for having a dirty car and also, if you wear glasses to drive, you can be fined if you do not have a spare pair in the vehicle.

What with your post regards swimming.....i wonder if he can confirm if all 3 are true??

Quote:Reading a newspaper article today about education systems across the world, it specified something quite surprising about the Swedish one - that all students who go to university have to be able to swim 200m (50m on their back). 005_ssuprised

Is this true Harold? 005_sconfused

Well of course. Gotta be one heck of a swimmer to survive life as a university student. ...what kind of a newspaper was that? They make up some odd rumours.

Quote:Hey Globe, i think Sweden has some funny rules. I heard you can be fined for having a dirty car and also, if you wear glasses to drive, you can be fined if you do not have a spare pair in the vehicle.

What with your post regards swimming.....i wonder if he can confirm if all 3 are true?? Smile

Well, if the license plate is dirty you could be fined. So that one's partially true. But as long as you can read the license plate, the car could be covered in dirt and there'd be no problem. Well, I suppose the windows would have to be clean too. As far as the spare pair of glasses are concerned, I'd say that's another rumour.

Diary entry: I'm meeting up with an online friend for the first time tomorrow! Needless to say, I'm a weeeeeee bit scared.

^ It was a tabloid newspaper which mentioned the swimming Harold.

I did think it was quite an odd thing to say.

Needless to say, I think that that newspaper's researcher should be sacked!

(06-28-2012 01:55 AM)Harold-L Wrote:  Diary entry: I'm meeting up with an online friend for the first time tomorrow! Needless to say, I'm a weeeeeee bit scared.

Good luck tomorrow.

It's not Ana is it?

Let us know how you get along.

Quote:Good luck tomorrow. Cool

It's not Ana is it? 005_sbiggrin

Let us know how you get along. Happy7

Thanks. And no, not Ana.

As for how it went, surprisingly, it went well. I mean, really well. I did not have high expectations; I'd say the both of us expected it to be awkward and well, awfull. But it was very much the opposite. I'm all ...ecstatic now. I can't believe this actually worked out. We didn't do much; we met up at a park and simply went for a little walk around this lake (okay, it was quite a long walk). But the whole thing just went so smoothly. She suffers from similar social issues to me, which probably helped make us feel more comfortable around each other. Being able to talk about your anxiety makes it easier to handle, especially if you know that the other person feels the same way. The fact that we already knew each other so well online also helped make things easier. So yeah, I feel quite satisfied with how things turned out. Beyond satisfied. I had not dared hope for it to go this well. I thought we'd be lucky if we'd be able to stand each other for more than 5 minutes. But we hung out for an hour and a half. Even the "awkward" silences felt surprisingly unawkward. And, from the sound of it, she seems to feel as if it went really well too.

...I still can't believe I went through with it. It's not the first time that I talk to an online friend about meeting up, but I'm usually all talk and no action. I like imagining how things might go, but to actually do it ...that's way too big for me. I mean, I get nervous just leaving my house. Going to the store can be a big deal for me. So, meeting up with someone like this? No way. But I did it. So go me!

(06-28-2012 11:29 PM)Harold-L Wrote:  As for how it went, surprisingly, it went well. I mean, really well. I did not have high expectations; I'd say the both of us expected it to be awkward and well, awfull. But it was very much the opposite. I'm all ...ecstatic now. I can't believe this actually worked out. We didn't do much; we met up at a park and simply went for a little walk around this lake (okay, it was quite a long walk). But the whole thing just went so smoothly. She suffers from similar social issues to me, which probably helped make us feel more comfortable around each other. Being able to talk about your anxiety makes it easier to handle, especially if you know that the other person feels the same way. The fact that we already knew each other so well online also helped make things easier. So yeah, I feel quite satisfied with how things turned out. Beyond satisfied. I had not dared hope for it to go this well. I thought we'd be lucky if we'd be able to stand each other for more than 5 minutes. But we hung out for an hour and a half. Even the "awkward" silences felt surprisingly unawkward. And, from the sound of it, she seems to feel as if it went really well too.

...I still can't believe I went through with it. It's not the first time that I talk to an online friend about meeting up, but I'm usually all talk and no action. I like imagining how things might go, but to actually do it ...that's way too big for me. I mean, I get nervous just leaving my house. Going to the store can be a big deal for me. So, meeting up with someone like this? No way. But I did it. So go me!

Great to hear Harold!

I know how there's no better a feeling of successfully doing something you thought that you really, really couldn't do.

Will you meet up again?

Quote:Great to hear Harold! Thumbsup

I know how there's no better a feeling of successfully doing something you thought that you really, really couldn't do. Smile Smile

Will you meet up again?

There really isn't a better feeling, no.
We haven't decided on an actual date, but from the sound of it the both of us would like to meet again. I know I most certainly would. If things keep going as well as they did yesterday, I can see this evolving into a real life friendship. I doubt I'll feel any less nervous before a second meeting though, it might actually be worse. As I mentioned, none of us had high expectations yesterday, and the day turned out to be great. The expectations for a second meeting will be so much greater, so I wouldn't be surprised if the second meeting won't go as smoothly. Then again, I'm always a pessimist.

Oh well, to me, this whole experience proves that online friendships are just as real as real-life ones. I mean, I've had a lot of online friends over the years, people I've gotten along greatly with. But part of me has always felt as if it wasn't ...real. Even if our personal chemistry works online, there's nothing to say that we won't clash in real life. In short, I've always seen online and real-life friendships as two separate phenomena. And from past experience, online friendships have always been the most meaningful of the two for me. Well, not always, but for quite some time. of course, it was difficult to make the connection between the person I met yesterday and the person I know so well online, at first. But after some time, the two people started to merge and I began to feel as if I was talking to the online one. So it was an online conversation ...in real life.

Excuse the senseless blabbering. I'm just still amazed that it went well.