Sunday
After searching my room for my wallet (I could swear I tossed it on my desk when I got home) I retraced my steps back to the frat house. No dice, so I called my parents and they canceled my credit card.
I didn't write much about it, but I was definitely having trouble adjusting to college life. I think the Stadium Dorm contributed quite a bit to that. The lack of windows meant it was very easy to lose track of time -- you never knew if it was day or night, what the weather was, whether you were missing class or even a football game. It took a toll on students, who often would become depressed or just stop going to class or even leaving the dorm except to hit the bars on the weekends. My sleep patterns became very erratic and I was definitely teetering on the edge of depression, and the general bizarreness of dorm life didn't help.
Thinking back on it, it's awful that the Stadium was a scholarship dorm. Many of the students there were there on more than one scholarship, and a lot of them were there on a state program to help students from the extremely poor Appalachian region of Ohio attend school. Many of my floormates wouldn't have gone to school if not for it, and here they were in a situation that encouraged disengagement. A couple of my floormates didn't make it past their first quarter, and I bet a healthy portion of them didn't get past their first year. The dorm can take some of the blame for that. Fortunately, the dorm no longer exists -- the Stadium Scholars program is now housed in new dorms on 10th Avenue.
Monday
Oy, didn't go to math class again -- no wonder I ended up failing. You could tell which classes I was most interested in my first quarter by my grades: A, B, C, F.
My English class was the A. I enjoyed the class, but I grew frustrated with my prof. He said early on that he wanted it to be a discussion-oriented class, but then he frequently forcibly guided the conversation rather than letting it grow organically. This particular day, he kept me from finishing my thoughts, which was particularly annoying. After having such amazing English classes in high school -- enrollment in English was 150 percent the minimum requirement for graduation, indicating how good a department it was (arts enrollment was 300 percent, FWIW) -- I was disappointed to have a class that didn't meet those high standards. I resolved to do something about it.
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