Alright kids, we have passed another week here on the ‘Real World: Philadelphia,’ and boy, has it been a good one. As usual, we viewers got our weekly dose of drama, conflict, and, of course, partying.

MJ finally lined up a visit from his pseudo-girlfriend, Ashley, but her arrival to the house isn’t exactly smooth. Not only does her flight (or shall I say flights) get delayed over five hours, but her baggage also gets lost on the plane. So it is safe to say that when she and MJ finally embrace that the feelings are long overdue.

MJ’s happiness about Ashley’s visit is short lived, when his good friend and protégé, David, also comes for a weekend visit to Philly. The first night of having both friends at the house becomes problematic when MJ is torn between David’s desire to go out, and Ashley’s desire to go to bed. MJ takes the next day to show Ashley around Philly, and have the inevitable conversations they knew they would have about their time apart (loosely interpreted, of course) from each other. Ashley understands when MJ admits to having hooked up some in Philly, which could have ended up worse for MJ.

However, more problems arise when Landon and Shavonda are talking after David leaves. Landon basically hints that he feels detached from MJ and feels he learned more about MJ in five minute conversation with David than he feels he learned about MJ from the past few months in the house. Of course, conversations ensued later in the episode, but let’s leave that for a few minutes.

MJ and Ashley have a bittersweet goodbye, filled with apologies for a slow start to what was a fun weekend. But, of course within a few days they are fighting on the phone about how Ashley won’t ask the questions she wants to ask MJ, and MJ feels cheated and left out (getting payback for halting the relationship just a few months ago). When Ashley admits she feels less than 100 percent invested in the relationship, MJ and her take a more permanent break from each other (some of you might call it a break-up). After explaining his control issues in relationships, we can of course cut to the late night conversation between Landon and MJ.

Landon explains that he feels like he doesn’t know MJ; a fact that MJ doesn’t deny, because he has not yet felt comfortable with the entire situation of being on the show. He admires and is envious of Landon’s comfort with the house, as well as acknowledging he needs to work on his control of life and relationships.

If you think any of this has been dramatic, you have no idea what you are in store for next week, when we shift gears to Sarah and Willie, the unofficial “drama queens” of the show finally throwing their gauntlets at each other. I think Robert Frost once said, “Nothing gold can stay.”

‘Nova Students Speak Out

“Landon showed maturity in being able to talk to MJ rationally and politely.” Stef Boyk, junior

“Dear MJ- you’re whipped and I think you’ll crawl back to Ashley.” Hung Tran, sophomore

“MJ needs to realize that when you are in a relationship with someone, you need to make sacrifices. Ashley made sacrifices for him; he needs to make some for her.” Joe Hawkins, freshman