What a good question, & a common situation for so many of us! I'm glad you've brought it up.

The issue of honest/fake answer to "How are you?" always aroused two distinct schools of response around here. The bigger group by far says to tell'em what they want to hear. The rest of us want to be honest--your desire.

I was with you until another of our members, Venus Halley, http://forums.psychcentral.com/member.php?u=99858, showed me why IRL I might want to exercise the other option. I'm going to try to track down that discussion and edit in the link here or message it to you later. If that doesn't happen, I suggest you contact Venus directly & ask her for a chat. It's an important issue & could affect the rest of your working life. Venus is approachable, generous, much nearer your age. She's Czech & hangs out in Prague ... a great city too btw.