After high school I went to the University of Iowa. In that first semester took a freshman course in Astronomy. It was taught by a man named Van Allen. I was several weeks into the course before I realized that was THE Van Allen. Of the astronomical body known as The Van Allen Belt in our solar system.
Now, as a heavy science fiction reader at the time I thought I would love this class. And I did!! But I loved it for all the wrong reasons. See, as a city girl from a huge metropolis like Los Angeles, I was NOT very familiar with the stars in my night sky. (having met stars growing up! Movie Stars, lol) And worse, I certainly wasn’t used to seeing the HUGE spectrum of stars in the night sky of Iowa City!
So night after night I would try to see the patterns in the sky. And then try to see the patterns on a star chart. And well, needless to say I earned my first “F” by the end of the semester. For several reasons, but NOT being able to find a star on a map being the primary one!
What I should have done was drop the class. But I was unfamiliar with the system enough to see that as a clear option. And damn if Professor Van Allen wasn’t the most hilarious lecturer! I loved going to his class. Could barely understand him with his accent, and what he was teaching was going completely over my head… but I just fell in love with his style. And he had a lot of it.
I also met, in the back of that lecture hall, my first Iowan conquest. Tall, lean, blond and adorable. Also, bad in bed and dumb as a post, but, sadly, with gregarious swimmers which knocked me up. Apparently the move to Iowa threw off my, previously quite reliable, rhythm method of birth control.
So needless to say I was dealing with a lot and enjoyed listening to something rare. A truly entertaining college lecture. Something that I’ve never had repeated since! lol
Then again, what did I know… I was an 18 year old!