When attending a school with a student body of over 45,000 students spread out across a campus as large as University Park, it’s easy to feel like a fish in the sea. But during THON weekend, I’ve found that feeling quickly dissipates.

In my three years attending THON, one experience remains true each time: I am constantly experiencing awkward social interactions. I suppose that packing thousands of students into the confined space of the Bryce Jordan Center for arguably the biggest event of the year could yield an absurd number of reunions, some welcomed, some not, but that doesn’t make it any less brutal.

Your freshman-year roommate’s ex-girlfriend, who you walked in on doing the deed? Spotted. That one dude you sit near in class, but have never spoken a word to? Bumped into him, literally, leaving the bathroom. Your sworn enemy who’s lowkey responsible for a traumatic event or two? Casually filling their water bottle next to you. A friend of a friend who never makes an effort to reach out? They just walked right past you in the concourse and made prolonged eye contact that you both obviously acknowledged, but neither of you took the bait. Maybe you’re hangrily waiting in line for an Auntie Anne’s pretzel, just to realize that an old “talking stage” is right behind you, breathing down your neck? Unfortunately.

For a concourse that consistently makes me feel like I’m a sardine packed in a tin can, the number of uncomfortable encounters is astounding. How are these unwelcoming people walking past the same area in the BJC, at the same time of THON weekend that I am? Like, seriously, I need to know the statistics behind it.

Sure, when I’m walking to class, I’m prone to see a familiar face or two, but nothing on the level of THON Weekend. I’ve never been sure what to call this, so how about I go ahead and coin the term as the “Uncomfortable Interaction PhenomeTHON?”