1. The Roommate
As the first person you meet your freshman year, this is probably the #1 person you hope and pray will be the one person that you get along with, or at least will eat with you in the dining hall the first week when you don’t have any friends yet. Sometimes this convenient friendship will continue and you’ll be happy bridesmaids for each other down the line…and sometimes not so much. The end of this pseudo-friendship may be triggered by an overflowing trashcan no one wants to take out or listening to your Netflix re-run too loudly; choose your battles wisely.
2. The Person You Cannot Believe Somehow Got into College
You may discover this person in your first week of class or your last week, but you will find them. You are sitting in your History lecture talking about World War II, and suddenly a squeaky high pitched voice from the very back row pipes up with, “Was Hitler just angry because our space shuttle made it to the moon first?” (I wish I was joking; this is a real example). I am convinced that these people either know someone in the admissions department or are the luckiest test takers on the planet.
3. The Re-inventor
College is a time to reinvent yourself, grow up, and become the person that will shape who you are the rest of your adult life (no pressure). However, some people take this to extreme levels, which brings us to "The Re-inventor". The Re-inventor is characterized by Facebook pictures from 1 month before school started that look nothing like them, having a broad range of interests that change based on the group of people they are around in order to fit in, and seeming to be drowning in multiple versions of themselves. However, fear not, usually this mellows out as the years go on and they find out who they truly are...at least we hope.
4. Your Group Project Members
Technically, this is more than one person, but to me, it counts as one entity. One entity that will, unless you choose wisely, be the ones you’re calling all night and morning the day a project is due asking where their part of the project is. This group consists of the leader, the two that get their share done, and the one who you plan to murder if their laziness makes you fail this class. This person will say it's possible to write their part in an hour...they are wrong. Choose your group members wisely or pray for individual grades.
5. The Acquaintance Friend
This is the person you become friends with during the first couple of weeks and stick together like glue, until you reach that point where you start making actual lifelong friends and you realize you have much more in common with than this person you have clung too to avoid being alone. For the next four years every time you see this person you will give the kind obligatory wave and move on but will most likely never actually speak again. By the end of the four years you may not even remember their name.
During your freshman year and beyond, you're going to meet a lot of people. Some you'll like, some you won't like, and some you will keep around for the rest of your life. Make memories and have fun!
