Application for Recording Lectures

is there a program previously installed on my macbook (aluminum 2.0) that i'm just not seeing? or are there any freeware apps off the apple site I may use to do this?

Did you try using GarageBand?

Tried it, nothing records, unless I'm doing it wrong

With GarageBand, when you start a new project, you want to make sure it's a "blank" track. Initially when you open a new run of GarageBand, it'll probably have a Grand Piano track all ready to record. If you press Command Shift N it will create a new BLANK track... this is what you want. Here, you can record audio.
If you weren't already doing this, try and see if it helps