Course registration, in any language, is still stressful

(written Sept. 17th)
I’m sitting here in my arm chair, looking out of my window at the tip of the Eiffel Tower sticking up above the slanted rooftops. It is raining for the first time since I arrived. Not really raining raining, but dripping. It’s that sort of tentative, tapping drizzle that is so synonymous with winter in Paris. I kept hearing this weird tinking noise but couldn’t figure out what it was even though I was looking out the window, because that’s how small and sporadic the drops are. The somber evening sky seems to melt into the city because it is nearly the same color and the roofs. I had to turn on a light earlier than usual today because of the clouds. Like many Parisians (at least the ones that live around me), I basically just use natural light as long as I can during the day. They’re big fans of natural light here. I don’t know if it is because of the energy costs, or if it just seems more normal for a city that has existed for centuries without electricity. Whatever the reason, I fit in well, not because I’m trying to live like the French, but just because it’s an acquired family trait. At UF my roommates used to come home in the afternoons and ask me why I was sitting in the dark- lol. Fortunately I am blessed with great light up here in my little apartment.

Wow that was a really long digression about light, for which I apologize. And all that just to say that it is raining and I am looking out the window. ANYWAY... today was supposed to be the first day of my methodology course where they are supposed to teach us how to be French students and do schoolwork the French way. However, it was also the day for fall course registration online. So I don’t know why the geniuses at Sciences-Po didn’t say, “Hey, everyone is going to be registering for classes at 10am, why don’t we cancel orientation classes?” But they didn’t, so technically I had to skip class this morning to stay home and register for the fall which is slightly more important. I was nervous about class registration just because it’s challenging enough at home with everything in english and a familiar system that I know how to work and what I need to sign up for. Sciences-Po is notorious for having websites that are less-than-user-friendly, so I was a bit worried about figuring it out. And that meeting we had last week wasn’t very encouraging either. So I got up early and had my list all laid out of my first choice classes and all the back-up choices and was ready to login at 10 on the dot.

I got logged on and entered the registration area and found and enrolled in my first choice class. It’s an elective class in french that meets 2 hours a week and is about the role of NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) in International Relations. Then I went to enroll in my big lecture class in french. For a main lecture you have to enroll for the lecture class and a discussion section at the same time. So I select the lecture and pick the section I want and click enroll and it comes up with an error message. Next to the lecture class is says I can’t register for it until I pick a discussion section, and next to the discussion section it says I can’t register for it until I pick a lecture class. Huh?! I already did that. IT’S ON THE SAME SCREEN! So I don’t know why it’s being dumb, so I try again... same message. I try again...same message. Now I realize that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. But since I figured it had to be a computer problem I was hoping it would magically begin to work. I decided I should waste any more time until I had the rest of the classes I needed, so I went and signed up for my one class in English that is about contemporary French Foreign policy (I’ll save the white flag jokes for another day). And then enrolled in my back-up french lecture class since I couldn’t get the other one to work, after which I tried one final time and...it finally let me enroll in my French lecture on the Middle East. I was relieved to have gotten all three classes that I wanted, and went to sign up for my French language class when I realized that they had me listed for the wrong French level. I didn’t know what to do at first, but I remembered the words of the guy at our meeting last week “No matter what happens, register for a class, and then we can try to fix it later, but there’s not a lot we can do if you don’t sign up for something.” So I registered for a level 2 class which meets twice a week, and then sent an email to the language department about the error because that’s what the FAQs on the website said to do. I assumed they wouldn’t get to it until the next day or two and then they’d fix it after the fact.

An hour or so later I went back on to double check my schedule and I had an email from the language department saying- the problem has been fixed, you are free to enroll now. Well that’s all well and good, except that registration had been open for 3 hours and all the reasonable sections of the classes were already filled. The only level 3 French class was Friday afternoons. I had been so excited to have Friday’s off so that I could use the long weekend to travel, so I was pretty dang annoyed that because of their error my schedule was all messed up. But after much ranting, and some reflection, I decided that I would rather have a class that wasn’t a struggle for me, and have my Friday’s off, than to take the level 3 class on Fridays. Since I am taking other classes in French, it’s not like I won’t be improving my language abilities. So that’s where I left it. I’m sure it’ll all work out fine.
Take care!
Lyndsey