Into the Unknown

𝓘𝓷𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓤𝓷𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀𝓷

The time has come for the inevitable meeting. I have prepared for this day, even the day before. Even the weeks before. Even before the actual first day of class. The name of the ever-notoriously known strict professor in aspects I can’t even imagine, reflecting on my university portal has sent me into a madly spiraling string of thoughts. Who could’ve imagined already encountering him in my 3^rd year in college? Surely, it was bound to happen one way or another but not purely coincidental at the same time.

 

What really has my hair on ends, you say? Why was this certain professor making quite a stir? First of all, I know almost nothing about the said professor. All prior knowledge is from pure rumors and gossips. Intimidated, yes. But to say I wasn’t lowkey looking forward to meeting him was an understatement. Different types of people, especially those that differ and deal a great contrast from me truly are interesting. And the said professor exceeds those expectations.

 

The start of my day went “smooth” as I like to gaslight myself into it. I got out early from my humble abode to travel from my island to the other side of another island (girlie had to go into literally pirate sailing every day). Scorching heat and almost drenched in sweat, I rushed despite the allowance of time I had. I must never get caught lacking (we’ve been had). I was adamant to NOT get late for this class. As rumors said, the professor would get you into goofy punishments. I AM NOT into goofy arse punishments so early in the ever-hot mornings (totally not speaking from experience). It was time for a change and this was a step to take. And arrived I did with a few more minutes to spare for a few chats with fellow classmates.

 

Back to rumors, the said professor was said to be somewhat tedious for details and such. I found my classmates studying and writing notes on the kiosk. An attempt to prepare for meeting the infamous professor finally face-to-face. When it was only approximately 5 minutes left until it was time for his class period, we slowly strode inside the building and waited outside the room. The wait was excruciatingly stressful, adding the heat outside. As if on cue, the students that were inside our supposed room slowly exited from the doors.

‘Oh shi, this is it. The stage is set. The final boss has appeared.’ Thoughts plagued my mind as we slowly entered the room as well as the exiting students left.

 

I can’t lie, seeing the said man in the center of the room felt like a boss round in a video game. Legit boss music was playing in my head as the intense atmosphere in the room didn’t help steady my thoughts on what was to come. If anything, it amplified it to a degree until he spoke into his lapel. Oh boy, did the rating went astronomical I’m not even exaggerating. To make matters worse, I found myself sitting at center of the room, literally in front of the professor himself. Not only was I at edge but in a hot seat, figuratively and literally. As he sat in the center of the room, the sound that could only heard was his voice (if that wasn’t bone-chilling at that moment of silence I don’t know what it was). I was totally taken aback and did a double-take when he said “Welcome virgins”. Your girlie had to turn to the side and literally asked a classmate beside me if what I heard was right. And if the professor wasn’t keeping on repeating the word and referred to us as “virgins”, it all made sense and clear.

 

Throughout the moment by then, the class was still silent. Only laughing at his quickly-thrown jokes at every opportunity he gets. Not gonna lie, his jokes were selling to me. I took a mental note that sir’s humor was just my cup of tea (I am sorry I feel embarrazzzedd but at the same time just feel like hitting myself in the back). Every time sir and I kept making eye contact, I felt myself burying in my chair every second. He was very, and I mean very clear, with his intentions for the class. He was not a teacher who would spoon-feed but was there to facilitate our progress, our class, our improvements. It was intimidating revelation at first, but as soon as he kept talking and explaining his points to us, it was starting to make sense. Knowledge Management meant organizing and sharing with members in a setting, in this case, the whole class.

 

He iterated again and again to not expect to much from him from the said elective course (as much as I did look forward for more) but I only hope for the best in this flow we go. He even went and evaluated our survey answers in front of the whole class (GOOD THING names weren’t displayed). I believe the climax of the class session was the “debate”. A classmate of mine answered one of his questions regarding 1 + 1 in terms of binary code. Man, it felt like they were the only people at that time and I was just speculating, lowkey looking forward to where it would escalate if they went on hehe. More underhand jokes here and there, the tension got toned down to ease. By then, my whole perspective of the said prof was slowly changing.

 

Despite all the ease slowly creeping in, the overthinker in me went ‘What if all of these were just a façade? What if he’s just waiting to catch us off guard?’. I lived in peace before those thoughts stormed in.

I was on my guard again. As if studying every move. The rumors weren’t half wrong. He was strict, yes. He was meticulous. He was tactful. He was time bounded. He was sarcastic, I couldn’t take the jokes lightly due to the reason he sounded like he meant it and was serious (got me tearing up inside conflicted with emotions).

 

To sum it all up, it was totally a great first impression is what I’d like to say. I’d even note it as one of my top 3. He was a book worth reading, a cover that shouldn’t be misjudged easily but carefully scrutinized. He left a big impression on me. He was reasonable. He wasn’t doing the things he was doing because he felt like it. No, he was ever so kind and caring enough to be able to ease the course down for us. In the end, the choice and decision to move forward lies on our hands.

𝓕𝓲𝓷