For this post, I decided to highlight Julia Feldman, one of my first ever friends here at Penn State. Neither of us is from Pennsylvania, so we both attended the out of state overnight for admitted Schreyer Honors College students. I recall Julia and I were in the same group of people that were walking to the dining hall for a meal. We had introduced ourselves, had some small talk, and we talked about the jean jacket I was wearing that I got for 75% off from American Eagle.
I remember Thinking Julia was quiet but that she also seemed really nice and someone I could definitely be friends with. After meeting at the overnight, Julia and I had become mutuals on social media but we did not talk much after our first encounter.
At some point, I happened to notice that in Julia’s Instagram bio, she had mentioned the Jewish youth group that she was a part of, USY, in which she was a regional president for. I immediately recognized those letters, even though I participated in a different youth group, BBYO. I was so excited that there was another Jewish girl in Schreyer. It was comforting to know that there was someone I could reach out to if I ever wanted to participate in Judaic events on campus such as going to Hillel or the Chabad house for Friday night dinners.
Once I got to New Student Orientation, I was excited to see Julia there. Once I saw her, I went up to her and said “Hi! I saw that you did USY and you’re Jewish. Let’s be friends and do Jewish stuff together!!” We still joke about how that was kind of strange for me to run up to her and say something so bold, but I am definitely glad I did because I made a great friend out of it.
Not only do Julia and I participate in different Judaic events on campus, but we do a lot of other activities together as well. We eat meals together all of the time and hang out, but most of the time we are complaining about our French class.
Julia is a kind, intelligent, and caring person and I am really glad that I ran up to her and basically forced her to be my friend. We discovered that our homes are only 58 minutes away from each other, as she lives in Virginia and I live in Maryland, so we will be able to see each other over school breaks as well!
This is another nice post. You talked about a lot of positive experiences and depicted your shared memories with your 2 photographs.
Links to the USY and BBYO websites are fine, given that many people might want to know what they are, but I don’t think the SHC and American Eagle links were really necessary.
Really cool how you found a friend who shares some of the same traditions and values that you do. Julia seems like a great person, it’s awesome that you guys got to meet and live so close that you can hang out during breaks.