Bueller...Bueller...

As I continue my life here in a new country, there are things that never cease to amaze me, and often hit me as being quite odd.  One of those things has to do with schedules.  Most people know that I am pretty punctual, and a lot of these people actually find my need to be early to things quite annoying.  I know that not everyone works the way I do, but when my timetable says that I have class at 9, I will walk into the room no later than 8:58, so that I can be ready to go when the teacher starts talking.  This way of thinking does not seem to be very popular here.  Rather, it seems as if people run on their own time, showing up whenever they feel it is appropriate, and the shocking part is that no one gives it a second glance.  Not even the professors, who will half the time actually stop teaching and acknowledge the person as they stroll in and ask them how they are doing.  The other half of the time, it is actually the professor who walks in late.  Like this morning, for example; I had a finance workshop at 9.  I walk in the room with a couple of minutes to spare, and there are only two other people around.  9 comes and goes, as does 9:05 and 9:10.  During this time, a few more students show up, but there is definitely a good portion who are still missing, and I begin asking myself where everyone could be, if I am in the right room, and if we even have class.  9:15 rolls around and in comes the TA.  She hooks up her computer and just starts the lesson, without missing a beat.  Throughout the rest of the hour, more and more students casually walk in, up until there are only five minutes to go.  At that point, why even show up?  By the time you sit down and take out your things, class is over and everyone is packing up.

This experience is not unusual here, but as I said before, it never ceases to amaze me.  I'm not implying that everyone at Stanford showed up on time to every single class (and I definitely know a lot of people who don't even bother to go to lecture at all), but the ratio of students who are on time to those who aren't is much lower here than I ever saw back in the Bay Area.  I guess it's just another one of those culture things that I will have to try to learn to love.