Our second case discussion was most remarkable for the amount of preparation put in by a professor who was teaching most of us for the first and last time. The vast majority of us will never take a class with him again, and the rest will probably not see him until the second term of our second year. Despite this he commenced by addressing several classmates while deftly weaving in some tidbit about their education, experience, nationality. This went on, as various comments were used as springboards to riff on some element of a student's background unknown to anyone else.
It was a virtuoso display that could have easily been dismissed as a neat parlor trick in the first few minutes, though by the second hour of our give-and-take, it became clear that his research involved more than a few of us.
I don't know if they trot out the stars for just the first few days of the term to dazzle us. If not, we're in for a very interesting year.
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