Following high school my father let me go on tour with him in the Spring and Fall and hang around the beach in the Summer.  I would pester my father to let me have a job at the label but he kept on about needing a college degree to get anywhere in life, despite knowing my dislike for school in general.  After 3 years on the road, and my life going nowhere fast, we made a deal that when I graduated from college he would get me a good job at the record label doing marketing, otherwise he would be cutting me off financially the following year.

As I step into my first classroom and pull my headphones out of my ears I find an empty desk in the back of the classroom, which I hoped to make my permanent seat.  I noticed only 15 other people in my class and none seemed to recognize who I was which made me at ease.  Soon after 10 a.m. my professor charged into the room and sat down a single file folder on the front desk.  He plucked through the papers in it and pulled out a sheet and began calling role.  Once again, no one seemed to make the connection with my name.  When he finished with the role a young blond girl stood with a stack of papers and began setting one on each desk.  She was some sort of assistant of his, I assumed.  My professor cleared his throat and began his introduction to the course:

“Okay class, I am Dr. Robertson and you are in Marketing 2300, Media and Advertising.  As you can tell from your one page syllabus I am a no nonsense professor and I’m not going to waste your time lecturing countless hours on meaningless information you will most likely not retain after the course.  On your syllabus there are 4 sections, the first is my graduate assistant, Spencer, and my own office locations and hours as well as contact information.  Below that is a schedule for the class.  After that is a breakdown of grading; 45% for the first presentation at midterm, 45% for the second presentation during finals, and 10% for attendance.  As you may notice on the schedule you are only required to attend class every third week, however, the weeks you do not have class you are required to attend a 30 minute meeting with either Spencer or myself to discuss the status of your project.  Spencer will now be passing out a personalized sheet which will explain the details of the first project and your assigned adviser for the project, as well as your weekly meeting time.  If there are no further questions, you may be dismissed after you receive your project details.  Remember your first meeting will be next week.”

Spencer seemed to be a reserved girl, probably somewhere around my age since she was a graduate assistant, and had the most stunning blue eyes I had ever seen.  She walked up to my desk and asked “Ashley?  Ashley Davies, am I correct?”

“Yes, that’s me.”