All
throughout the first couple of months here at William and Mary, one of my
favorite questions to ask my new friends was: "Who are your top five
favorite people you've met since you got here?" I loved asking this,
not just because I like to know who's best friends with whom, but because it
was interesting to see how people's answers would change from week to week and
because it always led into great conversations that didn't consist of the
dreaded and generic "What are you planning to major in?" and
"Why did you choose William and Mary?" So in this post I'm
going to answer my own question.
This is a post that a
lot of people (really just Liz) have been asking me to write for a while, but
I've been putting it off for a few reasons. First off, choosing favorites
isn't fun. Because I love everyone here. All 27 guys on my hall
(not 26 because I'm including Joe) are like my brothers. I legitimately
wish I could be everyone's best friend, but I've developed this list not
necessarily based on how much I like people but on how close I've grown
to them, so if you're disappointed that you didn't make the list: quit your
crying; I love you too. And secondly,
because, like I said, the list changes from week to week. I wanted mine to stay steady Eddie for a
while, before I posted anything.
I'm not putting these in any
particular order, but we'll start with Austin LaPointe. When we played the name game on the first day, he was "Awesome Austin from
Arlington." Parted hair, glasses, well-dressed, Asian. Half
Asian? I wasn't sure when I first saw him, but I immediately labeled him
as good with computers, musical, reserved, and, like everyone else at this
school, smart. And I was pretty close. Austin is a super smart
Computer Science major who's amazing at the violin and the guitar. He also kicks some major booty on the tennis court, from what I hear. His
first impression of me was, and I quote, "This guy's gonna be a
problem." He was right too. What we didn't know is that we
were two people who thought the same way about things but almost always came to
different conclusions. What we didn't know is that we would go on walks
for hours at a time talking about what happened in our past, what we plan for
our future, and what we believe about the present. What we didn't know is
that I'd take a look at his Calculus and he'd take a look at my laptop.
Though lately I've been going to bed before the time when we used to go
on walks and we haven't been seeing as much of each other as we used to, I've
probably spent more time with Austin than anyone else on this campus.
I don't really remember how Liz
and I became friends. I know that I met her at a mixer during orientation
and that I said hi to her whenever I saw her after that (like I said, I want to
be everyone's best friend). She never said anything back; she just looked
at me like I was crazy. We have no
classes together. We do none of the same activities. But one day
she must have said hi back because somehow we became fast friends. Liz is
one of the most involved people ever; she's in a million clubs and is trying to
triple major (because, for some reason, English can't be a minor). I'm
pretty sure that she's even a Gates Millennium Scholar. Yet, somehow,
despite her busy schedule, she manages to paint me pumpkins on Halloween, bring
me red apples (and sometimes my whole dinner) from the Caf, and go with me to
Colonial Williamsburg to fill our mugs with free ice cream, when they've gone
unused for too long. She thinks she's as tall as her six foot something
boyfriend back home and would be if her height matched her heart because she's
got a big one, but, in reality, she's not much taller than her best friend,
Charlie. And he's a dog. So...
Jonathan Tabor is my "weekend
friend." It's not that we aren't friends during the week, but he's
always writing papers in the lounge and I'm always doing Physics in my room, so
we rarely see each other until the week is done. At first, I never really
spent any time with "Joe Nathan." It wasn't until one destined
day when we both needed to make a trip to the thrift store that we became
friends. Now, we show up awkwardly to KDRBecues, sit around trying hard
to find a way to chase away boredom on Saturday afternoons, and go to church on
Sunday mornings together. He's one of the few people who shares a lot of
the same opinions as me, though our personalities are pretty different.
Jonathan is pre-med and hails from the land of Georgia. I'm an
in-state Physics major-to-be. He has a love for history. I think
history's dumb. But when it comes to values and ideals, we're on the same
page. Also, he's been known to carry me around.
Polly didn't think she would be
on this list. When we first met, she talked about how much she loved high school-- I told her how much I hated it. It wasn't the best start ever,
but one day she came up to me and asked: "Hey, are we friends?"
When I said "No," I thought she was going to die, by the look
on her face. But of course we were, she just didn't know me well enough
to understand that I was kidding. The next day, we were sitting in the
study lounge, and, after looking at me pensively for a while, Polly asked me:
"Is it safe to say that we're, like, best friends, at this point?"
Polly is super outgoing and wants everyone to be her best friend (kind of
like me, only she's better at it). She's also seventy-five percent of the
reason I uninstalled snapchat-- I can only handle so many pictures of Nicole in
her dinosaur costume. Sometimes, I think she's going to die because she
laughs so hard at everything. Unfortunately, Polly is in the St. Andrews
program, which means she won't be sticking around next year, which is actually
a downer.
I also don't remember when Honor
and I became friends. It may have been when she invited me to Relevant Church
that we became close, but maybe not because I pretty vividly remember her
leaving Jonathan and me stranded a few miles off campus with no way to get back
the first time we went. Regardless, when she's not being the only white
girl in the Indian Dance Company, studying zhong wen, or going to plays I've
never heard of before, she's inviting me to go on "CW Adventures,"
watch The Last of the Mohicans (which turned into Ten Things I Hate About You
and How I Met Your Mother), and go on Scavenger Hunts. I can't think of a
time when I've heard a single unkind or thoughtless word out of Honor's mouth,
even though sometimes she talks to me (and everyone else) like I'm "as
drunk as Cooter Brown." She's not sure what she wants to major in,
she loves convicted felon, Martha Stuart, and comes from Tennessee, "the
buckle of the Bible belt." I don't know what else to say about
Honor, except that she's someone who I look up to and respect for her friendly
nature, intense work ethic, and Christian faith. "Bless her
heart."
I have
to give honorable mention to a few people because I really did want to put more
of them on this list, but, to be fair to everyone I've ever told "You have
to pick five," I had to narrow it down.
Jack Spacey, Spaceman, Space Cadet is someone who I've had some pretty
deep and serious conversations with. He
also gets brownie points for being my roomie.
Jacob and I don't really hang out, but we make a heck of a Physics
team. He knows everything about everything,
and I question every word he ever says, so between the two of us, few things
slip through the cracks. Although he
probably thinks I'm a complete idiot because I refuse to give him a real answer
or an honest opinion on anything, we have some pretty good times on the way to
and from class. One of the best
heart-to-hearts I've ever had was with Carly; unfortunately, we almost never
see each other, anymore, so we haven't gotten to hang out like we used to. Marisa and I are A team, but I can't trust her. And, of course, I have to give a shout out to
all my boys on G2U. Who are we? G6!
What's our motto? Ride together,
die together! Am I right? Ladiiieees!
