I’ve been a student at Fresno State for a long time — probably too long. I’m a “super senior”, like a lot of people. In my time here I’ve jumped from several majors, took dozens of classes and met a very diverse swath of people. It hasn’t been a really bad experience meeting all those people; in fact it’s been one of the more positive ones. But meeting all of those people has led to certain situations that I think are absurd.

Over the years, I’ve made many friends and kept very few of them. It’s disappointing, but I understand. It’s part of the college experience that I’m sure we can all relate with to some degree. We all have our own paths we have to take, and it often diverges from the people we meet from class to class. But what shouldn’t be a part of the college experience are the awkward encounters that occur after taking separate paths.

Have you ever seen someone you had a class with in the past or were friends with in previous semesters and have them walk right past you like a stranger? I have. It’s stupid. Why do people do that? And I know it’s not because those people didn’t see me either. In many cases we make direct eye contact, and it ends with the same result.

I’ve been here for long enough that this happens on an almost weekly occasion. Friendships apparently don’t mean much past a semester. Sometimes there will be situations when a past classmate and I do see one another and neither of us are quite sure what do. It’s like Adam and Eve looking one another for the first time, and neither of us are sure what to make of the other — like we’re two aliens.

Do they remember me? Should I say hi? What do I do? These are some of the questions we probably ask when we see each other. At least for me, the answers are: Yes, I do remember. Yes, you should say hi and maybe, just acknowledge the fact that we were friends at one point.

It’s not a difficult thing to do, and it’s certainly better than ignoring each other’s existence. I genuinely don’t understand that rationale some have. I really doubt most people have memories bad enough to forget friends so quickly. I don’t, if nothing else.

I’m awful with names, but I never forget faces. And I’ll always be cordial enough to at least say hi, and to ask how a person has been. Even if I did forget, I’m certainly not going to attack you just for saying hi.

It’s one of the more ridiculous things I’ve encountered in college. I really don’t think I’m alone in the way I feel. Making lifelong friends is one of the best things people take away from their college life. It might be just as valuable as a college degree. Most friendships won’t last for life, but I wish they would last longer than one semester.

Julian Paredes is a Multimedia Journalist for The Collegian. He studies multimedia and English literature.­