Biology

My biology class is nothing extraordinary at first glance.

I walk in every day, and a girl the row ahead of me offers me raisins. Everyday I decline. Every. Day. I don't like raisins. I wish they'd just leave those poor grapes alone. But she's happy and willing to share and I appreciate the gesture. I just wish she'd offer me See's Chocolates or 20 dollar bills...that's all.

There's another girl, the classic girl that every class has at least one of. The girl who has 27 million questions, raises her hand almost perpetually, and is obnoxiously anxious to answer questions. This girl happens to be almost six feet tall. I'm not going to oppose her keen yearning for knowledge. She could kill me. Easily. I wish I could bottle her fervency for learning and take a dose before some classes. It might prove to be useful? or it'd back fire and I'd just be intolerable.

Then there's the stretching guy. You know the one. The one that just can't ever seem to be fully stretched or awake, so every 6 minutes he reaches his arms high above his head, holds them there, them reaches behind his neck and arcs backwards. The guy in front of me stretched so hard that three times today his elbows covered my computer screen as he extended his extremities my way.

But if you sat through a day of Biology 100H, the most striking observation would be that my professor is insane, and that we don't do anything productive. I'm serious. There really aren't words that can encapsulate the tireless bundle of energy--the stories about Mongolia, the tangents, the passion for insects, spazticness and lack of ability to get through the first lecture--that is C. Riley Nelson and his teaching methods. Sure the man is entertaining, but strange as all get out. Is there a way to attach audio clips? I wish I could in order better convey the experience.

Here's a taste. Wednesday, this full grown man, my 50+ year old professor, got on his desk and started screaming like a Howler Monkey at the peak of mating season. I almost died. It was not only shocking but slightly disturbing. He's one of the happiest men I have been acquainted with thus far in my young life, but also one of the most bizarre and A.D.D.