My thoughts on college as a 30 something

I have been in and out of school as an adult for about 7 years now. Since we left Okinawa in 2010 it's been strictly online. This year I decided to complete some lower level classes at a local community college, to save money and to get a face to face learning experience. Especially with languages, I need someone talking to me, no way can I do that online.

So this semester I walked into a classroom, at a community college, as a 30 something. My first thought was that I was the oldest person there, even older than the teacher. "OMG I am older than the teacher" I think is was the text I sent my sister after I took my seat. Although this ended up not being true, she is the same age as me, and there is also one student older than both of us, at 35. Still I feel very old sitting in a classroom full of 19 and 20 year olds. I also found myself looking at some of the students and just shaking my head, "who would wear that", or "gosh you are so immature" are some of the thoughts I have frequently.

My class, Japanese 101, is mostly full of first year college students, who don't quite know how to behave in a classroom, but my teacher has to shhh! the class numerous times a day. Also they frequently interrupt the teacher or speak out of turn. Many students have a basic idea of Japanese culture from anime, and lots of students make anime references in class. I try to not sound pretentious, but there is so much more to Japanese culture than anime. I usually keep to myself in class because I don't want to stick out as the older student that thinks she knows everything.

So far things have been going well, I have my first of 4 exams tonight, which I should be studying for, but instead I am writing about. At least I have my oral portion memorized:

Hajimamashte Alana desu. 

_school name omitted_ diagaku no gakuse desu.

san nensi desu. senku wa rekishi desu. 

sanjuni sai desu. Yoroshiku onegoshimas.

can you read that? I introduce myself, state I am a college student at _university_, I am a third year student, and my major is history, then my age and nice to meet you. At least that's what it's supposed to say. I hope that's right.

My other two classes are online, both history classes, one is world history since 1400 and the other is historical methods, learning about why history is important and such. The methods class starts Monday and has it's first paper due Friday. The other one has a paper due this Sunday, and I haven't even started thinking about it. This is going to be a long weekend. Plus I need to find a back up sitter for when Paul has to work and can't be home when I need to go to school.

School takes up a lot of time, I didn't realize this until I recently, trying to do homework and study with a very active almost two year old, climbing all over me. Who is now waking up from her nap and I still haven't studied, or finished my homework. So I guess I shall sign off for today, I need to try to get her back to sleep and at least finish my homework. Tell me about your experiences going back to school as an adult. I'd love to hear about how you handle time management, especially with a toddler.