Fly on the wall: Listening

11. Go to a crowded public place (not one of your classrooms, though) and be a fly on the wall. Just listen. Can you pick out conversations? Write down a little of what you hear, maybe as dialog (he said--, she said--)

Here I sit in the Memorial Union with my boyfriend. People watching and waiting for him to finishing his lunch. All around me I hear different noises, it's always loud in here. Right close up I hear things like TJ talking to me, chewing his food and the lite noise that is coming from him rubbing his napkin in between his fingers. Moving a little farther away from me I hear the laughter of girls near by, chairs rubbing up against the floor and the chatter from the boys next to me talking about day-to-day things.

"I am a runner for the bands" He said.
"What does that mean?"said another.
"They ask me, "Hey, can you get us coffee? and I'm like yep, no problem!"

... And the talking fades while their voices get quieter, or it is just the noisy cafeteria getting louder. Though, there conversation returns; the louder voices come to me through the noise.

"What? ... What?" He said. There was a moment where I could not hear.

"Oh really? Wow"
"That's the problem. What day is it on?" The other one said.
"I think it's either Friday out Saturday."
"Alright. That's good to know!" Exclaimed the first boy.

After I heard that the conversation died out again and I could no longer hear it. The cafeteria was getting busier and more noisy. I spread my hearing range out to the entire cafeteria. I can hear dishes, pots, and pan clanking in the kitchen. People talking about their day and what their plans are for tonight. I can hear some party plans being made and some late night adventures. There are cashier drawers slamming, more scraping of the chairs, and the clicking of keyboards close by. I can also hear the waterfall trickling that runs in between the set of stairs going to the bottom floor of the building near the bookstore. Closer up, I can still hear the sounds of laughter and talking as well. Lots of talking in fact, it kind of creates kind of a loud hum across the entire cafeteria area. I find being here comforting, all the sounds coming together and all the people going through their day just like I am.You can learn a lot from listening to what some people have to say, even though they may not know you're listening.