Chapter 2: A Glance into the Real World

Chapter 2: A Glance into the Real World

With such profound self-realization happening in the lobby of my sister's dorm, I couldn’t wait to actually experience college. After signing me in as an overnight guest, we began our trek to her cramped room.

One fun thing I learned on our treacherous journey was that she had one of the biggest rooms her college offered. This pumped me up as I prepared myself for her palace.

On the walk through the mildew-stained hallway, I was introduced to more and more real-world interactions. I never knew how normal it was for people to greet each other with zero stigma attached.

Don’t get me wrong, of course people still fight in the “real world” I am talking about, but you figure out that there are bigger problems than being cooler than your peers. Oh, and before we jump back you want to know something else that is funny about popularity. Being cool is a form of temperature. So I guess we are all cool sometimes. And I guess this means that “ugly” people are hot too. And to answer your question, yes, we will get into beauty and its skewed meaning later on.

Finally, we made our way to the door. A lot can be learned in a 50-step journey. With the shuffling of her keys, we entered her so-called palace: a 200 sq. ft. apartment akin to a nice prison cell. However, it indeed was a nice prison cell. It had a kitchenette, working bathroom, four beds, and four desks somehow fit inside it. With entering a new environment came new faces as well. I was introduced to her three suitemates, one of whom was her roommate. With these three came three lessons.

From Kim, I learned how prejudice can affect us; from Maurine, I learned how strength doesn't mean superiority; from Talia, I learned how differences can sometimes be unintentional.