Stop the presses. School is back in session!
I guess that is not really a "stop-the-presses" revelation, but nonetheless, school is back in full swing and my excitement has turned into something resembling (dare I say it!) nervousness? There has been a lot of information already being thrown out of left field and I'm expected to make the perfect catch... no pressure. While the professors obviously realize that we are new to this, I still feel as though there is so much I'm already expected to just know and be aware of, or as one professor worded it "implicit learning". While she stressed that we should know more implicit things such as walking, reading and writing by our age, I feel other skills are expected of us. But let me take you back a little, I'm kind of getting ahead of myself.
Wander back in time with me to 1 week ago. The time: 9 o'clock in the morning. The venue: the Nipissing University Theatre. The people: hundreds of strangers. My mood: bubbly and excited.
The mood has been set, so follow me along this grand journey.
My roommate/best friend and I headed into the school at around 8:30 because I wanted to get prime seats for our big welcome to the Bachelor of Education. She wasn't feeling as eager as I was (then again, I hadn't yet met anyone as excited as myself, not to mention the time of day we had to wake up at to get into the school). We get our name tags and head in to find there were already quite a few people in there already. After taking our seats at the far side of the room, we start looking around to see if we know anyone else in the Junior/Intermediate Program--no such luck. After formal introductions were made by the President of the University, the Deans and the Student Union, it was time to be called out by our sections: a.k.a. "let's- see- who- I- will- be- making- friends- with- all- year". Surprisingly a number of my section mates were in the seats surrounding me (secretly I think we all had the sense to sit together, just sayin)'. After a rather "blah" morning of going about housekeeping issues such as finance and parking, we finally all got the chance to meet each other in our very first section meeting. Off the bat, I had made some really awesome friends. THEN, and this is some pretty awesome news, it was time to elect a section representative to be the liaison between the Education office and the rest of the section. After waiting a few seconds and seeing that nobody wanted to be rep, I raised my hand. Not even 2 seconds later, another guy raised his hand. In my mind I was thinking "Oh lovely, now I'm going to have to think up a speech on the spot to try to win votes!" However, he merely said that he was all for me being rep and that he was "sold". I won. I am section rep. More on what that entails later.
We made it through Orientation and have officially started our classes this week (yesterday to be exact). It has been a lot to take in and I feel a little overwhelmed, but in all fairness, I had been warned by several other B.Ed graduates. I know it is going to be a lot of work, and might even entail a few tears of frustration, but overall it is going to be completely worth my while to stand up in front of a classroom of minds that I have the responsibility to mold. That's worth a few tears in my books.
Back to the section rep duties though: I was given the honour of being able to plan events for the section and have already created a group on Facebook for my section mates to discuss whatever pressing issues they have with courses and whatnot. Within 2 days, I had an event planned and currently have about 15 of 40 members saying they will attend. What is my event you ask? A Haunted Walk in the Downtown core of North Bay. There are other things I have planned but I can't give away all of my events on here...
This year is definitely going to be one that will likely make me feel bi-polar. I know it'll be a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs, and most certainly there will be a few fits of screaming along the way too. But right now, in this moment, I am growing up. Roy Orbison says it perfectly: "The wheel of fortune takes a spin/Sometimes you lose, sometimes you win/ But you must play the game again/ Drink another cup, you're growing up".
I just might pour another drink.
