As my plane was landing in Philadelphia after a great spring break trip, I glanced across the aisle at one of my best friends and realized that in only a few weeks, he would be graduating and leaving Penn State forever.

I'm sure we'll always remain friends, occasionally see each other, but it would never be the same caliber of friendship that comes with living right across the hallway from somebody.

After returning to school, I was soon greeted by another of my best friends, who will also be finishing his college career this spring and continue on to bigger and better endeavors. After sharing stories about our respective breaks and getting into a heated debate about the ethics of booing individual players at sporting events, I began to actually get sad, thinking that when I leave State College to return home for the summer, I will also be leaving behind some of the greatest day in, day out friendships of my life.

Being a member of a fraternity since my first semester here, I have witnessed the graduation of many. I am not saying that I was not friends with any of them or that I did not care about them leaving, but it was different now. I always saw myself as a young guy in our house, with my best friends as the other young guys with all the time in the world. But somewhere along the road « ask your parents about this one — you grow up. Entering this semester, somehow, I was the veteran, we were the old guys and it was our turn to start seeing some of our closest friends leave.

The guys who are leaving are not just good friends. They're the guys I have known since my first few weeks here. Brothers, who, during pledging, I spent almost every waking moment with, and whom I cleaned urinals with ¡ the ultimate way to bond, might I add. One guy, who by the sheer sound of his voice and the seemingly endless amounts of jargon spitting out of it, could entertain me for an entire night. The other friend, who in one instance could be pulling a stunt a la the MTV show Jackass, and in another could be driving a another friend all the way back to Philadelphia so he could attend a funeral. These are guys I expect to be at my wedding, if not in it.

And when you really stop and think about it, (as some of you might remember from an earlier column I wrote), it's all the stupid little stuff that you'll miss. Going on a Taco Bell run at midnight, playing basketball together (we probably could be beaten by a middle school team), or watching Saturday Night Live clips on somebody's computer. Or when I'd be trying to finish a paper and my musically talented friend would be sitting outside my room playing his guitar and singing about how bored he is (maybe he should have taken more than four credits).

I cannot even imagine what it will be like next spring, when the majority of my friends and I are seniors. Two people leaving is bad enough.

Also, there's no doubt that the older you get, the faster time goes. It seems ridiculous to me that I will be a senior in college next year. Hearing these guys talk about jobs and law school interviews almost scares me. I've suddenly had the epiphany that someday, very soon, I will be working for a living. (Thank God I'm a journalist and will be making the big bucks.)

When I first came to college, one of my biggest fears was that I would be unable to find great friends like I had back home. Luckily, it didn't take more than meet my roommate for the first time to feel better. Despite his Pittsburgh background and my Philadelphia allegiance, which led to some colossal sports arguments, we were able to help each other's transition from high school to college go as smoothly as possible.

That was only the start. The friendships that I have made with people in my house, as well as all over the campus, have made my time here, as clichéd as it sounds, the best years of my life.

But the semester is not over, and the sun has not set on anything yet. We — and I mean everyone out there who has graduating friends — still have more than a month (six-weeks including finals week) to enjoy the friendships we have made here at Penn State. Don't waste any of it. You'll have 50-plus years to sit on your derrière and talk to your friends on Instant Messenger. Go talk to them in person (especially if they live close by, or even worse, in the same room). Drink a beer, watch a hockey game, or better yet, go to a bar and watch a hockey game. Enjoy the time that you are given, it's priceless.

I am just so happy that when the Fall Semester begins next year, starting my senior year, I will still have such a good core group of friends. My two best friends from home will be transferring here from a branch campus, and life will go on as always. I guess that is the bitter-sweetness of college. People from all over the country come to this school, spend four awesome years together, but in the end, go their own ways. As the old saying goes, "You never know what you have till it's gone," and in my mind, that is never more true of anything than this.