The worst of the first

While it is good to be back at Santa Monica College, the first week is not always peaches and cream. Here are the top five things, according to students, that annoy them the most about the first week of a new semester.

1. Parking

Pay $85 for a main campus-parking pass, check. Budget two hours before class to find a parking space, check. Still rage when it takes all of two hours to find a spot, double check.

Say the word parking anywhere near 17th Street and Pearl and you are likely to send multiple people into a hysterical fit.

The winner for worst parking horror story goes to SMC student Kendrick Blado, who may have been dropped from a class due to parking.

“I arrived at 7:30 a.m. for an 8 a.m. class and it took me two hours to find a spot. I didn’t show up and I emailed the professor and hopefully he will understand,” Blado said.

2. Crashing Classes

After waking up at six in the morning on their enrollment day to grab any available classes and then trying to time the system perfectly on the day after the payment deadline, many students show up to the first day of the new semester with a hope and a prayer. They are trying to crash classes.

SMC student Fatima Ramirez feels that students too often put effort into a class but are not able to add.

“The worst is when a professor says you can come and try and crash the next meeting or next week and you do the work but you don’t get added," said Ramirez.

3. Traffic

After surviving Carmageddon, Carmageddon II Revenge of the Cars, and Jamzilla, it should be easy to make it to SMC and deal with traffic without your face turning a deep shade of vermillion.

Nope, not today.

From fighting through the Sepulveda Pass to stopping and starting down Pico Blvd, SMC students face a most unique traffic situation.

SMC student Jonathan Avitia takes a plunge into the abyss nearly every day as he has to commute from the San Fernando Valley straight into the terror that is Santa Monica.

“Think of a college person's life, their first goal is to succeed, so that is you should spend most of your time. No one in their right mind wants to spend their time stuck in traffic alone with 'me, myself, and I.' The only time that should happen is right before you fall asleep. It's frustrating,” Avitia said.

4. Lines

There is a line to buy parking passes that stretches past the Science building.

There is a line to renew student I.D.s that wraps around the Liberal Arts building.

At the bookstore, there is a line to get into a line.

Somewhere there is a line, with no destination and no end, it simply exists as a line.

“I'm trying to make a schedule for classes you are trying to crash so you have to wait in line to pay your fees," said SMC student David Sanchez. "Then you want to grab your I.D. and that takes time and if you need to see a counselor there is a line to see them. It is impossible to schedule another class to crash."

5. Waking Up Early

6:00 in the morning and the alarm goes off and the snooze button is hit. 6:10 the alarm goes off again, the snooze button is hit again. 6:20 the alarm goes off for the third time, the snooze button is hit for the third time. At 6:30 the day is forced to begin.

For some students the first day of class is the first time they have woken up before the crack of noon. Though caffeine, in all forms, helps students through the initial shock of the first day, it does not always get them through.

SMC student and sleep enthusiast Jose Barajas put this one in a nut shell, with five simple words.

"I would rather be sleeping," he said.