An analysis of Elizabeth’s social proclivities
As I like to make lists, I just made a list of people with whom I’ve become more-than-acquaintances with thus far at School. The grand total was 15 people. There were some predictable patterns as to who I’ve ended up hanging out with-e.g. I have indeed had some conversations with my roommates. I’ve also met friends of New Trier people with whom I’ve clicked a little. However, the more random acquaintances I’ve made follow two slightly peculiar patterns-they are either non-manly males or are people who remind me of someone from home.
I guess I should have guessed the non-manly male (for lack of a better term) connections would occur, because this has a great amount of precedence (this is who I usually end up making friends with when I end up places I’m unfamiliar with...or in general). However, I would not have guessed that I’d be making friends with people who shared one of two major characteristics--either smell or visage--with people from home. I now realize that the fact that I’m making friends with people who look like people from home is probably self-induced. For example, there was a girl I saw here who looked like a cross between people I’d been best friends with in the past, so I said to myself, “Hey, she looks like a cross between x and y. I think I’ll go talk to her.” Once I started talking to her I felt unnaturally comfortable-in fact, I felt almost like I was talking to the aforementioned best friends. However, making friends with people who smell like people from home is a bit of a strange experience-for it’s only after I’ve gotten to know them a little better that I’ve been close enough to them to be in range of their body scent. Upon smelling them I usually have a “whoa. They smell like x!” experience. This is usually followed by a slightly awkward silence caused by me reminiscing about the people they smell like. One guy smells exactly like Chip and one girl smells like Sabrina. Strangely, they share a couple of major characteristics with them (again, these are characteristics that I only find out about once I’ve talked to them for a while).
I’m really beginning to wonder how much who I’m going to make friends with here will be correlated to the way people smell and look (on the other hand, all of these people have also been people I’m compatible with on an intellectual level. Does this mean that there is a correlation between looks/smell and personality? Or does it mean that I’m compatible with many more people than I’ll ever get to know because they won’t get past my look/smell mostly-subconscious “test”).
And, for a final side note, I have a lot in common with a whole lot of people here. However, I’m beginning to realize that social interaction styles have almost as much to do with who becomes friends with whom as having things in common.
The end.
-eww