Perspective

I was one of those students who couldn’t go home for Thanksgiving. So, after having paid housing for an entire semester, I had to add a not very small amount for the pleasure of staying in the Radisson Hotel; the former Howard Johnson’s.

The BU shuttle bus, which was supposed to come at 10 p.m. to the front of Barnes and Noble, was 40 minutes late. However, this was only the beginning of my Thanksgiving adventures. The BU Housing representative didn’t arrive until noon and the check-in process was delayed for more than two hours. By the time the process started, a huge group of Boston University students had flooded the small hallway of the hotel. I signed in first and avoided waiting at an extremely long and annoying queue. Why didn’t the BU representatives come to do their job on time?

In our room, for some peculiar reason, we were three girls assigned to share a room with only two beds. We raised the question, but no solution was found and no apology offered. Two of the girls shared a bed for two nights and then one of them went to visit her friends. Why did no one care?

Meanwhile, I was thoroughly trying to get something done. I can understand that everything was closed on Thursday, however I cannot swallow the fact that on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday (today is Sunday, I still haven’t checked) the BU students who had to stay in the hotel were prevented from doing their schoolwork. Marsh Chapel was closed as well as the School for the Arts. All piano and organ students like me had to stop practicing for five days, fewer than two weeks before the juries.

On Friday, after having waited in front of Marsh Chapel for more than two hours, I called my professor. He showed understanding and cancelled our Monday lesson, a lesson I really needed to have. How will the BU administration redeem itself for these blunders?

I have another lesson on Monday as well. How am I supposed to look my professor in the eyes? And I know at least two other students who are facing the same problem. Why couldn’t BU hire one, just one, person to simply open and close School for the Arts during the four day break and stay there if necessary?

Why did no one think of the students who wanted to do their papers during the break, but have no access to their computers? Why does the administration simply shut down as if no finals are coming, as if no papers are due, as if no juries are approaching? How is BU expecting its students to get good grades if it does not provide them with the time they have off from classes to prepare themselves? Is maintaining two or three facilities open for four days an enormous expense?

On Saturday night the music in the hotel was so loud that my roommate (only one now) and I couldn’t fall asleep until 3 a.m., when the restaurant closed. We raised the issue and no one cared, of course.

Not wanting to go through the bus adventure again, I took a taxi to Beacon Street where I live. BU had announced that residences open at 10 a.m. Certainly not! A couple of students and I waited a half-hour in a freezing cold rainstorm before going to Danielsen Hall to request help. No one seemed to have the key to our brownstone. The guard told us that Buildings ‘ Grounds was going to come and open it. It was not opened until 11 a.m.

Why does the BU administration require the students to follow timetables, when it cannot follow its own?

Needless to say I did not have a very happy Thanksgiving.

[Alexandra Fol is a junior in the School for the Arts.]