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Saturday, May 26, 2012

A New Life

  • inspired by the song "Life's a Dance" by John Michael Montgomery
Arriving at college it was a new world.  In high school, Adam had enjoyed parties with his friends, but this was a completely different experience.  The freedom that leaving home offered was somewhat intimidating.  Yet, he approached it with a very positive perspective. 

He was more than seven hundred miles from home and he was placed in the position of living with young college students who he had never met. 

The first night at the dorms, after his parents had dropped him off, Adam sat in his apartment silently for a moment as he cast his eyes on people who he had just met.  He had always been quick to make friends; however, this was far different.  He was now placed in the precarious position of living with people he had never known.

A week came and passed.  His acclimation into the new environment evolved very well.   Classes were not to begin for a few more days and during the past week he, his roommates, and his neighbors had shared in the trivial festivities that define college life.




The first night at the dorms he and his roommates went to the dining commons together to enjoy a hamburger and fries.  There was also a soda fountain there and the food was excellent.  They sat together and engaged in frivolous conversation that served as a brief introduction.

A month into college life he was quick to acclimate himself to college life.  Adam took to his class schedule and studying diligently.  The weekend parties were enjoyed by all.  Although he had not found a girlfriend, he had met many girls that he was beginning to know very well.  

The music would play as a soundtrack that highlighted the freedom  that college life allowed.   Beer flowed freely.  Some of his friends, who he had only met a month ago, enjoyed the festivities in to extreme level; partaking in drinking in an attempt to experience the highest level of inebriation that they could reach.  Although he had only known them a month, he already considered many of them to be good friends.  He enjoyed his friendships, yet chose to take it slow and not drink to the point of losing his senses.

From the perspective of an eighteen-year old kid barely out of high school, this experience could have been frightening.  However, his outlook on life enabled him to look upon the situation with perspective.   The girls were plentiful and the beer flowed freely.  Every morning he would wake up early and prepare himself for a new day.  Each morning he enjoyed coffee.  Sometimes he would eat breakfast with one or more of his roommates, sometimes alone, and sometimes with  one of the girls at the school he had recently met.  The two of them were slowly becoming close.

Even the academics at the prestigious college, which could have been very daunting, were approached confidently allowing him to succeed at this very high level of schooling.  In high school the populace of the school was somewhere around sixteen hundred.  Here in college the student body numbered closer to fifteen thousand.  In addition, the schedule of classes was different every day; usually three times a week for each class instead of the standard five as it was in high school.  The structure was also more gauged to quality instruction than a heavy workload which would burden the student’s time.

Three months into college life and he read his posted grades on the University website.  He had taken 4 classes.  He had received a top grade of an A minus in his history class.  In addition, he had received a B plus, a B minus, and a B.  He was pleased in his academic adjustment into college life.

To celebrate the end of finals, the dorms threw a cluster of parties in unison.  He and his roommates cleared their apartment of furniture, got a keg of Samuel Adams Beer, and invited a few dozen of their closest friends to join in on the celebrations.  The music that they played was a collection of classic rock including Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones. 

The party was enjoyed by all.  Instead of drinking heavily, Adam took the opportunity for mild celebration and to socialize with a large number of friends that he had made in his three months at the dorms. 

It was not a dance party, although everybody enjoyed the music.  Mostly it could be described by undefinable drunkenness and revelry.  He and Alison took the opportunity to share in conversation.  Much of Adam’s time at the party was spent on the balcony slowly consuming his beer.  Alison had approached him earlier in the night and they had stuck close to one another throughout most of the party. 

The hours passed and the mild drunkenness of many of the college patrons transformed into heavy intoxication.  The party was enjoyed by all; even those he chose to be very conservative in their party-goings.   It was about midnight now and Alison asked Adam to walk her back to her apartment.  There was a large collection of college students living at this particular dorm and the dorm encompassed a large area.  However, it was about midnight now and many of the parties had ended.  There was still some music in the background, but most in the crowd had already gone to bed from a night of heavy drinking.

The two of them walked leisurely to her apartment.  It was a cool night in the late fall.  The music that they overheard served as a backdrop to what had otherwise been an inconsequential night.  They arrived at her apartment after a brief walk.  They had been spending quite a lot of time together and they were beginning to know each other very well. 


Alison turned to face him before retiring after the party.  She looked at Adam wishing him a good night.  After a moment’s hesitation, they shared in a kiss to which neither one of them knew would lead.  They promised to meet each other for breakfast in the morning.  Adam walked back to his apartment pleasantly surprised on how the night had ended.  While he walked away the music in the background played and he looked positively ahead towards tomorrow. 

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