They say that college is where you meet your friends for life; and as experiences unfold in an exciting whirlwind, countless people come and go. But through all of the new friendships, no matter how dear they are to your heart, none of them will be the same as your first. Your first college friend holds a unique title that nobody can come close to surpassing; they’re the person who helped you begin your college experience. So, to my first college friend, here are a few things I’d like to thank you for:
1. Thank you for being equally awkward when we first met.
Hug? Handshake? A wave? No matter the choice, at least we managed to survive the initial meeting.
2. Thank you for showing how nervous you were, too.
Knowing that I wasn’t the only one who wanted to sprint out the door and run back home helped me feel not so alone.
3. Thank you for admitting that you stalked me on every social media platform.
Because, let’s be honest, I already knew what dress you wore to your senior prom and the names of your entire family the very day that I got my roommate assignment.
4. Thank you for helping me decide what to wear for every occasion.
God knows I packed too many clothes when I left home, but somehow I still had nothing to wear for class, a day exploring the city, or for formal events. Thank you for reassuring my choices or hinting that I should try something different, and occasionally letting me raid your much more fashionable closet.
5. Thank you for tolerating my horrible sleeping habits.
Staying up way too late and having blaring alarms go off in the morning that didn’t even wake me up? I’m sure you hated me for it (I hated myself for it), but you were still patient …except for when you threw a pillow at me every now and then to try and wake me up.
6. Thank you for opening up and telling me about your hometown, your family, and all of your stories.
Or, basically, everything that I hadn’t already found out by stalking your social media accounts.
7. Thank you for listening to all of my weird stories, too.
Did you want to hear about my lame high school stories and my friends who you’ll probably never meet? Probably not. But you listened carefully with a smile on your face, and that’s everything I could ever ask for.
8. Thank you for all of the late night talks.
After the awkward barrier was broken, we no longer had to turn off the lights, mumble goodnight and go to bed; we stayed up talking about whatever we wanted to and, even though we weren’t getting nearly enough sleep, I finally began to feel at home.
9. Thank you for eating everything with me.
All of the care packages filled to the brim with food and going out to eat way too often? No regrets. Enough said.
10. Thank you for letting me call you "Roomie."
It’s cheesy and maybe even childish, but your name in my phone is never changing.
11. Thank you for still being the greatest friend to me, even though we no longer live together.
Maintaining friendships when you suddenly aren’t seeing each other every day is a true challenge, but we always manage to pick up right where we left off.
And finally...
12. Thank you for being the perfect start to this crazy journey we call college.
A lot has happened since we met each other on that first day, but my experience wouldn’t mean nearly as much to me as it does today if it wouldn’t have been you standing on the other side of that door.
