My Replacement Laptop

So I’m sitting here writing this from a university computer in thew library instead of from my ever faithful laptop. Why? That ever faithful laptop decided to call it quits this week.  On Wednesday night the screen suddenly turned off with no apparent cause.  I tried restarting it because that’s all I could think to do, and when that didn’t work I sent a quick text to my family back home about it and went to bed.  There wasn’t anything I could do at 11:00 at night, so I figured it wasn’t worth worrying about. The next day I went to the nearest Apple Store in the nearest city and was told it wasn’t worth repairing my laptop.  I got in contact with my family back in Canada to let them know I’d need to buy a new computer and get their input.  I ended up ordering a Chromebook on Friday and it should arrive tomorrow.

My flight back to Durham after Christmas was an ordeal, so say the least.  My first layover was in Toronto and that was supposed to last only 40 minutes.  It looked like I’d have to rush to make the connection.  When I got to the gate, my flight to Paris had been delayed by 1 hour (and later it would be delayed by another hour).  Earlier that day, there had been a hostage situation near the airport in Paris so flights leaving and arriving were all behind schedule.  Lucky for me, that meant I had time to actually grab something to eat. Unlucky for me it meant that when I got to Charles de Gaul airport, I had to move quickly through the terminals and I was still the second last person to arrive at the gate.  As I waited in the small queue, the screen switch from “Last Call” to “Boarding Now Closed”. I had made my connection, but as I found out when I finally made it to the UK, my baggage hadn’t. It had been lost somewhere in Paris.

Crisis. What do you do when it strikes? Something goes wrong and you need to change your plans.  Well here are a few tips for dealing with crisis.

Stay Calm

Sometimes when things go wrong, there’s nothing we can do.  My laptop screen isn’t working? I’m not a computer technician so there isn’t much I can do about it.  Staying calm is the best way to manage the situation – freaking out will only make things worse.  That is not to say don’t try to solve the problem, but you shouldn’t see it as life or death if it isn’t.  Sure, I sped up when I realized boarding had already started when I landed in Paris.  What I didn’t do was worry so much that I had a bad time – heck, I even had fun with it.  Speed walking through the airport like I was someone with important things to do felt kinda cool.  Stay calm, there’s no reason to make the situation less pleasant than it needs to be.

Ask For Help

I get it – you’re off on a journey of self discovery, learning to be independent for the first time.  The absolute last thing you want to do is ask your parents for help.  Sometimes, though, that’s the only thing you can do.  If your laptop breaks and you can’t afford a new one, don’t try to hide it from your parents if you think they can help you.  Not everyone is lucky enough to have parents that can help them so if yours can, make sure to keep them informed.

It’s not just parents that can be helpful though. Friends can be an even bigger help.  When my engineer friend heard that my laptop had broken, he offered to take a look at it (even though I’d already visited an Apple Store).  Other friends offered advice – from new computers to buy to setting myself up with a screen that my laptop might be able to run.  One of the best parts of friends is that they’re their for you when you need them, so go ahead and ask for help.

Make the Most Out of It

Sometimes a curse is a blessing in disguise (or at least there is some small part of it that’s good).  Each of my crises has a small upside to them and focusing on that can be really helpful.  When my laptop broke, it was an excuse for me to take a morning trip to Newcastle – a vibrant city rich with history.  Every time I go, I marvel at the beautiful city center, the gorgeous surrounding landscape, and the joy of being in a city again.  Even though I was there for something unpleasant, the short trip was still fun and a good change of pace for me. When Air France lost my baggage, it meant I didn’t have to lug my heavy suitcase from the airport onto the subway and then the train and then through town to my dorm.  It was way easier to have Air France pay to have it delivered right to reception at my College.

Things go wrong when you go on exchange, just like they do when you aren’t.  Being away from your old friends and family can make those things seem so much more important and more daunting but at the end of the day it’s the same problem.  Stay calm, ask for help, and try to keep having fun.  At the end of the day, if everything went perfectly you wouldn’t have any stories to blog about.  Exchange is an adventure – don’t worry about things going wrong.