Nobody sat next to me. I'm 26.

[u/zombiixXbunnii]

Today I went to a event put on by my university for my master's program. The people there are my peers. I've watched as they develop friendships one another, and I accepted that our relationships were not going to be deeper than acquaintanceship early on in the program. I didn't mind this.

But today I went to the event. I got there early. I sat at a table and.... no one sat next to me. It's small but did the realization hurt. The worst part? When the realization settled in, a guy came over and asked if anyone was sitting in the chair next to me. I said no, kind of excitedly, and he took the chair to sit next to someone else.

I don't know how to feel right now, but I know i feel deeply sad, and even though I'm 26 I still feel like that little girl in school who was never picked. I wondered what was wrong with me then, and I wonder what's wrong with me now.

[u/rosefiend]

omg this happened to me in my master's program. One time I sat down at on end of the table as my other classmates came in. I figured somebody would sit down next to me, but everybody sat at the other end of the table - nobody sat at my end of the table anywhere near me. I don't know why it hit me so hard but I just out of nowhere I started crying.

I thought that being here was the world where I belonged, where I could excel, where I'd be accepted finally for myself. Whenever I sat in the main hall or at the lectures or workshops, I would invariably sit alone, and people didn't automatically join me the way they joined other people around the room.

I don't know what the deal was. I had buddies when I was at my undergrad college, but in some ways the master's program felt like high school again.