Orientation Week - Or Panic Week

So O Week - Freshers Week, Rush etc - is over and classes start tomorrow. 

Reflecting on the past two months, I have spent way too many hours online.  I wonder if others have walked as many circles as I have?

Textbooks.  In total I reckon have spent 30 hours.  Seeking second hand ones, comparing prices of new ones and trying to gain the system by using the library options (borrow, download, read online).  However several new editions have been released and thus some of my cheapie-get-ahead-of-the-crowd books purchased in October last year are now out of date.  

Buying - can buy in a variety of places but seems that the uni textbook store is every student's go to..quite a few are in a panic because the bookstore has sold out. Suckers. When I bought mine and there were loads left so I'm going to assume some people left it REALLY late. 

Libraries - libraries haven't processed the new editions. When will lecturers learn that it takes libraries some time to process new books.  

Download - sometimes you can get the whole book, apparently, I haven't seen any evidence of this but such a button exists on entries. However, you can get some chapters BUT the download system was arcane=I struggled with it for about 5 hours one day. I tried again last week--now it's much easier.  Why it should've changed over the holidays I have no idea, but it pisses me off and seems particularly personal. Patience - not a trait I possess - is key. 

Read online - that seems to be straightforward but I cannot sit for hours reading online.  

And that's just the start. 

Newbie to Law School - ADMISSION = QTAC

Well you would think with 30 years of university experience that I would be well informed about university administration.  I am not. Neither are many of my colleagues.  So I'm flying blind into a new degree.  

So let's start at the beginning. QTAC (Qld Tertiary Admissions Centre).  All online, very easy to follow.  Simply put in all my qualifications - some of the degree paperwork is pretty moth-eaten.  Strange fact - my old employer wouldn't provide a letter of employment with dates. But I did get a statement of some sorts that satisfied QTAC. I also applied for grants that I wasn't suitable for and QTAC email came through almost immediately asking for some paperwork that wasn't relevant.  

QTAC staff know what they're doing; they are courteous and kind. The hours are generous; I like to contact early in the AM before CS folks get too irritated (that word looks weird). But that's just me projecting.  I tried both online and phone chats--seamless success. Staff, IT personnel/website creators 👍.

As I've got a few degrees and too much life experience, I could skip to the start of the Law Line and I get some credit points.  So within a few days I received an offer.

Now comes the tricky bit. As I'm used to OLD terminology I accepted the "offer".  Little did I realise (ie read properly) that I had to press an "Enrol"ment button.  It was large and green but somehow I am green-large blind.  

I received a phone call from QUT - lovely ones welcoming me BTW - checking my enrolment.  I told them I'd accepted and blithely ignored the semantic difference.  

Late one night - with drinks imbibed - I logged into QTAC to check on something.  I realised I'd been locked out a while back because of poor password memory (PPM) when I successfully logged in this time - see how helpful some alcohol can be - my green-large blindness was cured.  

I enrolled at 1:10 am Christmas Eve.  I was massively panicked - was I too late?  Luckily, my place was still available.  And luckily I didn't delve too far into the admin labyrinth that is enrolling in a modern university...😕😕😕😕