First Day Silliness

It's always interesting to me how people behave on the first day of a new class. It takes a while for people to get comfortable in new surroundings, but it still makes me chuckle to myself. For example, on the first day, most people shuffle quietly into the classroom, take a seat as close to the back as possible, and fidget quietly until the professor gets there, then they take out their notebooks and try to write down every single thing the professor says. Personally, I like to sit in a middle row on either far side of the classroom. That way, I can still see just about everything in the classroom, and my teacher doesn't automatically peg me for a poor student just because I'm in the back. (I had a biology professor tell us that "studies show that students who sit in the back row are more likely to be 'D' or 'F' students, while those in the front are more likely to be 'A' students. Students who sit in the middle are generally average students." I don't know how much I believe that, but I get the impression that a lot of teachers do.)

It takes time to get comfortable with a new professor and his/her teaching style, too. I really like both my on-campus professors, and from my few interactions with them, my online professors seem nice, and competent as well. My Statistics professor speaks very fast, and is very animated. He even said, "what the hell" at a couple different points in the lecture. I didn't think much of it, but I thought it was funny that one of the girls sitting near me turned to her friend with this wide-eyed look like, what did he just say?

When I first got to my Statistics class, everyone was sitting outside the door, waiting for it to be unlocked, I assume; there were no benches or anything so I doubt anyone was sitting there to take a break or something. I had a 45 minute break between Statistics and Chemistry, so I found the lecture hall, then sat on a bench just outside it to work on my Stats homework (look at me, all diligent on my first day; we'll see how long that lasts). The lecture hall was open, and a few people went in, but I had snacks and didn't know if they were allowed in the room, so I just stayed outside. Not long after, a few people came and sat on nearby benches. Soon, there was a group of about 30 students standing around waiting. No one had tried the door, or asked if anyone else had tried the door; they were all just saw someone sitting/standing around so they stood there, too. I thought of telling them that the room was open, but decided not to for some reason. There were still about ten minutes before class started, but I packed up my books and headed into the lecture hall. A group of about 30 students followed me in. It made me wonder; would it be insulting to the people standing outside the classroom if someone were to go try the door? Why do people just assume it's locked because one person is sitting out there?

Well, these are just some silly musings I had while walking back to my car after class got out (these, along with, "Boy, this blister sure hurts." I got a blister on my first day! In shoes that I've worn many times before with no resulting blisters!). I'll post some Drew, Owen and Samantha updates as I get a chance.