First Week French Anxiety

So here's my story for this week:

On Tuesday I had my first French class (321 Advanced Grammar) at BYU and I was convinced it started at 9. So I got all ready and was walking across campus with plenty of time to spare. I wanted to make sure I was on time because I was a little nervous, the normal first time jitters plus I was a little uneasy that they might kick me out because I haven't taken the prerequisite French 202, so I wanted to make a good impression. It was about 8:45 and I thought, "I should get my schedule out and check the room so I can just walk straight there without stopping." (I knew which building, just not the room number) So I'm digging through my backpack as I'm walking and I can't find my schedule! I realized that I must have taken it out when I switched the books from Monday. A little unsettled, I thought, "Well, I can access it online...oh yeah, I have my laptop so I can just connect to the BYU network and look at it." So I proceed to attempt to connect to the network, again as I'm walking. But for some reason it wasn't connecting! I got to the building and went inside, thinking maybe I was too far away from a transmitter or something, but to no avail. I kept trying as it was getting later and later and my panic level was getting higher and higher. Pretty soon it was 5 to 9 and people started coming out of classrooms and coming in. Finally I just admitted that this wasn't working and I wasn't going to be able to get connected. Officially panicking at this point, I started thinking, "Well, maybe I can call someone back at the apartment to see if they can find my schedule...no, my room's a mess and I can't tell them where to look and they don't have Internet back there, so they can't get online to tell me either...I could call mom! She has Internet!" 2 seconds after this decision came the realization that I had left my phone in the car! That was parked at the other end of campus! Five minutes is not enough time to even run there and back; that takes at least 10 minutes. After a little indecision, I mustered up all my courage and asked the guy sitting across the way from me if he had a cell phone I could borrow. Alas! He confirmed in the negative and walked away!

Now I'm trying really hard not to cry or hyperventilate. Then the thought comes to me, "They must have public access computers around here somewhere. I remember all the ones in the bookstore where you can print off your book list; maybe they have a general access one." So I take off as fast as I can for the Wilkinson Student Center where the bookstore is. I didn't want to run and look like a dorky lost freshman, so I was just walking really fast. I passed the library on the way and thought about going in there for about 2 seconds, but then changed my mind. I'd never actually been in the library yet and I knew it was a big place and didn't want to get lost. So I continued to the bookstore, tore around, found no such computer and so was again foiled. Next, I remembered that when I went to the employment office a few weeks earlier that there was one in there and it was just around the corner from the bookstore. Hope was restored! Racing as fast as my walking legs would carry me, I encountered three open access kiosks next to the information desk on the way, all occupied. I waited, wishing they would have chosen to check their email somewhere else. Couldn't they see this was far more important?! Finally, someone finished. I was pushing buttons like a madwoman as fast as my fingers would go. Internet, byu, log in, schedule, view, cruise down the list, French! across the line, room number 1010. Bingo! Log off and book it back to the JKB (Jesse Knight Building). Time check: 9:10! I went straight to it and discovered...only one person in the room! I was a little confused. Luckily, I had met this person once before, so it wasn't as awkward as it would have been. Her name is Samantha and she came to our apartment on Sunday for a potluck my roommate Deb was hosting for her work friends (she works at the MTC). She's from France and had mentioned that she was studying it. I looked at her a little quizzically and she confirmed that she was waiting for French 321. I then asked where everyone was. She said that the class didn't start till 9:30!! And exhale! I think I had been holding it for the past 15 minutes or so. Whew, 20 minutes to return to a regular heart rate and breathing pattern and to get my over sized butterflies under control.

What a way to start the day, right? At least I got a calf workout from it! :)