It is frustrating watching your friends go down in flames. They choose a life path and they make choices that affect whether the result is good or bad. I can only do so much as a friend. I can give a helping hand. I can give strong words of advice. But I cannot make the right choice for them. I know what it was like. I pulled away from my closest friends because I did not want them to see me drown.

Last year, my classmate and I decided to split an apartment for a year.  Previous to this I had lived with a brother for four years in a different apartment, and prior to that, lived on campus at my university.

My classmate and I met in the first year of our Masters program and got on quite well. I even made the trip out to her hometown and stayed with her family for a week one summer.