I have a question. Since when is identifying rocks a common skill that everyone seems to have but me?

I knew that taking Geology of War was not going to be an easy feat. I’ve always hated science and I was never the kid who spent hours playing outside in the dirt looking for buried treasure. But man, I’m less than two weeks in and boy have I made a mistake.

In class today we were learning about different types of rocks: Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic. I learned this in elementary school so I was thinking it would be a breeze.

“Okay class. Identify a mineral.” What. A mineral? Sure. Okay.

I grab something that to me looked exactly like quartz, maybe one of three types of rock that I actually know, courtesy of my Girl Scout Training (Troop 1414 forever).

My teacher came over and I said, “Is this quartz?!”

“No. It’s not.”

I proceeded to pick up another rock that looked exactly like the non-quartz, so of course I say, “What about this one?”

“Nope. That isn’t quartz either.”

At this point I’m thinking I wasted my young years being a Girl Scout and taking field trips to a place called Mother Earth or Mother Nature where we could "dig rocks” out of a hole in the wall with sand.

Meanwhile, all of my table mates were answering questions left and right correctly. All I needed to do was get one right. Just one. And that would make me feel a lot better.

My teacher put a picture of a type of rock on the board, maybe Limestone.

Ally, who sits across from me was holding the rock that most resembled the one on the board. I grab it from her and said this is my time to shine.

I hold it up to my teacher with the most confidence I’ve had in a while, only for him to say, “No.”

I sighed with defeat.

What happened to people being able to name old Taylor Swift songs for fun or knowing all 50 states in alphabetical order? Apparently the cool thing is knowing all about rocks and I am not here for it.