The interesting thing about college is that we are required to take classes that don’t even relate to our major or what we want to do with our career in the future. I felt like I was I was getting way more out of the dues I pay for FPRA than I was from my tuition. In life though, we sometimes have to go through the unpleasant before we can get into the fun stuff. Last semester I took all liberal arts classes and this semester I get to experience the classes that relate to my major, minor, and certificate program along with finally seeing if I will be accepted to the Public Relations major at FSU. As far as classes go, laissez les bons temps rouler!!!
Also, one of the unique experiences college has to offer is the chance to room with someone you don’t know in the hopes that y’all will become the best of friends and be roommates the rest of college or at least stay in touch after move out day. Because I’m moving on campus, I have a new roommate and I can’t help but wonder what everyone else wonders: will we actually get along well once I’m moved in? will he annoy me? will I annoy him? All I can do is hope that once the door swings open, it will be the beginning of a great friendship.
The relationships and experiences that we have and share with our family, friends, and sometimes strangers constantly changes our perspective on certain situations and just who we are. My best friend and I have definitely changed each other’s views and opinions on so many things. Over winter break, I had a chance to visit her in her hometown of Salisbury, North Carolina which I must say is very different from Pensacola, Florida. I love flying somewhere, because of the conversations you end up having with strangers and the things you get to learn from their experiences. The summary of what I learned flying there and back from my fellow passengers is that relationships go through good and bad times, family is the people who care about you and not necessarily the people you are genetically related to, you never know career wise where life will take you for the better even when you say “never”, and overall, whatever you do in life, you must have an interest in it and care about it. While there in Salisbury I got to finally put an image and layout to everything my friend talks about in her hometown. I got to experience some firsts such as the chain restaurants Bojangles, and Cookout, the burger/hotdog place Haps, the best snowcone I ever had, and the soda Cheerwine! The trip was the solidification of an already amazing friendship. One further lesson is that sometimes the best fun in a friendship can be sitting in a living room watching the detectives of Law and Order SVU fight crime, seeing Padmi Laskshmi host Top Chef or making a gingerbread house late at night. Over the break I got to experience reunions with high school friends, see one old damaged friendship work towards repairing and see another close friendship fall into a dark abyss for who knows how long. Friendships are just as much work as marriages. In a new year we have to look at trying to making stronger the friendships we have, starting new friendships, and sometimes trying to fix the friendships of the past.
The most important relationship that we have is the one we have is the one we have with ourselves but with a new year comes the chance to pursue love. Take the chance to learn what went wrong and what went right last year. We have to know what we want but also be open to understanding the quirks that people have. “True love isn’t finding the perfect person but loving an imperfect person perfectly.”
I look forward to 2011 as a chance to continue growing as a person, form better relationships with others, and to just get out there and have fun because “Every experience teaches you more full who you really are.”
Jarryd Boyd, Life + Relationships Coach 