NC, because I can't be sure if some of my "dearest" classmates are here...
I am really suffering now. We are just in the first month and I have now fully realised that people revert back to being 13. Gossips, shouting, bullying. I have not expected that from mature students ages 30-60.
Not all of them are bad, but the majority just, I guess, decided that the age means that they are never wrong (they are often) and can talk to others any way they fancy.
I have been shouted at for doing what I was assigned to do by tutors, laughed at for having my notes and work up to date, shunned and god knows what gossips circulate about me. I am now by myself during breaks just so I wouldn't have to be in a dining room with these few. The 18-year-olds never say anything to them, IMHO just because of the age and they tend to keep away from us older ones now. It's nice to see young ones being respectful to someone 3 times their age, but god, respect is earned, not given right.
I am usually the type of person who stands up for themselves and is not afraid to say when something is wrong, but in this situation, I am actually on a verge of crying, because I worked bloody hard to get here and now I don't want to be here. So I am alternating between anger and sadness.
I have never had a problem with bullies or people like that before and I can't believe that I have to deal with it at my age and at uni.
Does anyone have any experience? Please tell me this will sort itself out... I have kind of given up on hoping I would find friends in there, but I just want peace and not this kind of environment.