I was sitting in Spanish class yesterday morning learning about the grammar of perfect tense. As much as I tried to focus on the lesson being given by my enthusiastic professor, the spectacle outside of a nearby window continued to grab my attention. I couldn’t help but notice how, although the sun was shining when I had first arrived to class, it was now raining heavily. As I stared out the window at students running for cover from the swiftly changing weather of the morning, I was reminded of my first visit to the University of Oregon two years ago.
Although I had been warned several times by friends and family about the sometimes unfavorable weather of Oregon, I remember feeling hopeful and excited about what this school had to offer me. My mom and I, after arriving to Eugene, decided to walk from our hotel to campus because it was a decent and mostly sunny day. By the time we reached only a few blocks from campus, however, we were stuck hiding under the awning of a bus stop from a rainstorm that was nonexistent less than ten minutes ago.
Giggling to myself as I reminisced on this moment, I suddenly realized that it was nearing the end of class and I still had no idea how to arrange a Spanish written sentence in perfect tense. The distraction of the world occurring outside of my Spanish classroom hindered my gaining of significant knowledge needed for my class.
What an intense, unexpected role weather plays in our attention spans. My post was also about the weather, and welcoming springtime sunshine to Eugene. When transferring to UO, I also took the various rain-related warnings with a grain of salt, and now I’m drenched from head to toe half of the time. Perhaps this is our little punishment for not taking the warnings seriously enough.
I suppose if there is a distraction plaguing you, one of the most wholesome distractions is sunshine, right? Even cold-blooded animals want to get out in the sun and bask on a rock. It’s understandable that the warm-blooded want in on it, too, even if our relatively giant brains are preoccupied with Spanish, schoolwork, etc.
Oregon weather, especially in spring, is definitely a spectacle! I often find myself distracted by the quick changes outside the window, but loosing that concentration during Spanish class can be really rough later on! I personally love the Oregon weather and find its bipolar personality pretty amusing to watch, but I hope that doesn’t affect you negatively in the long run!
Your post made me wonder where you’re from? Moving from Florida to Oregon is a lot different than moving from Ohio to Oregon! I hope you’re loving the distracting abilities of Oregon days! The weather here is so special and unique that many of us who have lived here our whole lives can’t imagine living anywhere else.
I really enjoyed reading this because I can relate to sitting by a window and automatically getting distracted. There is something about sitting by a window that brings me in, but then again I know how much my eyes tend to wander in spite of my love for people watching. I love how you mentioned the rain because the rain serves as both a distraction and a relaxing background noise. And, just as you concluded: all the sudden time has progressed and your still staring at the rain. Very interested!