Thursday, December 23, 2010

Next semester instead of last

It was the morning of the first day of classes. I didn't have class til 11, so I got up at 8:30. I spent an hour or so talking to Matt about Spongebob before deciding to get ready for class. The shower was unavailable, so I still had to wait. I waited and waited. We weren't in our same apartment by the way, we were in the same old building that looked vaguely like Taunusstrasse 8a, except my room was much bigger and had more impressive windows. We had a patio in almost the same place as the UMW apartment, so while I was waiting I took a walk. The door didn't lead to a parking lot, but instead to a huge expanse of grass and a forest. I was certain I was alone, but I didn't realize I wasn't wearing anything but my underwear until a bunch of girls came over the hill to yell at me. "This is the last time we let you get away with such indecency!" I didn't recall ever doing this sort of thing before. The one who accused me clarified that she was talking about the time I wore a short skirt outside. I was still in my underwear, and I excused myself to go inside. One of the girls mentioned to me that it was after 11:00, and I was going to miss class.
I went inside, and was able to get dressed and 20 minutes of class left. I wasn't able to shower. But this building was further from Combs than the usual apartment. By the time I got there I had indeed missed class. So I went to Herr Rotter's office to apologize and ask what I missed. He wasn't in his office, a woman was. She told me to go through the double doors at the end of the hallway and then go left. This part of Combs didn't exist before winter break. I went through and found the office she spoke of. It was barely bigger than a closet (figures they'd do that to Herr Rotter). Rotter wasn't in there either, but there was a girl about my age sitting at the desk with her back to the door. She identified herself as his assistant, and said she'd give me the work I missed. First I had to take the quick quiz Herr Rotter had given, it was a single question about the dative case and the subjunctive. I got it right. Then I received the syllabus, a leather-bound notebook with a picture of an owl and my name on it, and a pile of scantrons an inch thick that I was to work through over the course of the semester.
After this I walked back through the building, thinking I'd go to the book store for a binder to put these scantrons in, then get lunch at the nest. As I walked through the hallway-that-does-not-exist, which was now full of students, I noticed there were little divots in the walls. I asked a student what these were for, but he ignored me. Then the door I was heading towards started moving forward. The hallway got shorter and shorter very quickly, I was going to get crushed against the opposing wall if I didn't get out of the way. I ducked into a classroom, one that had been on the other side of the double doors when I first went down this hallway. I noticed others ducking into those divots. My question answered, I woke up.

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