Since I began Well…that was awkward, a multi-part series investigating socially awkward encounters at Penn, I’ve been inundated with responses, both hateful and complementary. A few even came from outside my family (I respect your disagreement Grandma, but I wish you wouldn’t use that language). Today, I march on with an examination of classroom awkwardness.

At one time or another we’ve all walked into a lecture completely alone. No roommates. No teammates. No frat brothers. Scanning the hall you look for a familiar face. As you stand there, channeling Forrest Gump’s first bus ride to school, you spot someone. It’s your freshman hall mate/ high school classmate/ bunkmate from Camp Firewood. Now what do you do? Months, maybe years separate your last conversation from today.

You now face a choice: Either, pretend you don’t see your long-lost acquaintance at the risk of being exposed as the coward you are, or just grab a seat and prepare for some classic patently awkward Penn small talk. At least you won’t be sitting alone for those crucial interim minutes before lecture. It would be a shame if you had no one to share those snide quips that spontaneously roll off your tongue over the course of the semester when your professor does/says something stupid.

It may seem like a lose-lose situation, but it doesn’t have to be. In college people are changing at rapid speed. It’s okay if you and your old colleague don’t have much in common. You might be even surprised how much you have to talk about. In the end, it’s better than sitting in silence or trying to make small talk with someone you don’t even know. Now that would be awkward.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 27th, 2007 at 3:44 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.