Lectures can be heavy going at times – and that’s when you’re not paying attention. Emma Wright tries to break down the average thought process during those dark hours in the hall…
Spending your days attending classes and listening to lecturers is far from exciting (but it beats a full-time job). From time to time, your mind can’t help but wander whilst in class and it is all too easy for your attentions to turn to your lecturer and what they are really like. Here’s what may go through your head as you pretend to listen:
1) “I wonder where they’re from.” – A lot of the time, there is a lecturer who is not from your locality and you pick at your brains tirelessly in each class, trying to identify where they are from. Every country is not safe in your uneducated guessing; from Australia to South Africa, you just can’t quite put your finger on it. And you won’t get an answer unless you ask. Which, let’s face it, you probably won’t!
2) “I wonder what they’re like on a night out.” – Would they be better craic if they had a few drinks or would they be a wallflower? Or better yet, would they be the complete opposite and be the type to smoke, get aggressive and start fights? The possibilities are endless and the only way to get an answer is to have a night out with them (or do some detective work by following them after work on a Friday and observe for the evening).
3) “I wonder what they look like up close.” – You get so used to seeing them from a distance, that a lot of the time they look completely different up close (even glasses won’t help with the eventual shock you get when you do see them in close proximity – be warned!)
4) “I wonder if they always wanted to be a lecturer” – Did they want to be something else but failed at it and so, fell into lecturing? Are they looking at me now, wondering why they are here? You never know with those professors!
5) “I wonder what they were like in college.” – Did they have friends or spend their time stuck in the library? Did they do weed? Were they badass party animals? Did they ever tell their tutor to piss off? Did they sleep around? Were they involved in experimenting of a different kind?
You can’t help but forget that your lecturers are human too. And that they have been sat in the same position as you, in a lecture hall as a student, all those years ago. It just seems unfathomable to imagine but you must remember: how you are now, is what they were like at your age. Except you probably think you are totally cooler than they were (but I bet you’d be surprised!)
Emma Wright #EmmaWrightsBlog