How to handle the unavoidable

Imagine that you are walking to class with a person you met during the first couple weeks of the semester. You are not buddies yet, but comfortable around each other. A girl wearing an awful jacket walks across your path. "Ew, Look at that girl and her disgusting jacket," you say, "I mean, c'mon! Who is she? She has such bad taste."

Then the person you're walking with looks at you and says, "That's my sister."

What in the world do you say?

Students often feel that awkward situations run their lives. There are even several Facebook groups to prove it.

Thoughts, memories and reactions to awkward situations vary from student to student and what one person finds hilarious could be another person's worst nightmare.

"When I'm in an awkward situation I look around to see if anyone is receptive to eye contact and I try to say something funny," said Jesse Gorden, a 6th-semester environmental science major. "If nobody is receptive after a couple tries, I give up and can't wait for it to be over."

Beth Clements, a UConn graduate with a master's in English education, said she enjoys awkwardness.

"I take a deep breath and hold it, because that way I feel like I'm fully experiencing the awkward moment," she said. "If you can power through them, I think they're great stories."

"If you created the awkward situation or made someone uncomfortable, do not apologize a million times," said Christine Kohn, a 6th-semester pharmacy major. "Say 'sorry' once and then change the topic as quickly as you can."

Colin Gourlie, an 8th-semester human development and family studies major, said he was recently texting a friend about dinner plans while walking out of the gym when he walked into a stop sign and fell backward in front of a group of students waiting for the bus.

"I laughed and yelled, 'Stop sign!'" Gourlie said. "I hoped I'd be lucky and end up in the InstantDaily the next morning."

In the winter months, icy sidewalks are embarrassment just waiting to happen. "The great thing is, if you just laugh it off, odds are with a campus this size, the people who witnessed your fall will never see you again," Gourlie said.

Eric Peterson, an 8th-semester English major, can only remember two times in his life that he felt completely awkward and uncomfortable. The most recent was when he unknowingly told his friend's parents the long and detailed story of how they met, and told it incorrectly.

"After telling the story, they told me it was theirs and corrected all the mistakes I made," he said. "I gave no reaction and they had no idea I was completely embarrassed."

Peterson's other awkward memory lingers since elementary school. His class watched a video of a Christmas vocal ensemble (complete with cheesy dance motions) that he and some friends had recorded. "I ran from the classroom and hid in the bathroom until it was over," Peterson said with a laugh.

Even though he doesn't encourage hiding in the bathroom when a situation becomes overwhelmingly awkward, he jokes that it can always be a last defense.

Liz Morgan, a 4th semester biomedical engineering major, said she avoids awkward situations at all costs.

"I can't laugh it off, I feel like I want to cry," Morgan said. "There's nothing I hate more in life. I run away from the situation either verbally or physically."

Fortunately for Morgan, and others who feel that way, there are multiple bathrooms in every building on campus.