First "real" week

For the two previous weeks, Fran was getting her feet wet at her school, along with all the other new students.  They attended one survey class 4 hours a day, 5 days a week.

But on Monday this week, they were all thrown into the official beginning of the semester, and Fran went from being an intrepid beginner to a long-distance runner.  Last night she was up until 3 completing assigned homework from 5 classes.  She said she was tired in the morning, but by the time I saw her at about 5 this afternoon, she was wide-eyed and energetically focused on her new regime. 

She said that her professors, especially her calculus teacher, said that he didn't want to hear any complaints about the workload, and that it was to be expected that students would work long hours and stay up late.  He said if he caught anyone yawning or drifting off he would send them home immediately!  No eating in class.  No trips to the bathroom.  Alert attention at all times!!! 

Fran said that the students at her school are not sloppy.  Their hair is neatly combed and cut.  No baggy pants or too much make-up on the girls.  The teachers are nice, but extremely strict.  A high level of discipline is expected...not like the students and faculty at Benito Juarez University (Fran's comparison).  I was glad to hear all this, and I think Fran appreciates the strict expectations too. 

She signed up for a math tutoring class at the Learning Center, 3 evenings per week.  And she attended for the first time this evening, taking along her calculus homework.  For now, she thinks that calculus is going to be her most difficult class, so I am glad she has found a way to get some extra help.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays she is in class from 10 to 5 with no break.  So I am trying to make sure she has some kind of snack in her purse.

Fran is very very happy, even though she is on the tips of her toes to meet the challenge.  It is a joy to see!

Fran's Schedule, First Semester, Start date August 26, 2013

There are 2 groups of students in the new crop of engineering majors, and Fran is in Group B.  Just last night she received her schedule for the semester, which she will begin tomorrow morning.  For some strange reason her first class (Mate Discretas) is listed last, starting at 8 a.m.  As you can see, she will be attending 4 days a week, and will have Friday through Sunday off, a great schedule.  She has been sizing up the other students for study partners and told me tonight that one of the most intelligent ones happens to live fairly nearby.  She is at the computer now, and it is 10:34 p.m.  Too excited to go to bed.

 

Panic! Miracle! A New Life Begins!

Last Saturday, Fran (upon my advice) decided to quit her job at the grocery store.  She was working long hours and getting paid so little it really wasn't worth the stress and the lost time for study.  Literally, some months she made less than $40.  That was a big turning point!  Now she can focus on getting through the first year.

She only had one more piece of paper to turn into the school before the start of classes, and for that she had to (and wanted to) to to her village for a medical checkup and to visit her family for the last time until Navidad.  So she left Saturday night and returned Wednesday afternoon -- yesterday.

PANIC!

When she checked the school's website, she discovered that her first class had already started on Monday!!!!  We don't know how she overlooked that, but it happened.  Websites here are not easy to navigate, and Fran just didn't click herself to the right place to find the announcement of the early start.  We all do things like this occasionally, at least I do!

Needless to say, neither of us slept last night.

MIRACLE!

I woke up at 6:30 this morning!

A NEW LIFE BEGINS!

With our hearts and stomachs in our throats, Fran and I took a collectivo to her school to try and straighten things out.  We got there an hour before class began and started walking around, asking questions, waiting -- and then repeated this regime several times until class began.  We could not find the director of the program, so decided to take our chances with the teachers...one of whom frowned and shook his head, but let her in.  I sat outside her classroom for 4 hours, and then we both went to find the director of the program to make sure she could still continue attending.  You can probably tell that it turned out well.  I think my presence helped.

And so, Fran's new life began with a BANG, about 10 days earlier than we had anticipated.

Her new regime starts very early tomorrow morning, and it involves a long commute, but the beauty and peace at her school are well worth the wait. There was a hand-painted sign in the grass, under 2 lovely shade trees in front of her classroom that said (in Spanish of course) -- "A school without green would be like a river without water."

Thank you so much for helping to make this happen.
More next week!