First off, welcome back to the grind, Wildcats! The second week of school has officially commenced and thank God the first week is finally done with.

For freshmen, the first week might have been jarring. I know how you feel. I just transferred from Pima Community College, and the transition has been stressful.

I wish someone had warned me about how difficult it would be to get from my lab in the Louise F. Marshall building to my next class in the Harvill building in 10 minutes. It’s pretty much impossible without running, which is also pretty much impossible in this heat.

I also probably wasn’t the only one who was shocked that parking can cost $10 a day in a garage, which is necessary to avoid feeling like I’ve parked my precious Volkswagen on the surface of the sun.

On Monday, I fought my way into an 8 a.m. French 101 class, paid far too much to park, and had to struggle through buying books.

After navigating through the thousands of students milling around the lower level of the UofA Bookstore and actually finding my books, I was relocated to a total of five checkout lines. Before this, I didn’t even realize that there were five checkout lines in the bookstore to be relocated to.

I find it hard to believe that, with all the millions the UA must make off of its parking garages, it can’t afford a sign telling the new kids which line they should be standing in. To add insult to injury, after leaving the bookstore, I had to wait for nearly 45 minutes to exit the parking garage. On Tuesday, since I no longer had to stress about getting into a French class, fate decided to throw an even more interesting curve ball my way.

I actually sat outside of a classroom for an hour while waiting for my 3 p.m. class to begin, only to find that the class actually began at 2 p.m. So, not only did I miss nearly the entire class, but I was only a few feet away from it the whole time. Just sitting there. Talk about shitty.

On Wednesday, my school week effectively came to an end.

I guess I wasn’t prepared for all the long hours, walking from place to place and ridiculous Arizona heat, because the week ended with my being rushed to the emergency room in the back of an ambulance.

While in my kitchen that evening, I was struck with sudden nausea and tunnel vision. I knew what was coming next, but decided to try to fight it. Not my best idea.

The next thing I knew, I woke convulsing on the tile floor with a splitting headache and, to my dismay, my roommate calling 911 in the background.

I found out once I arrived at the ER that I had blacked out due to a sudden drop in blood pressure. After several electrocardiograms, CT scans and some blood work, they were able to tell me that they couldn’t find anything wrong and that my blackout could probably be chalked up to stress.
Touché, university.

In other words, I was just as confused and bruised as I was before my trip to the ER, but I was also now several thousand dollars poorer.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that transferring should be easier for the newbies. There are far too many hoops to jump through for it to be left up to the student to find their own way.

I, for one, was too busy working to attend any seminars or convocations. For those of you in a similar situation, heed my advice:

Avoid scheduling classes only 10 minutes apart. Study your schedule. Invest in a bike or go broke trying to park. And, last but not least, order your textbooks online and avoid the lower level of the bookstore altogether.

Needless to say, so far university is everything I’d hoped it wouldn’t be. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss the simplicity of Pima.

— Megyn Fitzgerald is a journalism major. She can be reached at
letters@wildcat.arizona.edu or on Twitter via @megyn_fitzy.