For the final class of the first day, Rohan found himself in a room which was noticeably larger than the last, and was shaped more to be akin to an auditorium, rather than the classroom-sized room he was in for his first class. However, the room wasn't too massive, as it still felt somewhat personal, but it was clear that it was meant to hold more students.
More strangers, as Rohan didn't know a single person who'd attend this class, but he knew that he could easily survive with self sufficiency if necessary, for friends were a simple luxury, and their aid was not a necessity to survive. Much of the seats by the long curved rows of tables were already taken by unknown faces, as Rohan could've been earlier, but at least he wasn't late by any means besides his own.
He sighs to himself as those who followed him pass, and search to claim seats for their own. He however stays stopped, his eyes surveying the different seats, trying to find which would be the best, as he guessed that once he took it he'd have to stay there for the rest of the day.
His eyes lock onto the front row, as it would let him get the best view of the lecture, and lucky for him it seems not many other people choose seats in that row, besides a few students. His eyes go for the closest seat to the center, and he approaches it, walking down the central aisle and towards the front row.
Rohan sits down in the seat only two from the center, as the central seats have been taken, but he was able to make the best of it. He then holds his hand out, activating his Connect to project two screens out in front of him, and he precisely moves them to not be in the way of the other students.
As Rohan sets up his work station, which really entails setting his Connect up by navigating through the college app to find the page of his class, he hears more students enter the room, shuffling and tossing words.
Rohan opens the class page on his left screen while keeping his right screen open in case he needs it, and once he does, he hears a mature feminine voice speak over the classroom with an assertive yet energetic voice, which says "Welcome class! I see people are still coming in, so I'll wait a bit before we begin!"
Rohan perks his head up to see a woman walk from the left side of the room towards the middle, in front of all the tables, as she was clearly the professor and was heading to her podium. As she approaches the podium, a screen flashes on the wall next to her, showing a large welcome screen with the message 'WELCOME TO INTRODUCTION TO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE."
He watches the professor stroll towards the podium, as he was now ready to learn, however he could tell the feeling wasn't completely mutual as he hears other students bicker quietly while fighting to find seating.
The professor stops at the podium, and she turns to see students arguing in the back row, as it seemed there weren't any more seats left, and two students were still standing. The professor then looks down to see that there were still five seats left in the front row, and she looks back up at the argument.
She then says out loud, "Hey, please stop fighting. If you need somewhere to sit, there are plenty of seats here in the first row. Come on, unless you want to stand for an hour."
The two students turn to the professor, and they groan with annoyance before silently following, taking the aisle down to the front row, and taking the seats closest to the corner as possible, even though that meant only two seats next to Rohan.
Rohan hears the students grunt quietly as they seat themselves, clearly wanting to have seats farther back, but not having been able to acquire them due to being more late.
It was unfortunate, as they weren't technically late, but rather it seemed everyone else just happened to be early, so much so that Rohan in comparison seemed late, something he figured he had to fix for next class.
He turns his attention back to the professor, deciding not to concern over the students any longer, as the situation was resolved and they would most likely deal with it internally and then work to get to class earlier next time to have more luxury of choice.
The professor reads the classroom for a few moments before exclaiming "Okay, that looks like everyone, let's begin now! I am your professor, Mrs. Frieda, and I will be teaching this class, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence. This class is predominantly a freshman or sophomore class, but if you're above that, have no worries, everyone can choose what pace they want to go at! Don't worry about taking notes today either, as today we'll just be setting up, so you won't have any homework either! Isn't that nice? We're just going to get to know each other today, and make some friends! I want you people to get to know each other so you have buddies to go to when things get tough, just as long as you don't cheat."
After the professor says the last line, she gives a glare around the classroom, grabbing the attention of a few students who were caught speaking quietly.
She then continues, "There will be partner and group projects in the future, so you can talk then, but please listen to the lectures when I'm speaking. Now, there are a few resources you all need to download first, since this is still a class and we still have work! Now everyone, open your class pages and follow me as we had to the resource page!"
Just like the other class, the professor directs the students to a page in the app where there is a list of links to help students download programs that they would presumably need for the class. Unlike the first class however, Rohan realizes that he recognized far less of the programs, and he needed to download more, but more importantly he needed to get familiar with more.
The professor begins going down the rather long list of programs, with every program featuring its own few slides of the presentation as the screen changes constantly, showing icons of the program along with bulleted notes explaining its functionality.
Eventually, the professor gets to the final link, where she changes slides to one about a program called 'Synapse,' and she speaks about how the class was to later use it for database-related purposes when developing more sophisticated AI programs.
Some of the students listen and download the program while a few in the back speak quietly.
Mrs. Frieda approaches the conclusion of her explanation, "-least amount of code actually, but it requires a whole other set of skills, which we'll get to when we need it. This program will be used later on however since it'll only be needed for higher level programs when we want our programmed friends to be able to access information that we might not be able to store locally. But with all that said, that is everything you need, and now you have all the programs you'll need for the course! Rejoice, you can now relax and know that you're all ready and prepared to take on this new challenge! I know each and one of you have the talent and will have the skill to face this, so no matter what, don't give up, I'll always be happy to help if I have time! Now, does anyone have any questions?"
Right after Mrs. Frieda asks her last question, the door to the classroom dissolves open, and a girl sprints into the room, panting heavily as though she had been sprinting.
Mrs. Frieda looks up at the girl who had entered the class, and her expression changes from excitement to confusion, asking "Who are you?"
Rohan turns to the girl after hearing her burst in, and after the professor turns her attention. His eyes immediately widen as he looks upon the girl, and he nearly lets out a gasp, but manages to reserve it to no more but an inhale.
The girl who had entered the classroom was wearing a light green blazer over a black shirt, but her face was recognizable to Rohan, who realized that she was that girl who he saw in the elevator on the first day on campus, and the same girl who asked the question earlier that day.
The one with the roommate.
Now, she is standing by the door, wheezing as she tries to regain herself for recomposure, while the professor stares blankly.
The girl lifts her head up to the professor, and she says, "Sorry I'm late, I'm Erica Castus, I'm here for Artificial Intelligence, sorry I'm late!!"
Mrs. Frieda gives a cold death stare at the new student, and she speaks in a completely different voice alien from her excited one, but now with a dead sternness, as she asks "Do you know how late you are, Miss Castus?"
Erica lowers her head in shame, and she lets out a soft sigh, quietly responding "Yes...I'm sorry...I was…-"
Mrs. Frieda interrupts her, "Busy? Find a seat, and hope that one of these students is kind enough to bring you up to speed. I want you here before the class begins from after today, are we clear?"
Erica nods her head quickly, and she answers "Yes, sorry!"
She then walks down the aisle as a few of the students watch her, surprised that someone would have come so late to class, especially on the first day, especially when there was nothing else for hours before.
However, the students turn their attention back to the professor once Erica passes them, waiting.
The professor sighs, and she turns back to the rest of the class before showing a wide smile, and seemingly switching back to her joyful side, as the screen changes to a screen that simply says 'ICEBREAKER' with images of ice cubes and laser drills. She then begins to speak in her excited voice again, seemingly trying to start up an interactive activity, judging by the audible groans.
As Rohan listens to the instructions, Erica walks past him, and then looks to see that there were hardly any other seats, and so she takes the seat next to him. She sighs to herself quietly, and holds her hand out, causing holograms to project from a silver necklace that sits on her. She then begins navigating to the SAT app, and searches for the right class page to go into.
Rohan keeps his head up to listen to the teacher as she continues saying "-and one interesting fact about yourself! Okay, let's begin, Andrew, you're up!"
Rohan turns to see one of the students in the third row introduce himself, as he figures that eventually he would need to do the same, and so he begins to brainstorm what he'd say, as he needed one interesting fact about himself.
A question he wondered why these classes always seem to love asking when they were so difficult to respond to. However, with so many students, he would have time to prepare, especially when it seemed the list was alphabetical.
However, as Rohan brainstorms while listening in, he's interrupted by Erica, who quietly asks him, "Wait so, what did I miss?"
Rohan turns to Erica to see that she seemed completely lost, as while she figured to go onto the class page, she clearly didn't know what the class had already done.
He sighs, realizing he'd need to aid her, and decides he'd contemplate a fact later. He turns to her, and his right screen tilts towards her, showing the resources page with the links.
He then says in a quiet instructive voice, "Go to the Resource page, it's in the class menu. You need to download the programs from the list, that's all we've really done, the teacher explained their use but you can look that up later."
Erica nods her head, and she quietly says, "Thank you," before looking in the menu of the class to find the Resource page, opening it, and finding the list. She then begins accessing each link from top to bottom, downloading them.
As she downloads the programs hastily, Rohan finds himself eager to know why exactly she was so late, as she by no means came off as a lazy or sluggish student, and yet she was remarkably late for the first day.
But perhaps it wasn't something he should cut into, as she was simply asking for help, not for an interrogation on herself. It was part of a personal life he had no right to demand knowing.
So instead, he just glances at her as she downloads the links, and once it seems she's fine, he turns back to face the teacher, who calls on a student named Derek. He sighs with relief, knowing now he had the time to figure out what his 'interesting fact' would be.
And yet, as he tries to think far back into his past to dig up something, he couldn't help but find himself in a void.
But before carrying on, he's once more distracted as Erica begins to speak to him, and so he stops himself and turns to her, looking to see if she had more questions even though he didn't think there was anything left to answer.
However instead of asking a question, Erica begins to try explaining herself, stating "I know I'm late, I'm really sorry, thank you so much for helping. My friend just needed me to help her find her next class because she got lost, and she's not even in the same sector, and I didn't know she'd want my help until I was about to leave for here. I couldn't let her just be lost and miss her whole class, I guess not everyone knows how to use the map, but I don't blame her. It's confusing...I'm sorry, being late means you have to do all this for me...sorry."
Rohan's eyebrow raises in confusion, as the girl seems awfully apologetic, even though all he did was show her a page in the app, as she had been the one to actually download the programs herself.
He shakes his head, and refutes "Don't be, at least you had a reason. Maybe just help her use the map so she can go herself, or ask her earlier if she needs help. But you're fine, don't worry."
Erica nods her head, and she frowns before looking back at her screens, seeing that the final few programs were being finished downloading.
She then replies, "Thank you...normally I wouldn't sit at the front table because that's where all the smart people go, but I guess I was too late to choose. Why am I even here...I'm going to fail the introductory classes."
Rohan turns to her, and he shrugs his shoulders, simply advising "Just study and make sure you know the material, what I'll do is I'll make my own programs on my off time which implement techniques I learned in class to see if I can apply them."
Erica thinks for a few moments after hearing the advice, and she tilts her head, admitting "That sounds smart, but I don't know if I'd be able to make my own programs. That just sounds too...much. I don't know what I'd need and I'd miss everything."
Rohan lets out a soft sigh, and he answers, "Then keep trying until you get everything. Use the debugger, most of the big programs have really good ones."
Erica watches as the final program finishes installation, and she closes out of the extra screen before observing "You really seem like you know what you're doing, if everyone is like this then the curve is going to drown me…."
Rohan opens his mouth to respond, but before he could, the professor calls on him, asking "Rohan?"
Rohan's eyes immediately widen, as he realizes he is getting called on, even though he hadn't been paying attention to the class nor did he figure out what he wanted to use as his interesting fact. He turns to the professor, and his eyes contract as he tries to keep a calm expression.
He takes a deep breath, and says, "Hello, my name is Rohan, I'm a freshman and I came from Florece, which is a few hours from here actually."
Mrs. Frieda nods, and she adds, "And-? What's an interesting fact about you?"
Rohan sighs, and he tries to think back to his younger life, looking for something to pull out and offer. However, the farther back he looks, the more he realizes he could hardly remember his youth. As though there was a mental wall that cut him off, and he was left having to fish in a pond for the last few years of his life, which was far more limited.
Rohan, knowing that he was spending several extra seconds to figure an answer, gives the first thing that he can throw out, a rather basic fact but one that could pass, "I play Air Hockey."
A few boys make deep cheering sounds after hearing the fact, as though they were excited to hear that Rohan played, which leads to the assumption that they too were players.
Rohan smiles awkwardly, and he then nods his head, hoping the professor would move on.
Mrs. Frieda smiles, and she says, "That's very cool Rohan! Okay, now Susan, how about you?"
Rohan lets out a breath of relief, and he looks down, feeling embarrassed from his pause.
Erica frowns, seeing that Rohan seemed to struggle to answer, and she worries that she was the root of the dibocol. She quietly apologizes, "Sorry for distracting you...I'll stop so you can focus."
Rohan turns to Erica, and he shakes his head, realizing that she might've blamed herself for his lack of a timely response, and he assures "Don't worry, it wasn't your fault. I was just...blank. If you need any help, you can ask me."
Erica smiles, and she nods her head, saying "Thanks...you're nice. Rohan, right?"
Rohan nods, and he verifies, "Yes."
Erica follows with, "I'm Erica, although you probably heard me yell it earlier."
Rohan smiles softly, and he replies, "I did."
Once Mrs. Frieda gets through to the end of the class list, she loops back to Erica, whom she had passed as she knew Erica was still trying to catch up on what she missed.
Erica introduces herself, "Hi everyone, my name is Erica, and I actually come from Loglos, it's actually from Earth 76. I uh...an interesting fact about me is uh...I worked at a wildlife reservation organization for a few years."
Mrs. Frieda smiles, and she remarks, "Oh, that's very nice and considerate! What was your favorite animal?"
Erica blinks twice, and she trips over her words, not anticipating a followup question. She tries to respond, "Uh...I...really like the foxes...some people think they're scary but they're actually really cute and lovable when you're calm with them."
Mrs. Frieda nods her head, and she giggles before saying "That's very sweet, well okay Erica, thank you! Now that's everyone, I think that should be the end of what we need to do for today honestly. Usually we'd have more and I think other classes are trying to stretch it out, but I think it would be a better use of your time if I let you all out-."
All the students begin to close their Connect screens and stand up, ready to leave the classroom, until Frieda finishes speaking.
She continues, "-of your seats to talk to your classmates! We have some time so there's no need to rush! Come on, meet some faces, I'm sure you all have been dying to talk to someone rather than hearing me ramble!'
All the students then stop in their place, staring at the teacher blankly and with complete loss in their expression.