a performing professor

On the first day of class, my professor called roll, making comments on the various names and asking us about nicknames, etc etc.  All very ordinary and typical.
Then he arrived at my name.
"Molly Malone."
"Here."  I raised my hand.
He stopped and peered at me over his glasses.
"Did your parents know..."
"No, they didn't know," I replied quickly, "but I know.  I know about the restaurants and bars and hotels and songs by name.  I know."
I love my name, but I don't prefer to have class time taken up discussing its sheer awesomeness.  It can become very distracting.
"Would you like to sing your song for the class?"  He seemed genuinely excited about the idea.
"Ah, no, I'd rather not."
"Fine then, I will!"
Thus the class was treated to a somewhat off-key rendition of "Molly Malone" by our short, roundish professor on the first day of class.
Thankfully he only sang the first verse.

a perceptive partner

I took a social dance class.  The first day of class, as I moved from partner to partner, I made an effort to learn all their names.  One partner was a bit more ambitious.
"Hello," He greeted me.
"Hello."
He looked me up and down.
"Let me guess, you're kind of an artsy type, you like odd music, and you watch films, not movies."

He was exactly right.

a clean classmate

The class in our room before us had left a box of donut holes at the front of the room.  As my class was about to start, we passed around the box, enjoying the unexpected treat.
I finished mine as the professor started lecturing, and began opening a document on my laptop in which to take notes.
"Psst!"
The student behind me hailed me none-too-subtly.
I turned and glanced at him, trying not to disrupt class.
"Your hands are dirty!  You need this so you won't get germs on your laptop!"
Before I could respond he tossed me a small bottle of hand sanitizer.  Somewhat creeped out, I opened the bottle and upended it to put a bit in my palm.  Eager to be of service, my classmate mimed rubbing his hands together so that I would know what to do with the substance I now held.
Finished, I handed back the bottle and mouthed the words "Thank you," still a bit confused by his gesture.
Smiling, he held his hands up to his nose.
I frowned, confused.
He repeated the gesture, whispering, "smell your hands!"
I turned back to my laptop, somewhat disturbed.

He caught me after class.
"Did you recognize that smell?"  He asked eagerly.
"No, uh, no, I didn't."
"It's rosemary!"
Delighted with himself, he scurried away down the hall.

random hugs are nice

I was at a college basketball game.  There was a guy in the first women's restroom I tried.  In an effort to avoid embarrassing him, I slipped out and walked down to the next one on the hall.
Half an hour later, I was walking down the hall again during a time out.  A young man hailed me.
"Hey, can you tell my friend here where the men's restroom is?"
Perplexed, I turned and was about to point out the restrooms ten feet from where we stood when in recognized the fellow's friend as the guy I had seen in the women's restroom earlier.
"The men's bathroom is right there."  I pointed it out.  "Don't confuse it with the women's restroom, which is over there.  There was a guy in there earlier, you wouldn't want to embarrass yourself like that."
Realizing I had seen him, the fellow's eyes widened and he began to laugh.  Wrapping me in a huge bear hug he thanked me heartily and left, almost crying from laughter.

a starbucks homecoming

It was nearing the end of the second day I had been home.  I had been gone for a full week.
The two of us walked to Starbucks.  We met another friend.  Bear hugs were exchanged.
We chose a table, just the two of us.
For the next two hours we covered it all.  Friends, children, siblings, homework, saline, gingerbread, and elephant seals.  We groaned, laughed, rolled our eyes, and received text messages.
After mulling over the problems of our small world we determined that we could solve none of them.  After some thought we decided that the Christmas blend would not be improved by the addition of mistletoe.  After two hours we still had so much to say.

an eager editor

I left a paper covered in my professor's notes in the campus Starbucks.  When I got it back, some other student had added his notes to the entire thing, suggesting edits and making comical remarks in the margins.

A problem-solving professor

In the middle of her lecture, her phone rings.  It wasn't a particularly loud ring, or even a particularly annoying, but by virtue of ringing at all, the phone offended her.

Mid-sentence, my professor turns, snatches up her entire bag, opens the classroom door, and deposits the offending item in the hallway.

She shuts the door after it, turns back to the class, and continues teaching as if nothing had happened.

Five minutes later, she begins to frown a bit and seems distracted.

"I'm sorry, I'm kind of paranoid."

My professor opens the door and brings her bag safely back into class.