Crowd Navigation

Some people are born for crowds. They have a natural sense of navigation, don’t mind the invasion of personal space, or just feel at home in a large group of other human beings. These people thrive in populated places such as New York City, Chicago, and your average college campus. Others, like me, feel like they’re stepping into six-lane traffic when entering a crowded area, looking both ways and checking blind spots and ultimately just going forwards, praying that no one will collide with them.

As a chronic introvert, I tend to avoid large public spaces, though venturing out in the real world can be fun on occasion. Ever since locker rooms in middle school I’ve always been afraid of knocking into people, or being knocked, because it’s happened frequently. Once, this burly absolute unit of a high school senior ploughed into me, knocking me to the cold tile floor, and ever since then I’ve resented high school boys always felt like I’m going to crash into some other person when we get too close. Getting over that fear when driving was fun, but while head-on collisions are less dangerous without giant metal vehicles, they’re far more common and still a threat. Especially when I hate being touched by strangers.

So, college can be a struggle. Sometimes the Quad is almost completely empty, and sometimes I feel like I’m going to take a nosedive and take out three other bustling students on the way. With sore legs from exercising in Hadlock, heavy backpack over my shoulders, and the frantic need to be on time to class, I feel every inch the frazzled college student portrayed in every realistic piece of media; tired, weighed down by homework, and really not ready to be in the same space as a couple thousand other people. But that’s kind of what college is, isn’t it?

To be fair, it’s much better than a public college would be, but some spaces- like the bridge over the canyon- are just not built for a ton of people to walk across at once, and there are a lot of factors that just make it worse. First of all, I am a fast walker. Especially when I have somewhere urgent to go. I tend to walk at least a little bit faster than most people, and passing them can be awkward… but not as awkward as slowing down to be stuck behind one person and dogging their footsteps. Second, lots of people tend to walk in groups, while I usually walk alone from class to class. Being surrounded by posses of girls talking loudly and clusters of guys laughing at some dumb joke not only makes it feel a little lonely to walk by myself, but also just makes it harder to get places. Have you ever tried to walk around a three-person group on a bridge that’s only about four people wide? Inevitably you collide with someone going the opposite direction, or someone has to slow down and stare awkwardly and let the other pass. Why do groups of people all walk next to each other in a line instead of a comfortable clump? It makes it harder for a lot of people around them. Not to mention the physical difficulties… some sidewalks are narrow, some are broken up in places and waiting to trip. There are some flights of stairs where annoyingly tall people go up two steps at a time and the slower people either meander uncaringly on their phones or hop quickly to keep up.

What’s worse than all these problems is… all of them combined. When I get out of my Theo 102 lecture class alongside at least half of the other freshmen, there is complete pandemonium. It’s like if every single commuter tried to merge onto the highway at the exact same time. Stay near the front of the group and you’re fine… but if you’re caught in the middle? Oh boy. Ohhhhh boy. Get ready for a real test of navigation skills and mental capacity, because you’re going to need every ounce of patience you can get.

It’s like traffic, if most people ignored the rules. There’s a slow lane and a passing lane, but some people take up both lanes and some are too slow to pass and some just straight up don’t let you get into the other lane. You get stuck in a strange pace, somewhere between a stride and a march, carefully timed not to flat-tire anyone’s shoes or disrupt the chaotic flow. More often than not, the road and sidewalk and bridge are one enormous puddle, with varying levels of depth, and so droplets of water get splashed onto tennis shoes, making socks damp and people annoyed. Any attempt to avoid a particularly deep puddle is met with the possibility of colliding into someone else, or slowing down the rhythm of walkers. If it’s raining, umbrellas may bump into each other, or people in wet sweatshirts might hurry even more than normal trying to get to whatever building they need to. Some people are talking to others, some are on their phones, some are just trying as hard as possible to avoid eye contact with strangers or, worse, acquaintances.

It’s bedlam, to be perfectly honest.

But I’d be lying if I said that even though it’s annoying to have to walk around all these people, I do kind of love the sense of community. Being part of a group is something I enjoy, introvert or not, and something about being close to so many people makes me really feel like I’m included in something. So while I hate collisions and physical contact with strangers, and being forced to slow down because of the loud girls in front of me with colorful buttons all over their jackets, I love walking on campus. It really does give you the feel of college.