Well, our second spring break has come to an end and we return with only a few more weeks to go before we make our way back home for a three-month vacation.
I’m sure all your time that wasn’t used catching up on sleep was spent with your friends. Whether it was spent among friends that go to school at home, friends who were also on break, friends still in high school, friends who’ve already graduated, friends from Binghamton, or a mix of all groups, good times were had.
If you managed to actually do the last one — sharing time with everyone — I’m impressed. The only thing harder than listing all the types of friends one could have? Balancing your relationships with all the groups listed.
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems difficult to stay in touch with everyone from high school and everyone you currently know in college, while leaving room for friends to come.
Going home makes me anxious more than anything because it becomes some sort of trial rather than a break. With different groups of friends that all want to do different things, family obligations and all that lovely take-home work and studying that should be done, it becomes a lot easier to just stay in and sleep rather than deciding to actually do anything.
The odds seem to be heavily stacked against those friends whom you don’t go to school with. It’s hard to make time to Skype or Facebook chat with everyone you know — it’s even harder for me since I still haven’t gotten used to using Facebook chat in lieu of AIM. A vicious cycle takes hold.
You start talking less and less and, because you’ve stopped shooting the bull as often, you strangely have even less to talk about. It’s hard to find something to reliably connect over when you separate for school, and conversations become nothing more than each person listing the mundane events of the prior week. The downward spiral continues until both parties find it awkward to even attempt to contact one another.
As things get worse, it becomes hard not to blame yourself for the whole dilemma. Perhaps it’s your fault for not keeping in touch as much as you should. Maybe you’ve started to favor group of friends X over group of friends Y. And why doesn’t anyone else seem to have this issue?
Nobody wants to lose a friend, unless they’re an asshole. And, in that case, it would always be much more pleasant if they just weren’t assholes. Nevertheless, you do what you can to keep everyone happy, but it can seem like you’re fighting a losing battle.
But maybe it’s comforting to learn that you’re never alone in your plight. Other college students are dealing with the same issues.
Over break, I was speaking to a friend about how I felt I wasn’t being a good friend and how I feel responsible for our group’s current falling out. But he responded with some reassuring words. Despite the hard times, it was something we would all try to work through.
So remember, we’re all in the same boat. It’s much harder to shake off the people that care about you than you think.