Oh how the time does fly. It's been almost a year since I last entered anything into this blog, and yet it still stands as a testament to my writing ability. Since my last article, I have become a junior at Kutztown university, seen my little brother graduate highschool, witnessed my 10 year old sister pride in reaching 5ft. tall, and found myself 2 years into a wonderful relationship. Life is good.
Well as good as life can get when your poor. After all that is what being a college student is all about, being broke. There are many terms we use to describe this ailment, but when you have to scrounge up the pennys from within your couch to buy a pack of ramen, or "borrow" 10 cents from a friend to buy a scantron, you know you are poor. No number of words will change how you feel about it either. Being poor sucks. Plain and simple, it is a fact of the world. Most people in other countries would see no problems with being poor, it just happens. For there to be rich people there have to be poor ones. We, however, are the children of America. We come from a country of the middle class. There is no "poor" in America, simply "lower middle-class" and "upper middle-class". We all can afford cable and internet and heat and food and videogames.
But it has come to my attention as a poor college student that, I can't afford some of these things. Most in fact. The little money i get immediately goes to buy food and gas. Gas to get me to the places which provide me with food (i.e. the grocery store, or my parents house) and to purchase the food when I arrive.
I somtimes miss my highschool days because I had no need to buy myself food. I worked at a KFC, I got all the free food I wanted, ad my mother went grocery shopping every week. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't any Ms. Money bags then either. In fact back then I had a real bill to pay. I had worked up a hefty phone bill at one point, and I spent two years paying it off, $300 a month, plus $100 every three months for car insurance. But I worked so much (nearly full time) that I still had $2-300 left over every month. And my only expense was Gas. Granted gas was cheaper but it was still a necessity. Now I rely on a $200 allowance that my father gives me every month (because he loves me and I get good grades). However Food, and books are expensive.
And so I find myself watching the food network, wishing I had the money to buy those ingredients, or the pots to be able to make that dish. I am at the point where my staple foods are ramen, granola bars, and lipton pasta sides (can't beat 10 for $10). It is no wonder that people gain weight in college, most go from their parents supplying them with balanced meals of meat, potato, and veggie, to starch. That is the college diet even in the dining halls, Carbohydrates. Maybe you might have a lettuce bar (and I say lettuce because it isn't anything but) but it's not much of a challenge to a bowl of mac'n'cheese.
So wht is my point? What difference does it make? What can you do? Well all I can offer is this, if you know a hungr college student, offer them a meal everyonce in a while. They'll appreciate it I promise :)
