Why do we love celebrities?

Today's fun fact:  My favorite movie is Pirates of the Caribbean.  

Let's do a little activity.  First, name 5 winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine.  Got it?  Maybe?  No googling!  Ok.  Now name 15 actors.  Next, how about your state representatives and senators?  And for the last category, list 15 singers.

How did you do?  I'm guessing that you aced the actors and singers, and could've gotten way more than just 15 of each.  And you maybe got 1 Nobel laureate and possibly your district representative and a senator for good measure?  

I recently did an activity like this during one of my organization meetings at school, and I completely failed on any category that wasn't pop culture related.  At first I blamed myself for being totally ignorant about my government or important scientists.  And while I am definitely responsible for my own ignorance, I also think there is another culprit.  Check out any website like Yahoo, which has news stories on the main page.  Other than the how-to cooking articles and heartwarming stories, every article is about a current movie being made, or what Leonardo DiCaprio eats for breakfast, or how many people watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians, or who is performing at the Grammys.  And this really made me think about who we hold high in our society and who gets virtually ignored.  

Now, there's nothing wrong with enjoying your favorite actors on the big screen or learning every fact about the latest British boy band.  I am totally guilty of this.  But the thing that people tend to forget is that these famous people are just people.  Robert Downey Jr. isn't actually Iron Man, sad as it is to think about.  He's a person whose job is to act in movies.  Same goes for singers.  They provide entertainment for us with their music.  If they weren't idolized as they are, they could have a second job as an elementary school teacher or something.  

A Little Talk About Friends

Today's fun fact:  I play the violin! 

Let's chat about friendships.

I am one of those people that makes friends and keeps them for a long long time.  All of my friends have been my friends since middle school.  Or earlier.  Like, the first grade.  I literally made no new friends in high school.  I just kept the ones I already had!  Nothing wrong with that, right?

Well, not really.  But then came college.

I chose a school hours away from my home, and none of my friends were going with me.  I know that most people that go away to school probably start out with no friends, but since I hadn't actually made a new friend for like 6 years, I was completely terrified.

I really didn't need to be so scared, as I found a little group within the first week.  However, none of them were in my major, and none were very social…  So, after my first year of college, I had literally one friend.  And that really hasn't changed.  I have more acquaintances and people I sit with in class, but at college I truly have just one friend.

This is really difficult for me because I do have lots of friends back home, and I'm always looking forward to seeing them at breaks.  Yet my one college friend is quite the opposite.  She made tons of new friends at college!  She hates going home, and I always feel guilty about being excited to see all my old friends.  It's a bit of a tough situation.

Make new friends, and keep the old.

I'm really hoping that as my classes become more specialized, I'll grow to think of my classmates as more than mere acquaintances.  For now though, I'm living in two different worlds.  One has all my old high school gal pals, and the other has my new college friend.

Have you had an experience like mine, going away to college and leaving all your friends?  Any tips for helping me make friends in the middle of my college career?  I'd love any comments or suggestions :)

And sorry it's taken me so long to write!  My goal was to make a weekly post, and I have just totally failed.  So that's my belated New Year's Resolution: Make a weekly blog post!

See ya next week,
Shelly