Inconvenient Annoyances

Yuck Tami! Yuck! 

Ok. So on the news (online) last night there's a blurb that the fourth young woman (since late October) has been assaulted in our general part of town, two weeks ago. Now, not only did we not hear of the other three until last evening, but the Uni has now tweeted that they're "increasing patrols" and lighting. Spiffy. No earlier warnings. It's a sprawling campus and all but one of these attacks happened in the surrounding neighborhoods. All but one of them, which technically happened "on" the campus.

Of course, there is a complete lack of information available. Except that one of the attacks happened in the early hours of 31 October, and the name of the streets/lanes. They are saying someone's been charged with three of them. But not the most recent attack. (Do they keep charged persons in jail here, or are they out wandering around again after being charged?) They've provided no descriptions at all, other than the guy they caught was 34 years old. No description for the most recent assailant. Or how any of the young ladies (I assume they are young) are doing.

It gets dark by 4pm here. Granted, it's colder than the North Pole outside these days, but really - they should be telling people something other than, oh year, there have been four sexual attacks in your neighborhood in the last month, so be aware when you are out.    Jeezus H. Keyrist. 

OK. A bit more unhappiness with the Uni.  We had to pay to have the Daughter's transcript evaluated for equivalency to a US degree. As part of her UG program she did a summer in an internship that should have been for a grade. That should have shown up on both her Cali transcript (if it was transferable credit, which it may not have been) and her record here. It apparently appears in neither place.

The fact that it wasn't on the Cali transcript raises the question as to if it should have been - she assumed not be there because it wasn't there and didn't think to question it. However, if it should have been, it would have changed her overall GPA and made her qualified for  summa cum laude. Which matters, in the world of the graduate admissions process. I think it is probably not possible to have that all retroactively changed and a new diploma issued at this point.

She only found out about it when the Uni here sent her a PDF of the records they were sending to the evaluation service in the States last week. She immediately wrote to the director of the internship about getting proof she'd done the program and the grade earned, and the response was basically "oh, crap, not another one!". They are trying to sort it out now.

So at this point over $240 has been paid to have the transcript evaluated without the internship on it - and apparently it should have been - AND the Uni sent the records out to the evaluation agency by Royal Mail. When we had requested DHL.  (There is a bit of a time issue with this.)

As is usual with Royal Mail tracked, they've gone into a black hole. (DHL would have taken 3 days to get there.) So far it appears that the records, which were ordered 10 days ago, have not reached the evaluation entity as of this morning. It may be possible to contact them to let them know a revised record will be forwarded. Once we know for sure that they will be revising it and how freaking long that will take. If that is not possible, we will be consulting legal advice to recoup the money we'll have to spend again.

I know the Daughter is tired of this Uni. I'm really right behind her on that. The generic level of incompetence is amazing. The people are lovely. The administration is a very bad joke.

Oh Nan, hopefully they can sort the uni stuff. Scary about the assaults!! 

Yeah, well, her options now are getting the transcript fixed and moving forward.  (I checked the website at the Calif Uni and nothing can be done about her UG diploma now - once you graduate, no changes can be made).   

She will be asking for a letter to attach to her grad school and job applications from the internship program to verify that the Uni made an error and so her internship credit was never sent to her home Uni.  And the letter should describe the internship in some detail, and list the grade she earned.  If they can get the transcript fixed in time, (which I HIGHLY doubt) we can send it to WES DHL (assuming they'll actually DHL it this time) and have them substitute it for the first one sent. I'm not holding my breath on that.  If not, we will sue the University for the costs associated with getting the transcript re-evaluated by WES if they don't comp them.

And that leads me to why didn't she check this early on? She says she had no reason to. Everything was handled electronically between the two institutions. The Ed Abroad courses she expected to transfer over did so, and some others didn't. So she trusted that all was well and that it just didn't transfer - not that it was not recorded in the first place. Given she was unwell for several months after she got home from that ed, I didn't push her to do anything, assuming she had it all under control. (Serious brain fog is a nasty thing to have to deal with on a long-term basis. I can't push very often, or it becomes hovering and nagging.) It just seems a real shame to have gotten a summer's worth of "A" and not having it counted, though. Especially since she was literally within fractions of a grade point of that latin honors award. Apparently it also took her out of the running for several scholarships she would have qualified for, as well. She's really pissed off about all that. I'm not a happy camper right now, either.

Yeah, on the crime wave.  I'm getting really tired of being kept in the dark about stuff that goes on around us. When there's anything going on in George Square, they shut the web cams off so you can't see it. When there's a spate of burglaries, you only find out about it when you happen to talk to one of the businesses that got robbed. Or one of the neighbors clues you in to a break-in in the building. And now it actually is not safe for the Daughter to be walking alone at night. With no warning to the public by either the Uni or the police in a month, and all those young students on campus, that there's more than one predator running loose. Seriously, how hard would it have been to let the kids know a month ago when this started?  I have to wonder how many assaults have not been reported? If four have, you can bet there were more. 

So, ironically, the Daughter would have been much better off going to a Uni in the States for her £18,000.  And she would not have had to have sold her beloved car.  Oh, well. Hindsight is 20/20, isn't it often?    So, again, nothing to do but try to pick up and move on. We are both so over this University.

NaN, I sincerely hope everything works out. It’s been a roller coaster for you, but at least you have the experience?

Yeah, on the crime wave.  I'm getting really tired of being kept in the dark about stuff that goes on around us. When there's anything going on in George Square, they shut the web cams off so you can't see it. When there's a spate of burglaries, you only find out about it when you happen to talk to one of the businesses that got robbed. Or one of the neighbors clues you in to a break-in in the building. And now it actually is not safe for the Daughter to be walking alone at night. With no warning to the public by either the Uni or the police in a month, and all those young students on campus, that there's more than one predator running loose. Seriously, how hard would it have been to let the kids know a month ago when this started?  I have to wonder how many assaults have not been reported? If four have, you can bet there were more. 

That sounds kind of sinister, Nan.. censorship anyone?

That crime wave is worrying. When there's a cluster here it's on the local news pretty quickly there was a spate of burglaries lately and they immediately put out an appeal for Ring doorbell/security cam footage from anyone nearby.

I really hope your daughter can get the right things she needs for acceptance into the programs back in the US. Are there any other European universities she could consider? Seems such a shame to head back. I feel like we should make a trip into London for tea to meet you while you're in the general area.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

Nan, you should join  Nextdoor, it's like this forum but just for your neighbourhood.  It's full of curtain twitchers and should have news about local crimes. 

Nan, you should join  Nextdoor, it's like this forum but just for your neighbourhood.  It's full of curtain twitchers and should have news about local crimes.

We have Nextdoor in the UK? I still belong to the Nextdoor of my NC house.  Gotta keep track of my old neighbours.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

We have Nextdoor in the UK? I still belong to the Nextdoor of my NC house.  Gotta keep track of my old neighbours.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Yep! I'm in there for my neighbourhood. But the FB groups for the area are more active. A person I know started writing music to cheekily mock them. https://www.beatport.com/artist/lymington-rot-club/803027 https://m.facebook.com/lymingtonrotclub/

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

Yeah, I'll check NextDoor out, since we are going to be here at least well into the summer, if not the fall of next year. (I don't want to put the move back on my credit cards or dip into my retirement money, and need to save up instead.) If the Daughter gets admitted to Uni for next fall she'll go ahead and go over, and scout for a place for me to move to. I'll then fly over and formalize things, and return for a bit to tidy up the loose ends. Winter isn't the best time do a move, but we'll see how that goes. I can get most of it done myself, but she needs to pack her stuff up before she leaves. It cuts the cost of the movers by quite a bit, and they'll be pricey enough as it is.

The Uni put out a statement that they were unaware of the assaults until just a few days ago, but people have popped up saying that they've known for at least two weeks, because the police asked them at that time for their CCTV footage.  It's really very discouraging. There's nothing on the campus website, you have to have been subscribed to Twitter to get their alerts. The only way we found out was that the local media picked up the story after they saw it on Twitter.   

So much for putting the safety of the students first.

The faculty are going on strike next week for 8 days, so hopefully the Daughter has got her letters of recommendation sent off by them before then. I think one of her application deadlines is 1 December. She's had two of the target Unis give her fee waivers for the application fee now, so that's good, at least. 

That crime wave is worrying. When there's a cluster here it's on the local news pretty quickly there was a spate of burglaries lately and they immediately put out an appeal for Ring doorbell/security cam footage from anyone nearby.

I really hope your daughter can get the right things she needs for acceptance into the programs back in the US. Are there any other European universities she could consider? Seems such a shame to head back. I feel like we should make a trip into London for tea to meet you while you're in the general area.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

There are only a very few Unis that have people who do what she does. The ones I can think of off the top of my head are in Denmark and maybe Germany. I could go either place, as (or if) needed. But she says she's over all this - she wants to go home where she's not perpetually the foreigner, she doesn't want to have to deal with becoming fluent in another foreign language,  she doesn't want to constantly have immigration status hanging over her head (and that's a biggie), and she wants to at least be able to vote. Not being able to vote has become quite an issue to her, lately. 

We have the upcoming London trip pretty well booked out, but I think we'll get down there again before we leave.  There's still some stuff in England I want to see/do before we jump the puddle again, because I think it'd be a long time before I ever got back over here again. But at some point, yes, we should meet up face-to-face! 

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/crime/police-under-fire-after-glasgow-20924943

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Yeah.

The Daughter has gone out to her club meeting for the evening. On foot. She is taking the safest possible route, down a busy street, but there is a section of less-traveled road that she'll have to turn onto and walk for a few blocks. I'm not terribly concerned about her getting there without incident, as there is a lot of traffic right now and she's had the good sense to wear a brightly colored coat. Although there are some spots that I wish she wasn't walking, on the way, that give me the creeps on the best of nights. 

I have asked her to please take a cab home at my expense when she is leaving the club meeting if there is nobody else walking back down to the main road, or if nobody offers to give her a lift home (which happens quite often when it's cold out). She promised she'd be careful, and she said she'd take a cab, but knowing her she'll try to save the money if she can because she's not working and doesn't like having to take handouts. I will not be comfortable until she's back in for the night. If she is running late I'm going to be pacing the floor.