It’s happened to the best of us. You spend the evening chatting it up with someone in your hall/suite/living unit and end with that fateful question: “Hey, what time do you have class tomorrow?” The other person answers: “10 a.m.” You obviously start at 10 and pose the question: “Hey, wanna walk over together?” The person nods excitedly and your plan is set.
Stop right there.
That was a terrible idea. Who wants to combine potential friends and cheerful conversation with the terrible situation that is the morning? Walking to class together requires an obscene number of decisions. Will you and your friend eat breakfast? Where shall that happen? Oh, you just want to grab coffee? Nope, I don’t have any Dining Dollars. Okay no problem, we’ll meet at the corner outside Starbucks.
Breakfast issues resolved, the hard part seems to be over. Oh wait, one more question: "What time do you leave for class?" I’ve heard answers to this question ranging from 20 minutes before to two minutes before the class begins. These people cannot walk to class together. You agree on a time, likely a middle–ground compromise that is sure to disrupt each of your morning routines in some annoying way that causes you to forget your umbrella/water bottle/something crucial to your happiness.
Even if all these issues are addressed, there remains a good chance that this person will be late/get nervous and leave early/sleep in/skip class/turn out to be far from a morning person and you will arrive to class more disgruntled than usual with an opinion of your new friend colored harshly by their morning habits (which is truly a terrible way to judge people).
If, after all this, you still think walking to class with a friend is a good idea, I offer you one strategy: waiting. Keep talking to new people. If you see them walking into Williams at the same exact time as you day after day, they might be a nice walking buddy. Walking buddies are like five–layer cakes: they either look magnificent or topple over in a colossal failure. There’s not much in between.
So yes, I like to make friends. I’m a big fan of meeting new people and bonding with them. I’d totally love to get to know you, maybe at Kiwi or Metro or anywhere other than on the way to class. Talk to you later, I have a 2 p.m.
