One and the Same

This may or may not be what you're expecting. I'll write another picture blog soon.

When I first looked at colleges, I thought I already had a good sense of what I wanted. I wanted something like TJ. I loved high school, and I've always been a believer in the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' philosophy, to a certain degree anyway. Imagine my excitement, then, when I heard CMU described as "just like TJ." I visited, and to some degree concurred. The students, the atmosphere, even the graffiti all reminded me of my high school.

I didn't really know to what extent they were similar until I got here, though. Looking back on my first four weeks, I realize almost eerie parallels between my college and high school experience.

Remember your first few weeks at TJ? Where you clung to the friends that lived closest to you (meaning your middle school friends)? That would be me, right there. I love my dorm, possibly too much. All my friends live either down the hall or down the stairs. There are pros and cons, of course. If I ever want a laugh, I know to crash Wesley's room. If I need help with Concepts, I'll turn around and ask Kee Young. If I want to recruit people for frisbee, Ben's room is my first stop.

As I grew at TJ, I met people from outside my little sphere. At math team. In orchestra. During lunch. Wherever I turned there were new friends to be made. The same is true here. I can feel it. Slowly but steadily I'm meeting people. Through foosball, through classes, and through frisbee. I can only hope that I'll amass a group of friends as close and as trustworthy as those I had at TJ.

You might think the comparison breaks down at home life. Not really, actually. I always spent hours online, talking to my friends, playing games, and doing my homework (occassionally). It's just that now if I need something I have the option of getting up and walking up or down a flight of stairs. Let me assure you that this happens rather infrequently - I much prefer the option that involves sitting at my computer.

There are even parents here at school. Yes, I know they told you that you don't have parents in college, but they (whoever they were) are wrong. Everyone here looks out for everyone else. If I need to be woken up, I can count on my friends to do it. If they need to make sure they're up in time for an important class, I will absolutely wake up 2 hours early to make sure they will be ready. I've even been yelled at for everything - not eating healthy food, not doing my homework, not playing enough sports. There's no place quite like home. But college as close as I could have ever imagined.

Then I remember the last time we gathered at my house. We stood in a circle at my door. There was ... idle conversation. I wasn't a part of it. That moment meant so much to me. I felt like I could've stood there forever. I crossed the circle to open the door. I would say that was the hardest part, but it wasn't. As they filed out, countless memories threatened to overload my mind. I felt like ... a chunk of my identity was leaving. And the hardest part was closing the door on it.

But I was, as is so often the case, completely wrong. My identity is here. I see it in my friends here but also in people hundreds of miles away. It's apparent in people that I thought I had left behind as well as the people I've just met. They're all here to support me. And I'll try to be there for them, every step of the way.

School is school, no matter where you go. Life is life, no matter where you go. Why?

Because friends are friends. No matter where you go.