Closing Hour

     I'm currently sitting in the FLLC at 9:30. I can tell that there are two, maybe three, students in the center right now. We close at 10 and there are usually just a few stragglers that stay to finish up homework or make sure that they can conjugate all the right verbs for their quiz tomorrow. Right now, Shaydon is talking word etymologies and a student is loudly typing away on the computer. 

     "I just don't understand" says a language student. It's pretty common to hear here. 

     A wall of foreign magazines sits behind me and I can't help but think how much I'll miss this place once I graduate. When I think about it, I've spent so much of my time junior and senior year here and it really does feel like a second home. Even when there's not the noise and bustle that comes with afternoon shifts, the center is still exciting. Every day I feel like I find and learn different things. I've been learning a few phrases in Russian and can confidently say a few German words, albeit with a pretty bad accent, but hey. I'm trying.

     About 10 minutes have passed. I'm staring at a lost water bottle that has been sitting in our lost and found for weeks and wondering at what point it becomes socially acceptable to just take it. One would think the owner would have come back, but maybe not. Maybe if it's still here at Christmas...

     Shaydon is talking about gender roles in languages and there's still 20 minutes left in this shift. I love the FLLC, I really do. But closing hour is the hardest.