It's a fairly universal feeling around here.

As soon as you get out of class, or get off work in my case, on a Friday, you get the overwhelming urge to do something. Something fun and exciting, something not school-related. It's Friday night and the last thing you want to be doing is sitting in the caf eating the same thing you had for lunch. So I was hanging out with the girls in my hall, and my RA announced, "Let's go to Pastabilities!" I readily acquiesced, and some of the others did the same.

But then, as so often happens, other things came up, other urges came up, and plans were quickly eradicated. As they vacillated between doing this and going there, I walked across the hall to visit some more girls. One was busily typing on her laptop. She explained that her dad was only giving her $15 a month for clothing, and she was looking for the right words to convince him of his folly.

"I know I sound spoiled, but that would only get me a tank top at Abercrombie Kids," she said.
"I need at least $80."

"Yeah," I replied, "But multiply that over the next eight months- that's $640."

"Right, that's reasonable."

Her roommate chimed in. "Oh yeah, that's not very much for eight months."

I sat there thinking of all the ways I'd spend $640 if I had it allotted to me as the first girl continued on her dilemma. Apparently she was only getting $10 a month for haircuts.

The thing is, she's a really sweet girl. Both of them are. They let me tag along with them all the time, and they're a lot of fun. But how differently we see things.

The going-out-to-dinner thing panned out in a way that didn't feasibly include me, so I headed off to the dining hall, filled up on a burger, hummus, tomato basil soup, and ice cream, and caught the off-campus shuttle.

I got off at the Fashion Valley Mall. I spent less than $20 at Old Navy on a pair of capris and two turtlenecks, and I didn't feel the slightest bit guilty about starving children in poor countries.