Trish – I often feel that the opening scenes in dreams set the scene for what follows. In your dream it is a mixture of your new exposure to learning and the college atmosphere, and also your childhood influences working on you.
So it sounds as if you were struggling to ‘get your head up’ in a pretty crowded ‘head space, with all the intellectuals. A question I sometimes put to someone who is working on exploring their dream is - What economic, political, social or sexual situation does the dream show you in?
None of us exist in a vacuum. Like fish immersed in water, we live, sometimes unconsciously, in a social environment; in a paradigm that colours the way we see the world; in an economic situation; in a gender that relates us to other people and opportunities in particular ways; and sometimes within the boundaries set by religious beliefs, family attitudes or personal habits. These factors may not be shouting at you from the foreground, but it can enormously enlarge the information your dream portrays if you can see what background they give to the foreground of the dream.
A silver bottle can represent many things, so without your associations I am somewhat lost. And why is it presented as it is? Is it a reminder or symbol of something; and does it contain alcohol, or meant to? Is it in fact a symbol of a way of life that you need reminding of?
The dream shows you have a difficulty in feeling being heard. I would suggest taking in those symbols of the tutors and see what you feel. See
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/ - and if you haven’t already, see
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/what-we-need-to-remember-about-dreaming/Tony