As all good Cornellians know, class begins in August and August weather should be overcast leading into rain.  Today hit check 1 and check 2 as the first day of classes ended a sprinkling of precipitation.  But classes bring more than just classes, they bring awkwardness.

Surely we all know the sensation -- the all-too-familiar tingle down the spine and tension of nerves -- when we see someone that we know but don't really know.  Maybe you and the stranger hung out that one time at that place or drank beer at a party together and shared a joke.  Or maybe you two lived on the same floor.  Or maybe you even had sex (-ual intercourse, best known as coitus) with each other.  No matter what the relationship was at one point, it isn't not the same now (that your sober) and both parties realize it's best just to ignore the other.  You look down, you pull out your phone, you go in take a totally roundabout and illogical route around campus just to avoid eye contact.  They do the same.

The awkwardness is priceless as you and your friend-cum-stranger avert your eyes and act distant or deep in thought.  And so, as the leaves will soon turn colors, we too shall turn from strangers to friends and back to strangers the following morn, but only because of our classes.  Our classes that bring us all together, and yet, because of their sober nature, keep us apart.