> How
> do you meet new people? How do you learn
> who to trust when there is so much sensory
> information bombarding your instinctual
> sensors? How do you retain a feeling of
> individuality?

This little bit of the post really jumped out at me... not because I live in a 'big city', though. It sounds like my university.

I went from a small private high school (125 people in my graduating class) to a 25,000+ student public university. Quite a change, to be sure. And I found a lot of the questions you asked up there.

How DO you meet new people? Yeah, sure, you're put in smaller groups in classes, but a lot of people come with pre-defined friend groups, clumped together in sorority/fraternity cliques or "I live in the same dorm floor as you" bunches. And that just didn't work for me. I have yet to make an actual FRIEND in any of my classes. (Aquaintances, sure. But not friends.) It's 3 months of class, then out. Chances of seeing any of them again, especially if you're in a large size major? Not good.

The only place I've managed to find friends is at Campus Crusade for Christ, where I go each week. Smaller group, and a stronger common interest then just "we all have to take this because it's gen ed required" or "this is my major". You have to get into smaller groups linked strongly by interest, really. Or so I see it.

And I ran out of steam, but I hope that made some sense. Going from any community to a much larger one raises the same questions, whether it's a question of where you live or where you go to school. (Or both.)

Sosi"doesn't know how she'd do in a big, big city"qui