This is about my first day of class. This is Part I.

It dawned on me while I was doctoring up my coffee at Starbucks at exactly 9:26am.
I was upset that the half&half was empty, but thankfully the nonfat milk hadn't run out yet. Unfortunately the kid next to me was unlucky enough to knock his drink a bit sending about 1/3 of the contents all over the counter. I was about to laugh to ease his embarrassment*, but quickly shut my mouth.
He was one of those people. You know, the super serious ones that curse life when they trip on an uneven sidewalk, make a freudian slip, or knock over their own coffee.
*Okay, maybe laughing would make you more embarrassed, but it makes me feel better. I'm not afraid to laugh at myself so I want someone else to do so too.
Napkins were seized, quickly ran over the spill, and he sharply left out the doors.
Then the thought really occurred to me how alone I was on my first day of class.


This was not high school. I would not be walking to a class where I recognized at the very least the faces of every classmate. I would know nothing about the teacher or his/her reputation. I would not receive free textbooks. I would not know how big or small the class would be.
And there was no one I could laugh out loud with once someone knocked over coffee.
So as I walked to my first class among many other students on their way as well (thank God it was only about seven or so minutes away) I said a little prayer.
I got to Communication 101: Intro to Human Communication five minutes early**.
**Seriously I advise every student to get to class five minutes before start time. It's just enough time to get a good spot and get settled, but not too early that it's dead quiet and filled with awkward waiting.
I took a spot slightly right of center, middle row, in between a super quiet guy and friendly girl who told me this was her first class too.
I look around and find a familiar face. She was in my orientation group and also a resident of 1237 too. We greeted each other and then looked up to see another familiar face, our orientation leader.
Small world I guess.
The teacher steps up to speak and everything becomes hyper-real.
Then he begins to speak and my breathing returns to normal.
He payed no mind to the students who came in late, kept our attention while he spoke***, invited the class to join the discussion, ended the class with a video, and announced that we would have no textbook for the class. In short, the guy is saving me about an extra $100 so he's cool in my book.
***Okay, it's 9:40am and I didn't fall asleep till sometime after 1am so I'm gonna space a little. It's inevitable.
The class dismissed a few minutes after 11am.
I walked back to 1237 thanking God that my first class was so chill.
Then later I had my class at the loop.
Merp.

This is,

MAB