"A real friend is someone who walks in when the rest of the world walks out."

I have this awesome professor, Kenneth Alrutz. He teaches my modern American lit class. What of it? Well, today in class he asked each of 60 students an important question. Then he listened to every answer, and related them to a story about returning home after college. The question... In what ways have you changed since you came to college??? On a sheet of paper write one way that you have changed for the better, and then one way you have changed for the worse. The hardest part of answering the question was limiting each side to one predominant change. Unfortunately my list of changes for the worse was way longer than for those for the better. But this is what I wrote... Positive: I know myself much better. I've discovered what I stand for, and I've embraced my true self. I've taken time out for me-- something I never did in high school, especially coming from a big family by today's standards. Negative: I get depressed more easily. I float around in many circles of friends and I don't know any one person extremely well, so I don't know who to turn to when I'm distressed. Other students listed procrastination, growing closer to or further from their families, keeping an open mind, learning to party, becoming less selfless, or too serious. In response to the guy who never talked to his mom, the prof said "Call your mother!" (Every week!) In response to my getting to know myself, he asked, "Do you like yourself?" I replied, "Yeah, we get along pretty well." I guess my problem is that after leaving a close knit circle of friends in high school, I feel as if the rest of the world has walked out. But the good news is that especially this semester, I have grown closer to many people-- many of you are reading this right now, & you have no idea how much that means to me! Of course, some of my optimism came out of a relationship with this guy, Chris --not Vincent! And who doesn't feel better after a feisty game of "You don't know Jack!" But strangely enough, it's the friendships I have that I am really thinking about at 4am on a Saturday! I love you guys! And I mean that.