friends

"Happiness only good when shared."

-Emile Hirsch, Into the Wild


It is only now as I sit in a desolate apartment on the last Friday of the semester alone does this simple quote about happiness make sense. The alone time that I have now has allowed me to reflect on all the things that went on during this semester. Despite the fact that I am extremely tired on the count of studying for almost 70 hours this past week for finals, I have found some brainpower to write what will hopefully be a short, yet meaningful post.

As this semester began, I laid on extremely shaky ground. This summer had been one spent mainly hanging out with people that I had not spent a lot of time with in the past(minus bradburn). With my best friend Mike Nayhouse away for all but two weeks of the summer, I was forced to make new friends. I succeeded for the most part and had an amazing time hanging out in Pittsburgh, Ocean City for a week, and Canada for a weekend. However, when I came back to school, I was faced with the prospect of having two new roommates, having two old roommates living in different places, no longer having a girlfriend, and being generally unsure about where I stood school wise. Upon arriving here, I took it upon myself to hang out with Steve and Joey from Apartment 246 during the week that nobody was up here before classes started. A new roommate of mine, Nate, joined us several times and I quickly learned that despite the fact that it was hard to see old roommates leave, change wasn't as bad as I had expected it to be. The first month went almost according to last year: classes during the week and house or frat parties on the weekend. Then something funny happened: I turned 21. The first night that I legally went out was a Thursday at The Saloon. It ended up being an infamous night that I won't soon forgot as almost all the people at Penn State that were close to me at the time were able to make it out. The weekend continued on from there when myself, Mark, Christina(who wasn't able to make it out the night before), PJ, and Kim went back to The Saloon for round two. After an epic night, the weekend culminated with my birthday party which saw dancing on top of tables, passing out under chairs, and other general fun that accompanies a party at 334. In the following weeks, I began to get to know Kim better. I was introduced to her last year when Dave and I attended a party at her old apartment. After going to the bars several times with her after turning 21 I realized that she was a laid back person that was about having fun and keeping people smiling. From there, a couple more weeks passed until I found a solid group of people to go out with on a regular basis. It turns out that group ended up being myself, Kim, Steve, and Kristin. To describe the four of us together is like trying to describe a tornado: a lot of energy and you're never sure exactly where it's going to hit or what the damage will be like. Throughout the semester, we survived seeing exes at bars, pieces of glass in feet, and outright lies told about all of us at one point or another. More importantly though, we survived these things together. Not to discount the importance of my relationship with my family, my friends in Pittsburgh, or my other friends at Penn State, but I will forever associate this semester with the four of us. Each of us brought a different piece of positive attitude that contributed to the whole. Steve was always the person to keep a smile on his face no matter what and always tell you exactly what was on his mind. Kim was always quick to tell stories about how much she loved her kindergarten class and how she would "go Jersey on your ass" if you messed with her. Her humorous sarcasm often carried the conversation and often kept us laughing throughout the night. Kristin was always the one to go out and push all of us to spend our time together in the best fashion. Only once this semester can I remember seeing Kristin without a smile on her face. And me, well I fit in somewhere. I like to think that my awkward dancing and stories about anything and everything helped to lighten the mood as well. I doubt that it is the last time that all of us will be together(considering Kristin and Steve are dating now which is completely awesome for both of them!), but I felt the need to pay homage to our going out group. The other cast of characters that came out with us throughout the semester I have talked about in previous blogs, but I would be amiss to not mention them. Matt Eisel is one of my best friends in the world and would literally do anything for me. He pushes himself to live on the edge every day yet has a way of relating to everyone else that has helped all of us(myself included) grow in character. Ronald Koenig is my other new roommate and there are plenty of good things I can say about the man, yet what strikes me most about Ronald is how much he would do anything for his friends. You can't go wrong with a man like that on your side. Finally, the relationships with the friends I had from Penn State McKeesport have almost uniformely grown stronger throughout the three semesters we have been up here together. I still remember us talking about the Beer Pong Constitution in Winchester's class sophmore year. Despite the fact we never wrote one, we had plenty of other memorable moments and quotes that we will tell about for years to come.

Above all, this semester has taught me that happiness is achieved on a whole new level when it can be shared with a group of close friends. To accept the choices that you have made in life and the person that you are is a form of internal happiness that is hard to match. Yet this pales in comparison to the happiness that you get from being with a group of people or person that are/is imporant to you. Unfortunately, it isn't until the clicking of the keys echo off the walls of a lonely apartment that I realize the friends I have are truly amazing people(mainly for associating with me). I will miss all of my friends that are graduating this semester and those that are going elsewhere to student teach. To the rest of you that will be coming back next semester, I hope that you're ready to do it again. To end with a famous quote, "Lately it occurs to me/ What a long, strange trip it's been."



mh