Pre-travel days & old friends

[Vhan]

I'm sure this is different for everyone, but it seems the closer I get to leaveing the more distance I'm putting between myself and long kept friends. Its hard to identify with them when all they do is watch TV, and tell me all about the latest video game, or other small banter that really just everyone says the same thing about save a different color tint on the subject....so you have heard it 10,000 times with different collocational hues.

I really am quite sick of it.

Furthermore, whenever I make an effort to break them away from thier indoctrinated thoughts/beliefs/ideas, they shut down on me and start treating me like a mentor! Thats good for your ego and all, but sucks in the way of friends, becuase correcting them on something often means an essays worth of explination. Followed by them comeing to you for advice, more often than you often have time for. 

[Greg]

Hehe, wait until you've been gone for a year or two and then come home - you REALLY find out who the true friends are. 

Something that vagabonding taught me however was how to approach and talk to anyone...I really was quite shy before I started traveling alone.
Once I got home, I kept it up and met scores of new people that way....you just have to pretend that you are still traveling and that
the normal social protocols don't apply.  Rather than think you are weird when you sit with a table full of strangers at home, they will think it is some new eccentric
quality that you picked up while world traveling that they don't have, and they will want to get to know you.

I think books could be filled with real applications of travel psychology!

[Vhan]

Yea, Were I work is a heavy populated collage area...lots of "unique" people...(major art, and music collages). The place is a social goldmine, I just haven’t spent any time meeting the locals yet.

maybe I should make plans this Friday...although I don't know what the scene will be like with winter here, and a lot of the students back home for the holiday!