1. Park Jeong Eon (’14, Economics)

With one third of my twenties passed by, now is the time to reflect on my relationships with others. When I was a teenager, I had about thirty friends whom I met and studied together all day long. Without having to put in too much effort, we naturally became friends and it was not awkward meeting them anywhere and anytime. However, in university, I face dozens of new faces every semester. Becoming friends with them is hard without putting in extra effort; I cannot say I am a friend of someone, just because I am in the same major with that person. I think the hardest part now that I am an adult is that relationships and friendships do not just come naturally as they did during my teenage years.

 

2. Baek So Mang (’15, Nursing)

In my opinion, human beings are selfish in a way. Because of this human nature, we either consciously or unconsciously consider the gains and losses in any relationships. Generally speaking, not many people would willingly stay in a relationship that does more harm than good for themselves. However, there are those who put others’ interests before theirs, and they even take pleasure from their selfless devotion. What differentiates this minority of people from the rest is that they have so much love in their hearts. In that sense, I don’t think age has a lot to do with the way people approach relationships. It all comes down to whether you have enough love to spread around without calculating the gains and losses in a relationship. 

 

3. Park Hyun Joon (’16, Health and Environmental Science)

The most important difference in the relationships we make at different stages of life is that the environment where such relationships are forged change. In our childhood, we meet most of our friends only in certain places, such as elementary, middle, and high school. However, when you enter your twenties, you usually make new friends in all sorts of places like university and workplaces. As a teen, you go to school five days a week, which makes your relationship with your classmates more intimate; on the other hand, relationships made in twenties tends to be for business or purely academic purpose, which leads to somewhat less intimate relationship. 

 

4. Choi Yeon Soo (’17, Business Administration)

Even though I was always worried about making friends in my childhood, especially at every entrance ceremony, I somehow ended up with a group of best friends. Up until high school, making friends who shared common interests was not particularly difficult, because we had to spend so much time together in the same environment. However, it is different in university because I have to actively look for those who share similar interests and personalities. Making lasting relationships will be even harder when I graduate from university. Therefore, the experiences of making new relationships now will help us better navigate our later years when relationships are even more difficult to come by.