I am in the process of going to school on-line for my MBA with a focus particularly in International Business. This is my second semester taking classes and it has been running pretty smoothly up until this point. Internet connection has had minimal times of not being connected, the electricity in the neighborhood has been really good lately and I was able to get all my books for the first semester on-line as E-Books. I rented two and bought a digital copy of the other. Really cheap, $110 for all 3 books and the VA pays me $250 each semester for books. A little extra in the pocket for myself!
Now, lets talk about this semester. I am in the first day of the 3rd week of both of these courses today. There was 3 required books that I had to find and only one was available digitally. This digital copy I got was off some Russian website and I probably have viruses now or Julian Assange is borrowing my e-mails to use later. Some funky things have been happening to my laptop too, not from the water problems either. I've tried to run antivirus stuff and delete some weird programs to no avail. I will mess with this at a later time.
Ok, the other two books had to be purchased on-line with international shipping. I actually paid more for taxes and shipping then I did for the books. Both books were purchased two weeks before this semester started and I just got the first one today.
Lets start with the Amazon purchase, I bought it and provided the correct address and my Brazilian tax ID (CPF). Without this tax ID customs will hold it forever and send it back eventually, sometimes. I assumed Amazon has had experience with international shipping, so I wasn't too worried about this book actually making it. Five weeks later I have it after the first book got held up in customs and they eventually abandoned it. When I finally got a hold of UPS they told me Amazon told them to throw it away and here is the name of who authorized it from Amazon. I then talked to Amazon and they claimed customs was on strike a few days and that is what caused the book being tossed out. So they reimbursed me and I bought another book through them without any additional cost to ship it to me. I'm happy they resolved it and I finally have this book now.
The other book was purchased through the only website I found it on. Its called Biblio.com and the book shipped from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with DHL. This should of been a key indicator that this was going to be all messed up. It had a nice journey too, from Malaysia, United Kingdom, Netherlands and finally to São Paulo...where it sat for a few weeks. DHL was very slow to answer any of my E-mails or phone calls and kept saying it processing customs. Even though it was a messed up place to have a English textbook to come from, I had some faith in DHL. They are a well known international shipping company. I would think that they were better than UPS and could find a way to correct problems easily. Well I finally got notified after the book was returned and why. The description on the package of what was inside was a bunch of random letters and numbers that meant nothing. Customs said hell no and kicked it back. I am now in a back and forth where is my replacement book and have no idea when I will get it.
So, for 3 weeks I have been winging it and still getting A's. The one digital book I got from the beginning of the course hasn't been used once. I have been mainly looking for key words in the questions provided by the professors and google searching for some materials to write about. We are supposed to be taken quotes out of the readings from the textbooks to support our ideas and I have somehow used references from what my classmates have posted in the discussions without both professors realizing it. Either I am very good at BSing or just lucky.
I am now laughing at this but I have lost my mind a few times. Hopefully the other book will be here soon. The logistics of living abroad can be a hassle at times.
Now, lets talk about this semester. I am in the first day of the 3rd week of both of these courses today. There was 3 required books that I had to find and only one was available digitally. This digital copy I got was off some Russian website and I probably have viruses now or Julian Assange is borrowing my e-mails to use later. Some funky things have been happening to my laptop too, not from the water problems either. I've tried to run antivirus stuff and delete some weird programs to no avail. I will mess with this at a later time.
Ok, the other two books had to be purchased on-line with international shipping. I actually paid more for taxes and shipping then I did for the books. Both books were purchased two weeks before this semester started and I just got the first one today.
Lets start with the Amazon purchase, I bought it and provided the correct address and my Brazilian tax ID (CPF). Without this tax ID customs will hold it forever and send it back eventually, sometimes. I assumed Amazon has had experience with international shipping, so I wasn't too worried about this book actually making it. Five weeks later I have it after the first book got held up in customs and they eventually abandoned it. When I finally got a hold of UPS they told me Amazon told them to throw it away and here is the name of who authorized it from Amazon. I then talked to Amazon and they claimed customs was on strike a few days and that is what caused the book being tossed out. So they reimbursed me and I bought another book through them without any additional cost to ship it to me. I'm happy they resolved it and I finally have this book now.
The other book was purchased through the only website I found it on. Its called Biblio.com and the book shipped from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with DHL. This should of been a key indicator that this was going to be all messed up. It had a nice journey too, from Malaysia, United Kingdom, Netherlands and finally to São Paulo...where it sat for a few weeks. DHL was very slow to answer any of my E-mails or phone calls and kept saying it processing customs. Even though it was a messed up place to have a English textbook to come from, I had some faith in DHL. They are a well known international shipping company. I would think that they were better than UPS and could find a way to correct problems easily. Well I finally got notified after the book was returned and why. The description on the package of what was inside was a bunch of random letters and numbers that meant nothing. Customs said hell no and kicked it back. I am now in a back and forth where is my replacement book and have no idea when I will get it.
So, for 3 weeks I have been winging it and still getting A's. The one digital book I got from the beginning of the course hasn't been used once. I have been mainly looking for key words in the questions provided by the professors and google searching for some materials to write about. We are supposed to be taken quotes out of the readings from the textbooks to support our ideas and I have somehow used references from what my classmates have posted in the discussions without both professors realizing it. Either I am very good at BSing or just lucky.
I am now laughing at this but I have lost my mind a few times. Hopefully the other book will be here soon. The logistics of living abroad can be a hassle at times.
Still waiting on the last book...almost into the 4th week of a 8 week course. Maybe I don't need to buy books anymore!
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