₦airaland Forum

Hello guys, happy new month.

Wetin Dey happen?

Predstan:
Its really a good thing to have created this thread. I need you to help me answer some of my questions in regard to studying in the State. I am a graduate of HND in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and I am willing to migrate to the US to study for Masters. My unofficial evaluation with WES is 3.6 and the official will be available soon (next week). I am also preparing for GRE and my test date is July 2nd. Now my question is this;
Firstly. Are you going to advice that I apply for masters in Electrical engineering considering the job prospect in the state or what other course is more profitable. I heard IT is one of them best but can I switch from Electrical? although I major in telecommunications.
Lastly, I can't afford the exorbitant tuition fee and my parent does not even have the statement of account to stand for at the US embassy. I need a fellowship amounting to tuition waiver to cater for my education. What's your take on my issue. I will be applying for Fall 19 session so all my decision would be between now and August so that I can apply early wait for a positive decision to come in.

Please guys, help this fellow out

revontuli:
Also they should feature interesting and educational stuff instead of empty celebrity gossip.

That’s not gonna happen.

revontuli:
Ow, that sounds scary and crazy! At least it's not a boring office job, every day is an adventure. You gotta post these things on reddit! They have some subreddits where people ask about bizarre stuff one experiences at their line of work.

Here is the most famous one, stuff of legend:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/xo41d/doctorsnursesredditors_what_has_been_your_most/c5o66p2

There was another nurse thread where someone told the tale about a mental patient who had a bad habit of eating watch batteries, then fishing them out of his poop and eating them again.

I’m an avid reader of reddit but I don’t post much though. I’ll check out the subreddit though. Thanks for the link.

I also think Nairaland should implement the upvote and downvote system instead of the likes system

The female nursing assistant whom I was working with that night yelled into the public address system that there was a “code yellow” in progress on the 7th floor. In no time, the residential services personnel swarmed the floor, subdued him and he was given a “shot” by the nurse (an injection to calm him down). Before the meds kicked in, he kept screaming at me, yelling curse words and threatening to harm me.

The incident generated a lot of paperwork and I was moved to another floor so as take some steam off the situation. For some days, I was somewhat shaken, I wonder what would have Happened if the situation was different..

Like I stated earlier, the shift I work runs from 3:00pm to 11:00pm. Towards the end of the shift, like around 10:00pm, the nursing assistants for each floor are supposed to clear the dining area, direct the residents to their respective rooms, crosscheck to see the residents that are not living on that particular floor or unit and send them back to their units.

I was doing exactly that, I had checked all rooms and was ticking the names off, when I got to this male resident’s room. Mind you, I was working the psych patient floor that day and these people tend to be explosively violent at the slightest “provocation” without any warning.

I got to the room door, knocked and pushed the door open. The first thing that hit me was the stench permeating the room. It smelled like _sex and fish mixed together. The curtains were drawn around the bed and I instantly knew what was going on. I was gradually backing out of the room when the male occupant jumped up and rushed towards me yelling. Luckily for me, I was facing him so I put my arms out and stopped his approach.

He was yelling in my face, screaming curse words at me and said all types of nasty things to me (which doesn’t bug me one bit cos this is clearly a mad person). But then this guy wouldn’t back away from me, he started swinging at me. My adrenaline kicked in.

I pushed him away, took off my glasses, put it on the floor and went into full fight mode (remember flight or fight response?). He rushed at me again, threw a punch at me, I ducked, grabbed him by the legs, lifted him up and pinned him down on the floor. He kept flailing his arms, trying to strike me. It was at that point, the female resident who he was _Fucking pulled the curtain aside, saw what was happening and started screaming.

As the time for the my admission to school draws closer, I’ve become increasingly worried about how I’d pay my tuition. I had made up my mind to be working and schooling at the same time and save up to pay my “school fees”. But then, the only way I’d make enough money to pay up would be to work crazy hours or get a second job which would tell heavily on my school work. So despite the fact that I make good money at my current job (for my academic qualifications), I was on the look out for programs that would help fund my tuition. Like I said, My initial plan was to keep my current job as a CNA, get a new car and register as a driver with Uber and Lyft thus, getting a second job.

Some weeks back, my younger sister back from school with this flyer, her friend told her about an agency that has a program to pay for tuition for students in exchange for working with UPS (the postal agency). I quickly registered for the program online and applied for a job at UPS. Fingers crossed


To be honest, I’m increasingly getting tired of working here. Don’t get the wrong, the pay is extremely gooood, but my bad days at work are becoming more and more frequent. The most recent one has had me questioning my career choice. Here’s what happened:

Holocene:
I am not against people sending you IM but it is best if the questions are thrown on the thread so others can learn and get info. That is if your intentions are clear.

Yup, I get countless PMs on a daily basis and I try as much as I can to reply. Sadly, 90% of the pms I receive are about some _cock and bull story. Like do these people think I’m THAT naive? Come on guys, I be naija boy too.

Right now, I don’t reply PMs anymore. If it’s that urgent, post it here or send a message on my Instagram page. I would answer to the best of my limited knowledge

Dremca:
Try Alison, they have a well prepaid curriculum for that.

Thanks, I’ll check it out

Holocene:
Those placement test are quire easy if you had a good science backgroud in naija. I would advise you look up on quizlett.com. They have a broad range of topics and subjects to keep you in top form.
I guess you will be resuming during Fall if everything goes as planned.

Yup, I should be starting this fall. I’m pumped up already

smoke9910:
I've been following our thread bro, got here in two days. Hope to join you someday over there. Naija get as e be, I'll take the racism and whatever else, the Nigerian spirit triumphs wherever there is a way. we still thriving in the chaos, Imagine what we could achieve where there is order.

Welcome. I wish you all the best

Ah! Summer time. The weather is progressively getting warmer and the clothes are getting skimpier.

Ladies of all shapes and sizes are stepping out with the tiniest of clothing; Bum shorts that leave the ass cheeks hanging out, sundresses that leave nothing to the imagination, even panties and bra and flip flops to top it off. There’s nothing like morality holding these ladies back, trust me when I tell you, these ladies leave nothing to the imagination! They might as well be walking around completely naked

Yankee is beautiful


On Saturday, early in the morning, I went to play soccer in Chicago, close to University of Chicago in Illinois (UIC). I drove for like 20 minutes and the sun was still rising when I got there. After playing for 1 hour or so, the weather started getting hotter and hotter. We had to stop cos the sun became unbearable. Even for me, a full blooded African young man, the sun was too hot to handle! When I got in my car, I checked the temperature and it was around 100 degrees Fahrenheit

We were a couple more minutes from having a heatstroke https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_stroke

After soccer, I went home and freshened up, then I drove down to the school to write the English placement test. We were required to read and summarize a story about some lady’s experiences while growing up from a poor background. This was followed by a couple of questions, one of which we were asked to equate the lady’s experiences with something that happened in ours. I wrote about some hardship story using Nigeria as the setting; there was a lot to write about, but I didn’t want to do too much. An academic advisor gave me a tip earlier on, that they aren’t actually looking at the length of your essay, they would be looking at sentence structures and technical stuff. The placement test was done on a computer and lasted approximately 2hours

Anyone who is an avid reader of novels should get that book. In a world of Stephen Kings, Nora Roberts and Robert Ludlums, Khaleed Hosseini’s style is like a breath of fresh air.

**

They never backed down; the severity of the rumors just kept increasing. But I didn’t pay them no attention. I came to work, did my job and left, nothing extra. I checked out more thrift stores and got even more books. I occupied my downtime with more and more books.

Then the “attacks” started becoming personal. My coworkers started progressively being rude and i noticed a communal vendetta towards me; when making the daily schedule, they would try as much as possible to give me the hardest set of residents to take care of, knowing I wouldn’t speak up. They tried everything to get a response from me, i refused to give them the pleasure of seeing that happen. Each day I was to come to work, I’d brace myself for the onslaught. They got tired, progressively, they moved on to something more “interesting”; the knowing glances and inside jokes ceased. They ran out of steam.

One thing I learned from the ordeal was never to let your emotions get in the way of your job, ever. If I had caved in and showed these piglets any emotions (anger, sadness etc) or a sign of weakness, they would have gladly exploited it. Secondly, I realized that these people who could so gladly and willingly smile in my face and then go behind my back to say these vile stuff should be kept at a distance and that’s what I’ve been doing since then.

—�—�—�—�—�—�—�—�—�—�—�—�—�—�

I’m vigorously preparing for the placement tests which would determine the classes I would enrol. While the English placement doesn’t bug me one bit, the math placement test is weighing heavy on my mind. I can’t remember when last I did college algebra and all that stuff, but I’m watching YouTube videos and brushing up slowly and steadily

Update coming shortly. Make una no vex.

Slightly taller than I am, all the right curves in all the right places, single mother of one, got her own ride, two bedroom apartment around Lansing, IL and was cool af. The moment people noticed we started “talking” I started getting pulled into rooms and getting “advice” from the Nigerian nurses that work here. “Leave that useless akata girl o, she will trap you with pregnancy o!” Nothing I no hear

On the other hand, I started noticing the hostility from the akatas as well. Started hearing bits and pieces of “rumors” some of which sounded too bizarre to be true. These people said the cruelest things about me, That I was trying to finesse the lady out of her money, I was trying to rape her kid and lots of “wonderful” stuff. We became the talk of the facility, each day I came to work, I’d hear one new episode of what “Obi” did. And for each day they kept seeing us together, they intensified the severity of the rumors. The funny part of it all, was that they would see me and smile in my face and try to pry some information by throwing sly, slippery and crafty questions at me.

One thing I pride myself in, is my I don’t care attitude. For each rumor I heard, I’d smile and brush it off.

The fist bumps and hellos and greetings which were once a formality when I got to work ceased. I bought some beats x headphones & for each time I walk into the front door, I’d plug my ear up. on the elevator, I made a habit of not jumping into any conversations with any of them.
I picked up my old habit of novel reading, I located thrift stores around and purchased some good books by Stephen King and other good authors. It was at one of these thrift stores I found one book that literally broke my heart, a thousand splendid suns by Khaleed Hosseini.


**ill continue later. I gotta wipe some _ass

Update

Working in a nursing home as a CNA taught me a lot of stuff. The healthcare field I’ve encountered so far is female dominated. There’s a rough ratio of 6 females to 1 male (I’m being moderate) when you match all positions (nurses, nursing assistants and all). By virtue of this, there’s one thing that’s constant, drama.

Based on the fact that there’s a lot of downtime, there’s little to do most days. Over the course of your 8hr shift, you’d basically work for 2hrs only on and off. These people, mostly ladies, can sit all day and talk. They jump from one topic to another and when you happen to eavesdrop on their conversation, they’re always running their mouths over something trivial and stupid. They’re always on the lookout for the next topic to latch onto or the next person to gossip about. Nobody gave me any orientation on how to handle these females so I found out the hard way. I’ll end this update with the lessons Ive learned so far over the course of this job. Like I stated in my previous posts, I’m someone who’s always looking to have the most random of conversations spanning the most random of topics, I have this theory that everyone you meet knows something you don’t. So here I was, at a new job, with lots of brains to “pick”, but can you pick a brain that has nothing inside of it?


Another thing I noticed is the animosity between black Americans and Africans. No one so far can pinpoint what the issue is, but there’s this awareness of the status quo, of the need to not “mix” with the akatas. The “hatred”(?) is just there, beneath the surface, waiting to spring out and I witnessed this firsthand when I started “talking to” and going out to lunch with someone at my job; a beautiful black American lady.

mamacajah:
@hiawathia, thanks so much for the swift response. I am a female, so i guess I will be joining my female colleagues..

However, I still need clarification on how to go about the process, like which states are cheaper and easier to enroll in the program... and is it better to go to a community college or a university for the program?

Is it a good option, since I have no background in helath at all, to start from CNA or LPN first before switching over to ultrasound or just going to do a BSc/ associate degree in it directly.

Thanks once again...

hiawathia1981:
If you want to do ultrasound route i do not recommend the cna or rn route. Here's why, they are completely different fields and are unrelated. Most ultrasound programs want you to get your associates in Radiography(xray) and then specialise in ultrasound. There are some programs that may bypass the radiography route but you will have to research that.
Ultrasound is still a hot field you shouldnt have a problem finding a program. I know that Indiana has several.

To add to this, do the CNA program first. It takes just 2 months + to complete and offers you an easy route to a steady inflow of cash while chasing your associates degree or bachelors. You can work in a variety of places too, nursing homes, hospitals, home health agencies etc and you can tweak your work schedule around your school schedule.

Sexcapades Sexcapades Sexcapades

Where do I start?

Bossman:
Nice approach FrankNetter. Don't let it bother you. Most of the credits received in Nigeria for just about all majors are not accepted here. The education system in Nigeria is a joke! I have spoken to some so called computer science graduates from Naija univ, and they have never written a line of code. How in the world can that be possible! Computer programming is all about coding for God's sake!

Thanks

Originalsly:
Hmmmm...is like thinking you had a gold nugget...only to find out it was copper. Bro...I feel your pain... is like been scammed by the university...don't you feel like returning to Naija to ehmmm....strangle somebody? Like someone advised.... go the community college route...life is full of lessons...you've learned first hand what others been saying about sooo many...too many Nigerian degrees being useless abroad. Start afresh...move forward....you hit a pot hole...lots of them you dodged...lots more on the road ahead... the road to the top is never smooth....keep it moving bro.

Sure thing bro. Thanks for the kind words. I’m not fazed by this setback at all. I know I’ll be where I wanna be, I just have to be patient and trust the process

Originalsly:
Been following.......start from the White babe you were ehmmm.......so sexcited about......if you can remember that one among the harem others.

FrankNetter:
I don’t discuss my sexcapades here bro. I no wan derail the thread

I’m thinking of posting some “escapades” though. No 18+ stuff, should I?

Holocene:
Frank....you could hace applied in a community college for your RN and get on the spot admission. Thats what my guy did and now he is doing RN to BSN online after raking in some mega money as an RN. Time no de wait for anyone

That’s my plan bro. My vexation now is that I waited for almost two years for a transcript that’s totally useless. My younger ones are rounding up their programs already (Pre-Pharm and Pre-Med).

I’m not wasting any more time, I’m currently in the process of enrolling in Prairie state college which is close to my house. I’m taking the English placement test this weekend and math placement next two weeks (I need to prepare). I’m also looking to channel this energy and enroll in GED so I won’t deal with this whole Nigerian-transfer-credit brouhaha.
**For those who don’t know, the GED certificate is equivalent to GCE for high school dropouts.

donsoft:
I will suggest you round up your program in Nigeria then sit for the medical exams required to practice in the US afterwards. This should be a faster option for you. I have some friends that went through this route and succeeded.

Round up what program? The medical program where every 2 weeks one union would go on strike? If it’s not johesu today, it would be NMA tomorrow or ASUU or nassu or some union nobody knows about. Coupled with the millions of uncertainty in Nigeria? Abeg I’ll pass. I’ve thought about this and there’s lots of the reasons why I didn’t go back to finish up and I’ve pointed that out countless times. Firstly, I don’t know my date of graduation even when I never failed one exam throughout my schooling. Secondly, the educational (accreditation and all) issues gave me so much heartache and I was so glad I left. Furthermore, over here in the USA, I can be working and schooling, I don’t have to worry about trivial stuff like when Nepa go bring light or money to buy fuel for gen or whether I would get robbed when I go for night class. plus, I’m already on my path to citizenship which, to me, is worth more than any educational degree I would get in Nigeria, that citizenship would cement my future generations bro; my kids wouldn’t have to deal with all the stuff I and my family went through in Nigeria. As na yankee I Dey like this, I will go to school, I will get a degree and I will make more money than my family can spend. That’s a certainty.

Driving

Most of my posts on instagram show me driving. So someone slid into my dms asking me about the traffic laws and stuff.

Here are some rules I’ve figured out so far.


On the highway, the most important law is “go with the flow of traffic”. Everyone can’t be going at 60mph and you’re driving at 20mph, you will be pulled over by the cops.
On 3 or 4 lane highways, the lane on the left is reserved for passing (overtaking), you cannot drive slow on that lane.
Similarily, the lane on the right is for slower driving cars
If you notice people slowing down, slow down too. Chances are there’s a cop hidden somewhere waiting to pull you over.

Originalsly:
Been following.......start from the White babe you were ehmmm.......so sexcited about......if you can remember that one among the harem others.

I don’t discuss my sexcapades here bro. I no wan derail the thread

I looked at the course outline for nursing, it included anatomy and physiology 1 and 2. I asked if I could take a placement test for those at least, to take some credits, she declined. Even my GSTs from my first year in school, philosophy and logic, civic education etc etc, she said they can’t accept any of them.

I thanked her for her time, stood up and while walking out it dawned on me, I had wasted 6years of my life, studying in that school for nothing.

But then again, I understand the theory of time zones. I will start afresh, but not in Chicago state university. I will graduate when I graduate.

ezzylee:
Woooowwww..... even after all the WES evaluations that took time. Just WOOOW is all that's coming outta my mouth.

Exactly bro. I just weak right now

My turn came in no time, so I was ushered into the office and offered a sit. After the greetings and all, we got down to business. I told the academic advisor that I wasn’t familiar with the process, that I would need her to walk me through everything step by step, she obliged and proceeded to pull up my file on her computer. The first red flag I noticed was that the she didn’t have my file on the system yet. I raised my eyebrows and was like .

She made a call to the admissions department and requested for them to send my credentials down. So she told me to wait outside so she could attend to other people whose files were ready.
I went back to the waiting area and took a sit, asking myself what sort of nigerianness was going on here

I had sat there for like 20mins when a lady walked into her office carrying a file. I guessed that was my stuff, I was right.
I was called into the office next, I walked in and sat down.

Well, long story short, the academic advisor looked me in my face and told me my transcripts and credentials were useless. That I would have to start afresh.

She said they don’t accept transferred credits from a professional school. I zoned out. I asked myself why then did they offer me admission? Like who tf made the decision to offer me admission when they knew about the policy they had in place? Why raise my hopes and then dash them to the ground?

I zoned back in to see her smiling sadly at me. I then proceeded to try to explain to the lady how the educational system works, that I had done anatomy, physiology and biochemistry as part of my med school training, I told her they could set up a placement test for any of the courses in my transcript and place me in classes accordingly, she stood her ground, telling me they can’t accept any of my credits. She told me I would have to go take placement tests for math, science and reading, I mad


Like wtf! Reading?

Update

Like I’ve said countless times in my previous posts, I’ve been waiting to get back to school, my transcripts have been evaluated, I’ve been offered admission into Chicago state uni to study nursing and I was revving my engines, ready to go.

I wasn’t quite familiar with the whole admission process so I searched the school website looking for persons to get information from. After a couple of tries, I finally got in contact with someone who knew something about the process and got the contact details for an academic advisor. I booked an appointment some weeks back and counted down to the day.

When the day arrived, I dressed up, got my documents together, fueled my car, set my gps and zoomed off. The ride was scheduled for 30 mins, while driving I put some jams on my stereo and was vibing to the playlist. I was having a good day.

I got there in no time, paid the $5 parking fee, located the admissions office, walked in, took a sit and waited for my turn.

edehgeorgeC:
Welcome back bro. We know say enof tori go dey to yarn us. Abeg ur fans dey wait O. Do well to add pictures...

Tori plenty. I just dey reason where to start.

Thegamingorca:
Do you plan on going back to med school

Yeah bro. I will be a medical doctor, that’s a certainty.

What’s up guys? I’m back again from my sabbatical leave

At work, I’ve struck up a rapport with the lady that makes the schedule, she puts me on the work roster often and this is reflecting well on my paychecks; more hours, more money, remember? .
She obliges me because my work ethic is starting to show. I’m almost always available to work extra hours. This is good for me cos I’d soon be starting school so I would need a flexible shift that would work with my school schedule. Let’s see how it goes

He brought up something called “section 8” which is a government assistance program for low income earning single mothers. They government would pay you a specific amount of money for the rest of your life as long as you don’t have a working class man in your life.

It wasn’t the first time I had heard something like that, so I looked it up sometime ago and had some rudimentary knowledge about it. so we talked. He said the “section 8” program was put in place to help. I said in a way, it helps, in a way it doesn’t. I cited the fact that black people now use it an excuse not to foster the values of family. why hustle with a spouse to get a good life when you can decide to have as much kids as you want and the government would keep paying you money every month. Why stress yourself working a job, chasing a career when all you need to do is sit your ass at home and get a paycheck every month? But then again, these kids you’re bringing into the world, who’s going to train them? Who is going to instil good values into their heads? Who is going to discipline them, show them the right way to do stuff?
I followed that train of thought and pointed out that one of the reasons why Africans excel so much is because of something as basic as starting and keeping a family together. A family with a father and mother figure where the parents are keeping their kids in check, bringing them up in the right way, teaching them the values of hardwork and most importantly, morality.
Who born you to refuse to go to school in an African home? When all you need is to show intent and you can get funding to study to any level?

In the end, we agreed to disagree that indeed there are different levels to “fvcked up” and that the ability to discern right from wrong, the awareness of oneself to choose to be useful by going to school, learning a trade, chasing a career and doing the right things cannot be congenitally instilled in a child; that these have to be taught in a family, but who would teach it when the family structure is broken?


I ended the conversation with an impromptu quote:
“nobody is born with a moral compass, it has to be taught”

I was glad I had that conversation because I came across another epiphany.