So I know I complain about Africa a lot. You have to understand. I love this place, with all my heart, but somethings just make me grind my teeth. This post is going to be about ... INEFFICIENCY!!!! There are a lot of inefficient things over here.
So I might as well start with the school. When the local students here and international students register for class it is done by hand. Meaning that the local students have to line up and wait (sometimes for days) to enter a room where people at a table will ask you what classes you want to take. They will then write you down for that class. Sometimes though you go to class only to see a sign that says the class isn't being offered...yet somehow you managed to register for it. Also because it's by hand it means that you're not alerted if the combination of classes you want to take makes sense, i.e taking a prerequisite for a course and that course at the same time.
In order to use the wifi here you need to register your laptop. In order to register you're laptop you need to go to the department IT office you're under and get them to register for you. In my eyes it would make a lot more sense to have a single location where everyone can register their computers. The offices here have really weird hours, and often times after taking a 2 hour long lunch break leave around 2 hours earlier.
Most buildings at a university make some sort of sense. And if you don't know where you are then there is a map to guide you. At UB the buildings are numbered. Now you'd think that if they were numbered then 480 would be next to 479 or something like that. That is not how it works here. 480 is on one end while 479 is at the other end of campus. So you need to wander around hoping to stumble across the building you need. If you get lost you could attempt to look at a map...except there aren't many maps oncampus and if you do find a map it isn't updated. So you're pretty much destined to ask the locals, who have no idea where anything is.
When you need to print you need to buy a card at one location. Once you have a card you need to put money on this card by traveling to multiple locations. Then you can go to the library and print.
There are a few stores in the student center. They had to close one store for 2 days while taking inventory and another store closed the entire week. Why these stores couldn't possibly take inventory while they're closed is beyond me and I don't understand why it takes a tiny store more than one day to do inventory.
Now as I've said before I do love this place but sometimes it makes me a little crazy. The first time I skyped my parents from here my dad told me that this place would teach me patience. And it certainly has. After waiting in a line to get dinner for around a 1/2 hour the lines back home will seem like nothing. I have never been patient but thanks to this place I might return more patient than when I left.
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