Retrospect: the lab partner, part 0

Self-tutoring about life in the past: the tutor reflects about a lab partner he had.

In university, I didn’t like labs much. I took physics and chemistry first and second year, but afterwards I’d had enough of labs. That’s why I finally switched to a math major – to get away from them.

My first physics lab, in my very first physics course, we (each on our own) found the right room and showed up around 5 to 10 minutes early. Back then, attendance at labs was mandatory, so showing up on time most people took pretty seriously. The lab room wasn’t the same as the physics lecture room, so there was a little uncertainty about finding it, as I recall — especially since the instructor wouldn’t be the same either, so you wouldn’t immediately know if you’d reached the right place.

The instructor was already inside the room as we waited outside. He called us in from the hall at the appropriate time (3:30, I think). He was a grad student, maybe five or ten years older than us.

I didn’t know anyone else there, but we had to work in partners; it became a bit like a schoolyard pick. I ended up with a guy who might have been a bit awkward, kind of like me. We took seats, some directions from the lab instructor, and set to work.

From then on, the physics lab happened once per week, 3:30 to 6:30 pm. We never knew what next lab would be about; often they didn’t line up with what we were doing in the course. My lab partner wasn’t really a science person, but he showed up each week, and together we’d figure out the lab.

He didn’t talk much about himself, but was about my age, and much more “normal” than I was. He went to movies (I almost never did that) and had “a life” (which I didn’t). He was taking a general selection of courses. He didn’t make jokes often, but the humourous observations he made were funny.

It seems odd now, how I could have worked so closely with someone for hours at a time, once per week for 3 1/2 months, yet known so little about them. Yet, kids are like that: they meet each other and relate easily, not needing the background someone older might imagine. I could tell the guy was all right, so didn’t ask any further. He was the same – he never asked me anything.

Interestingly, we never talked at physics lecture, which happened three other times a week. We just met weekly for the lab and pushed through as best we could. After our last lab that December, I never saw him again.