Day 6: Friends With Nothing In Common

I'm going to tell you a story, but before I tell you that story, I need to tell you another one.

I lived in Salinas most of my life, from preschool to the summer between 8th-9th grade. That summer, I moved to Berkeley, CA. My dad had gotten a new job after seeing the writing on the wall at his old one, and we needed to be closer to the SF Bay Area, so we moved. At first, it was really tough, I spent the whole summer there and I only knew two guys my age, my godbrothers. We didn't spend a whole lot of time together that summer, so I was basically a shut-in. Once school started, it had gotten a little better. I made a few friends with whom I had almost nothing in common with. Berkeley High School is made up of a few small schools to make it a little more organized, and to allow the students to have classes with people they know, and to focus on what they think they want to do as adults. My first choice for the small school program was AC, or Academic Choice. In AC you take two required classes, your level of English and your level of Math, other then that, you are free to choose whatever classes you like, four are required. My second choice was AHA, the Arts and Humanities Academy. That one speaks for itself. My third choice (it was only my third choice because a counselor for the 'academy' lived around the corner from us, and suggested it to my mother) was CPA, or Community Partnerships Academy. If you wanted to be a paralegal, that was the small school for you. I got put in CPA. Now, I'm not complaining at all, at the time my mother was furious, but once she saw that I was actually making friends she was semi-okay with it. What this has to do with the title is that literally 95% of the CPA population was either African-American or Hispanic. I'm a white boy from a farm town. Define 'stranger in a strange land' any better for me, and I'll give you twenty bucks. After the first semester, I was widely accepted as an okay guy. I had quite a few friends that I thought I would never get close to at the beginning of the year, and I miss them all dearly. I got accustomed to the culture and adopted the local way of speaking (irritated the hell out of my parents, I might add) and even began to hang out with my new friends out of school. At first, it was a culture shock, and I got used to it, and since I've left, I miss it a lot, and not a day goes by where I don't wish I was still living there.

Now, for the story that I originally came up with for today's post. Coming back to Salinas/attending York was another culture shock, and I wasn't expecting it at all. In CPA, everybody basically had the same views on politics, religion and life in general. In my opinion, York's best quality is it's diversity. There are so many different people with such totally different views, and last year I learned how to adapt to those people, and even make friends with them. Coming to York, one of the first people I enjoyed being around is a guy named Henry. Henry and I have nothing in common, he's Conservative, pays attention in school, wants to go to a good college and all that jazz. Me? I'm a liberal and I want to drop out and get my GED at the end of my Junior year and move on to a Junior College. (We do have other differences, but it's late.) Yesterday, I was sitting at the Pick Up/Drop Off location with Kristina (carpool/long time friend), Hayden (Kristina's boyfriend and a new friend of mine) and Henry. Henry's mother was the first to show, and so he left.
(as they are pulling away)

Henry's Mom: So, was that the hippie kid from Berkeley you were sitting next to?
Henry: Yup.

-Bobby