Yes I’m a teacher, but these days I’m “everything”; I’m also a student again, as I recently started this biology course. And biology is ‘the science that studies life’. So even though my government makes me pay for it twice as much as normal – and I am 27 – it’s an obvious choice for me. I love it. But in case you’re wondering why I haven’t answered your e-mail yet: here’s a day in the life of this student…
I actually just got back from my first big test, which was about ‘the chemistry of life’ (you got to love the subject titles too eh?!). The good student in me made me pick up my big book even on my holiday, so I was prepared properly and I also did leave on time. With the falling leafs and trains not cooperating so well together, I figured I should aim to be there an hour and 15 minutes early. Instead I arrived 45 minutes late.
This is actually a complain-about-the-railway-system column. But seen from the bright side of course: it couldn’t really get worse than this! It started early morning at station Heerlen where someone had decided to end his life in front of the train (!). Then there was also a bug in the communication system, so no trains were going out really. One friendly conductor brightened my worried face by taking me to the next station in his car, where I got on a train that later would happen to be stuck behind a slow train – making our fast train a slow one too.
Next a stupid decision made by railway-bosses-who-have-no-knowledge-of-what-is-good-for-people-who-need-to-be-at-places made it even worse. My first call to a fellow student saying I’d probably be five minutes late was followed up by a second, to please ask the teacher if I could still get in half an hour late! But even though I was worried for a bit, I quickly shifted to acceptance. I’d do the test another time and I didn’t lose that much time as I had been studying on all those slow trains.
There was a woman sitting behind me who shared my thoughts on it: we’re all in the same boat (well, train) and we can’t do a thing about it other than make the best of it. So no, we’re not stuffed sardines in an inconvenient hot train; we share our pain just a bit cosier. Optimism is a choice.
And they did let me in! The test wasn’t too long or difficult. And the guy in charge of it was very friendly. So after an hour I was on my way back to some more late trains. The conductor of the first explained to me we were late because a group of young men were being Very Annoying. Fine, I sincerely and cheerfully said; I didn’t have that one on my list today yet and if your colleague would say next we had to stop because a helicopter accidentally landed on top of our roof, I wouldn’t be surprised either.
Respect to all those conductors who stayed calm and funny and who did the best they could. I’m home now, with my 168 missed messages, 98 other pages left to read (for the next test this Wednesday) and a broken telephone. Still, I’m pretty sure my life is easy compared to the one ended today, by this guy in front of the train. Carpe diem!
One Comment
Oh my, what a day!! I wish you the best with your studies, hon xx