First day at Durham Tech
Yesterday I had my first class at Durham Tech. I got up at 6 AM sharp, then got ready to leave around 6:45. It wasn’t too hard to get ready to go at all, since I had practiced it a number of times. And although I had only tried the drive to Durham Tech’s main campus once, I made it today taking a new route just fine. I went down a road that was much less traveled for about half the time, then took Highway 147 the other half of the time. I got to campus at 7:15, and secured the third parking spot in front of the building.
I walked inside, and the classroom was still closed. I next checked out the lounge for internet access, which was very easy to find. I sent my husband an email to test out my connection. I didn’t stick around too many minutes; about the time that I was getting ready to leave another person walked in and asked if that was the student lounge. I said yes, and went on my way. Little did I know that he was one of the students who would soon be in my class.
The classroom door finally opened a few minutes later, but nobody was inside. There were 2 people outside though, probably waiting to go in. I went inside and took some pictures of the class because of all the interesting equipment that was laying around.
There was an electrical service panel next to a meter and an outlet, probably for testing purposes. There were several computer workstations with lab equipment at each bench, and near the front of the classroom there was a display of all different sorts of cables and conduit.
The classroom itself was up front in a really big room, perhaps 5 times as large as the actual desk area. There were seats for maybe 20 people, but there would be only about 15 or so people there. I bent down near the front of the class to put my jacket inside my bag, and another student walked in and asked if I was the instructor. Definitely not, I thought…I was going to have lots to learn, the same as everyone.
The professor walked in, and class eventually started. We left early at 10:30 AM, but while we were there, I learned a lot of things about what is important to electricians. The National Electrical Code is a major one. We discussed Article 210.52, which provides a rule for laying out receptacles in a room. There is a similar rule for the kitchen, and in a bathroom. We learned what rooms required a GFCI outlet, and the ones that don’t require connection to an AFCI breaker (outlets can be used according to code, but no outlets are commercially available currently).
We learned about the American Wire Gauge, what Romex was (non-metallic sheathed cable, according to the code book), and that the first thing electricians do in a house is to measure and install the boxes, not the wiring. An amazing thing we learned was that the code book actually permits mounting an outlet face up on a sink counter – what about water going in? They are supposed to have a special cover, but the professor hadn’t seen one yet.
There’s a lot more we learned, but I’ll keep the blog post short – I’m still learning the intricacies of typing on my new iPad and I’ve been here a while already. I have class again on Wednesday – hopefully I won’t be too tired when I get home because class that day will likely last the entire 3.5 hours. Tiredness wasn’t too bad yesterday except for the driving part, though when I got home after having run my errands at the grocery store, I was pretty tired and could have taken a nap. Instead, we had to go to the post office and the doctor’s office, so that kept me awake as I had to drive again.
From what I’ve experienced thus far, I think I will be able to handle the semester just fine. I will be even more excited on February 7 when my Solar Technology class starts though. I will really be in my element then, I think.
