What Life is Like at UF

Life at UF so far has been a comedy of "good news/bad news" situations. This all began in the first week of May, when I applied to UF's doctoral program. The good news was I had been assured that I was a shoo-in to be accepted. The bad news was it took until the end of July, just three weeks before classes began, to find out that I indeed was officially accepted. It seems that all the secretaries, admissions people, and professors leave town as soon as the summer session is over, and nothing gets done until the week before classes begin!



The second "good news/bad news" event happened about a week before classes began. I was not thrown off the turnip truck yesterday - I do know that if you want to get anything done at a college, waiting until classes start is a bad idea. So, in my "get all my ducks in a row" fashion, I decided to take one afternoon to do three things: attend a workshop at the UF library, get my ID card, and get my parking permit (which I can't get on-line, because I have a handicap tag, and I had to show it in person at the UF police department to get my parking permit). Knowing his directionally-challenged wife, Doug decided to take the afternoon off to come to Gainesville with me, which turned out to be good news (which I'll explain later).



I knew where the library was (actually, I now know that there are nine UF libraries - I just got lucky with this one), and the room the workshop was to be held in. When we got to UF, the bad news was finding a legal parking place close to the library. In fact, the bad news is ALWAYS finding a legal parking place anywhere at UF! I refuse to buy a bike! Anyway, the good news was that we finally found one, but the bad news was we had to search for the way into Library West. When we finally got inside, the good news was that there is a Starbucks on the first floor! (The bad news is that I never have to go over to that library now, and the Education library doesn't have a Starbucks!). We marched right up to the circulation desk, and asked the nice student worker where the room was for the workshop. The good news is that the library offers these workshops regularly - the bad news is that they forget to tell the nice student workers that they are having them! The door to the computer room was locked, and the librarian giving the workshop was five minutes late getting there for the workshop, but we finally got started.



Once the workshop was over, we asked the nice student worker (again!) where the UF police department was located so I could get my parking permit. The bad news was that UF has neglected to tell the nice student workers where the police department is! Thinking to capitalize on good news, I asked for a campus map. The bad news was that the map box had no maps, and the student workers (by now there were three of them) didn't know where to find another map. More bad news was that the other two nice student workers didn't know where the police department was either! We finally got a mumbled "I think it's over there," and off we went. After driving "over there" and past "over there" three or four times, we stopped a nice Shands Hospital nurse walking on the sidewalk who said, "Well, it's right there!" Of course it was! Except the bad news was that in typical UF fashion, the sign outside the building said something like "Department of Cows," not "UF Police Department!" It took parking and going halfway down the interior sidewalk to find the "UF Police Department" sign!



The good news was there was only one student in line ahead of me. The bad news was she got the competent worker bee, and we got the nice, but new, 80 year old man who didn't know how to issue a parking permit. Twenty minutes later, after an engaging but slow conversation with the man, I had my permit and, I thought, 35 minutes in which to go three blocks to the Student Union to get my ID card. Good news, three blocks away. Bad news, despite the published closing hour of 5:00, the lights were out and the door locked at 4:25, even though the worker bee was still inside there. After fussing and cussing under my breath, we walked back to the car. Doug, being the nice guy he is, pointed out the bad news - the worker bee had left the office and was walking right behind us, close enough to hear my anti-worker bee comments! Oh, well, what a way to start a school year!



Such fiascos continue with great regularity. The other day I received an email - the good news was I could get my flu shot at the infirmary for only $5.00! The bad news was that it took almost an hour to figure out from the campus map (which I now know is on-line) which building is the infirmary (actually, the on-line map put it in two different locations, blocks apart - I still haven't figured that one out!). We ended with good news this time - I found the place, got the shot quickly, with hardly any wait, and it was really cheap, which is good news to this poor, starving student.



More good news, bad news: It has taken me forever to figure out Norman Hall, the building where all education classes are held, and where the Education Library is located. The good news is this is a beautiful building made up of an old public school (beautiful architecture) and the newer surrounding buildings (not quite so beautiful) which gave the College of Education the extra space it needed. The bad news is the room numbering system in Norman. We have G-XXX rooms in "new Norman" on the ground floor. We have 1XXX and 2XXX numbers in "new Norman" on the first and second floors (which, if you think about it logically, should be the second and third floors). We have XXX numbers in "old Norman", which has the ground floor, then the first, second and third floors (again, which should be floors 1 -4). The Education library sits in between the two buildings. It has the first floor (on the same level as the ground floor in the other buildings), the second floor (on the same level as the first floor in the other buildings, and so on). The bad news is, in some cases, "you can't get there from here!" is what you hear when you ask where a particular office or room is. Oh, well, life at UF is always an adventure!