Friend from freshman orientation stops saying hi
MCCORMICK - George Peabody stepped on an elevator and noticed a friend from freshman orientation boarded and barely glanced at him, putting the final nail in the coffin of their long-dead friendship.
Cathy Newton hung out with Peabody throughout orientation week, but her eyes were fixed to her iPhone during the entire elevator ride. Peabody scoffed silently, knowing that elevators don’t have service.
“What was she even doing?” Peabody sneered. “Aimlessly scrolling through her offline Facebook feed?”
Although the uneventful exchange was shocking for Peabody, he also felt it was inevitable. Dr. Lindsey Farewell, an expert on Freshman friendships, said that this is a common trend.
“Research shows students’ friends from orientation tend to mostly disappear after one semester,” said Dr. Farewell. “A good rule of thumb is if your conversations always revolved around parties you went to or time you drank in high school, the friendship isn't going to last long."
When the friendship began, Peabody and Newton shared meals together, appeared in each other’s Instagram photos and even planned to live in the same dorm Sophomore year. However, there was a sharp decline in their friendship once they began meeting people they actually had things in common with.
Eventually they stop talking altogether, resulting in many awkward encounters, These ranged from assigned seats in class to standing behind on another in dining hall lines. During the Rachel Platten concert, Newton raved next to Peabody for two hours without acknowledging his presence.
The Golden Seagull reached out to Newton for a quote about Peabody, her former friend.
Newton seemed confused. “Who?”
