where we walk

there are only so many ways to get from one place to another on campus. and they all tend to provide awkward encounters, and fake hello's. Let's take a closer look:

SIDEWALKS - a small paved path with connections to the entire campus.
*During class hours, if you are walking on the sidewalk, you get to revel in the tension that is: walking towards a single person, for what feels like an eternity. You have the time to figure out if you know them, and if you do, whether you want to simply 1)smile 2)say "hi" 3)ask "how are you?"
And if you don't know them, do you 1)look away 2)pretend to be on your phone 3)smile
*Inbetween class hours, if you are a fast walker (like myself), it is almost a game of: how many people can I pass, and in what direction?

ELEVATORS - small enclosed rooms that relieve you from the work it takes to walk up or down flights of stairs.
*Generally, you can sneak into an elevator alone, in which case, there is nothing wrong.
*If the elevator stops for you, and there is someone already inside, there is instant embarrassment...because it means you were too lazy to just take the stairs. from the first floor, it is only 4 flights of stairs to get to the ground level...I mean, really. And then you have to decided how to stand in the elevator, awkwardly, with the other person...in silence.
*Also...the elevator reaches the floor, dings a bell, and THEN opens the doors. What an embarrassing split second when you go to walk out of the elevator, and the doors are still not open...like you thought they'd be.

DOORS - valves to get in and out of buildings...full of traffic between classes.
*On the Luther campus, there are three dorms (miller, dieseth, and ylvi) of students who pass through the science building to get through the rest of campus...a warm oasis from the cold. This means a lot of opening and closing of doors. Most students are traveling to class at the same time, which means a bulk of people, generally not talking to each other. You start form a line feeding in and out of the doors, one person opening it first, and everyone else continuing to prop it open as they walk through. This whole scene tends to diminish polite conduct. In the normal world, or in a one-time instance, you'd say thank you to the person to opens the door. But in this case, if you do that, you just sound like a broken record. Because you'll be saying thank you to the same person at least 4 times in less than 30 seconds....awkward.

Or...you could just skip all this over analyzing...i'm just saying...i think about it. I really don't feel that awkward all the time, but it does happen.