In high school, I had my "gymnastics team friends" and my "band friends" and my "friends from class."

Now, it's much simpler.

The categories have broadened
to "high school friends" and "college friends."

Last summer, when I started at Penn State full time, I was worried about losing contact with my best friends from high school.

But deep down, I didn't really think it would happen because no matter how many times I heard that everyone changes a lot in college, I still had the infamous "it'll-never-happen-to-me" syndrome.

My friends and I were just too close to grow apart. Any fears I had quickly disappeared when I started to meet fellow Penn State students.

Suddenly, I had other friends to count on. I still missed my high school friends, but they didn't make up my entire world anymore.

A huge weight was lifted when I realized I would find new people to spend my time with, people I probably never would have even acknowledged in high school.

As for my old friends, I spent the first semester calling, e-mailing, instant messaging and visiting everyone.

But eventually it just got easier to talk to my friends who were around here, the ones I saw every day. They were the ones who knew what was going on in my life day to day.

After one semester of trying to hang on to old relationships, I spent the second half of the year realizing that it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. For the most part, my old friends and I talked less and less.

It may sound like a scary thought, but it's not as hard to swallow when you have a new group of friends around you.

Then it came time for the switch, the switch between the high school friends and the college friends that would come with the end of the school year.

I worried about my college friends going back to their respective hometowns and the people I knew from high school coming home.

The groups were suddenly exchanged.

Now, my only contact with those Penn State buddies would be online and phone conversations for the next four months. I didn't really know what to expect when my group of friends from high school got together again.

We'd seen each other only a few times all year, and most of them I hadn't even talked to in a couple of months.

It was obvious that we had all changed and were different than we were a year ago, and I wasn't sure our college selves would get along as well anymore.

But when push came to shove, I found none of that mattered.

My friends and I have changed, yes. We do have a lot less in common now than we did a year ago, simply because we have had different experiences and spent time with all kinds of different people.

But even though we're not as close as we used to be, it's still fun to have a whole other crowd to hang out with and swap stories with during the summer. And in that crowd are the only ones that can reminisce and laugh with you about that prom date you don't even want to admit you liked, or that embarrassing Halloween costume you wore in 11th grade or the excite-ment of your senior year and graduation.

Plus, having friends who are scattered around the state is a good excuse to make lots of road trips.

I still get to visit all those people I'm missing over the summer.

And it also gives me at least one thing to be looking forward to at the beginning of the school year -- the return of my college friends.

Neither group can replace the other. But it's OK, because now I get the best of both worlds.