You knock on the door, and your professor tells you to come in. There is a brief moment where no one speaks, and then you say, "How is your day?" like you're passing them on the street. Then they answer, "Good, not bad" and you both describe your week in a forced tone, waiting for something to happen or for someone to say something that sparks a more interesting conversation than this. I think many of us have been here before. This is the strange but common phenomenon of office hours.

Now, I think many of us, myself included, generally really like office hours because they let us ask our professors and TAs about problems we have with the course or the content or assignments. But something I am often encouraged to do by many professors is to come by even if you don't have a specific problem or question. They ask students to come and "shoot the breeze." Which sounds great, and really, it is great. You get to somewhat build a professional rapport, and engage in conversations about topics that are organically related to the subject matter of your course without the stress of needing to figure out a problem. But sometimes getting to that fun discourse can be so damned awkward.

When you show up to your professor's office hours without a clear purpose, it takes a while for the conversation to develop into something interesting and relevant. The rest of the time is spent on troublingly long pauses, strange segues, and feigned laughter when you can't think of any other reaction to what's being talked about.

Of course, there is much to like about these encounters. Once you get to it, your professors can offer staggering insight. After all, they're paid to do this kind of thing. If you've only ever gone to your office hours because you have a problem or you want a grade changed on your paper, you are really missing out on a fun experience. It is awkward, for sure, and it doesn't necessarily get less awkward, but you still have moments of really intriguing conversation about topics you never would have thought would come up.