Drift

My freshman year is over.

It's been over since Thursday, when I finished my 251 final (what a brutal test that was). I'm sticking around for a few days and then on Tuesday I ride home.

Tuesday is a little bit late to go home. Many people, like Kee Young, left this weekend. If it was hard to watch people walk out the door for Winter break, watching people leave for the summer was twice as difficult. In many ways I can't wait to see them again.

My floor is one of the only groups I really got close to this year. It was sad then, to find out that I'm living in Webster next semester, which is about half a mile from Morewood, the most popular dorm choice here. I'm sure I'll miss waking up to find 4 or 5 guys in my room playing dota, smash, or singing trendy songs very loudly and very badly. I know I'll miss the "group showers" (Rest assured, we each got our own stall). I might even miss the awkward experience of kicking someone out of your bed when it's 10 A.M. because you really, really need to sleep.

I visited CMU as an admitted student, and I was hosted by a guy named Yanis. He also lived in Hamerschlag, and he also had many friends on his floor. I see him around a lot, and I notice that he's found a girlfriend. Incidentally, I met her on my visit too, when they were clearly just friends. I was happy to see that things worked out. But at the same time, I worried. It seemed like he had just forgotten about his floor from the previous year. Maybe living apart had made their friendship too difficult to maintain. Maybe his girlfriend required all his attention.

That is, until I walked into CMU Cafe for breakfast this morning. There I saw the whole gang - all 8 of them - assembled at a table, laughing like nothing had changed. They were still a group. They were still a floor.

It takes a moment of connection to make a friend. It takes a lifetime of negligence to lose one.