While I had already made several trips home prior to winter break for Thanksgiving and random weekend getaways, the visits were brief and I didn't really have the opportunity to fully take it all in. Being home three weeks for the holidays, however, has allowed me to realize just how different home is compared to UNC. There are the small differences, like having a grocery store within walking distance (my hometown of Charlotte is HUGE in comparison to Chapel Hill), but then there are the much more striking differences in the interactions with people you knew before college. It's an odd thing to run into people I haven't seen since that day I crossed the stage to receive my high school diploma. Among the countless encounters I have had with my former classmates, there seem to be two general directions these encounters tend to take.

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My first run-in occurred when I was grocery shopping one day during which I saw a guy who was in several of my classes all throughout high school. May it forever be known as THE most awkward encounter I have had with anyone since being home... and maybe in my entire life. He clearly recognized me and stared at me for a second, and then he just blew me off entirely by pushing his cart along, without even granting me the opportunity to utter a 'hello'.

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In high school, we were from entirely different sides of the social spectrums; he was self-absorbed Mr. Popularity and I was the studious, quiet girl. Seeing him at the grocery store brought me right back to the halls of my high school, where he also ignored me, even though I sat next to him in math class for an entire semester! I tend to seek out the best in people, and I had hoped that college would change him, so his cold reaction towards me was totally unexpected. I guess some people don't change, as much as they need to, and he is the example of the person, I've decided, who isn't worth my time anyway.

On a much brighter note, there are those who you are able to pick up the conversation with right where you left off. Within a few days of getting home, a large group of my friends met up for dinner and a gift exchange, and it was so comforting, despite my fears that it was going to end up just as badly as my lil' encounter in the grocery store did. The jokes we once told were still just as funny, even six months later. The smiles were just as genuine, and we truly enjoyed each other's company. It made me realize that those people I had dinner with would continue to be some of the greatest friends I could ever have. We've all endured so much: terrifying papers, quite a few hookups and breakups, and homesickness since parting ways to go to entirely different colleges. If we could go through changes as great as those, I know we can get through anything life has to throw at us in the future.

"Change will never happen when people lack the ability and courage to see themselves for who they are."

-Bryant H. McGill

Katie :)

Do you think college changes people that much? Leave me a comment below!

What do you think?