There's one thing about college that makes it different from any other place you'll go or any other thing you do.

You won't find it listed in the glossy color pamphlets produced to promote USC to wide-eyed high-school seniors.

You won't see it advertised in the newspaper or on the kiosks and bulletin boards around the residence halls.

It isn't a big happening like Springfest or Derby Days, and it isn't an annual tradition like commencement or homecoming.

The greatest thing about college is being surrounded by so many people who are your age, who share your dreams and your troubles and who are your friends.

There's a special feeling I get, all warm and fuzzy, when I walk from Taper Hall to Mudd Library and run into several people I know.

Even if I don't stop to say hello, I'll still smile and wave, and they'll wave at me and wonder where I'm off to in such a rush, which, of course, I always am.

On good days, I can even catch a glimpse of my roommate zooming by on his "Night Stalker" mountain bike.

When I get stressed out about a term paper I have to write, I can just walk out to the main room of the house I live in, and I know that there'll always be someone there, pulling an all-nighter or just staying up late to watch Letterman.

And on nights when I'm not writing a paper, I can head down the street with a friend or two, discussing everything from the state of world communism to the ultimate nature of love, with a number of inevitable movie references thrown in for good measure.

Before college, I spent oodles of time with friends in school, but saw very little of them outside of class. And once I graduate, it will be tough to spend an entire day with a friend; unlike now, when I go through class, activities, dinner and eventually going to sleep just down the hall from him or her.

In the real world, the people at your office, even the friends you make there, will rarely spend time with you other than 9 to 5, and they will never crash on your couch after a late-night pizza and movie binge.

When you're out working for IBM or Merrill Lynch, you'll live miles from your office companions, and you'll never run into them while running errands.

How often to people in an office plan vacations together? Rarely. But how often do university students plan to take vacations together? Most spring breaks involve some sort of group trip.

Sure, there's fun to be had on campus. There's movies and rallies and speakers and sports. There's a lot of chance to get involved and be part of an important organization.

But I think that the best moments I'll have these four years will be the ones that aren't planned, organized or staged. When my university friends have moved away and settled down, it's the little moments that I'll be looking back on.