My 1st School Week

[amarie24]

My first day, Monday, was my Anatomy & Physiology lecture at 11:30 in the late morning.

Well, first the building is kind of strange to me because the front steps lead down and then to the two double-doors. I’d only ever been inside that building once and that was just as a work study student to drop something off for my teacher-boss, teehee! But it’s alright; the land my college is on is kinda hilly and slope-y, so I got it!

When I walked into the doors, there was a nice guy in some computer sciences program that very, very kindly directed me to my classroom! And it turned out that my classroom was right there to the left of me! But, ya’ll, I went in there…

…And it turns out that the classroom my lecture is held is in a fancy-dancy auditorium-style classroom.

Yeah.

I want to let ya’ll know that I have never taken a class in this kind of classroom and, as such, I was extremely fearful and intimidated. I’ve always (mistakenly?) thought that this style of classroom is for those really, really smart, speshul kids that pay extra tuition and take Super Duper Advanced Classes and look down on everyone else that can’t afford and/or can’t handle such classes.

It didn’t help my intimidation that most of my classmates were white girls and women.

Both in my lecture and in my lab, there are way, way, way, way, way too many white girls and women.

If I recall correctly, there are only two or three other black kids in my class. Two of them are black girls with natural hair like me! The other is a black man with gorgeous locs or twists (I couldn’t quite tell because he sits way, way on the other side of the room from me). So yeah, I was pretty scared. I was thinking like, "Wait, is this the smart white kid classroom? Am I a smart black kid? Am I in the right room? At all?" My heart was pounding by the time my professor came in and I had to keep fiddling with my pen to keep from fiddling to the floor.

I sat at the front, though! I, uhh…had to figure out how to sit my ass in the chair (it’s a…springy kind of pull out chair? Very comfy, though!).

My professor finally came in and…ya’ll, I love this lady. I’ll call her “Mrs. A”. She’s been teaching her subject for…16 years, if I recall correctly. Mrs. A “loves and respects [her] subject” and she talked forever and ever about her husband and two children-especially her two children-in her introduction.

Like, Mrs. A told this hilarious story of her daughter:

Her daughter, bless her heart, wanted some kind of brand-name hair tie that was a whopping $85 and my professor said, "Do you know how much you can eat for $85?! You can feed a whole family for two weeks on that!" And then Mrs. A’s daughter wanted a pair of $160 brand-name jeans imported from Germany. Mind you, her daughter is 17-years-old and ain't nobody done growing at age 17. And so she warned her daughter that she may very well outgrow those jeans before she even had a chance to wear them twice. Her daughter gave her a trademark: "You don't know anything, mom." And she said, "Oh, are you sure?! Are you sure you're done growing and not going to outgrow those jeans?!"

Mrs. A’s son is her youngest child and he’s a “voracious reader” that was reading big ass volumes of books by kindergarten.

Also, Mrs. A is from India and has been in the U.S for about 20 years. Her accent is gorgeous and I very much enjoy listening to her.

And then, when she was done, she went, “Huh…that’s a lot about me, isn’t it?”

Then, she announced that it was time for us students to give introductions and guess which student was the first to go because her front seat just looked like #1, as it was in front and also closest to the door?

Yep. Me.

Ya’ll, I was still so nervous. I cleared my throat, smiled at the rest of the class and went, “Hi, I’m Amarie (well, my real-life White Girl As Hell name) and I’m here for the nursing program.”

Mrs. A went, “That’s an introduction?! Tell us more about you, Amarie! We’re all a class here; we should know each other!”

So I added that I love to read like her son does, and also write. Uhh…of course, I left out what I write and thankfully, she didn’t ask after that anyway, teehee!

And then it was finally the turn of one of the white guys in the class. (I think there are…three white guys total.) Poor thing came in late with exhausted bloodshot eyes and slouched way, way down in his seat. And you wanna know what came out of his mouth?

"Hi. I'm So-And-So. I hate school, but I love money."

Welp. That made all of us laugh again, too. LOL!

My lab is on Tuesday and it, of course, parallels with my lecture and so I have much the same classmates in that lab. And yeah, that means still way too many white women and girls, but I think it just may be alright.

I also very, very much like Mrs. A. I think she’ll most-definitely take care of us students. From the way she spoke of grading, attendance, participation, etc. she seems to be an honest, compassionate, and fair teacher overall. I’m not at all worried about not making it in her classes and I very much look forward to them.

I’m just kinda sorta worried about when my damn books are coming in the mail. I ordered them off Amazon on the twelfth and it’s the nineteenth and they’re just being shipped. Grrr, I hope they come in soon!

Also, I’m pretty exhausted as I’m adjusting to getting back to a circadian rhythm, haha. It feels like my body is throwing a temper tantrum like, “Who do you think you are making us go to sleep before we’re ready and wake up before we’re ready?! What the shit?! I’ll keep going to sleep at 4am if I want to!”

But alas, it shall be righted.

Oh, yeah! And some of the revelations:

One of the apartments that we found that’s literally just down the street from us? We didn’t yet know until we looked into its apartment guide page…but it’s literally only $725 a month, plus a $15 pet rent for wittle Dante. Mommy and I drove around that complex and we very, very much like it and Mommy is going in October to put a down payment there for when we move in come March.

We can more than afford about $700 for rent.

And since that’s perfectly affordable…

…That very well means that I could be getting a car come early next year, after we move in.

Mommy told me that she was discussing it with my godparents, who are Well-Off And Knowledgeable Black Folks, and they’ll most certainly help her look around for a good, used car for me to putter back and forth to school and, later, clinicals that just may interfere with Mommy’s work schedule too much.

Just below the surface, I am extremely excited at this prospect. Now, it’s still up in the air and so I’m not letting myself too much hopefulness about it, but…it’s something. Yeah.

Otherwise, everything’s alright! Again, I’m exhausted, but pretty excited. I thank everyone again for the well-wishes and encouragement! Thankies oh-so very much!

Comments

[lonespark]

Thanks for sharing these details about your busy week!

(I don't remember who Dante is? I am sure he is cute!)

I am about to share your Circadian Rhythm Adjustment Pain, with the kids going back to school Tuesday. We always think we should adjust our schedules ahead of time, but it never works out and I've mostly stopped trying. Just live through it and eventually we get adjusted...

[amarie24]

Aww, thank you for reading and enjoying! Yes, thank you oh-so very much! :D

And as for who Dante is...psst...http://amarie24.dreamwidth.org/

Yes, adjustment pain it is indeed. Ugh. But, just as you say, we get through it and persevere! Yes! And good luck and much fun to your kids on going to school! Woooooooo! :D :D