It’s always interesting when one can witness first hand how lessons in academia transcend the classroom and become applicable to everyday situations. For the ICC, I chose to take a sociology class which analyzes how individuals react, interpret, and respond to societal forces such as socialization and group interactions. I did not know what to expect when I signed up for the class. Being a Park major, most of my classes are “fun” and do not at times appear collegiate. We discuss entertainment marketing, Superbowl advertisements, and celebrity scandals (not all the time, I promise). This sociology course truly makes me feel as if I am in college. We discuss behaviors and reflect upon our own individual discourses with others. Over the semester, I have slowly realized I now look closely at others behavior and attempt to interpret it; I look at how individuals conduct themselves in certain public situations noticing what they choose to reveal and conceal about themselves and I better understand how I react with others in any given situation. I have learned humans are complicated. I know this doesn’t sound like a ground-breaking revelation, but at times this is easy to forget. We expect others to read our minds and moods and to give us what we want all the time. However, this is not realistic. Each individual experiences their own struggles, anxieties, and doubts which serve to pull them further out of reality. Humans need to be more empathetic and understanding of the multitude of pulls and emotions we deal with on a daily basis and become more astute at interpreting and responding to these variations. Behavior is complicated, our responses are complicated, we are complicated. The more we realize this, the better we will be able to communicate, evolve, and adapt to each other.