Michelle Bert, Ryan Conklin's girlfriend at the time of the taping of Real World Brooklyn, was Ryan's first real relationship with a member of the opposite sex. One thing he likes about her is that she deals well with Ryan's "witty and spontaneous" humor better than anyone else he knows. Michelle is a pharmacy major at the University of Pittsburgh and with Ryan living in Gettysburg, he was already used to his relationship being long distance. Michelle, being a girl, hated the distance. Ryan, being a guy, liked it, as men need their space. Ryan doesn't have any complaints about her, except he feels that she is a tad bit too emotional. He's willing to overlook that since "she's a girl."
As Ryan progressed through the Real World casting process, he started to feel that she had become a "wet blanket". When he would speak to her about it, she would cry and not be supportive of his efforts. Ryan felt hurt by this because he believed a girlfriend should try to encourage her man to pursue his dreams and realize his ambitions rather than be worried that their relationship was so fragile that any time away would cause it to crumble. Unfortunately, it appears that Michelle concerns will be a self-fulfilling prophecy now as Ryan's attitude appears to be that he believes that they will stay together unless he f's up (i.e. whatever!).
