Remember that girl from your LitHum class last year? And that guy that you played soccer with in PE? Probably not. But chances are you will meet them somewhere on campus and make inevitable eye contact. Now what? It’s almost imperative that you ask them about their summer (The “hey, how was your summer” jinx), but we all have a standard two-liner about our summer memorized. The harder, and potentially much more awkward part of this already-destined-to-be-awkward meeting is the initial physical contact. Neither of you know how close you actually are—the
first post-summer meeting establishes your relationship for 2012-2013.
So what do you do? Here are some of your options:
Ignore: Forget what I said about asking about their summer. Let’s face it, chances are you’re not going to suddenly like someone you hardly knew last year. And any form of acknowledgement on this first encounter forces the same routine the next time you meet, except that you’ll have to ask them about their classes. Looking away avoids any further obligation of contact, although it might be awkward if you are forced to ‘introduce’ yourself because you’re in the same CC class this year.
