Let's get naked. Come over here and take off your clothes. Throw your Abercrombie faded-in-all-the-right-places T-shirt on the chair. Toss your Tommy Hilfiger dirt-enhanced jeans on the bed. And don't even think about any underwear.

Now that you're completely free and uninhibited, standing there in all your glory, let's spend the whole night ... talking.

What did you think I was going to say?

OK, so I'm not propositioning every single person who reads this, and I'm not doing public relations for a nudist colony.

What I am saying is that after four years of observing college life -- and the best way to observe anything is to be immersed in it -- I've learned that being real is the only way to survive. What does being real mean to me? It means getting down and dirty in the naked truth.

Being real isn't something you should just turn on and off. I'm talking about living your entire life drenched in the truth. This means being naked all the time -- 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Cast away your antiquated thoughts that the only times a person should be naked have to do with hygiene and hormones.

During my four years at Penn State, I've tried doing a lot of things in the nude. Working hours on a class project with people I probably will never see again. Trying out for the Collegian thinking I had no interest in journalism. Interning at a newspaper and developing a love for editing words. Spending a night trying to swing dance in the HUB and being reprimanded for trying to lead. Leaving everything familiar to travel across the Atlantic to live with people with funny accents. Learning that I could love another human being in a way I never thought possible. Eating Chicken McNuggets in a Rome hotel room and getting yelled at for laughing too loud by the scary lady across the hall. None of these moments in my life would have meant a thing if I hadn't been comfortable with being myself.

It's sad to think about all the interesting people I've probably missed out on knowing because they were hiding behind a facade that I just couldn't break through.

I bet there have been many times where people haven't been able to get to know the real me for the same reason. Fakeness eventually becomes transparent, leaving us fighting to cover up or facing the truth of who we really are.

If we don't let people get a glimpse of what we have under our clothes, they'll just pass us by.

My advice probably seems trite and borrowed from a kindergarten lesson, but I know I always need to be reminded of it every once in a while. Being truthful and real doesn't just pertain to those Afterschool Special moments. Honesty and nudity can be appropriate at any time, even little everyday things.

If you're at a party and someone asks you what your favorite movie is, don't lie. If your favorite movie starred Freddie Prinze Jr., announce it to the world, shout it from the rooftops. Be proud of your likes and dislikes; they are the naked you. Don't say what you think other people want you to say. So what if you're a Yanni fan?

It's not easy always being yourself. It's not easy being naked. In fact, it can be pretty scary, not to mention a little chilly. You're out in front of everybody, revealing your heart, soul, insecurities, and you have nothing to hide behind -- whether it is clothes, words, an image, outgoingness, shyness, humor, sarcasm or whatever else.

It is especially frightening if you're the only one without clothes. But it's worth it, because in the end, truth has nothing to fear.

As I turn my back on college life, I leave you with words from my favorite band, Coldplay: "Give me real, don't give me fake." Oh, and keep those clothes off!