At Lehigh University, we have what are called 4 o’clocks.  Basically, instead of having midterms, we have 2 designated periods during the semester where a lot of classes (mostly freshman classes) have tests at 4 o’clock (big surprise!).  There are also finals at the end of the semester, but that was pretty much expected (so 3 test times in total basically)  As you get into your higher level classes though, these tests end up happening mostly during classtime.  So even if the test doesn’t occur at exactly 4 o’clock, the time at which you have many of your tests do is within the week or two when 4 o’clocks are going on.  (What you see above are some of my notes sprawled out and messy.  I haven’t exactly been studying as much as I should have though…)

So, while I have never been fond of test-taking, I don’t actually think they’re as bad as some people make them out to be.  Sure, some may be excruciatingly challenging, but there really isn’t a better way to gauge whether or not a student has been keeping up with learning the material in class.  And while test-taking situations are never realistic (you don’t have access to any material during it, unlike the real world where you can solve problems using any reference), as long as your professor isn’t a douche, the tests are usually pretty reasonable.  And trust me when I say I’m no study-nut or super-genius cause I’m not.  I rarely score 100’s and I never pull all nighters – I think people who do are kind of silly (or just really smart if the do the former without the latter).

Oh – on a last note, the only tests I do have problems with are the SAT’s, GRE’s; basically any standardized test that isn’t administered for a course.  These tests are just unreasonable and don’t give a measure of true intelligence at all.  And if you think I’m just bitter cause I didn’t score well on my SAT’s, that’s wrong because I scored pretty fairly in my opinion.  I just don’t like those kinds of tests or their formats at all.  And that’s that.

So school life here at Lehigh University has started again.  This means classes have started, endless nights of parties have started (I have so much homework already), and (well at least for me) working has started again.  What does this entail?  Well continue to find out.  Or don’t in case you don’t really care – which I’m sure most of you don’t.  *tear*

I think as many of you may have already guessed, I work part-time with the Library-Technology Services (LTS) on campus.  They have a specific program called “WIRED” (Worldwide Information Resources in Every Dorm).  The name is actually a bit misleading, but we do, in fact, provide technological services to every student at Lehigh in (or out) of their dorm.  The program is run by 2 staff of Lehigh who are then in charge of around 50 consultants.  The consultants are all Lehigh University students (that includes me).  The consultants can be called upon to work individually with the student who needs help, or they can be found working at a general help desk.  The WIRED desk is a place where they can drop off their laptop to be worked on.  Today, I happened to be working at the WIRED desk for 4 hours.

What you see here is the queue of laptops that are waiting to be worked on.  At the beginning of the semester, it’s particularly busy as students who are coming back to campus are finding out that their computers aren’t working in the way they’re supposed to.  If you refer to the first image, you can see the bench where we put laptops that are currently being worked on.  It’s a general rule to not work on more than 4 at once.  For the most part, nowadays, students at Lehigh almost exclusively use laptops.  I feel like this is pretty much true at any campus.  I’m probably one of the few who has both a desktop and laptop.  Incidentally though, I rarely have any computer problems myself.  Maybe it’s cause I actually maintain my systems and keep them healthy?  Nah – it’s probably cause I’m reformatting my operating system every 6 months.

The papers here pretty much give you the general idea of how the desk works.  The desk operates on a first come, first serve basis (self-explanatory).  That means that if there’s a huge queue like you saw, it can mean waiting up to a week to get your computer back, depending on how long it takes to get through everyone else’s.  People still tend to leave them there after learning this though, so I guess a lot of them don’t really miss having their computer.

This is where we communicate with people who need help with their computers.  When we accept someone’s computer, we put their username into the database, their computer type, what’s wrong with it, and what they left with it.  We put all of this information into a database where notes can be left about what kind of work has been done on the computer, along with user contact information.  If the problem is small enough though, we take care of it right there.

And here, you can see all the laptops that are waiting for their respective owners to come pick them up.  They have already been worked on and been given the OK to go back home.  I actually put two or three there myself tonight.  Ran into some nasty problems with the machines afterwards though – the next consultants to work the desk will probably have to reformat the current machines being worked on.

And with that, you basically have the functions of the WIRED desk at Lehigh.  Checking in laptops, putting them in queue, working the bench, and putting them on the pickup shelves is about it.  It’s not the most glorified job, but hey – a job is a job.  To be honest though – I wouldn’t want to do any of this kind of work outside of right now.

Here’s a picker of a hall in the Asa Packard building on Lehigh’s campus.  I currently go to Lehigh University and today was the first day of the fall semester in my junior year.  I’m studying Computer Engineering at the moment, so most of my classes revolved around electric engineering and computer science.

This is one of the classrooms I was in today.  It’s fairly basic with desks, a chalkboard, and a projector.  I actually took all of these pictures much after when all the classes on campus end.  Didn’t want to take a picture during class in fear of getting reprimanded by my professors.  Had my first CSE 216 (Software Engineering) lecture here today.  Software Engineering – doesn’t seem like too bad of a class.

Had a lab in this room today, but the door was locked.  Electronic Circuits lab.  Lots of expensive equipment in this room, so I can understand why they lock it up.

Lehigh is currently building a new “STEPS” building, which stands for “Science, Technology, Environment, Policy & Society.”  I think it’s going to be mainly an environmental science building with multidisciplinary stuff in it as well.  Constructions been ongoing since my Sophomore year.  They sure have been taking their sweet time finishing it.

This is the inside of Maginnes Hall.  It’s where the Modern Languages all are.  It’s where my Japanese teacher’s office is.  I have had quite a few of my engineering classes in here though – I guess it’s just convenient to put the classes here cause it has a lot of rooms.  I had my Electronic Circuit’s lecture in this building today.

Almost all of these seats were filled when class was going on.  This is on the bottom floor of Maginnes.  It’s actually underneath the floor of the picture previous to this one.

Some notes that were left on the board.  Easy math is the best math.  Unfortunately I doubt all the concepts will be explained this easily for my Electronic Circuits class.  Thevenin-Norton equivalency?  Mehh.  Hmm, so yeah – since I’m in college, I actually haven’t been to all of my classes yet.  Tomorrow I will pretty much see what the rest of my classes are like.  Except for Japanese.  Unfortunately I have a time conflict with Japanese, so I have a lab on Mondays that overlaps with my Japanese class.  That means every Monday, I miss my Japanese class.  I won’t have it until Wednesday now.  It’s one of the few classes I really like to go to though.  So what’s everyone else’s experience with their first days of classes?  Do you hate it?  Enjoy it?  Impartial?  For me, the anxiety quickly passes and I try to get momentum into the semester since I know I still have 15 weeks left.