My Life As Liz
returns for its second season tonight, and Liz Lee tells J-14 that we're in for a juicy ride! Liz filled J-14 in on how she's adjusting to her college life in New York City, managing a long-distance relationship with Bryson, and keeping in touch with her high school friends from back home in Texas.

J-14: What were some of the biggest changes for you moving from Texas to New York City?
Liz Lee:
Everyone's in their own bubble in New York. In my neighborhood in Texas, even if I'm walking on the side of the road, I could wave at anyone and they would smile and wave back. Here, they think you're going to mug them [if you do that]! It's just completely different, and the pace is a lot faster. Also when I think of New York, I think of school, and school's pretty stressful. It was a real struggle. It still is. Now I feel like I have a few friends this year and I've found my place. But last year, I sat in the cafeteria on my first day here and I was just was like, "Yes! I'm with my people!" It was like, "Finally, we're all here for the same stuff. We all love art. I'm going to have so many friends." Then I realized that last season, when I was in Texas at my old school, I was weird because I was so different. And in New York, I'm weird because I'm not different at Pratt. I grew up in this Texas town and hadn't been exposed to the level of hipster that I was exposed to here.

J-14: You mention in the show that you felt homesick — how did you cope with that feeling?
Liz:
I felt like I wasn't even trying to make friends really because I felt like I had Sully, Troy, Miles, and Bryson — I have every friend I ever need, so why would I try to make new friends here? I might as well stay miserable here, and think about how fun it will be when I see my friends again. It's so much better now. I'm so much happier now. After I found out some stuff about Bryson — I don't know what episode it is that I find that stuff out — but I found out some bad news about Bryson and the boys, and I decided to focus on my life in New York rather than focus on my life back in Texas. I decided to take initiative and try to make this my home, and I feel like all it took was that effort and desire. I feel like this is where I belong, finally, which for so long I just didn't at all. Meeting Louis actually helped me with this because I hadn't really had anybody to talk to in New York. I was having a hard time and I didn't want to let my friends [in Texas] know because I was a little embarrassed. I felt like they had this image of me like, "She did it. She's living the dream," and I didn't want to let them down. So I didn't really have anybody to talk to about my struggles, but Louis was really there for me, let me vent to him, and was just a really great guy, so that was really cool. I'm interested to see what people think about Louis and Bryson, and Louis entering the dynamic.

J-14: What was the hardest part about trying to maintain a long-distance relationship work with Bryson, before you met Louis?
Liz:
It's tough when you have to have lots of trust for that person, because you don't ever know what they're doing. You can't be there with them all the time, and it's also hard to not be able to give someone the affection that they deserve. We were both really busy. He had video games, I had school — so he had Call of Duty and I was a full-time student. Bryson couldn't physically be there for me as much as Louis could. Louis is just a really sweet, genuine, Southern gentleman.

J-14: Can you give us a hint about what we'll see with you and Louis?
Liz:
I don't know what I can say! There's some good stuff that happens. Looking back, I'm realizing that I'm extremely fickle and there are a lot of cliff hangers where it's just like, "Will it happen?" A lot of times I say no to things and then end up getting suckered into them.

J-14: How do you keep in touch with everybody back home in Texas? Will we see your high school friends a lot in the new season?
Liz:
Sully and I are avid texters — we just text each other all day or iChat. It's so juicy — there are more twists and turns than an M. Night Shyamalan movie. It's just insane. Especially throwing Louis in the mix, it was like just dropping an anvil in a pond, this serene pond, and he created all these waves in our social circle and it's really interesting. There's the drama with Bryson, and it bleeds into my relationship with the boys. Cori Cooper's pregnant. There's so many big things that happen this season. It's not just like little twists like, "Sully cut his hair and he looks different." Everything goes the opposite way of what you think it would, of what I thought it would.

The second season of My Life As Liz premieres Tuesday, February 8, at 11/10 p.m. CT on MTV.

Photo: Courtesy of MTV

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