Inside Looking Out

WMU is a fairly large university. As such, campus tours are a regularity around here. As I walked into the library this morning (from where I am writing this blog) I encountered two such campus tours. I am always amused when I see them, because I feel like I imagine animals at a zoo feel when patrons to the zoo stroll past the animal's exhibit. The animal is just living life while these weird bipedal, virtually hairless mammals oogle and gawk at the poor, bored-out-of-their-mind animals.

This is how I feel: here I am going to the library to catch up on some reading for my Advanced Speech Science class and I run into high school seniors and their parents touring the campus with the aid of a representative of the student body. So, let me let you in on my thought processes. I often think that these prospective students and parents might think ...

The collective mind of the alien people: "Ooo, look! There's one of those college students in his natural habitat. He's going to the library, I wonder what he's going to do now. Let's watch him. Oh no, he's coming straight for me, I hope he doesn't hurt me or something. Phew, he only went in the door next to me. I wonder what he's going to do. Maybe he's doing some reading for a class. I wonder how much homework he has for class. ..."

And within that collective though process, individual thought processes would also be occurring:

Parent #1 "Well, here's a nice boy. No tattoos or piercings. And oh! He's going to the library. I hope my Johnny stays as well balanced as this boy has."

Male Student #1 "Punk."

Parent #2 "There's a normal looking one. After seeing that other kid with the pink hair and multiple facial piercings I was about to lock Mary in her room and never let her out. Maybe college boy aren't all weird."

Female Student #1 "I wonder if he has a girlfriend."

Parent #3 "Orange sunglasses, humph. I bet he fails every class."


Anyway, that is just a taste of my internal monologue as I ascended the stairs to the computer lab in the library. Nothing profound, not even remotely 'normal', in fact, probably really odd. But call it what you want it ... I'm only a college student in my natural habitat.