One of my professors tells my class on a regular basis to take off our student hats and put on our professional hats. Even though it’s a journalism class, I picture all of us wearing firefighter and police hats, mainly because it amuses me.

But I’ve been struggling with how to balance my many hats. I’ve been divided over how to be a student, act like a professional and entertain a social life all at the same time. And I’ve failed.

My friends are mad at me because I don’t spend enough time with them and the only thing I can say is I don’t have time to do much of anything. I just wish they would understand that I’m not spending all my time with my boyfriend and that I live in the Music and Speech building working with TV2.

I’ve always been a busy person. I like being involved, and multi-tasking is kind of my thing. And there are other college students like me. Most of the time, when I’m finally done with everything I have to do in a day, all I can do is go to sleep.

But because my best friends and the people I thought understood the importance of my career and my activities seem to have turned on me, I feel attacked and I’ve let this get out of hand. Because of both my failure to communicate and my friends’ failures to listen, I’m friendless. I’ve let this all get to me way too much, and now it’s interfering with my classes and my responsibilities. I am strong minded. I like to think that I don’t need anyone’s help, but what I thought was my best characteristic has caused me a lot of pain.

So since most of my friends are my roommates too, I haven’t stayed at my house in about a month. Just the other day when I went home, I noticed someone had put dinosaur stickers on my microwave. Before that, someone packed up my shampoo and moved it out of the bathroom. And before that, someone took my stuff off the walls. I’m an only child and I’ll admit living in a house with five other people was a big mistake. I guess my mom just raised me that stickers go on paper and you don’t go through other people’s belongings.

It’s true that time changes all things, but the way we spend our time changes us as well. Even if things get better between me and my friends, in over a year we’ll go our separate ways. My dad keeps telling me that how we live our lives will be completely different. They are mostly education majors and will have nine to five days with summers off. I’ll work weekends and holidays.

Writing columns about my personal problems is not a way to solve this issue. I guess the lesson to all of this is things change and we have to accept it. It’s no one’s fault, it just happens.

Jen Steer is a junior broadcast news major and columnist for the Daily Kent Stater. Contact her at [email protected].