(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Blake Lively has compared being on the set of Gossip Girl to a "college experience".

The 23-year-old American actress has become an international star thanks to her role in the hit US teen drama Gossip Girl, which follows the lives of a group of stylish youngsters living in New York.

The beauty, who plays Serena van der Woodsen in the popular show, says being on the set with her co-stars including Leighton Meester, Ed Westwick and Tyalor Momsen, is like being at college.

"A lot of our cast have had great successes not only in our work as actors but also we have incredible musicians in our midst," she said in an interview with British newspaper The Independent. "It's really amazing because we are all really young, to be able to share that and to do that all with each other, it's been like our own college experience."

Blake is constantly compared to her character Serena. The star says it is natural for people to draw parallels because of the "gossipy" nature of the show.

"The characters on the show are somewhat famous in the world that they inhabit and they make stuff up and people are documenting what they do all the time and so being in the tabloids no doubt helps keep our ratings high, and if we don't like it, I'm sure our producers don't mind," she said. (C) Cover Media