College Friendships

Posted by Naomi Rockler-Gladen Oct 23, 2006

One of the sweetest surprises in my life lately arrived in the form of an out-of-the-blue email from Michele, my college roommate. We hadn’t communicated since graduation due to some petty college drama issues that I don’t want to bore you with. (Needless to say, a guy was involved.)

College friendships can be challenging because there’s no getting away from one another, especially if you’re living in a dorm. The tendency is to share your deepest secrets and vulnerabilities, and although that makes for meaningful friendships, it also leads to Drama. Ah, drama. I picked up a journal I wrote junior year, and I could not believe what a drama queen I was! I spent pages whining and angsting about conflicts in my dorm that I don’t even remember now.

Students, be kind to your college friends. You’ll forget all about the latest Drama of the Week crisis, but you’ll never forget the special people with whom you share the life-changing experience of college. Let me tell you a little bit about my girls from college.

First, there’s Michele, who inspired this blog entry. We met freshman year as we suffered through the World’s Worst 8:00 a.m. College Calculus Class. (You think I’m exaggerating? Ask Michele). I managed to survive the class with a C+ and a new friendship. As roommates, we spent a lot of time listening to Elton John and occasionally blared her Barry Manilow records with the window open. She went through a Guns ‘n’ Roses phase senior year, and I pretended to be disgusted (since I was going through my annoying quasi-goth alternative music phase), but secretly I always feel nostalgic for Michele when I hear Sweet Child O’ Mine.

Then there’s Susan. We became friends pretty much instantly, when she stopped by my floor in hopes of running into some guy she liked. She got me instead (which is just as well, since he was kind of a pervert). Susan nursed me through my freshman year traumatic breakup (speaking of Drama of the Week) and was a bridesmaid at my wedding. I helped her finish a sculpture project in the middle of the night, and she helped me make a hideous blue mug. It’s on my desk right now, and I love it.

Next is Erika, who was the most like me of all my college friends. Have you ever had a friend with whom you shared a million nonsensical inside jokes? That was Erika. I think we spent about seven months total holed up in her room, listening to her Chess cassette. We shared an unfortunate chapter involving two particularly odd guys we dated from student government, but let’s not get into that.

Then there was Laura, who transferred to Rutgers our junior year. Laura seemed way more hip and sophisticated than me, so I was a little surprised at first that she kept hanging around. We took a trip down to D.C. together, and I have this peaceful memory of walking around Georgetown with Laura in the most beautiful fall weather. Laura and I lost touch a few years ago (so Laura, if you’re out there, give me a shout!)

So those are my college girls, who mean the world to me. I’ll have to tell you more about my crazy college dorm one of these days. Shouts out to everyone from Demarest Hall!