Lectures: we all have them. They’re something that no college student can avoid, whether it’s a simple gen-ed class with just 100 people or a huge engineering class with nearly 400 classmates. When we have these kinds of lectures, we’re bound to see multiple kinds of people in the room. And when we all have that one monotone teacher that makes us want to sleep, our classmates are the best source of entertainment we have.
The Sleeper
There’s always one person like this in every single lecture. They’ve stayed up all night, either partying or doing their homework, and because of this, their little eyes just can’t stay open. It will be halfway through a lecture, and you’ll be paying attention the best you can. While writing down notes, trying to get every ounce of detail you possibly can, you hear the sound of a mammoth snoring behind you.
You turn around to check and lo and behold, it’s just a guy with his head on his desk – drool streaking down the edge of his cheek. So classy. It’s even better when it’s a small lecture and the teacher awakes them by dropping their books on the ground. Talk about a walk-up call!
The Vending Machine
We always pray this person comes to class, since they always come prepared. By prepared, I don’t mean with a pencil, paper and the occasional calculator. I mean they have the chip bags, the Oreo cookies and candy bars. They’re the person who woke up after hitting the snooze button five times and was too late to hit up the commons for breakfast.
When we need energy and have nothing else to turn to, we grab our junk food. That one person opens their chip bag, and as soon as we hear the air pop out from it, it’s like a record scratch. All heads turn in that general direction, and everyone is pecking like vultures, asking for food. Hey, we’re only human. Don’t judge.
The “Chatty Kathy”
Okay, so maybe her name isn’t Kathy, but there is bound to be at least one of these people in your lectures. It’ll be completely quiet while everyone is listening to what the teacher has to say, when you hear the laughter. Someone is talking way too loudly for an 8 a.m. lecture, and is way too perky and awake. I’m here to learn and then to go home and sleep, not to listen to you go on and on about how amazing your boyfriend is.
It’s even worse when it turns into an opinion class. You might be in one of the sociology classes, and instead of the Chatty Kathy gossiping with their friend, it’ll turn into a debate with another student who wants to prove that the teacher is wrong. It’ll cause the whole class to get involved, and soon your class will be as loud as a high school cafeteria.
Just don’t talk during lectures. It’ll end badly.
The Gamer
This one actually isn’t as prevalent as you would think with the amount of laptops college students own, but it’s still something I see once in awhile. You’ll be casually writing down notes when you hear the person next to you curse under their breath. You’ll think it’s because they missed a few slides of notes, but as you glance over, your classmate is playing World of Warcraft.
Though they have headphones in, they are still making it very known that they aren’t taking notes whatsoever. But do they care? Nah. They only care about defeating their next enemy online. I don’t blame them. Sometimes I’m nearly tempted to play Barbie dress up games because I’m that bored during a lecture.
Have you seen any of these kinds of people? Because I know I have. Look around your lecture hall next time, you might just find the source of that annoying snoring!