With winter rolling in, I can feel that the semester is almost over, which is equally exciting and frightening. OK, it’s certainly more exciting. But on a serious note, I am faced with the reality that I will return home for Christmas break to all of my high school friends and acquaintances from what seems to be another life. My life in Erie will be put aside for a couple of weeks while I spend time in a place that is slowly changing into something foreign.

This, of course, can’t be avoided. Change happens to everything, but while there is change, there is also some consistency. I must say, I still talk with many of my close high school friends, just not on a regular basis. Regardless of how often I speak with them, I can still at any point in the day pick up the phone and call them. Many of them were people with whom I had spent the formative years of elementary and middle school as well as all the intermittently awkward yet fantastic years of high school.

I’m slowly beginning to realize that there is a difference in the friends made in high school and those made in college. I am still learning about those differences, but I can say that high school friends are those people to whom I have to explain very little, they just know the way I operate. College friends take a little explanation and tend to be a little more judgmental at first since they’re just getting to know you.

That difference is to be expected though. With high school friends, there has already been much more time invested in the relationship. With college friends, the relationship requires a little more work to catch up on the years not spent together. This doesn’t mean college friends are inferior to high school friends; it just means that the relationship takes a little more work. For me, both types of friendships have been extremely rewarding and have helped me grow into the person I am.

At any rate, I will be excited to arrive in Nashville, Tenn. when the end of the semester is here. Being able to meet up with old friends and relive past experiences as well as retell my Gannon experiences will be a highlight of my Christmas break.