New Relationships Make Us Smarter

One of the most exciting parts of coming to college is the idea of starting over, making new friends, and beginning a new life.  In reality, this isn't a hard task.  As freshman we all live in dorms together, with other people.  Basic meet and greet is an extremely easy task in such living conditions.  The trickier part is breaking past the simple wave in the hallway, and forming true relationships.

I lived in the same house from first through twelfth grade.  I remained in the same school district for twelve years, and never really had to start completely fresh.  Although my group of friends changed, it wasn't very drastic since we came from mostly the same background.  Similarly to the basic level of the television show Starsky and Hutch, it was a mindless process to make new friends.  Whoever I played sports that season, I hung out with.  I had friends I'd been friends with for 12 years.  We knew each other's basic history and personality pretty well, and by the time I graduated I felt connected to most of my 500+ graduating class.

College is quite different though.  Everyone comes looking for new friends, but each person has different backgrounds, different experiences, and different baggage.  Everyone's past 17-19 years has been very unique and no one really knows the stories yet.  Similar to Johnson's comparison of Starsky and Hutch to the Sopranos, everyone has their own complicated story line.  As we meet more and more people the story line gets more complicated.  More barriers need to be broken as we learn each others subplots.  

Just as people had to break out of their comfort zones to actually think about the complex story lines beginning in Hill Street Blues, so do we, as new students, have to break our comfort zones of people, put ourselves out there, and try to understand our fellow students' stories. While at first it is difficult to handle the new situation, in the long run it actually leads toward stronger, more interesting friendships.  While the Sopranos plots made people think and analyze more, it also left people with a greater feeling of satisfaction.  This is the same with relationships.  As I begin to understand the people around me, I gain a greater appreciation for the bond we formed, however complicated it may be.  Putting ourselves out there and forming new relationships at college makes us all smarter.