TU TAs

I have a lab final in twenty minutes . . . . . and I’m going to take a moment to appreciate my TA, Gopal.

My roommate, friends, and I, between all of our chemistry labs, have a conglomeration of TAs that are Indian, Russian, Caucasian, and Chinese. And boy do they make our day!

My TA Gopal is probably the nicest man I’ve ever met. He hangs out with my roomie’s TA, and he has a thick accent and his voice cracks when he speaks. He’s always eager to help us, and he gets excited when he sees us outside of class. I’m quite an appreciator of his mannerisms, as is everybody else in his class. He does his absolute best to make sure we understand the experiment, and when we yell out his name in frustration in the middle of the lab he always comes over to have a look at our experiment and correct whatever we’re doing wrong.

Every Thursday at the beginning of lab he gives us a short lecture on what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. Sometimes we don’t pay attention . . . . . but he tries hard to make us listen anyways. I was really surprised to find myself with him, and a chinese TA for my other lab in the middle of New Orleans, Louisiana, but it just proves that diversity exists in the most random places!!!

Now we all know that chem lab is generally not too much fun . . . .but with TAs like these, its a lot better. I feel like no one taught these people who are only a little older than us to reach out the way they do, but they understand the frustration of not understanding and try to facilitate our lab experiences as much as possible. This is unique to TAs that tend to be immigrants or international students because unlike others, they don’t automatically assume that we get it.

Really, in a million years, I would have never expected to meet my TA Gopal at Tulane University. But after a semester of lab, and with my lab final approaching in now 10 minutes, I’m really glad I met him. It was just another experience I never thought I’d have at Tulane and I did and ultimately it expanded my horizons a little farther.

And isn’t that the whole point of college? To expand the horizons, stretch the bounds of the imagination . . . . .

Anyways, I have to go to my final now!