A friend told me that she has just made her lecture debut. She muttered a comment and when the lecturer asked her to repeat it louder, she obliged — and was surprised when everyone laughed. This is unusual behaviour for her. Despite the success of her lecture debut, she reckons she’ll go back to being quiet now.

My first ever lecture at uni was a 10 AM maths lecture. Being first years on our first day, the lecture theatre was full by 9:55 AM. Students sat quietly in their seats, staring straight ahead at the empty blackboard, avoiding eye contact at all costs.

By 10:20 AM, the lecturer still hadn’t shown up. A rumour started circulating: If a lecturer hadn’t come 15 minutes after the scheduled starting time, you could leave. But, you know, it’s scary being a first year on your first day. It was almost 10:30 AM when, after looking around uncertainly, we decided that the lecturer probably wasn’t going to come.

I got up with my bag, walked to the blackboard, picked up a piece of chalk and carefully drew a dinosaur.

I call him Dippy (for diplodocus). I’ve been drawing him since Grade 2 (now I’ve drawn him for my 300th blog post!).

I put the chalk down, dusted off my hands and skipped out of the door.