Today, I was proud of my university and my colleagues. But let's not rush into the day just yet.
Do you know what it's like to wake up well-slept and instantly realize that you forgot to set the alarm? If yes, then you also know the fear of looking at your phone half eye open and trembling, trying to figure out the exact time and praying you hadn't overslept. I got lucky (shocker) once again. I woke up just in time to get out of bed and go to the uni. Yesterday I was so tired that I completely forgot about setting the alarm, but I got a good 7-8 hours of sleep, finally. This past week was a bit hectic.
I got to SJSU just in time for the classes. The first sessions were extremely interesting, where we played online simulations (catching and selling fish, managing the supply chain, and maximizing our company's net worth). Together with my Polish team member, we had fun and got to know each other better. Turns out he stays in the US for the next two weeks and will travel with friends to Californian national parks. I got great recommendations from him and don't worry, we also did our tasks in the meantime for the class, too. As this game might be something useful at home too (supply chain management-wise), I sent it to one of my colleagues at home for further inspection.
But the afternoon session was a pain. For the first time during the week, a class felt painful. Initially, I was extremely hooked, as we were about to try a serious game online. But then with time, I realized that this fella' mixed up the term serious game and simulation. We were doing a simulation that was sold to us as a serious game. I knew better, with my colleagues we also worked on a serious game! We got to play this thing, but only after 2 hours, 2 HOURS of pre-game instruction... Yes, you guessed well. Nobody was listening to any of his instructions for 2 hours. When one of my fellow classmates wanted to get the link from the teacher 15 minutes into the instruction, the teacher refused. We gave up asking for it. And we gave up listening.
Poor guy, even the server gave up when 30 people tried to connect to it, which made everyone extremely unhappy (a.k.a. pissed like hell).
Honestly, I was a bit happy. Well, not because this guy was failing, but because I saw. I saw that in Hungary and in Europe in general, if you have the right team and the right people, you can overcome your barriers and develop better working systems than the ones they have in the heart of Silicon Valley. At least considering player enjoyment. I do not debate the fact that this teacher put a lot of effort into this game. Nor do I disagree with the fact that he is knowledgeable and had this master plan behind the game that he only understands. The emphasis is on HE UNDERSTANDS. But we really did not get it. At all. At this point, you can imagine how happy and extremely proud of my colleagues at home I was.
After 3 hours of torment, we finally were relieved of our duties and could go our own ways. I had some weekend plans that changed, so I met my newfound friend (remember that I met her at the free boba, aka Pacific Asian students' event and exchanged IG accounts) and rescheduled our plans for Santa Cruz. Turns out (what a luck! – I think it is getting unbearably annoying for you, right?) she wants to go to Seattle, too. So, we agreed on going together if the timing is right for both of is.
Having been extremely well fed during this week, I felt the urge to go to a nearby Grocery Outlet and look for dinner (not that I was hungry...). I was shopping for some healthi(er) alternatives, like strawberries, lettuce, Hershey's chocolate syrup, etc. Whoops... The cat is out of the bag now.
Finishing the day with an evening stroll with Susie and John was just a bliss. When I received the iMessage invite from them, I was seriously debating whether I should go (remember that I was tired), but something told me to just go. Instincts are there for a reason. It turns out that this Sunday I am free, and it might rain (yaaay, California is in desperate need of those rains, so this is a good thing), and Susie and John are attending a local mayor candidate's barbecue event. They did not think it was interesting for me, but I jumped right at the chance of participating. After the Social Security Offices, I am even more (if that is possible) eager to get to know the culture and the little nuisances that they have here, especially if it is about politics, the topic I recently discovered I had interest in. You see why you need to take your chances, grab, and hold onto every opportunity you might get? If you take anything away from this journal (other than the constant mention of my luck), this should be it.
During the day, I luckily (ok, I'll stop this) got some work done. The weekend plans changed, as I got an email stating that the Sunday hike was moved to Saturday due to weather reasons, so we postponed Santa Cruz to the next weekend. This means I'll get to know SJSU colleagues sooner. Well, I already think they are cool, as when asking if carpool was a thing, they volunteered to pick me up at home and carpool me to the hiking location. Americans are pretty friendly. Can you imagine taking some complete stranger with you to a hike in your car? Ok, I have SJSU email address and an electronic signature stating who I was, a Fulbright scholar. This might just do for them. You can imagine now that I am looking forward to the hike and getting to know some faculty.
Plans for tomorrow: Last day of EMBA. Farewell dinner. I'll miss these people. And the good food, too.
Apartment updates: On my way to SJSU, my husband ordered a garderobe and some more curtains for home, next step would be the lights. Way to go!
15 September 2022
YOU ARE READING
Memories I am afraid I'll forget
Non-FictionWelcome to my American Days' Journals! I do not particularly have any talent in writing things up from scratch, especially not my own experience as a Fulbright scholar, but you have got to start somewhere, especially if you are too afraid that you'l...
