I am excited to report that I am officially a student once again! And while my commute is about 6-7 times longer than my last jaunts to school, it still feels worth it. My first day was a couple of Mondays ago; I was excited because in order to make it to the Detroit campus on time, I need to leave work by 4:30pm. The hour of freedom is quickly eaten up by driving with not so courteous Michiganites and the ridiculous truckers that are constantly passing through. The first week, I did not yet have my new cd player installed, so I spent this time talking to...myself. Not the entire time of course, just when: 1-I got off on the wrong exit and guessed which on-ramp would be the best choice, 2-when I drove past the University of Phoenix building 4+ times without realizing it, and then 3-again when I finally spotted the enormous lettering I should have noticed through the black sky and rain. I made my way up to the student resource center, looking for a monitor to tell me what classroom I should head to. They don't have monitors, and I was ill-prepared with information, so I asked the woman at the desk which classroom addictions and dependency was in. Her reply: "do you have the class number?" Liz: "no, I don't." Woman: "do you have the instructor's name?" Liz: "no, I actually don't have that either." Woman: (more as a statement than question) "so you don't know nuthin." Liz: "right". Anyway, I soon figured out I was in fact in the wrong building. Something about my plight and sudden cussing made this woman want to be my friend, so she nicely explained how to get to the correct building... I got to my class about 15-20 minutes late and discovered that for the next six weeks, I will not only learn about addiction, I will experience life as a minority in the classroom. For the next few hours, we went over scenarios of clients who all had almost impressive combinations of plights, e.g., bipolar, formerly used cocaine, now on methadone and still drinks, just found out partner died of aids, has been arrested for fighting with police officers, may or may not have an std they haven't checked out yet...I was too embarrassed to participate in the role playing, so I sat back, ate my peanut butter and honey, and thought about my long drive home.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
I heart Detriot
I am excited to report that I am officially a student once again! And while my commute is about 6-7 times longer than my last jaunts to school, it still feels worth it. My first day was a couple of Mondays ago; I was excited because in order to make it to the Detroit campus on time, I need to leave work by 4:30pm. The hour of freedom is quickly eaten up by driving with not so courteous Michiganites and the ridiculous truckers that are constantly passing through. The first week, I did not yet have my new cd player installed, so I spent this time talking to...myself. Not the entire time of course, just when: 1-I got off on the wrong exit and guessed which on-ramp would be the best choice, 2-when I drove past the University of Phoenix building 4+ times without realizing it, and then 3-again when I finally spotted the enormous lettering I should have noticed through the black sky and rain. I made my way up to the student resource center, looking for a monitor to tell me what classroom I should head to. They don't have monitors, and I was ill-prepared with information, so I asked the woman at the desk which classroom addictions and dependency was in. Her reply: "do you have the class number?" Liz: "no, I don't." Woman: "do you have the instructor's name?" Liz: "no, I actually don't have that either." Woman: (more as a statement than question) "so you don't know nuthin." Liz: "right". Anyway, I soon figured out I was in fact in the wrong building. Something about my plight and sudden cussing made this woman want to be my friend, so she nicely explained how to get to the correct building... I got to my class about 15-20 minutes late and discovered that for the next six weeks, I will not only learn about addiction, I will experience life as a minority in the classroom. For the next few hours, we went over scenarios of clients who all had almost impressive combinations of plights, e.g., bipolar, formerly used cocaine, now on methadone and still drinks, just found out partner died of aids, has been arrested for fighting with police officers, may or may not have an std they haven't checked out yet...I was too embarrassed to participate in the role playing, so I sat back, ate my peanut butter and honey, and thought about my long drive home.
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4 comments:
I am SO jealous.
I love the "you don't know nuthin" statement. Classic!
I think that you might have to do some homework to be able to fully appreciate Detroit. Rent "The Happiest Millionaire" and you'll find a fitting Detroit tribute.
Good luck with school! Sounds like a fun experience. :)
It really is "A Whole New World"
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