With the spring semester of my junior year underway I'm once again subjected to picking my seat for the semester and seeing who's brave enough to sit next to me. I'm joking of course because I'm nothing but polite to my classmates, at least in an academic setting, as long as they return the favor.

As I sat in the library on Tuesday, sipping my grande hot chocolate from Starbucks and playing my Grooveshark playlist, I thought back on my first two classes and realized there's a trend in how we pick seats. First, as students we tend to leave a sit between us and the other people around us if we're strangers. I don't know what it is about that extra seat in between us that gives us comfort. We even do it in the movie theater unless there's no other choice.

I had one classmate deviate from this trend yesterday. She sat down in the seat right next to me. So, in turn I did my typical test to see what type of person I'd be next to for the next few months. I greeted her. She gave a quiet, yet polite 'hi' in return. I was satisfied.

I also noticed that when a student first walks in they scan the room. This technique is used to look for anyone you know and people you're not fond of and want to avoid. Thankfully, there was no one of that latter category in my classes so far.

Another trend is the class where you realize you know one person and thankfully you like that person. You let the whole class know by smiling brightly and immediately heading in their direction and giving an enthusiastic greeting.