Saturday, 05 May 2007

Post-exam RANT!!!! (read at own discretion)

I'm REALLY having mixed emotions about this weekend. Catching up with Ben on Friday evening (and finding out he's off to Honduras to teach for a year in August) was a good time and had lots of laughs. I must admit that the "conversational landmine" bit was fun. Getting a chance to say goodbye to Brandon was good, too. I missed saying goodbye to way too many people. And so was going to the Tulip Time fireworks with Sara, Tim, Kristi, Jeannette, Matt, & Zach, despite getting tabletopped more than once. Going out to this big field called "the observatory" and looking at the stars through the clouds was good too, except for maybe an overdose of scary stories and coldness. The Chapel Choir cookout at Dr. Richmond's house was tasty, and this year, I won the "Most likely to become a gangsta rapper award," thanks to a nickname I didn't invent and a certain black bandana. That was all good, though.

However...

What HASN'T been all good is how Hope College treats its students once Exam Week concludes. I have been terribly disappointed and rather appalled at Housing/Residential Life, CIT, and the Van Wylen Library. First, Residential Life demanded the residents to de-bunk beds without giving us any explanation. This has taken up an enormous amount of space in the middle of my already-small room and created a serious access problem. I'm just glad that there wasn't a fire-I would have been in serious trouble had I needed to exit the room quickly. And then Housing ordered me to send everything but "the essentials" home because I've had the nerve to stay so that Chapel Choir can make the Baccalaureate services look good. Yet Housing always gives Dr. Richmond and all the singers massive headaches every year over staying until Graduation. My family took a day out of their already-busy lives to come to Holland and helped me empty my room. I sent my computer home, but that's been one huge mistake. I first discovered that I can't even use my own dormitory's computer lab because it's locked until the fall. Thanks, CIT. It's yet another reason why I want to leave Cook Hall, dorm life, and obnoxious/weird roommates behind me. The sign to the lab suggested the library, which doesn't open until noon and closes at 3. I tried another place (VanZoeren's computer lab), only to find my ID and access code won't let me in. I ended up sneaking into a dormitory when someone had the door open while moving out and I got into a computer lab where there's no door to lock. I came back later to the library to take care of a last few things, CLEARLY before 3:00, only to be locked out. Luckily, I was sneaky and snuck through the side door from VanZoeren. And this entry's written in the Science Center. Overall, I've had nothing but grief and frustration as I've tried to finish up a final project and the journals for Music Lit. I'm getting hindered at working on SCHOOLWORK!!!!

I never realized I could get so angry at my own institution. I've had to sneak around like a prisoner at my own school just to get some final homework done AND I've had nothing but hindrances everywhere from everyone in trying to accomplish this goal. I thought that in education, preschool through graduate school, that the STUDENTS are the first priority. I was wrong. Apparently the visiting alumni (with lots of money) and bureaucracy rule the roost. What's gone wrong?

Good work, Hope College. I can't WAIT to leave you for three and a half months, and I never dreamed I could feel that way. I hope you're proud of yourselves.