I’ve always been the type of person to take my time to make friends, it’s not like I’m wary of everyone I meet, in honesty I think I’m scared of everyone I meet. It’s not something that holds me back from making friends but it’s been an inbuilt feature almost that has always led me to keep my circle small. People in college are of all types, some take longer to open up compared to others. Some find it extremely easy to open up to new people because it might be somewhat of a clean slate. This difference I think also shapes who you become friends with in the long term.
People in college are of all types, some take longer to open up compared to others. Some find it extremely easy to open up to new people because it might be somewhat of a clean slate. This difference, I think, also shapes who you become friends with in the long term.
College was the biggest culture shock in that sense. There’s a certain campus culture in college that you will never find anywhere else, especially in a campus as small as Krea. To help you understand where I’m going with this, let’s draw comparisons. One day in college, 24 hours, is the equivalent of 3 days of a regular school day. Time moves faster and slower simultaneously. In terms of “opening up to people”, it’s not like you’re telling them your highest highs and your lowest lows, there’s no need because everybody is a witness without consent. They see you at breakfast in your pajamas and they see you sweaty, gross and in desperate need of a shower. Considering you’re always seen, you don’t get a choice in which parts other people are privy to. This is heightened in a batch of 300 people, word travels fast, even if you’ve kept your mouth shut.Â
Additionally, in school you have “types” of friends. You have family friends, you have community friends, you have school friends, friends you make at extracurricular classes, the list goes on. While these types can interact, it’s usually through choice. In college, it’s the same people, even the ones you have classes with or play sports with, you’ll still see them at the dining hall or at Narsi’s. The odd thing about this is, going home then gets weird. Missing your friends is one thing, but your day feels incomplete without the constant presence of others. It’s paradoxical in some sense, people you met less than 4 months ago are now those that you can’t go a day without having some contact with whether that’s a facetime call or a text.
I would like to say that this happens to every college student adjusting to a new environment, and in some sense it is. Still, when I talk to my friends in different parts of the world or even in different parts of the country, they don’t seem to share the same sentiment. To them there’s always something new, never that constant familiarity that I am beginning to realise, or believe, is a Krea canon event, which I am beginning to catch up to the pace of.