The Scary Thermodynamics
Honestly, this edition's prompt had me reminiscing about one of my most challenging periods in the university. To answer the prompt, I had to dig out my bachelor's transcript to check the code and title of the course that tormented me to no end.
I started my third year at the university in a somewhat relaxed mood. I mean, I've been in and around the school for two full years and was anticipating a fuller experience with fewer tricks, trips and frustrations. What I didn't know was that the biggest sucker punch yet was awaiting me in the most expected of forms. Then, before the lecture starts, the first thing we are given is the list of courses we will sit for and the names of the lecturers. As I scrolled down the list, I saw the name of a professor that I was unfamiliar with. It aroused my curiosity.
When I got back to the lodge, I talked to two of my next-door neighbors who were a year ahead of me in the same department. Immediately I mentioned the professor's name the guys were like, "What? That man is going to teach you Chemical Thermodynamics? You better start praying to God." I told them to say no more and quietly walked into my room. Without a doubt, I knew I was in deep shit because those two are not the type to sugarcoat things.
The first Chemical Thermodynamics class was a tense one. Most of my coursemates already heard the professor, a visiting professor from another university, was not the easiest of lecturers. According to legends, he was one of three people who were professors of that field in the whole country at that time. Due to his very busy schedule, we were only afforded one class of 90 minutes per week. The first class we had left us all confused and dazed, even the best students in the class were lost. Having heard that he is the kind of guy who will stop at nothing to give a student a negative score if that was what the student scored, our problems multiplied.
After three classes, we wrote the first test and it was both funny and horrifying. Have you ever sat for an exam where everyone in the exam hall looks lost and confused? I experienced that firsthand with Chemical Thermodynamics. As in, we couldn't interpret the question not to talk of answering it. We didn't know what he wanted us to do. After about ten minutes of staring at each other, we all wrote what rubbish we could think of and submit. He took the script, wrote the correction and marked those scripts right there. Highest score? 2 out of 5. Lowest score? Negative 3. Yes, you read right. He gave about 10 of us a negative score and promised them he will deduct it from whatever crap they score in their exams. Trust me, it was a disturbing experience.
Some years after those harrowing experiences I asked myself why the class struggled because we weren't all dullards. I concluded that the professor already placed us on a level we'd never broached even before he met us. He treated each class like he was discussing with his fellow professor of Chemical Thermodynamics. He couldn't break it down to the simplest of terms for us to understand. At first, it was easy to lump all the blame on him but then I concluded that if the field was that simple there'd be more than three professors of it in a country of about 200 million people. I never verified if there were just three of them or if it was bullocks, anyway.
At the end of the semester, I celebrated wildly when I saw that I scored 47% in the course. Of course, that's a terrible score but in that circumstance, it was a better one because my grade was better than that of 75% of the class. Till today, Chemical Thermodynamics gives me chills. When I enrolled in school again, I made sure I stayed clear of anything related to Thermodynamics though the tough guy still reared its ugly head. However, it was a simpler version and I was able to tackle it.
