Dear Prudence,
I apologize for the many tiny violins that are going to be played for my question. I'm 19 years old, a freshman in college, and I have noticed an uptick in the number of compliments I receive, especially about my looks. This started to happen in my junior and senior years of high school, and I quickly learned just how bad I was at receiving any kind of compliment. I was once told, "It was a pleasure seeing your art," at a gallery show for student work. I panicked and said, "You're welcome.” Since starting college, the number of comments I get on my looks (from both men and women, friends and strangers) has increased exponentially and I'm always at a loss for words. How do I respond to a friend saying that I'm "a babe"? I was told that I had "an amazing laugh." What does that mean? Last semester a professor who was retiring told me that freshmen like me were the reason he'd been a teacher for 40 years. I didn’t know what to say! I feel I'm being rude by gracelessly accepting these comments. How should I handle this?