Things I just need to say.

Warning: This post is a complaint and some people may not be so happy about reading it... so you can skip this one if you´d like.

Okay, I love Manchester College and I know I made the right decision in going there. I also know that I made the right decision to study abroad, and I am so happy that the people at Manchester encourage studying abroad so much. However, I think one thing is often forgotten... once the student gets abroad, you are not supposed to forget about them!!! So, I know a lot of people who read this are from Manchester, either students or faculty, but I just have to state some of my frustrations without mentioning any names from the past month or so.

1. A group from Manchester took a Jan-term trip to France and Spain, and visited Barcelona. I didn´t get any sort of email or message or anything from that professor to mention they would be here and to ask if I wanted to possibly meet up with them. This wouldn´t be a big deal, except for the fact that I know that this professor knows I am here and knows me well... I guess it just sort of hurts my feelings that I wasn´t even informed that they would be visiting MY city...

2. Communicating from abroad is very difficult, but I have tried very hard to be in communication with everyone about job applications, class registration, and anything else that matters. I started emailing OCS about summer grants that I could apply for to do research last November or December. I was told about a grant that I could apply for to do research for ECR... so I continued to email and ask for the application and how to go about it. I got a response telling me about the Scout Fuller grant, which I appreciated, but continued to ask about the other grant as well. See, I know that there is only one Scout Fuller grant, and a lot of applicants, so I thought if I applied for both grants, I would have a higher chance of getting one of them. One day while I was looking on the MC website, I saw that ECR had been chosen as one of the half and half grants, meaning that I couldn´t apply for the full grant which I had been asking about. When I emailed and asked, the response was that I couldn´t apply for the grant because it was the same internship I had last year and OCS couldn´t give two grants to the same organization, which is why they told me about the Scout Fuller grant... I definitely understand this, but I feel that an email should have been sent to me to explain why I couldn´t apply for the one grant rather than just ignoring my questions. It shouldn´t have been my responsibility to find out accidentally online and have to email and ask.

3. Continuing with the whole communication is difficult thing... I have been emailing since December with Res Life to ask about the Senior RA position and how and when to apply. I got all the emails with the application and stuff... I spent a lot of time working on the application, my resume and cover letter... and I sent it in. I got an email asking what time I could do interviews last Friday and I responded. The next thing I knew, I got an email Thursday saying that the position was no longer available because Res Life now has the funds to hire a full time HD for East next year. I understand that this is a good thing, but I also feel like that is something that should have been decided WAY before the SRA position was announced and we all turned in our applications. I know that I spent a lot of time on the application, and I´m sure that the others spent a lot of time and hard work on them as well... I just feel like Res Life handled the whole situation very inappropriately. Plus, a phone call would have been nice, especially after I worked so hard... I mean, I know I´m in Spain, but a short email just saying the position isn´t available anymore just doesn´t cut it.

4. Registration and seeing whether or not classes will count for the credits I need them to count for... I don´t need to say more about this one since I have blogged about it before.

So basically I guess I´m just frustrated that people at Manchester feel that once the student is abroad, the communication can stop. I have worked hard to stay in contact with people about important things, and I have other things going on in my life too!! So, why can´t others have the common courtesy to do the same? Alright, I´m done complaining, I promise my next post will be a happier one!