Walking to class, whether its across campus or just the classroom next door, always presents the opportunity for awkward encounters to arise. You never know what you might walk into, but these are some encounters that will definitely take place at some point in between your classes.
1. Unsure Friends
You know you see them, and they know you see them too. You know them, but are you really on that level of "Hey"? Or maybe "What's up"? You have no idea. But the closer they get, the faster you need to figure it out. Or you could just wait to see what they do and act accordingly. Oh, they are pretending that they're texting? Okay perfect, one fake phone call coming up.
2. Crash and Burn
Head down, stride going strong, you are laser-focused on making it to class on time. In your mind you are walking a perfectly straight line, then all of a sudden something cuts your focus, and in a blur, there's suddenly a body in front of you. Shoot, okay, dodge right. But they dodge the same way and crash. You both immediately die from embarrassment.
3. Blinded by the Light
At Villanova, during the prime middle hours of the day, with the sun at peak height, any area you walk between the quad and the Oreo leads you to absolute blindness. Especially from those light-reflective bricks. As you blindly make your way across campus, you hear your name shouted from nearby, but there's no hope. You can't see anything because you're blinded by the light.
4. Regretful Attempt
And then there's the reverse. You see your friend across the quad and give them a yell, and realize in that split second that you have made a huge mistake. When 20 people turn to see who is the idiot yelling across the quad, and your friend takes absolutely no notice of you, every ounce of your being will regret that decision.
5. The Walk-and-Go
Those time crunches in between classes, as you rush across campus as fast as is humanly possible without running or breaking a sweat, is when it happens - the walk-and-go. You see your friend moving just as rapidly in the other direction, no one has time to stop, yet the "hey how are you" comes out anyway and as the other person answers your question then asks it back to you, you both realize (now 25 feet apart) that you are no longer within talking distance of each other.
6. Door Holders
Holding the door for people at Villanova is an unspoken rule rather than a courtesy. But there are always those encounters of seeing someone behind you, and misguiding how far they really are either by too much or too little, to end with accidentally slamming the door on them, or getting stuck holding it open and waiting for 2 minutes. Then there are those moments when the door gets slammed on you, or worse case scenario, someone holds the door a large distance in front of you, forcing you to light jog/bounce to relieve them of their door duties.
7. Eye See You
Making eye contact with strangers is by far the most common of these uncomfortable trends. Strolling to class completely minding your own business, you glimpse up for the briefest of moments to be stuck in a deadlock gaze with a stranger. However, the winner of this staring contest is the one who releases eye contact quicker. These moments are the one that bonds us with our peers, even if it is just for those 5 seconds.
