Gold Weaver

chapter ii

Hasanii University's reputation far preceded their little island, and practically every lecture hall was filled to the brim with a wide variety of ecstatic, wide-eyed students. For the professor, this was the norm. To him it was just another introductory course he had to teach to ensure the students would have a good foundation before they got their hands on the juicer subjects, but for Noah the whole thing was breathtaking.

Besides, it was a class she would've loved to have as a freshman in her bachelors - The History of Humans and Fisheries. The ancient world of fisheries and mankind's dependence on the sea had always been fascinating to her, and she had no doubt that the location of the university lended it to uniquely relevant perspectives. Oh if they only knew how lucky they are, Noah mused as the students poured in.

Perhaps she had dressed up a bit more 'business-formal' than what was needed to be, but could you blame her? She looked up towards the crowd of students before her. A lot of recent high school graduates, some older students who wanted the chance to learn again, and retirees who wanted more. They whispered and giggled amongst themselves, pulling out laptops and ipads, notebooks and loose pieces of paper.

She remembered when she was like them. Young and wide-eyed, not knowing to expect as she took her first seat at her first lecture as a college student. It was overwhelming and enthralling, terrifying and yet almost addicting. She remembered making quick friends with the students beside her, and how quickly those friendships turned into inside jokes about seaweed and salt.

Noah watched quietly as the professor went on with his lecture. For her, it was all review, mostly going over the syllabus and basic vocab. The professor, Dr. Jeff Anderson, gave a less than passionate introduction of himself before gesturing over to Noah. "And this is the TA for this class, Miss Noah Allen," he waved his hand over at Noah's general direction and the crowd mumbled a chorus of 'hellos' and 'hi.'

Noah stood from behind the desk she was sitting at, excitedly offering the crowd a small wave. "Hello," she said. "My email should be on the front page of your Canvas if you ever need help with your coursework or have questions about the lecture."

"Thank you, Miss Allen," the professor waved her off as he turned his heels to refocus on the lecture.

As she sat behind the desk, Noah took a mental count of all the students in attendance. There were....a lot. And she'd have to grade the work of all of them. Well, most of them, at least. The unfortunate reality was that some of those students would leave by the end of the week.

Maybe the class was too hard.

Maybe the timing didn't fit into their schedule.

Or maybe they were just in the wrong class and too self-aware to say anything.

Still, even with some of the students disappearing to wherever their paths took them, it was still a lot of students she'd have to be keeping track of. A class like this probably didn't have too many people leaving. It was an elective, after all, and even though it was still time-consuming it wouldn't have the same level of technical difficulty like their other prerequisite classes like Biology I or Organic Chemistry.

She shuddered at the thought of having to do organic chemistry.

Never again.

The class went off without a hitch, and the students were pretty attentive outside of the occasional distraction from the wannabe class clown. The professor wasn't nearly as amused as Noah was, but beside that there was nothing particularly of note for Noah's first day - save for the fact that it was the first day.

As the students began to empty out the lecture hall, the professor approached her with a tired look on his face. "So," he gestured over to the now mostly-empty seats, "what did you think? We'll have some more hands-on work for you soon. We do have a lab scheduled for Wednesday, but this should be the status quo for lectures, at least."