I was pretty nervous when I checked in at the dormitory. Nobody else from my high school was going to UT Austin, so I was about to start a new chapter of my life truly on my own. Also, Texas was really different than suburban Chicago. But UT had a great engineering program, and I really liked everyone I spoke with - professors and students - whenever I visited campus. So I decided to go a little outside of my comfort zone - make that WAY outside of my comfort zone - as I started my college life.
The University of Illinois has a great engineering program, too, so I could have gone there and saved my parents a whole lot on tuition. The biggest drawback to U of I was that half my high school would be there, and I wanted college to be something different. I felt guilty about the money, but my parents assured me they had saved for college and I shouldn't let tuition be a factor. My dad was a partner at a large Chicago law firm, so in the back of my head, I knew he could afford the tuition. But I still felt guilty about it.
Sometimes I thought about who I wanted to be. I could be ANYONE here - no one knew anything about me. I could make up whatever stories I wanted. I mean, no one would believe I was the starting quarterback on the football team, but I could tell them I was the best swimmer on the team. I WAS on the swimming team, but I was, without a doubt, the slowest swimmer in every event. At least I got to keep my body fit by swimming.
But I realized people would soon figure out that I was your basic high school nerd who was reasonably smart but really good at math and science. That's why I chose engineering school. I didn't think I really wanted to be a classic engineer, but my dad suggested that IF I was interested in going to law school, I might want to consider an engineering undergraduate degree and going into patent law. He never pushed me to become a lawyer, but I had expressed interest over time. If I decided not to go to law school, an engineering degree would still be a good thing to have.
We picked up the boxes we had shipped down, and my dad helped get them into my room. I unpacked a little before we decided to get something to eat for lunch. My parents understood I didn't want them hanging around too long - not because I didn't love them but because I didn't want to look like the college freshman who still relied on his mother and father for everything. After lunch we were standing next to the rental car.
"I'm probably going to cry when we say goodbye," my mom said, "so we can do it here if you want."
I smiled and gave my mom a big hug.
"C'mon back to the dorm for a little bit, and then we can say goodbye. It's okay if you cry mom - you've never done anything to embarrass me."
She pulled her head away and looked at me.
"Never??" she said sarcastically.
I laughed.
"Well, not TOO often," I said. "I love you, mom. I'll be sad when you leave, too."
"If you two are done," my father said, not hiding his frustration with our emotional moment, "can we get going?"
"Sorry, Dave, if I'm having a little trouble thinking about leaving my baby thousands of miles from home," my mother shot back, equally sarcastically.
"How did you two stay married all this time?" I said, laughing.
We drove back to the dorm, and when I got to my room, the door was open. I walked in and saw a guy unpacking some clothes.
"Hi, I'm Keith," I said.
The guy turned and extended his arm.
"Hi, Keith, I'm Dan. Looks like we're roommates!"
We shook hands, and I introduced Dan to my parents. Dan was a sophomore in engineering. He seemed friendly enough, and I didn't see any chainsaws hanging in his closet, so I figured I'd survive. We talked for a little bit, and my dad mentioned they had to leave soon so they could return the car and catch their flight home.
"I'll let you guys say goodbye. Nice meeting you," he said to my parents as he shook both their hands. Then he left.
"Well, that was very considerate of him to leave so we could say goodbye," said my mother who immediately took a liking to him. "I think you lucked out, Keith."
I nodded my agreement. "Yeah, I think so."
I looked at my mother, and she got teary-eyed.
"I love you, Keith. We're going to miss you, but we know you'll do well."
My mother hugged me tighter than she ever had and buried her head against my chest. I might have dropped a tear or two myself. After twenty seconds, she pulled back and placed a kiss on my cheek.
"I love you, too, Mom."
My dad extended his arm for a handshake, but then he put his other arm behind my shoulder and gave me a quick - very quick - bro-hug.
"Have a good year, son," he said.
"Let's go, Sharon."
My mom gave me one more hug, a long look, and they were gone.
At that moment, I was more excited about the possibilities of the next four years than I had ever been. And at that moment, I never felt more alone in my entire life. For ten seconds, I just stood there, staring out the window.
My trance was broken when the door across the hall opened. A tall guy walked out and stared into my room.
"Uh, hi. I'm Peter."
"Hi, Peter, I'm Keith," I said, extending my hand.
"Okay," he started, "I know the routine. I'm a freshman, I'm from a small town outside of Indianapolis, and I'm in the Engineering School. I have a younger sister, and I plan to study Mechanical Engineering."
"Wow, you're good at that," I said while laughing. "Let me try. I'm a freshman, I'm from a suburb of Chicago, I have no siblings, and I'm in the Engineering School. And I have no idea what kind of engineering I want to study."
Now it was Peter's turn to laugh.
"Why the fuck are you in the engineering school if you don't know what kind of engineer you want to be?"
I started laughing again.
"Because I'm good in math and science, and I didn't know what I wanted to do. Everyone said, 'sounds like you should go to engineering school'. So here I am."
"Well, that's one way to get here," he said with a laugh. "Sounds like we'll be taking the same classes. And since I don't know another goddamn soul on this campus, you just might become my best friend. At least TODAY you are!"
"Ha! Sounds like we're in the same boat. Nice to meet you, best friend."
And that's how I met Peter, who truly did become my best friend. We had a lot of the same classes, so we often studied together. I helped him with calculus (I had gotten a year's credit thanks to my AP classes in high school), and he helped me with Materials Science. Neither of us understood thermodynamics, but we managed to pass the course.
Toward the end of freshman year, we decided we wanted to move into an apartment. Peter had limited funds, so I was very careful to only suggest places I knew he could afford. His mom raised his sister and him by herself - apparently his dad left when they were both young - so money was always tight. Some local scholarships and student loans were helping him pay the tuition. We found a place that was fairly close to campus but was still affordable, so we excitedly signed a lease.
Sophomore year was fantastic. Having completed some of the required courses in engineering, we could start choosing courses that sounded interesting to us. I arranged my schedule with as many early classes as possible. Although I am NOT a morning person, early classes forced me to get up early. I packed courses back-to-back when I could, and three days a week I was done with classes before noon. The other two days I was done by 1:00. So, although it was intense in the morning, my afternoons were free. And since I had brought my car to school that year, it opened up new places we could go,
Aside from classes, and perhaps more importantly, our social life really picked up sophomore year. By the second month of school, I was dating Susie and Peter was dating Julie. Susie could be a lot of fun, and, I'm happy to say, she was always horny. I had a lot of sex for a couple of months, likely adding to my great attitude sophomore year.
By January, I was dating Laura, and Peter was still dating Julie. I knew that Laura was dating other guys, too, but I enjoyed the time we spent together. Peter and Julie, on the other hand, were quite committed to each other. And it made me really happy. Julie was a wonderful person - smart, funny, kind - and I thought she was the perfect match for my best friend.
Julie spent more and more time at our apartment, pretty much living there over the weekend, and I had no complaints. Besides liking her as a person, she was a great cook! Peter and I used to rotate cooking responsibilities, and when Julie became a permanent fixture, she offered to slip into the rotation. I let Peter and Julie use my car whenever they needed it, and I was more than happy to pick up either one of them if they were somewhere off campus and needed a ride.
Junior year, we stayed in the same apartment, and classes were really exciting. I decided to declare Industrial Engineering as my major since it let me take a number of computer classes and seemed the least techy / geeky of the engineering majors.
