I sat in on an organic chemistry recitation as a liberal arts major
I was less than 20 minutes in and I wanted to die
As a Journalism and Media Studies and Art History double major, it’s pretty safe to say that I’m out of my depth to sit in on an orgo lecture. For as long as I can remember, I was terrible at math and science. I only passed honors chemistry and honors physics in high school because I cheated off my scientifically inclined friends. Also, for every assignment, we could have an infinite number of do-overs. I took a math placement test before I got to college and I got my placement in elementary algebra. I ended up dropping that class.
I have a deep respect for science and I deeply respect anyone who understands it, but I know I’m acutely aware of my shortcomings in this field. But just for kicks, I decided I should sit in and see if I understood any of it.
I laughed when I saw this in my Clock app
8:30 am : I roll out of my bed on College Ave and really regret my decision.
9:00 am : Haul my ass to the Rutgers Student Center bus stop to catch an F bus.
9:20 am: Hey, I’m early! Which is good, because I don’t know where the auditorium is…
9:23 am: I think I found it… I position myself far in the back and right next to the door so I can bust out without disturbing too many people in case this gets really, really grim.
Um, is this the auditorium? I hope so..
9:24 am: Whoa, for some reason I thought it would be mostly guys in this class. It’s a fair 50/50 split. Go female STEM majors!
9:25 am: This class also has way fewer people than I was expecting… I hope I have a familiar looking face so they don’t catch on to me. Can they smell the art museum smell on me?
9:26 am: Orgo- impostor. Orgo-postor. Pasta. I’m hungry. I should’ve had breakfast.
9:31 am: Prof where ya at?
9:33 am: A slim, white woman with glasses enters the room and drops a stack of papers on the stage without saying a word. Everyone, I mean EVERYONE, gets up and stampedes to the front to get a piece of paper. Should I go up and get myself a worksheet so they don’t get suspicious of me? What if the professor only printed out the exact number of copies for students in the class? What if someone who needs the paper doesn’t get one and I’m sitting there with a piece of paper I don’t even need?
9:34 am: The woman puts on a slideshow and the first slide says it’s a recitation for Chemistry 307. I panic. I guess this isn’t the auditorium? I’m in the wrong room? Awkward… what do I do?
9:35 am: I consult with Google and it says that Chem 307 is Organic Chemistry. Phew. The woman has begun to recite things. Recitate things. No, no. Recite. Yes. That’s the word.
9:36 am: Have you ever walked into church and it’s all good and jolly with the opening hymns and beginning procession, and then you sit down and they start speaking Italian or Spanish and you immediately realize that you have to go immediately? This is what I’m feeling right now.
9:40 am: Radical resonance and now something about bond cleavages. Didn’t know breasts were involved in orgo.
9:44 am: The professor is really sweet and trying her best to get the class involved and make them answer her questions but no one says a word. Same, orgo friends, same. She vaguely reminds me of Bernadette from The Big Bang Theory. Cute!
9:48 am: Something about ‘homolytic’ and ‘heterolytic’ things. There are lines on the slide which I think are supposed to represent bonds? Formations? Human stick figures? Abstract artwork? I’m at a loss.
What are those lines?
9:55 am: iClicker question with a chemical equation. All of the answers look pretty much the same with the exception of maybe 2 or 3 different numbers or letters. The answers look like something you’d pull out of a bag of Scrabble. I’m so bored right now I actually want to play Scrabble.
9:56 am: D was the right answer choice. So, cleavage, homo vs. hetero, and the D. I see you, orgo…
Glad to see this girl is just as confused as me
9:57 am: I’m less than 20 minutes in and I want to die.
10:00 am: Some of my friends have an 80-minute orgo lecture followed by a 55 minute recitation. That’s 2 hours and 15 minutes of orgo straight. I have just one question: HOW ?
10:06 am: My jeans are more interesting to look at than this slide show. It could be on account that I have no idea what’s happening, but I still have a feeling that if I somehow, miraculously, understood this shit, I would still rather cut my toes off and eat them than be at this recitation.
10:08 am: Fuck this shit. I am done. I am over it. Over it. BYE.
10:09 am: A not-so-stealthy escape from the Food Science Building Auditorium and I’m free.
10:10 am: Run. Run far away.
10:11 am: Hey, wait. This building is actually really pretty.
The only good thing about this Orgo experience is that I got to see pretty parts of campus I haven’t seen before
10:12 am: But I’m still outta here.
10:13 am: I feel like if any building is most in need of a playground, it’s certainly the one that houses orgo classes. Cute.
How orgo kids de-stress?
10:18 am: Still out here.
10:21 am: Cook/Douglass is so pretty, but too rural for me.
Cook/Douglass is gorgeous
10:25 am: I hop on an F bus and go back to College Ave. I was defeated by orgo. It won and I lost.
If you’re a chem major, bless you. I don’t know how you do it. My brain hurt and I couldn’t even sit through the full recitation. My experience was dreadful and I’ll gladly take writing and looking at art over literally anything, but especially over some orgo.