The “academic quarter” is mainly used in tradition-oriented european universities (like the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin). But while “getting back to the new normal” in Lyon, I was reminded of a different occasion of this way of telling the time.
In my first days at emlyon, I was invited to a house party. Scheduled time of arrival: 9pm. Needless to say that I was the only person standing in front of the door at 21:00 CEST. The next guest arrived approximately 40 minutes later. In discussions, I was told that I should “of course” add at least a social amount of 30 to 45 minutes to the mentioned time. But now more than ever, I don’t really get it.
I completely understand if people don’t want to rush to something that is supposed to be fun and relaxed like a party. But that applies to not more than 25 % of the invited people. The rest should be able to make it in time. And if even the host doesn’t expect people to be in time, why is he even scheduling it that “early”?
Coming back to the academic quarter: Just like the social equivalent, this is of course not an acceptance to arrive late but a common agreement that 15 minutes are added to the anounced time. I will never forget how professors started a 10:00 c.t. lecture precisely at 10:15:00. Similar in the social world: The host expects his guests to be late but not too late. Of course there is no penalty for coming too late to a party but showing up 4 hours later will get you some questions…
So what do we learn from today’s observations? Whenever I want people to arrive in time, I will need to make it clear in the invitation even though this makes it sound less fun:
Starting at 21:00 s.t. sharp
And additionally, I’ll ask the next hosts about the difference between announced and expected time of arrival (reminds me of quantum physics). The first time I did this, it was 30 minutes. The public transport added another 15 minutes and like a miracle, I was in time…