Cramming

Usually when a student affairs professional hears the word "cramming" he or she thinks of students desperately trying to learn loads of information hours before midterms or finals. However, in this case it means everything that was attempted on Monday for our class.

When I looked at the schedule I knew it would be a rough day. Beginning early and ending over 12 hours later, as a class we would go to not one, but two universities in Scotland complete with campus tours and many lectures as well as a good amount of travel time between the two campuses.

On paper and in theory it worked. However it panned out differently because the amount of travel time between Edinburgh and Glasgow was underestimated. Instead of it taking only an hour, it took nearly two. The climax of the journey came when we all sleepily piled off the bus to hear the instructions "you have ten minutes to grab lunch and find the conference room."

Um, what?

I'm sorry, but it does not seem completely professional to cut into lunch time and have the students suffer because of poor planning. While I tried to remain positive, it was hard, especially when I had no idea where I was or what was available. Additionally, I don't know that the presenters appreciated 28 people hungrily chowing down on various smelly foods while they operated Power Point and waxed poetic about their offices. It all seemed unprofessional to me and I was slightly mortified, both for myself and my class because I don't know that we made the best impression.

While I know that we have to remain open and flexible in this profession, I think that wiggle room must also be allowed in scheduling. Cramming so much into a day made us not only exhausted but late and looking sheepish at best. A good lesson to keep in mind as I go through this journey.